The Mexican Revolution

1
The Mexican Revolution
The Mexican States
2
Latin America After independence

• Latin American economies devastated by wars of
  independence.
• Creole upper class continued to dominate society
  and economy.
• Caudillos (strong men) ruled most countries.
• Military was the only way for men to advance in
  social standing

3
Mexico After Independence

• Military dominated politics.
• Catholic Church kept its role as major economic
  force
• Largest banking system in the country
• General Antonio López de Santa Anna dominated era
• President 9 different times lost it after the
  Mexican War
• Liberal Government took over after Santa Anna
• Stripped the Church of power forced to sell land

4
Mexico After Independence

• In the War of Reform (1857-1861) Liberals under
  Benito Juárez gained control of Mexico. (Mexican
  Civil War)
• 1863-1867 Napoleon III of France controlled
  Mexico with help of Mexican conservatives.
• Left Ferdinand Maximilian in charge
• Liberals ruled until 1876, but little was done to
  modernize Mexico.

5
Mexico under Porfirio Diaz

• Diaz ruled Mexico 1876-1911. Ruled as a
  caudillo.
• Mexicos inefficient economic system revolved
  around the hacienda. To achieve his goal of
  economic development Diaz allowed foreigners to
  control much of Mexicos wealth.
• Diazs rule was harsh with an iron fist
• Pan o palo (bread or the club)

6
Mexico Under Diaz

• Imprisoned opponents used army to keep peace at
  any cost
• Rurales
• Diaz helped modernize Mexico by encouraging
  foreign investment
• Suppressed political rights for economic
  development
• Exports boomed railroads expanded quickly yet
  most remained poor
• Wealth concentrated in hands of foreign
  investors, Mexican elite
• Offered share of the spoils

7
Mexico under Diaz

• Catholic Church became a pillar of Diazs
  dictatorship
• Reestablished all monasteries and nunneries
• Reestablished church schools
• Wealth began to accumulate in the hands of the
  church in return for turning a deaf ear to the
  complaints of the masses

8
Social Causes of the Revolution

• Land policy of Diaz a small minority
  owned/controlled most of the land (elite
  landholders).
• Indians held 2 of the nations land
• Nonnative's allowed to take property from
  indigenous populations.
• Standards of living for most Mexicans declined.
• Production shifted to export crops (sugar and
  coffee) Mexico was less able to feed itself!
• Harsh working conditions for people long hours,
  low wages, dangerous conditions.

9
Economic Causes

• Diaz developed an industrial economy with large
  subsidies from the United States and other
  foreign powers.
• Transportation, mining, oil foreigners owned 90
  of the value
• Mexico, the mother of foreigners and the
  stepmother of Mexicans.
• Economic recession / U.S. depression 1906-1907.
• Food crisis 1907-1910 (crop failures) led to
  inflation and declining wages
• Workers strikes

10
Political causes

• In 55 years between Mexican Independence in 1821
  and Diazs rise to power (1877), the presidency
  changed hands 75 times.
• Diaz rigged elections, bribed officials, bullied
  press
• Friends and family were promoted or given
  governmental positions

11
The overthrow of Diaz

• ? Reasons for the overthrow of Diaz
• Lack of upward mobility.
• Foreign domination of industry.
• Concentration of agricultural land in few hands.
  
• Economic recession teamed with Inflation
• Disparity between rich and poor
• Governmental Corruption
• Diazs ineptitude in the presidential election
  of 1910.

Francisco Madero
12
Eve of the Political Election

• Peasant uprisings, workers strikes, Mexican
  Liberal Party- equality among the sexes, low
  wages, abusive working conditions
• Dictator Porfirio Diaz welcomes change and said
  Mexico was ready for a democracy
• Anti-Reelectionist Party Francisco Madero (from
  Coahuila- cattle, wheat, vineyards, mines) took
  the challenge and looked to create an oligarchy
• Early June Diaz had him arrested, he was later
  freed from jail and fled to Texas
• Diaz and his VP Ramon Corral win the election

13
October 7- Plan of San Luis Potosi
(Madero)

• October 4th 1910 he escapes from prison
• Called the election null and void
• Provisional President- eventually hold free
  elections
• Return of Peasants lands and political reforms
• Called for an armed rebellion against Diaz on
  November 20th

14
Overthrow of Diaz

• Madero returned to Mexico, found rebellion
  spreading.
• Pascual Orozco led a mixed group of rebels in
  Chihuahua, who fought for their freedoms while
  the federal troops were ill-trained and reluctant
  to fight
• Pancho Villa, a rebel general from Chihuahua,
  became the military hero of the Revolution using
  guerrilla warfare.
• Madero saw him as the perfect military hero

15
Overthrow of Diaz

• Emiliano Zapata led the Revolution in Morelos.
• Small farmer villagers vs. owners of sugarcane
  plantations
• 17 owners of Haciendas controlled 25 of the land
• Captured Morelos in May of 1911 essential to
  defeating Diaz
• Zapata became the hero of the Mexican peasant
  with his demands for land reform in his Plan of
  Ayala.

