Obstacles to Collectivization Among Indigenous Communities: Two Venezuelan Cases

Abstract

State-sponsored programs of collectivization continue to gf!nerate a great deal of theory and policy debates. When Indian communities are involved inl such national programs, the debate acquires newer and even more complex dimensions which have not yet been adequately addre..ssed. In this paper, I examine a program of collective Empresas Indigenas organized in Venezuela in the early 1970s with particular focus on two of those empresas, Iargue that pre-existing forms of economic and social organization (whether traditional or inherited) are not necessarily contradictory with more compex forms of cooperation in production. In fact, these pre-existing arrangements often represent an important foundation for the transition to higher forms of collectivization. However this is not an automatic process and much depends on the particular approach that is used to effect the transition, as well as on contingent; external forces which impinge upon the development of these cooperatives.