AbstractThis article explores the functioning of the state‐system and the emergence of a particular state‐idea in early twentieth century Ecuador by analysing relations between Indians and the state in labor recruitment for municipal public works construction in the Andean region of Alausí. The idea of the state as a dispenser of equal justice was successfully called on by indigenous peons in their resistance to forced labor recruitment by local officials of the state. The enhancement of this idea of the state simultaneously undermined the functioning of the state‐system at the local level, and legitimized central state aut