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Nationalism and Class Conflict in Mexico, 1910-1920*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 December 2015

Douglas W. Richmond*
Affiliation:
University of Texas, Arlington, Texas

Extract

During the Mexican Revolution, nationalism and class conflict became two of the most pervasive aspects of the social upheaval that swept Mexico. Class conflict became so intense that workers did not respond to the bourgeois leader Francisco Madero after he assumed power in 1911. Emiliano Zapata and Francisco Villa also failed to attract urban workers or unite the nation. Venustiano Carranza eventually articulated a version of nationalism that responded to class conflict by promising to alleviate the grim features of Mexican society that required reform. In Mexico as well as many other countries after the nineteenth century, nationalism prevailed over class conflict during periods of crisis.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Academy of American Franciscan History 1987

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Footnotes

*

An abbreviated version of this study was presented at the annual meeting of the Southwestern Social Science Association in Fort Worth on March 22, 1984. The author would like to thank Linda Hall and Henry C. Schmidt for their comments. Travel grants from the University of Texas at Arlington Organized Research Fund financed the research for much of this study.

References

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25 This dispute is explained in Archivo General del Estado de Coahuila, Saltillo, Mexico (hereafter cited as AGEC), legajo 304, tomo 1, expediente 11,212.

26 Outlined in AGEC, leg. 293, expediente 11,148 and Subsecretaría de Gobernación to Carranza, July 26, 1911, AGEC, legajo 293, expedients 11,154.

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32 A tangible document is “La Casa del Obrero Mundial,” undated memo in Archivo General de la Nación, Mexico City, Ramo de la Revolución (hereafter cited as AGN ), legajo política interior.

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35 Ashby, , Organized Labor and the Mexican Revolution, p. 9 Google Scholar; Salazar, and Escobedo, ,.MDBO/ Las pugnas de la gleba, 1, 42–7.Google Scholar

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37 Navarro, Moisés González, México: el capitalismo nacionalista, (Mexico City, 1970), pp. 197–8.Google Scholar

38 Valdés, Maximino, Impresiones de México por el Conde de Fox, (Mexico City, 1918), pp. 401–2Google Scholar; Richmond, Douglas W., “Confrontation and Reconciliation: Mexicans and Spaniards during the Mexican Revolution, 1910–1920,” The Americas, 41:2 (Oct. 1984), 215228.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

39 Huerta decree of March 27, 1914, AREM, leg. 1579, expediente de Victoriano Huerta; Confidential agent S. Ζ. Nieto to Venustiano Carranza, Sept. 27, 1915, Centro de Estudios de Historia de México, Mexico City, Manuscritos de don Venustiano Carranza (hereafter cited as AC); Agent Equis to foreign relations ministry, Dec. 19, 1916), AREM, Leg. 725, expediente 61-R-3, p. 439.

40 The best research on anti-Chinese activities is Cumberland, Charles C., “The Sonora Chinese and the Mexican Revolution,” Hispanic American Historical Review, 40 (May, 1960), 191211 CrossRefGoogle Scholar. For a discussion of the vice question and other aspects of the Chinese, see Richmond, Douglas W., “Factional Political Strife in Coahuila, 1910–1920,” Hispanic American Historical Review, 60 Feb. 1980), 4968.CrossRefGoogle Scholar Wang Dan Woo to Carranza, Oct. 22, 1915, AC.

41 F. Yang to Carranza, Feb. 18, 1915, AC; Chinese colony to governor Ramon Iturbe and Carranza, April 19, 1915, AC.

42 Navarro, González, Mexico: el capitalismo nacionalista, pp. 204–6.Google Scholar For Carranza’s rise to power, see Richmond, , Venustiano Carranza’s Nationalist Struggle, pp. 1–82.Google Scholar

43 Memo of June 14, 1915, AC. Justo Aceredo to Carranza, Nov. 4, 1919, AC and A. Arévalo to Carranza, June 5, 1919, AC.

44 Mexican consul in San Antonio to Carranza, July 9, 1919, AC; Federico Guillermo Voos to Carranza, July 21, 1919, AC.

45 Luis Roever to Carranza, Aug. 28, 1916, AC.

46 Carranza to Heriberto Barrón, April 29, 1916, AC. A thorough study of German aims in Mexico is Katz, Friedrich, The Secret War in Mexico: Europe, the United States and the Mexican Revolution, (Chicago, 1981).Google Scholar

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48 Salazar, Rosendo, La Casa del Obrero Mundial, (Mexico City, 1962), p. 181.Google Scholar

49 The outlook of a food seller representative is in J. Zamora to Carranza, Aug. 11, 1919, AC. Also, see Nava to Jesús Acuna, Oct. 23, 1915. AREM. leg. 794, fol. 88-R-31, p. 106.

50 Nava to Carranza, Sept. 24, 1916, AC. Other reports of starvation are in Programa de Historia Oral, Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (hereafter cited as PHO), interview no. 1/8, p. 68. 508 Rio Blanco factory workers to Carranza, May 5, 1915, AC; Margaricio Nava to Carranza, May 24, 1916. AC.

