Trabajadores de la yerba mate o los esclavos blancos en los bosques del nordeste. Argentina al principio del siglo XX

In 1908, three different newspapers in Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay published numerous articles by Julián Bouvier about labor abuses in the yerbales. By employing scandalous rhetoric and the themes of slavery, race, gender, and child labor, Bouvier’s writings caught the attention of a wide audience. Capita-lists who benefited from the yerbales denied the accusations, the bourgeois press published informative articles and opinion pieces on the topic, Socialists took up the cause, government officials ordered investigations, and men of letters explored the theme in literature, film, and music. Bouvier’s writings fit with the literature of the period that addressed the social question: concern about the poverty and poor living conditions faced by the poor and working classes. While most critiques focused on urban workers, some journalists like Bouvier and government officials wrote about the situation of rural workers. Published in La Vanguardia, the official newspaper of the Socialist party, Bouvier’s articles fit well with socialist efforts to expose labor abuses and the problem of latifundio. As a series of chronicles that inspired short stories, novels, and film, his articles also engage with both journalism and literature. In sum, Bouvier’s writings turned the figure of the yerba worker into a symbol of capitalist exploitation –a perception that persists to this day.