Notes+on+the+Mexican+Revolution

Review: Mexican Revolution

Fall of Diaz

Causes – Economic recession / U.S. depression 1906-1907 – Food crisis 1907-1910 (crop failures) – Worker’s strikes • 1906 Consolidated Copper Mine • 1907 Textile workers – Agitation of middle class reformers – Dissatisfaction of some large landholders / capitalists (Madero)

Francisco Madero --Leading critic of Diaz political machine --Family was part of elite social class with political and economic ties to Diaz --Agreed with Diaz’ liberal economic policies but wanted liberal political movement --Insisted 1910 V.P. candidate come from outside Diaz clique --Ran for president in 1910 when Diaz ignored V.P. request --Ran under Anti-Reelectionist Party ticket --Diaz jailed over 5000 supporters and Madero himself just before election Plan of San Luis Potosi --Written by Madero while in jail --Declared that 1910 elections were null and void --Madero assumed title of Provisional President --Called for free elections when conditions permitted Supporters: Pancho Villa – north. Venustiano Carranza – north, Emiliano Zapata – south, Alvaro Obregon – north, Pasqual Orozco - north

Treaty of Ciudad Juarez --Issued after capture of Juarez --Diaz flees --Ended hostilities -- Resignation of Diaz --Placed Francisco de la Berra in as provisional president

Madero elected in 1912 --Quickly is at odds with Zapata over land reform --Plan of Ayala announced by Zapata --Bernardo Reyes (Diaz aide) & Felix Diaz (nephew) attempt revolt --Madero can’t deal with the many decisions, at the mercy of aides (Huerta is commander of military)

Emiliano Zapata: Agrarian Revolutionary and Leader of landless peasants --Slogan of “Tierra y Libertad” --Called for return of land that had been taken during land concentration of Diaz

Plan de Ayala --All foreign owned lands would be seized --All lands previously taken from villages would be returned (ejidos) --1/3 of all land held by “friendly” hacendados taken for redistribution --All lands owned by enemies of Zapata movement would be taken

Madero’s Fall --Coup led by Victoriano Huerta aided by American ambassador Henry Lane Wilson --Revolt aided by release of Reyes and Felix Diaz (bombard Mexico City) --Madero is killed February 1913

Victoriano Huerta --Served as General for Diaz --Never recognized by Woodrow Wilson due to method of gaining power --Henry Lane Wilson is recalled and U.S. aids Huerta’s opponents --Wanted to reestablish a form of Diaz regime --Could never gain full control

U.S. Intervention --Tampico incident --Veracruz occupation Other Mexican leaders reacted against U.S. actions (we were expecting their support)

Huerta’s Fall --Blames U.S. -- Forced into exile by Zapatistas, Pancho Villa, Carranza and U.S. --Later attempts revolt from U.S. and is arrested and jailed

Pancho Villa --Also agrarian revolutionary with different land reform plan --All land confiscated would be used for revolution by govt. and distributed after revolution ends --Supporters were small ranchers, cowboys and other unemployed --Created well-equipped and well paid professional army --Most formidable of Carranza’s military opponents

Venustiano Carranza --Governor of state of Coahuila --Dissident member of landowning elite --Believed Mexico needed “energetic middle class” --Huerta’s most dangerous enemy --Issues Plan de Guadalupe (March 1913) to counter Plan de Ayala --Took control of Mexico City in July 1914

Plan de Guadalupe --Carranza assumed leadership of rebellion against Huerta --Declared Huerta’s claim to power to be illegitimate --Declared himself “First Chief of the Constitutionalist Army” --Followed by edicts stating: (Obregon) --Restoration of ejidos and establishing national agrarian commission --Called for improved conditions of poor

Aguascaliente Convention --Convention of Zapata’s, Villa’s and Carranza’s supporters --Carranza moves to Veracruz for “safety” --Villa’s troops take control of convention hall --Adopts Plan de Ayala Conventionists v. Constitutionalists --Carranza consolidates power --Chaos during this period --Obregon pushes Villa north and Zapata continues to attack in the south --Carranza moves to Mexico City --Call for a constitutional convention in 1916, which takes place in 1917 U.S. Expedition --Pancho Villa, reacting to embargo, raids Columbus, NM --Woodrow Wilson sends General Pershing into Mexico to capture and punish Villa --Carranza opposes action, sees this as a "foreign invasion" of Mexico --Pershing’s expedition is unsuccessful and finally recalled

