COLEGIO LA COLINA

SOCIAL STUDIES
TENTH GRADE
THE LIBERAL REPUBLIC, 1930-45 (THE REFORMIST PERIOD)1
The economic modernization of the early 1900s unleashed social forces that resulted in the emergence of
new urban classes. As the traditional elites failed to address the demands made by the new groups, tension
was generated. The growing urban electorate tended to favor those politicians who advocated social
reforms. The Liberals were better able than the Conservatives to benefit from this development, especially
during the first administration of Alfonso Lpez Pumarejo (1934-38). The populist movement of the 1940s,
represented by the progressive faction of the PL, attracted the most support, however, and represented a
threat to the more conservative traditional elites. For the first time, nonelites had a voice with which to
express their interests.
Although a split in the PC over candidates for the 1930 presidential election aided in the ascension of the PL
to power, both parties were divided into factions. The PC consisted of moderates (led by Mariano Ospina
Prez and known as ospinistas) who wanted to maintain the status quo and reactionary conservatives (led
by Laureano Gmez Castro and known as laureanistas) who favored a restructuring of the state along
corporatist lines. The PL also had its moderates who supported the status quo. The second faction of the PL
consisted of reformists, who favored controlled social change. These factions represented different
socioeconomic groups. In general, reformists included the new financial and capitalist groups. Reactionaries
primarily were traditional latifundistas (owners of latifundios). Moderates of both parties tended to have
interests that incorporated several economic activities and included groups such as export-oriented
latifundistas.
As a result of the Liberal victory, many of the privileges that had been afforded to Conservatives through
patronage politics were now denied. Because the president appointed the governors, who in turn appointed
the municipal mayors, the transfer of power from the PC to the PL at the presidential level was felt at the
municipal level. Because of the change in the political affiliation of the police force, the stricter application of
the law was transferred to members of the opposition party. Clashes resulted between partisan groups
among the lower classes, who sought either to gain or to maintain their privileges. One such clash involved
the peasants, who, amidst the confusion, tried to attain greater control over small plots of land at the
expense of members of the opposing party.
The first Liberal president of the twentieth century, Enrique Olaya Herrera (1930-34), was elected at a time
when the price of coffee had dropped to about one-third of the 1928 price, loans from United States banks
had stopped, and the country was gripped by an economic depression. Olaya endeavored to hold together
the moderate Liberals and the moderate Conservatives, some of whom had worked for his election.
Although Conservative control of the legislature and concern over the economy constrained Olaya's ability
to enact a comprehensive Liberal agenda, he succeeded in carrying out some reforms, notably in
education. Nonetheless, some Liberals, disappointed by their party's failure to carry out a "revolution," in
1932 organized a movement called the Revolutionary Leftist National Union (Unin Nacional Izquierdista
Revolucionaria--UNIR). The movement came to an end after Gaitn, its leader, returned to the PL in 1935
when the party adopted many of his proposed reforms and offered him a congressional seat.
International disputes also confronted the Olaya administration, one of the most prominent being a
boundary conflict with Peru. In 1932 Peruvians occupied Leticia, a Colombian outpost on the Amazon, and

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hand-to-hand combat ensued between small Colombian and Peruvian forces. The dispute was settled by
direct negotiation in 1934, when Peru recognized Colombian sovereignty over the port.
The most important president in the reformist period was Olaya's successor, Lpez Pumarejo. Believing
that the reformist faction of the PL had become strong enough to carry out its program, the Lpez Pumarejo
administration implemented extensive reforms, principally in agriculture, education, and the tax system.
Known as the "Revolution on the March," these reforms included constitutional amendments that
guaranteed the state's role in developing the economy of the country and diversifying its exports, authorized
the national government to expropriate property for the common good, provided special state protection for
labor and the right for labor unions to strike, and stipulated that public assistance was a function of the state.
Additional reforms included the strict enforcement of progressive income and inheritance taxes, the
guarantee of rights granted to squatters on public and private lands, the reinforcement of credit institutions,
and the renewed separation of church and state.
The reforms put in place by the Lpez Pumarejo administration, combined with import substitution policies,
helped to accelerate the capitalist development of Colombia. During the Lpez Pumarejo administration,
coffee prices and the volume of exports increased. Protectionist measures helped to increase domestic
production and enlarge the domestic market. A surge in industrialization began in the 1930s, aided by
various external and internal factors. The key external factor was the world economic crisis of the 1930s,
which limited the availability of goods to be imported and limited markets for exports. Internal factors
included domestic capital accumulation via the tobacco, gold, and coffee trade; the increased buying power
of large groups, especially coffee growers; the construction of transportation and communication facilities
that unified the internal market; and a continuation of protectionist policies begun by President Reyes in
1904. The increasing emphasis on growing and exporting coffee fostered industrial development and
allowed a more equitable distribution of income because more skilled laborers were employed and received
higher wages. As a result, the demand for domestically produced consumer goods increased further.
Reforms instituted under Lpez Pumarejo reflected a variety of influences: the Mexican Constitution of
1917, which had set forth provisions relating to social welfare, labor, and government responsibility in
education and economics; ideas of change favored by the Peruvian apristas--members of the American
Popular Revolutionary Alliance (Alianza Popular Revolucionaria Americana-- APRA); and the New Deal
policies of United States president Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933-45). Some Colombian intellectuals had
become interested in socialist thought, and the establishment of a liberal republic in Spain during the early
1930s inspired Colombian Liberals.
The Liberals, recognizing the social changes that were under way, identified themselves with the growing
demands of the masses. In contrast, the Conservatives favored a minimum of concessions, the greatest
possible influence of the church, and continued control of the country by a small upper class; they saw
Lpez Pumarejo's policies as communistic. Meanwhile, disagreement over the extent to which Liberal
ideology should be applied led to a split between the pro-reform supporters of Lpez Pumarejo and the prostatus quo followers of fellow Liberal Eduardo Santos, owner of the national daily El Tiempo.
In 1938 Santos became president with the support of moderate Liberals and of Conservatives opposed to
Lpez Pumarejo's Revolution on the March. Santos retained some of his predecessor's policies, such as
protectionism, and oriented his policies toward capitalist industrial and agricultural development. The Santos
administration improved the economic capabilities of the country to invest in industry. It also stimulated
capital-intensive agriculture to convert traditional latifundios, which relied on cheap labor, into capitalist
haciendas, which used advanced technology. The reduced demand for manual labor in the countryside
caused many campesinos to migrate to the cities. This urban growth increased both the supply of labor and
the demand for consumer goods, further contributing to industrial expansion. Santos also reduced taxes on
machinery imports that were needed for industry.