16
Overthrow of Diaz

• Villa and Orozco capture Cuidad Juárez
• Gained access to U.S. arms dealers
• In May 21st 1911, under the Treaty of Ciudad
  Juárez, Diaz went into exile but the same
  institutions exist- Francisco Leon de la Barra,
  Mexican ambassador to US, interim president

17
Research Assignment

• How did your topic help to contribute to the
  Mexican Revolution?
• Social Causes
• Economic Causes
• Political Causes
• Role of the Porfiriato regime
• Create a PowerPoint to share with class tomorrow

18
Mexico Citys Complot de Tacubaya

• Protection of indigenous rights, agrarian reform,
  eight hour workday, equal pay for equal work,
  equal education
• Unsuccessful but linked to Diaz departure
• Madero makes two mistakes before the elections
• Demobilized the revolutionary armies of the North
• Leon de la Barra- still Porfirismo without
  Porfirio

19
Resolve?

• A breach opened-up between the Zapatistas in the
  South and Madero and his followers from the
  North.
• With the existing government, tensions were still
  present. Leon de la Barra continued to fight
  with Zapata. Zapata began taking large estates
  and distributing wealth to the villages
• Although people began to question Maderos
  ability to rule and control the tensions he was
  elected president in 1911

20
Mexico under Francisco Madero (1911-1913)

• Madero was too idealistic to be a good president.
• Conservative nature alienated many
  revolutionaries, especially Zapata and his
  followers.
• Democracy to Madero- Masses had the illusion of
  power but the elite made all the major decisions
• Economic and Social Democracy He believed in
  unions and the ability to strike. Wanted to
  purchase land and provide it to the landless
  workers. However, he believed that haciendas were
  vital to modernization.
• Violence and oppression still existed

21
Mexico Under Madero

• Lost support of Industrial workers
• Wages, hours, working conditions
• Unions and the right to strike
• Women and children protection
• Lost Support of the Peasantry
• Land reform
• Conservatives
• Missed the rule of Diaz

22
Zapata vs. Madero

• Emiliano Zapata unhappy- Madero refuses to listen
  and orders Zapata to get rid of his troops
• Madero sent the army into Morelos to destroy
  Zapata. Zapata could avoid destruction, but he
  was too weak to defeat the federal forces
  altogether
• Turned to haciendados to fund campaign or burnt
  sugarcane
• The Plan of Ayala- Zapatista Movement Nov. 28
  1911
• Return the land from the haciendas to the people
• Mexico would be a land of small independent
  landowning farmers

23
Mexico under Madero

• Maderos failure to carry out land reform lost
  him the support of the revolutionary peasants
• United States foreign policy turned against him
  after watching his inability to rule. US
  Ambassador Henry Lane Wilson was against the
  military operations in Mexico City because it
  threatened US life and property and if it wasnt
  handled than US intervention was necessary

24
Conflict under Madero

• In March 1912 Pascual Orozco with the assistance
  of the conservatives led a revolution against
  Madero. Orozco was looking for wealth and
  political power
• Villa and Victoriano Huerta defeated Orozco.
• Huerta was a cruel, authoritarian drunk at the
  age of 60
• Huerta became head of the army and Madero became
  totally dependent upon the army for his survival.
• Madero did not like Huerta
• At this time Huerta and Villa began to clash and
  Huerta arrested Villa
• Was sentenced to death but saved on Christmas day
  of 1912 by a friendly army officer

25
Conflict under Madero

• In February with coordination with the US
  ambassador Henry Lane Wilson, a right wing coup
  led a revolt on the palace
• La decena tragica (ten tragic days)
• Huerta arrested the president along with other
  top officials
• US named him the head of the provisional
  government with Felix Diaz (Nephew to the old
  dictator) to succeed him once an election could
  be held
• Madero was murdered Feb. 22 as he was being
  transported to the penitentiary (done by two
  armed men)