51 Various federal district signatories to Carranza, Aug. 25, 1914, AC; Cd. González resident to Carranza, June 16, 1916, AC.

52 Fifteen telegraph workers to Carranza, Sept. 29, 1916, AC. Secretary General of Unión de Empleados y Obreros de la Cia. de Travias de México to Carranza, June 16, 1916, AC.

53 On April 11, 1916 governor Simón Diaz told Carranza that he could not obtain “even a grain” of bread from the states of Colima, Oaxaca, or Chiapas because of uncooperative authorities in AC, letter of that date.

54 Gonzalo Sánchez to Carranza, Oct. 18, 1916, AC.

55 Tuxpan port workers to Carranza, Aug. 23, 1919, AC.

56 Cumberland, Charles C., Mexican Revolution: The Constitutionalist Years, (Austin, 1972), pp. 397398.Google Scholar

57 González Roa, Fernando, El aspecto agrario de la Revolución Mexicana, (México, 1919), pp. 169170,Google Scholar 175.

58 Beals, Carleton, Mexico: An Interpretation, (New York, 1923), pp. 115116.Google Scholar

59 Twenty-nine Tepic citizens to Carranza, Feb. 15, 1916, AC.

60 10 San Marcos villagers to Carranza, Aug. 25, 1915, AC. For a detailed chronology of this dispute, see Secretaria de Reforma Agraria, Mexico City, Archivo del Ley de Seis de Enero de 1915,

61 J. Cruz Ramírez to Carranza, Feb. 25, 1916, AC.

62 José Soberanes to Carranza, Oct. 11, 1916, AC.

63 Municipality of Lafragua, Puebla to Carranza, Oct. 22, 1915, AC; village of San Miguel de Emén-guara, Guanajuato to Carranza, Nov. 13, 1915, AC; Merchant from Soto La Marina, Guanajuato to Carranza, May 12, 1916, AC.

64 Thompson, Wallace, Trading with Mexico, (New York, 1931), p. 209.Google Scholar

65 Dean of Artistas Dramáticas to Carranza, May 4, 1916, AC.

66 Mexico City writer to Carranza, Oct. 24, 1916, AC.

67 Agencia Confidential report to Caranza, Oct. 19, 1915, AC.

68 Puebla resident to Carranza, Feb. 8, 1915, AC; Carlos Ramírez to Carranza, May 17, 1915, AC.

69 A very extensive spy apparatus proposed by security officials is outlined in J. Nava to Carranza, March 16, 1915, AC. Typical denouncements are 7 federal district employees to Carranza, March 10, 1916, AC and G. Narváez to Carranza, April 20, 1915, AC. Similar undercurrents are in Veracruz supporter to Carranza, April 16, 1915, AC; Valentín Pérez to Carranza, Nov. 11, 1915, AC.

70 Yxtaltepec, Oaxaca informant to Carranza, Feb. 28, 1915, AC. Carranza endorsed this list with the notation, “READ.”

71 J. G. Nava to Carranza, dec. 9, 1915, AC.

72 Ramón Frausto to Carranza, Aug. 30, 1916, AC; Municipal president of Guanajuato to Carranza, Sept. 25, 1916, TVC, Guanajuato, carpeta 3. Carranza (hereafter cited as TVC), Guanajuato, carpeta 3.

73 General Manuel M. Diéguez to Carranza, April 11, 1919, AC.

74 136 soldiers from Matamoros to Carranza, March 8, 1916, AC.

75 Eliseo Arredondo to Carranza, Oct. 18, 1919, AC.

76 P.A. del Alijaya to Carranza, April 21, 1913, AC.

77 Carranza, Venustiano, El régimen constitucionalista, (Mexico City, 1919),Google Scholar decreto numero 23 de 11 de marzo de 1914, pp. 59–60. Interview with Lic. Ignacio Ramos Praslow, PHO, 1/35, pp. 14–15.

78 Written authorization of Pablo González, Dec. 4, 1913, Centro de Estudios de Historia de México, Mexico City, Manuscritos de Manuel González (hereafter cited as MMG), carpeta 8, no 852.

79 Governor of Yucatán to Carranza, Oct. 7, 1914, AC.

80 González to general Jesús Carranza, April 30, 1914, MMG, carpeta 15, no. 2210; Jesús Carranza to Avila, July 5, 1914, AC.

81 Carranza to Pedro de. V. Ryes, Jan. 7, 1915, AC.

82 Moats, Leone B., Thunder in their Veins, (New York, 1932), p. 155 Google Scholar; Salazar, , La Casa del Obrero Mundial, p. 80.Google Scholar For a survey of Carranza's reforms, see Richmond, Douglas W., “El nacionalismo de Carranza y los cambios socioeconómicos, 1915–1920,” Historia Mexicana, 26 (July-Sept. 1976), 107–31.Google Scholar

83 This theme is illustrated vividly in two poignant novels written by Fuentes, Carlos, La région mas transparente, (Mexico City, 1958)Google Scholar and La muerte de Artemio Cruz, (Mexico City, 1962).

