The Colombian Constitutional Justice Against Bolsheviks: The Conservative Supreme Court and the Repression of the Labor Movement, 1926-1930

Abstract

The nascent industrialization of Colombia with the strengthening of the workers' movement led to rise in social conflict during the last Government of Conservative Hegemony (1926-1930). While strikes were breaking out in different parts of the country, at the same time, the influence of the Russian and Mexican revolutions caused the Government to believe that it was necessary to stop the "communist threat" and social protest. The Conservative Administration faced the "social issue" with repression: the response to the workers' movement, which demanded the recognition of their labor rights, was the use of security forces.

This article examines the role played by the Supreme Court, composed mostly of Conservative judges, who legally supported this repression and the containment of the "revolutionary threat".The article first provides an overview of the institutional and political context in the first two decades of the twentieth century in Colombia. Then, it reviews the role of the Conservative Supreme Court in the judicial review of two legal tools that the Executive approved to repress social protest: (i) decree 707 of 1927 or of High Police, which was mostly declared constitutional, and (ii) the measures of state of siege dictated to repress the “Massacre of the Banana Region” of 1928, that the Court evaluated almost three years later, when the decree had been derogated. In this way, this article highlights how the Court aligned itself with the other two branches of public power, also conservative, to legally support repression and stop the "revolutionary threat ".

Enviado el (Submission Date): 19/10/2017
Aceptado el (Acceptance Date): 23/12/2017