JULIAN REVOLUTION: CAUSES, CHARACTERISTICS AND CONSEQUENCES - HISTORY - 2025

The Juliana Revolution was a civic-military insurrection that took place in Ecuador on July 9, 1925. That day, a group of young military officers, called the Military League, overthrew the government chaired by Gonzalo Córdova. As a result of the revolt, the country came to be governed by a Governing Board, made up of 8 members.

The period of the Julian Revolution lasted until August 1931. During those years, Ecuador was governed by two provisional Government Boards, by an interim presidency exercised by Isidro Ayora and, finally, by a constitutional presidency occupied by Ayora himself.

JS Vargas Skulljujos (Isidro Ayora -Palacio de Carondelet) -) - via Wikipedia Commons under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license, Since the end of the previous century, Ecuador had a great problem with economic debt. Their own banks were in charge of granting the loans and their power had grown so great that, in practice, they controlled the government. This problem was compounded by the custom of these banks to offer money without the backing of gold.

The governments that emerged from the Julian Revolution tried to put an end to this plutocratic system. Its main characteristic was its determination to modernize the country, both economically and socially.

Causes

According to historians, Ecuador began to request loans almost from its foundation as a Republic in 1830. At that time, it was forced to resort to private banks and, especially, to the powerful bank of Guayaquil. This became the economic source for successive governments to cover state expenses.

Among other things, the different Ecuadorian governments requested loans from private banks in order to build infrastructure in the country.

Unpayable debt

In 1924, the Ecuadorian State had become so indebted to the Guayaquil bank that the debt was unpayable. Among the creditors, the Commercial and Agricultural Bank stood out, chaired by Francisco Urbina Jurado.

Most of the money that the banks lent to the state was not backed by gold. In reality, they were notes issued by the banks themselves, with the authorization of the government, without any real financial backing.

This practice, started by Banco Comercial y Agrícola, was copied by other banking institutions. For them, issuing tickets out of nowhere and lending them to the government was a profitable business.

From a certain point on, each private bank began to issue its own notes, from those that were equivalent to a sucre to others with much more value.

Reaction to plutocracy

The situation described above did not take long to lead to a true plutocracy, the rule of the richest. The powerful private banks, thanks to the debt, became the real power in the shadow.

Some chronicles call this system bancocracia, with the Banco Comercial y Agrícola de Guayaquil being its most important symbol. This entity, which had ties to the US banking system, acquired so much power that it began to issue the national currency.

In the end, he could run the government at will, manipulate the currency exchange, or throw the economy out of balance when it suited his interests.

The Julian Revolution broke out to try to end this situation, returning real power to the institutions and to try to carry out policies favorable to the middle and lower classes.

Lack of democracy

The dominant oligarchy had sponsored a series of laws that limited public freedoms. Thus, political meetings were prohibited and freedom of the press was non-existent.

On the other hand, many experts point out that the elections used to be rigged to favor the ruling parties.

Massacre of Workers in Guayaquil

Although it occurred three years before the Julian Revolution began, the Guayaquil strike and the subsequent massacre are considered one of its causes and, at the same time, a sign of the unsustainable situation in the country.

In 1922, the country was going through a serious economic crisis. Cocoa, the main product that Ecuador exported and grown on the coast, had fallen in price abruptly.

The cost of living increased and inflation (prices) increased considerably. The population had no resources to survive, which led to their organizing to protest.

In November 1922 a general strike had been called in Guayaquil. It started at the beginning of the month and lasted until the middle of that month. On the 13th, the strikers took the city. The government's response was a massacre that left 1,500 dead.

Economic destabilization

On September 1, 1914, Gonzalo S. Córdova acceded to the Presidency of Ecuador. At that time, the economic situation was very serious. The money issued without backing by the banks had destabilized the entire system, something that especially affected the middle and lower classes.

On the other hand, many popular sectors had organized and were not willing to endure another presidential term based on repression and the economic power of the banks.

characteristics

The Julian Revolution and the governments that emerged from it were characterized by their attempt to reform the state. In this sense, they looked for a way to establish a social state, leaving plutocracy behind.

Search for a social state

The actions of the leaders of the Julian Revolution focused on two main fields: the social question and financial interventionism.

During the first Board, political action prevailed in the national interest over private business. To do this, it began to supervise the banks, created the income tax and one on profits. Similarly, a Ministry of Social Welfare and Labor appeared.

