René Zavaleta Mercado was Bolivia’s foremost social and political theorist. Born in the mining city of Oruro in 1937, he held diplomatic and ministerial posts with the Revolutionary Nationalist Movement in the late 1950s to mid 60s. In the late 60s, he aligned with the Marxist left, and in the 70s developed his creative, heterodox Marxist position that is reflected in this final work. He directed the Latin American Social Sciences Institute while in exile in Mexico City in the years before his death in 1984.