Local Workers' Federation
Federación Obrera Local | |
 FOL demonstration in La Paz in 1930 | |
| Abbreviation | FOL |
|---|---|
| Merged into | Bolivian Workers' Center |
| Formation | 1926 |
| Dissolved | 1953 |
| Type | Trade union federation |
| Location |
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| Coordinates | 16°29′45″S 68°08′00″W / 16.49583°S 68.13333°W |
| Members | 50,000 (1947) |
General Secretary | Luciano Vertíz Blanco |
Main organ | La Humanidad (1928) |
| Affiliations | |
| Part of a series on |
| Anarcho-syndicalism |
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The Local Workers' Federation (Spanish: Federación Obrera Local; FOL) was a Bolivian anarcho-syndicalist trade union federation, based in La Paz. Established in 1926 by anarchist trade unions from several sectors, it quickly grew to become the leading trade union organization in the Bolivian capital, attracting the adhesion of the city's predominantly indigenous working class. It established a Women Workers' Federation in 1927, led a strike for an eight-hour working day in 1928 and participated in the formation of the American Continental Workers' Association in 1929. By the time of the Great Depression, the FOL had gained the support of trade unions in Oruro, led the formation of a national trade union confederation and made plans to carry out a social revolution against the government, but each of these efforts were suppressed following the rise of a military dictatorship in the country.
The FOL was driven underground during the Chaco War, but reorganized shortly after the Bolivian defeat and participated in the 1936 Bolivian coup d'état, which established a socialist state in the country. Due to its anarchist orientation, the FOL quickly came into conflict with the new government. Following the 1946 La Paz riots, which the FOL took a leading role in, the anarchists re-consolidated their control over the city's labor movement. They also established the Departmental Agrarian Federation, which organized indigenous rural workers in the region and led a rebellion against large landowners and the government. The rebellion was suppressed and the FOL went into a decline. Following the Bolivian National Revolution of 1952, it merged into the Bolivian Workers' Center, which became the main trade union federation in the country.