Constitutional Convention: Constitution of 1917 --Carranza presents draft of recommendations that show little social change, no agrarian reform and limited regard for labor --Control of Convention taken by radicals --Final document was more liberal than Carranza had intended --Article 3 - Secular education --Article 27 - Land reform --Article 123 - Labor reform --Article 130 - Restrictions on Church --Article 3 -Compulsory elementary education -Public education will be free -Prohibited religion from having any influence in public education --Article 27 -Nation is the original owner of all lands, waters and subsoil -State could expropriate with compensation -Nullifys acts passed since the Land Law of 1856 transferring ownership of the ejidos --Article 123 -8 hour work day -Prohibited child labor -Equal pay for equal work -Wages must be paid in legal tender not goods, tokens or vouchers -Right to bargain collectively, organize and strike --Article 130 -Nation can not create law establishing religion -Marriage was a civil contract -Only individuals born in Mexico can be "ministers" -Limited property ownership by church

Carranza's Move to the Right in His Final Years --Did not fully implement the Constitution --Received de jure recognition from the U.S. --Remained neutral in World War I --Announced that Article 27 was retroactive (U.S. very upset)

Carranza's Fall --Carranza's term ends in 1920 --He supports Ignacio Bonillas (ambassador to the U.S.) who he could control --Obregon comes out of retirement to run --Carranza attempts to manipulate electoral process in favor of Bonillas --Obregon and Adolfo de la Huerta led revolt to oust Carranza --Carranza loads train full of bullion and heads for Veracruz

Obregon's presidency --Elected to office in special election, assumes control in November 1920 --Pragmatic business approach to government --Sought accomodation with all groups except reactionary clergy and landlords --Modern version of "pan o palo”

Obregon's Policies --Land reform --Labor --Education --Indigenismo --U.S. relationship

Land Reform under Obregon --Agrarian reform was useful safety valve for peasant discontent --Created national agrarian commission which oversaw state commissions --Power to expropriate hacendado land for landless villages --Paid for with 20 year bonds --Reform proceeded slowly due to: --Litigation by landlords --Armed resistance by landlords --Opposition by clergy --3 million acres distributed --320 million acres in hands of hacendados --Even with land, failure occurred as government did not provide: seeds, tools, adequate credit or training

Labor under Obregon --Encouraged labor to organize --Confederacion Regional Obrera Mexicana (CROM) - labor union headed by Luis

Morones --Ties to Samuel Gompers and the AFL in the United States --Semi-official status, supported by the government --Coopted by Obregon

Education --Jose Vasconcelos - Secretary of Education --Created new type of rural school, La Casa del Pueblo (The House of the People) -Designed to serve all of village -Three Rs, art, music, sports, theater, instruction in sanitation and agriculture -Idealistic but at times unprepared teachers -Itinerant teachers were sent to train those in the villages --Murals on public buildings --Conflict between new secular schools and religious schools -Priest denounced secular education --Obregon did not enforce Article 3 of the Constitution (ban on religious primary schools) -In the absence of state resources better to be taught by priest than stay illiterate

Indigenismo --Reassessment of Indian cultural heritage, pushing the greatness of old Indian arts --Manuel Gamio - director of Office of Anthropology (1st in Americas) --Study of Teotihuacan --Preserve & restore cultural heritage --Amass data for sound plan of economic and social recovery --Partisans of Revolution idealized Aztec Mexico

U.S. Relationship under Obregon --Problem with retroactivity of Article 27 (Obregon will not openly state nonretroactivity) --U.S. withholds diplomatic recognition of the Obregon government --Obregon compromises --threat of counterrevolutionary coup against selection of Plutarco Calles as successor Bucareli Agreement - August 1923 --Obregon confirms nonretroactivity --U.S. gives formal recognition to Obregon government Coup attempt - December 1923 --put down coup with military supplies purchased from the U.S.

Calles' Presidency --Dominates the next decade of Mexican politics --Continued on foundations of Obregon --Radical rhetoric - pragmatic policy

Calles' Economic and Land Policies --Rapid growth of national capitalism Creation of National Bank --strengthens fiscal/monetary policy National Road Commission organized National Electric Codes enacted --stimulates growth of construction and consumer goods industries Aid given to industry (foreign and domestic) --protective tariffs --subsidies

Land reform --distribution increased from Obregon --over twice as much land distributed 8 million hectares – problems --Hacendados were able to choose the land they gave up, most of it was not arable --Calles did not provide tools or other items to make the land productive

Calles' Economic and Land Policies --Government bank was created to lend money to ejidos --4/5 of money went to the hacendados because of superior credit ratings --Land reform judged a failure because the grain production of 1930 was below the production of 1910 --Calles concluded peasant proprietorship was not economically desirable and ended land redistribution

Labor --Trade unions serve two purposes --keep growing power of capitalism in check --barricade in the event of attack on capitalists Labor began to split from CROM form independent unions --disillusioned with corrupt leaders and low wages

Conflict with U.S. -- Calles welcomed foreign capital but believed that Mexico had the right to regulate the conditions surrounding it

