Bread and Beauty: The Cultural Politics of Jose Carlos Mariategui

Influenced by anarchism and especially by the anarcho-syndicalist Georges Sorel, the political praxis of Peruvian activist and scholar Jose Carlos Mariategui (1894-1930) deviated from the policies mandated by the Comintern. Mariategui saw that new subjectivities would be required to bring about a revolution that would not recreate bourgeois or fascist structures. A new society, he argued, required a new culture. Thus, Mariategui not only founded the Peruvian Socialist Party, but also created Amauta, a magazine that brought together the writings of the political and cultural avant-gardes.

In the spirit of this approach, Bread and Beauty not only studies the political signifi cance of cultural habits and products; it also looks at the cultural underpinnings of the political proposals found in Mariategui’s writings and actions.