In the later years of his administration, Santos turned his attention to relations with the church and the United
States. In 1942 Santos reformed education by removing it from the control of the church. In the same year,
he concluded a new agreement with the Vatican, requiring that bishops be Colombian citizens. During
World War II, he cooperated with the United States in the defense of the Panama Canal, ousted German
nationals from control of Colombia's national airline, and broke diplomatic relations with the Axis
governments. His administration also strengthened economic, commercial, and cultural relations with the
United States.
Despite opposition from Conservatives, moderate Liberals, and a more progressive Liberal group led by
Gaitn, Lpez Pumarejo was elected president for a second term in 1942. He was not as successful in the
second term in implementing reform, however, because of strong Conservative opposition and a split in the
Liberal organization in Congress. Laureano Gmez exploited the Liberal division by attacking Lpez
Pumarejo's foreign policy, including the declaration of war on the Axis Powers in 1943. Other effects of
World War II were being felt at this time, including an unbalanced budget, unstable foreign trade, a decline in
coffee prices, and an increase in import prices.
Discontent with Lpez Pumarejo increased. Gmez made personal attacks on Lpez Pumarejo and his
family that were so inflammatory that Gmez was imprisoned in 1944. This triggered demonstrations and
street fighting in Bogot. In July 1944, during army maneuvers, Lpez Pumarejo and some of his cabinet
members were held prisoner for a few days by officers staging an abortive military coup in Pasto. Although
most of the military supported the constitutional order, Lpez Pumarejo lost prestige and power. In July
1945, he resigned in favor of his first presidential designate, Alberto Lleras Camargo, a Liberal who had
distinguished himself as a writer and government official.
Lpez Pumarejo's resignation resulted in part from pressure by the political and economic forces that he
had helped to strengthen through the reforms of his first term. By 1942 a new group of industrialists wished
to perpetuate their gains and believed that reform should cease. During Lpez Pumarejo's first term, the
interests of industrialists and those of other urban elements frequently coincided--for example, in reducing
the power of the church and large landowners and in stimulating economic growth. In his second term,
however, critics contended that the social reforms and development policies of the first term no longer were
appropriate. Thus, the industrialists, looking for favorable tax policies and protection against the demands of
labor, joined with the landowners in resisting reforms. Both groups helped block important portions of Lpez
Pumarejo's legislative program, and the reformist trend of the PL was negated by more moderate elements
within the party.
Lleras Camargo, who served as provisional president until August 1946, appointed representatives of all
parties to his cabinet in an effort to establish a "national union." Nonetheless, his coalition policy was
attacked by Gaitn, who had gained considerable support among the masses and among some
intellectuals and industrialists. When Gabriel Turbay, a moderate Liberal, won the party's nomination for the
1946 presidential election, Gaitn decided to run independently, and his forces shifted to a more militant
stance. This serious split among Liberals resulted in the election of the Conservative candidate, Mariano
Ospina Prez, by a plurality of 42 percent of the electorate.
ACTIVITIES
1. Draw a timeline with the events included in the text.
2. What is this period called the reformist period? Explain your answer.
3. Make a comparison chart between Lleras Camargo and Lopez Pumarejo.
4. Explain the principal social reforms from this period. (at least 3).