1925 dispute over land ownership

Mexican Congress passes laws implementing Article 27 --Oil ownership becomes a lease arrangement --exchange title for 50 year concession (lease agreement) --possible 30 year renewal --possible further extension

Mexican view – Eliminated vagueness and gave oil companies firm titles. Stopped calls for outright nationalization of oil

Oil Company view --Law was confiscatory, they threatened to drill without confirming concessions --American hardliners were "saber rattling" --American ambassador "there is little white blood in Calle's government" --Secretary of State Kellog stated that there were "Bolshevik aims in Mexico and Latin America"

Intervention was stopped by arguments from: --progressive senators --press, church, academic groups --realization that war with Mexico would have little national support Dwight Morrow appointed Ambassador to Mexico Negotiated an understanding with Calles concerning the time limitation on concessions Mexican Supreme Court ruled that aspect of the law unconstitutional Crisis was averted --Law still provided for confirmatory concessions and reaffirmed national ownership of the subsoil

Religious Conflict: Church v. modernizing thrust of the Revolution --January 1926 the church heirarchy disavowed the Constitution --Calles enforces dormant anti-clerical clauses of the Constitution Calles law --registration of priests --closing of all religious primary schools --Church suspended all services in Mexico and boycotted all goods except necessities --Militant Catholics took up arms - Cristeros (Catholic guerrillas) --government schools and young teachers were targets --government repression was severe

Presidential Election 1928: Deal between Calles and Obregon --supporters in Congress change the Constitution to allow former presidents to be reelected after one term --term was extended from 4 to 6 years --Two opponents for the office conspire against Obregon and Calles --Calles has them arrested and shot --Obregon is elected, then three weeks later he is assassinated by a fanatical Cristero in Mexico City

Calles - "El jefe maximo" --Calles places three different men in the office of president to fulfill Obregon's term but he is the power behind the office. Each one resigns after displeasing "el jefe" --Military uprising is crushed in 1929, the "last hurrah" of the military caudillos

National Revolutionary Party (PNR) --Calles institutionalizes the rule of the "revolutionary family" (military and political leaders since 1920) --Under different names this party has been ruling Mexico since 1929. --Their official presidential candidate had never lost until the election of Vincente Fox, the present president of Mexico.

National Revolutionary Party (PNR) --After consolidating power the "revolutionary family" turns conservative --shift coincides with beginning of the Great Depression

By 1933 a progressive wing of PNR emerges with General Lazaro Cardenas as leader of the reformers --has been a part of the inner circle of the party --1930 Cardenas was named Party Chairmen --1934 elections Cardenas is nominated by the Party ( with Calles blessing) for the presidency --seen as a concession to reformers in the party --Calles thought he would remain loyal --cabinet was hand picked by Calles

Cardenas' Programs --Established a Six Year Plan --Mexican Revolution continues under Cardenas --Established a spirit of service in the bureaucracy --Closed down the gambling houses --Cut his own salary in 1/2

Agrarian Reform under Cardenas --Land distribution on large scale --Ejido was the focal point of agrarian reform --land given to both the ejido (communal) and the rancho (individual land) --where appropriate large collective farms were established --government provided seeds, machinery and credit --45 million acres of land distributed --productivity was increased Structural defects of reforms --conceived to satisfy land hunger instead of real agricultural development --ejidal parcel was very small --land distributed was often of poor quality --technical assistance was often inadequate

Labor Reform under Cardenas --Corrupts leaders are removed --Confederacion de Trobajadores Mexicanos (CTM) replaces CROM --Strikes supported by government (where appropriate)

Fall of Calles --All of these actions angered Calles, he begin to plot against Cardenas --Cardenas calls for the resignation of the cabinet and forms and new Anti-Calles cabinet --By 1935 Cardenas is the master of Mexico. --1936 Calles is deported for "plotting against the government"

PRM - Party of the Mexican Revolution --Cardenas reorganized and purged the party of Calles influence. --It emerges as the PRM --The three pillars of this party are labor, the peasantry and the army.

Oil Crisis --American and British oil companies v. workers unions --Strike leads to arbitration --Arbitration finding is scaled down from original union demands but the companies refuse to settle

March 18, 1938 Cardenas nationalized the oil companies

Economic Independence? --Action was not a precedent, 90% of mining was still in foreign hands --U.S. took no strong action due to --Good Neighbor Policy being in effect under Franklin Roosevelt --Ambassador to Mexico understood Cardenas policy and reasons --Timing of the move was also fortunate --War in Europe was looming --Cardenas announced Mexico would pay all just claims

Cardenas’ Presidency was the highwater mark for the reform movement

In 1940 election, Avila Camancho, loyal to Cardenas but more conservative, was elected president