I began this study with the object of examining what, in the early 1970s, was a widely held proposition about the role of organized labour in the political system of contemporary Mexico. Briefly, the idea had been developed that the emergence of new forms of ‘independent’ unionism would challenge the previously dominant forms of corporatist union control. The ‘official’ unions, tied to the dominant party, had been one of the major pillars of political stability in the post-war period. The development of this new form of ‘independent’ unionism, then, implied a potential threat to political stability in Mexico.

I decided to examine the behaviour of these independent unions in a single industry, the automobile industry, characterized by the coexistence of both independent and official unions. My aim was to see whether there really were important differences in behaviour between the two types of union.

The results of the empirical research suggested that there were, indeed, important differences between types of union in the auto industry, but that these differences could not be traced solely and exclusively to the dichotomy of independent versus official unionism.

As a result, I was led to explore the implications of my findings in a number of areas. On a fairly concrete level, the research presented in this book seemed to have a number of implications for theories of industrial democracy and militancy, particularly (though not exclusively) in third world countries.