26
Huertas Dictatorship

• Huerta seizure of power fell in favor of the
  landed aristocrats, the big capitalists, and the
  church, he was eager to restore the dictatorship
  similar to Diaz
• Assassination of Madero not a positive for his
  image
• Felix Diaz was sent to Japan on a diplomatic
  mission out of the way
• Revolutionary wave rose even higher after the
  Madero murder and the imposition of Huertas
  terrorist regime

Victoriano Huerta
27
The Opposition to Huerta

• Emiliano Zapata intensified his struggle against
  local landowners, Huertas allies, and federal
  troops.
• This large focus of federal troops in the south
  allowed the Northern resistance to take shape

28
Venustiano Carranza

• Venustiano Carranza, Governor of Coahuila, led
  the revolt against Huerta.
• Called for the Plan of Guadalupe (March 26, 1913)
• Called for the overthrow of the dictator and the
  restoration of constitutional government
• Declared war to the death
• Villa joined with Carranza and won many
  victories.

29
The opposition to Huerta

• Pancho Villa- assumed leadership in the North
  (The Constitutionalists) made up of middle
  classes, miners, industrial workers, and
  peasants.
• He soon recruited an army of 3,000 men. Took
  control of Chihuahua.
• Started to attack hacienda if they did not join
  him he took their land
• Had to settle two scores
• Maderos Murder
• His firing squad sentence

30
Villas Plan

• Executed all bandits that he could find and
  protected US property
• America sells arms and ammunition
• Regionalism vs. central government
• Revolutionary new order of the state
• Reduction of meat prices
• distribution of money, clothing, and other goods
  to the poor
• fifty new schools
• anticlericalism
• Robin Hood of Mexico?

31
Villas Plan (cont.)

• Agrarian Program differed from that of Zapata,
  he felt it should stay under the control of the
  government until the victory of the revolution
• The north was based around cattle raising which
  required large economic units that would work
  best under the control of the state. Cattle were
  sold to the US in return for ammunition.

32
Carranza and Villa

• Fearful of Villas success and power in the
  north, Carranza promotes commander Alvaro Obregon
• Brought up by Indians successful in recruiting
  Apaches
• Promised land for the Indians if they fought with
  Carranza

33
Intervention by the United States

• Wilsons government refused to recognize Huertas
  regime because it came to power illegally.
  However, he did allow an embargo on revolutionary
  arms purchases while permitting US arms sales to
  Huerta.
• Wilsons biggest fear was that Huerta had cut a
  deal with Britain and Germany to allow their
  intervention into Mexican markets.

34
Intervention by the US (cont.)

• With the verge of World War I- foreign interest
  shifted towards the United States and led to a
  lack of cooperation with Huerta
• US set a uniform rate on all goods shipped
  through the Panama Canal, which led to an end of
  British support in Mexico
• Carranzas agent in Washington said they would
  respect foreign property rights which led to the
  lifting of the embargo

35
Intervention by the us (cont)

• US Sailors were arrested on the Dolphin,
  (restricted area in Tampico) but were immediately
  released with an apology.
• Commander asked for a severe punishment for the
  arresting officers, a written apology and a 21
  gun salute to the US flag.
• Huerta had to refuse or would commit political
  suicide.

36
Intervention by the US (cont.)

• April 21, 1914- Wilson sent fleet into Gulf of
  Mexico, learned of a German ship heading for
  Veracruz, he ordered for seizure of the city.
  Fighting took place till the 27th when the US
  occupied Veracruz.
• 19 Americans vs. 200 Mexican casualties
• Action led to a wave of anti-Yankee sentiment and
  Carranza denounced the US action

37
Intervention by the US (cont.)

• Led to a Conference at Niagara Falls in May 1914
• Carranza was Wilsons choice to put into power but
  he was too nationalist and didnt attend the
  conference but instead sent representatives with
  no real power
• Wilson stops funding Villa and starts funding
  Carranza (against one another)
• Wants a weak pro-American government
• July 15, 1914- Huerta, recognizing the presence
  of Villas and Obregons army, flees to Europe
• August 15th Obregons troops enter Mexico City

38
Carranza with Obregon

• Carranza took the title first chief of the
  constitutional Army of 40,000 men
• Villa joined under his command and his troops
  were renamed the Northern Division
• Alvaro Obregon, who led the anti-Huerta forces in
  Sonora was named commander of the Army of the
  Northwest
• Within Mexico City Huerta also faced opposition
  of the intellectuals and the feminist Loyalty
  club which protested the regimes brutality

