Confrontations between Evo Morales’s Movement toward Socialism (MAS)-led government and sectors of his original support base have raised concerns regarding Bolivia’s “process of change.” An empirical analysis of the Regional Workers’ Union and the Federation of Neighborhood Associations in El Alto reveals that extensive and intensive linkages forged between the MAS and its base during confrontations with conservative forces weakened their contestatory efforts and fostered internal splits that the MAS and the right-wing Unidad Nacional (UN) parties actively promoted. The upshot was the emergence of two versions of each organization that existed side-by-side, one aligned with the MAS, the other with UN, and the capacity of the base to hold the government to popular demands was greatly diminished.