Bolivian Social Revolution Since '52 Rated Second Only to Cuban Change

Bolivia's ten-year-old social revolution is the most complete in Latin America after Cuba's, Richard W. Patch told a Kirkland House seminar last night. He singled out extensive land reforms as the best evidence of the country's progress.

Patch, an anthropologist who has spent most of the last 11 years in South America, praised U.S. aid to Bolivia, which has amounted to $200 million since 1952. He credited the funds with supporting the progressive regime and preventing chaos and territorial disintegration.

He conceded, however, that "no one is really happy about the results of $200 million spent in a country with a 3.5 million population." He urged that more be spent on a village level to help the poorer classes and to complement large-scale projects.

Patch traced Bolivia's revolution to the country's war with Paraguay in 1935. During that conflict, he said, large numbers of Indians were drafted and exposed to nationalist propaganda in the army.

When they returned home, they organized a peasant movement independent of the country's political parties. The movement grew until, in 1952, it deposed a "tottering and defecting" military junta.

Since then, the Indians have joined forces with the M.N.R. (Movimiento Nacional Revolucianaria), the revolutionary party that is now in power. They have obtained electoral reforms and the nationalization of the tin industry, as well as the breaking up of large feudal estates.

"I hold no particular brief with the M.N.R. party or its personnel," Patch said, "but I think it is doing remarkably well." He called Bolivia the outstanding example of a country that has exceeded the goals established in the Alliance for Progress.

Contrast With Peru

By way of contrast, Patch spoke briefly on "one of the most conservative of Latin American countries," Peru. He compared the "social mobility" of Bolivian Indians with the rigid class structure of those in the neighboring country.

Peruvian Indians, he explained, will sometimes try to pass for mestizos (persons of mixed blood) by moving to the cities and pretending not to understand their native language, Quechua. Such extreme behavior, Patch implied, is not necessary in Bolivia.

"What has happened in Bolivia is profoundly meaningful," he said. It showed that revolution can take place relatively peacefully if the army cannot or does not interfere with popular movements. If the army does interfere, unrest may develop into civil war.