As a final element of the Revolution, a good part of these reforms were included in the Constitution of 1929. In addition, it granted the right to vote to women and introduced the criteria for carrying out an agrarian reform.

Kemmerer mission

In the economic aspect, the Julian Revolution set itself the objective of reforming all the legislation in this regard.

To do this, he had the support of the Kemmerer Mission, a group of experts led by Edwin Kemmerer, who advised several Latin American countries during those years. His advice led to the creation of the Central Bank and other financial institutions.

State reform

The Julian, as has been pointed out, wanted to carry out an in-depth reform of the country. His intention was to modernize the state to overcome its recurring problems since independence. To do so, it was essential to end the plutocratic political models.

Ideologically, these young military men were inspired by nationalistic and social concepts. The First Board had a socialist leader, while Ayora always positioned himself in favor of improvements for the most disadvantaged

Consequences

On July 9, 1925, a group of young military men rose up against the government of Gonzalo Córdova. The first consequence was the creation of a provisional Governing Board, which would be followed by a second and place a period in which Isidro Ayora held the presidency.

According to the chroniclers, the Revolution had a wide support among the middle and lower limes. His work focused on reforming the financial and economic fabric and granting social rights.

First Provisional Government Board

The first Junta was made up of five civilians and two military personnel. He ruled between July 10, 1925 and January 9, 1926, with Louis Napoleon Dillon being his visible head.

During that period, they undertook actions to modernize the state. They formed a committee to draft a new Constitution, the Ministry of Social Welfare and Labor was created, and the Kemmerer Mission was hired to assist in the mission of renewing public finances.

Already during this time, Dillon proposed the founding of an Ecuadorian central bank. Thus, it stripped private banks of the power acquired for decades by being the only ones who lent money to the State.

This project counted, as was foreseeable, with the opposition of the financial entities, which ended up causing an interregional conflict.

Second Provisional Governing Board

The Second Governing Board lasted only three months, until March 31, 1926. During his government, work continued to modernize the economic system.

At that time, discrepancies began to appear within the group of soldiers who were leading the Revolution. An uprising, which occurred on February 8, 1926 and quickly put down, caused the Junta to cede power to Isidro Ayora. He held the position as provisional President, on the condition that he did not suffer interference from the military.

Presidency of Isidro Ayora

Isidro Ayora was, first, provisional President and later to occupy the position constitutionally. Among its most important measures are the creation of the Central Bank, as well as its monetary policy. In the latter area, he set the value of the sucre at 20 cents, which represented a large devaluation of the currency.

Likewise, it decreed the return to the gold standard and froze the cash reserves of the issuing banks. Along with this, he founded the Central Bank for Issuance and Amortization, which became the only entity authorized to issue currency.

With these measures, Ayora eliminated part of the circumstances that had given so much power to private banks.

Regarding social measures, Ayera created the Banco Hipotecario, the Caja de Pensiones and enacted several labor laws. Among these, the setting of the maximum working day, Sunday rest and protection for maternity and dismissal.

On March 26, 1929, the Constituent Assembly delivered the new Magna Carta, which included measures to modernize the State.

Constitution of 1929

The promulgation of the Constitution of 1929 is possibly the most important consequence of the Julian Revolution. After its approval, Congress increased its power, decreasing that accumulated up to that moment by the President.

Among other laws, the Magna Carta emphasized education, incorporating measures on primary, secondary and higher education in its articles.

The 1929 Constitution is considered the most advanced in terms of social rights and guarantees of all those that had previously existed in Ecuador. It included habeas corpus, the right to vote for women, the limitation of agricultural property, and the representation of political minorities.

References

1. Encyclopedia of Ecuador. Julian Revolution. Obtained from encyclopediadelecuador.com
2. Make yourself see Ecuador. The Julian Revolution of July 9, 1925. Obtained from hazteverecuador.com
3. EcuRed. Julian Revolution. Obtained from ecured.cu
4. Naranjo Navas, Cristian. Central Bank of Ecuador, 1927: among Dictatorship, Revolution and Crisis. Recovered from revistes.ub.edu
5. Carlos de la Torre, Steve Striffler. The Ecuador Reader: History, Culture, Politics. Recovered from books.google.es
6. Central Bank of Ecuador. Historical Review of the Central Bank of Ecuador. Obtained from bce.fin.ec
7. The Biography. Biography of Isidro Ayora Cueva (1879-1978). Retrieved from thebiography.us