The purpose of this article is to analyze the historical period in Peru known as the " Aristocratic Repub-lic" (1895-1919), paying special attention to aspects related to the commercial high point the country experi-encedin that epoch and its social and political implications. Specifically, it examines some consequences of the institutional modifications carried out after the War in the Pacific, which the landholding, commercial and fi-nancial oligarchy took advantage of to occupy positions of power and foster the multiexporter economic model that had its " golden age" during this period. Thestudy also examines the impact of implanting capitalism in a context where pre-capitalist institutions, inherited from the colonial period,prevailed, and thesingular effect of this combination on relations of power and labor, exemplified through the so-called linkage system (sistema de enganche).Finally, it analyzes how workers, concentrated in productive zones, were able to graduallyincrease their " political and union power," which made possible the improvement of theirworkingandliving conditions and contributed to the process that ended the " Aristocratic Republic" . The theoretical frameworkis a proposal that combines the theories of Douglass North regarding institutions, organizations and historical inertiawith the ideas of Raul Prebisch regarding peripheral capitalism, power relations and institutional change.