Introduction

The history of capitalism is a history of class struggle. The history of the dynamics can be traced out in diverse spatial and temporal contexts, and particular conjunctures of the capitalist development process across the world. Historians with a particular interest in understanding and reconstructing the dynamics of development and resistance usually trace it back to the end of the Second World War. The period, from the 1950s to the 1970s, provides the temporal context not only for this process of capitalist accumulation and labour exploitation but also for a multifaceted class struggle. The change in the economy and in the form and dynamics of the class struggles has also led to a major shift in the locus of the struggle and the demands. The role of the class struggle has been the most slighted dimension in the academic study of Latin American development. The chapter also presents an overview on the key concepts discussed in this book.