Inca Empire Marxism

As the Spanish colonial system was dismantled in the 19th century, power transitioned from Peninsulares to wealthy Criollos, and the gleaming concern of the “Indian Problem” prevailed among the indigenous population. The conquistadors conquered Latin American and among them the Inca Empire, a great empire that brought under its governance several distinct indigenous groups. The Spanish forwent replacing a governing body for these people but instead brought forth a monarchy that disregarded the native peoples as citizens. With wealthy and power now in the hands of the criollo elite, indigenous peoples were living in a form of feudalism; the elite owned the land while the Indians worked it. Jose Carlos Mariátegui, a native of Peru, became a revolutionary force for indigenous people of South America, specifically Peru in the early 20th century. He sought to use his ideas of Marxism and socialism to solve the “Indian Problem” and in doing so reestablishing the Inca Empire.

The Inca Empire was centralized around the capital Cuzco where it was then divided into four major regions, followed by provinces, districts then finally kin groups (19-21). The Inca Empire was very much a communist power with the smallest political unit being the kuraka.

Marx would have described the kuraka as primitive communism. At this base unit was a chieftain and then the ayllu or and an extended kin group. Members of the ayllu labored together for their leaders where they received reciprocal benefits of their socialist network. At one elevation an ayllu would specialize in fishing and produce a surplus of food that is then traded with another ayllu at another elevation for llama wool, maize, cotton, coca or other