Social revolutions, which frequently use the press as a propaganda weapon, have been rare in Latin America despite the striking social inequalities of the region. Only three classic socioeconomic revolutions have unfolded in the hemisphere--in Mexico in 1910, in Bolivia in 1952, and in Cuba in 1959. Bolivia attempted to effect radical reforms through the democratic process, until the military seized the revolution in 1964. The press was decisive in fomenting and implementing the Bolivian National Revolution (1952-1964), guided by the political group known as the Movimiento Nacionalists Revolucionario (MNR). It is this phenomenon that this study examines. The Bolivian National Revolution would not have succeeded if the MNR had not aroused and sustained the social conscience of the small middle class through newspapers and literature. "La Nacion," official newspaper spokesman of the revolution for 12 years, declared, "Traditionally, the MNR is a party of journalists. The founding staff was (in 1941) almost totally composed of newspapermen. As the years passed, those men occupied high functions in the government and in diplomacy, but almost always as a consequence of their activity displayed in the press." (TO)