84 Richmond, , Venustiano Carranza’s Nationalist Struggle, pp. 83240.Google Scholar

85 Milpa Alta villagers to Carranza, June 2, 1918, AC.

86 For a brief analysis of Carranza’s government, see Richmond, Douglas W.. “Carranza: The Authoritarian Populist as Nationalist President,” in Wolfskill, George and Richmond, Douglas W., eds. Essays on the Mexican Revolution. (Austin, 1979), pp. 4780.Google Scholar A truly excellent study of Carranza’s diplomacy within the context of his reforms is Freeman Smith, Robert, The United States and Revolutionary Nationalism in Mexico, 1916–1932, (Chicago, 1972).Google Scholar

87 370 Guadlajara munitions workers to Carranza, June 23, 1916, AC.

88 Interview with José López, PHO, 1/2, pp. 1–7.

89 Tapachula resident to Carranza, Nov. 16, 1915, AC.

90 José María Goribar to Carranza, Feb. 12, 1915, AC; Francisco Lizardi to Carranza, April 6, 1916, AC; Miguel A. Calapir to Carranza, Oct. 18, 1916, AC.

91 Turner, Frederick C., The Dynamic of Mexican Nationalism, (Chapel Hill, 1968), p. 212 Google Scholar; Navarro, González, Mexico: El capitalismo nacionalista, p. 219.Google Scholar

92 Secretary of State Robert Lansing to Special Representative Rodgers, June 22, 1916, Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, (Washington, D.C., 1923), 1916, p. 695. Ticotern-calf to Carranza, Aug. 31, 1914, AC; Gonzalo R. Zamarrieta to Carranza, May 4, 1916, AC; Juan Barragán Rodríguez to Carranza, May 10, 1916, AC; Turner, , The Dynamic of Mexican Nationalism, pp. 70–2,Google Scholar 216–8.

93 Various students to Carranza, June 19, 1916, AC; Alfonso de la Garza to Carranza, June 20, 1916, AC; Moisés Guevara to Carranza, Dec. 12, 1918, AC; L’Ambardin to Carranza, Feb. 13, 1915, AC.

94 Railroad workers to Carranza, Aug. 25, 1919, AC.

95 Carr, Barry, “Marxism and Anarchism in the Formation of the Mexican Communist Party, 1910–1919,” Hispanic American Historical Review, 63 (May, 1983), 277–8CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Cantú, Gastón García, El Socialismo en Mexico, (Mexico City, 1969).Google Scholar

96 George Brémond to Carranza, May 24, 1915, AC; Ortiz Rubio to Carranza, April 11, 1915, AC.

97 Joseph, G. M., Revolution from without: Yucatán, Mexico, and the United States, 1880–1924, (New York, 1982), pp. 109–82.Google Scholar

98 Declaration of the Principles Accepted by the First National Socialist Congress, Held in Mexico City on the 25 of August to the 4th of September, 1919, Records of the Internal Affairs of Mexico, 1910–1929, Microcopy No. 274 (hereafter cited as RDS), 812.202 (0433).

99 Undated, confidential memo no. 1346, probably Nov. 1919, RDS. 812.202 (0431–0432). Fuentes, Manuel Marquez and Araujo, Octavio Rodríguez, El Partido Comunista Mexicano, (Mexico City, 1973), pp. 54,Google Scholar 60–1, 85, 87, 93.

100 Brandenburg, Frank, The Making of Modern Mexico, (Englewood Cliffs, 1964), p. 73.Google Scholar

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103 Fowler, , “Origines laborales de la organización campesina en Veracruz,” p. 250 Google Scholar; Carr, , “Marxism and Anarchism,” pp. 294305.Google Scholar

104 Fuentes, Márquez and Araujo, Rodríguez, El Partido Comunista Mexicano, pp. 64–6Google Scholar; Schmitt, Karl M., Communism in Mexico, (Austin, 1965), pp. 49 Google Scholar also describes communist activities.

105 Wood, , “The Comintern and the Mexican Communist Party,” pp. 27–8.Google Scholar That Carrranza was not reluctant to spend “fantastic amounts” of money on labor support is clear in Salazar, , Líderes y sindicatos, p. 154 Google Scholar

106 Confidential memo in RDS, 812.202(0431-0432).

107 Richmond, Venustiano Carranza’s Nationalist Struggle, chapter 10.

108 Although there are several monographs on the subject of Mexican nationalism, the only full-length study that deals directly with class conflict is Pedrueza, Rafael Ramos, La lucha de clases a través de la historia de México, 2 vols. (Mexico City, 1942).Google Scholar Similar is Spalding, Hobart A., Organized Labor in Latin America: Historical Case Studies of Urban Workers in Dependent Societies, (New York, 1977).Google Scholar