Minutes of the first two Dominican Labor Conventions

English / Spanish

Ortiz, Dantes, ed. Actas de los dos primeros congresos obreros dominicanos 1920 y 1922. Santo Domingo: Archivo General de la Nación, 2007.

This publication by the Archivo General de la Nación [National Archives of the Dominican Republic] collects the minutes of the first two labor conventions which took place during the first U.S. military occupation (1916-1924) in May 15-29 of 1920 and January 26 to February 13 of 1922. This book represents a primary source of documentation which remained unpublished until 2007. It has since become a key tool that will contribute to the understanding of the origins of the Dominican labor movement and the political situation during the period of military occupation.

In essence, the minutes of the first two labor conventions present some aspects pertaining to the intellectual and political climate in which the first artisans associations, guilds and organizations of the emerging working class were created. Among the most interesting contributions in this collection are several little-known facts about the solidarity ties that characterized the relationships between nationalists, intellectuals and labor unions from Haiti and the Dominican Republic. A fact of great significance was the visit of a Haitian delegation which participated in the second labor convention (1922) in which its representatives were named honorary members of the long disappeared Confederación Dominicana de los Trabajadores [Confederation of Dominican Workers].

By Amaury Rodríguez

With the cataloging of the Actas de los dos primeros congresos obreros dominicanos 1920 y 1922 our Dominican Library  puts into the hands of historians and the general public in the United States new clues about the Dominican past.