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Abstract
For over 150 years, Guatemalans have pursued industrialization as a panacea for their social and economic problems. The aim of this dissertation is to describe and evaluate the history of Guatemalan industry. Throughout the study, industrialization is treated as a dynamic process that requires analysis of the political, economic, and social factors that have conditioned its development. More precisely, then, this study is an historical analysis of Guatemalan political economy.
This dissertation draws upon untapped primary sources of information in Guatemala and the United States to develop a two-tracked analysis. On one level, the political-economic context in which industrialists operated is examined. On another level, the development of certain industrial sectors and selected industrial firms is examined. One firm, the cement company of the Novella family, is repeatedly used to illuminate the dynamics of the industrialization process.
Guatemalan industrial development is traced through three main chronological periods. The development of the consumer goods industry, or the period of "easy industrialization", begins with the Liberal Revolution of 1871. The October Revolution of 1944 and the ten year period of socio-economic reform that followed it, dismantled Liberalism and accelerated industrial development. The third and final period, 1954 to the present, the period of "hard industrialization" is characterized by the development of some heavy industry.
Despite the recent industrial boom, Guatemala remains an impoverished, dependent country with a highly stratified social system. Industrialization has neither redistributed wealth nor reduced Guatemala's economic dependency. Still, Guatemalans look to industrialization to reduce their dependency and avoid revolution. While industrialization offers some hope, the dreams of prosperity can not be fulfilled without structural political and economic reform. This dissertation expresses a concern for the injustices that still plague Guatemala and hopefully contributes to our understanding of the nature of and prospects for historical change.