39
Fighting Among the Victors

• Carranza and Villa began to have two different
  views
• Villa, implant a democratic regime to secure
  the well-being of the workers to emancipate the
  peasants economically, making an equitable
  distribution of lands or whatever else is needed
  to solve the agrarian problem
• Carranza agreed out of fear of losing Villa and
  his followers
• Carranza and Zapata
• Zapata kept to the plan of Ayala- wanted removal
  of old regime
• Constitutional Convention at Mexico City
• Only Obregon attends gains support

40
Zapatas and Villas Fight against Carranza

• The Constitutional Convention at Aguascalientes
  declared Carranza in rebellion because he
  refused to share power.
• In November 10th, 1914 Villa and Zapata
  controlled Mexico City. A reign of terror ensued
  that greatly discredited both men. Obregón and
  Carranza formed an alliance against them.
• Established a provisional government with the
  hope of the United States backing
• Eulalio Gutierrez interim president
• Could not unite the interests of the middle
  class, industrialists, and the peasants- No real
  plan set in place

41
Problems Confronting Zapata

• Lacked resources to reach the deep south
• Hacienda
• Bandits committed the same actions as Zapatistas
• Hurt his image
• What to do with the Hacienda?
• Who does he side with?
• Conflict of ideology with Villa
• Zapata focused on land ownership
• Villa focused on a political revolt with power to
  regional centers

42
Zapata and Villa

• Dec. 4th 1914- neither wanted the presidency and
  were certain of only wanting to control their
  respective provinces
• Zapata believed in localism
• Villa appeared lazy and lack of will power
• President must be loyal to the revolution
• Mistake no president

Villa and Zapata
43
Villa raids Mexico City

• Reign of Terror- December 1914
• Targeted Zapatistas
• 200 murders, thousands of rapes
• Ordered the execution of intern president Eulalio
  Gutierrez
• Issued a manifesto against Villa and Zapata
• Sided with Carranza
• Failure of Villa and Zapata to cooperate while
  Carranza and Obregon lead to their ultimate defeat

44
Back to Power

• Carranza issued the Adiciones which addressed
  the plan for land reforms and a secret promise to
  the return of hacienda lands taken by the
  revolutionaries. He gained labor support by
  creating minimum wage and rights of workers.
  Womens equality.
• By July 1915 Obregón had defeated Villa, and in
  October the US recognized the Carranza
  government.
• Obregon offered amnesty to Villistas
• 40 generals, 5,046 officers, and 11,128 soldiers
  agreed

45
Back to Power (cont.)

• Villa resorted to guerrilla warfare with 200
  troops
• Obregon used trench warfare that he studied from
  Europe to defeat Villa for the first time and
  eventually lead to his demise
• United States extended a de facto recognition of
  his government but they wanted to have a say on
  important governmental matters- Carranza declared
  this unacceptable

46
Mexico under Carranza (1915-1919)

• July of 1915 Zapatas support dropped
• Amnesties from Carranza
• April 1919- Military General Pablo Gonzalez had a
  conflict with a Calvary commander (Jesus
  Guajardo)
• Zapata tried to smuggle a note to Guajardo that
  was intercepted by Gonzalez
• Guajardo had to kill 50 ex-Zapatista Soldiers
• Earned his trust and was eventually shot

47
Mexico under Carranza

• In March 1916 Villa attacked Columbus, New Mexico
• 17 American casualties
• Worked with Vera Cruz
• President Wilson sent the army under General John
  Pershing into Mexico to catch him.
• Sent 7,000 Men and 8 planes

Pershing, Villa, and Obregón
48
The Chase for villa

• Wilson sends John Pershing to pursue Villa in
  Mexico with 50,000 on his head
• US expected Carranza to support this but instead
  he demands they withdraw and began to prepare for
  war
• Villa was viewed as the national hero
• Late 1916 Villa began raiding Chihuahua
• Middle class objected forced loans
• Peasantry objected forced military service
• Early 1917, Villa kills wife of Carrancista
  paymaster
• Troops kill 90 women in Torreon
• Troops also rape women

49
Zimmerman Note

• January 16th, 1917
• Participation for land lost in Mexican-American
  War (Gadsden)
• Carranza issued a General in charge of evaluating
  the risks
• Certain war with the US
• Germany would not be able to supply a feasible
  amount of arms
• The territory had a large English speaking
  population
• Fear of other Latin American Countries

50
Mexico under Carranza (1915-1919) (cont.)

• War almost broke out between Mexico and the US.
  Because neither side wanted war and the US wanted
  to focus on Europe, war was avoided and US troops
  left Mexico in February 1917.
• Mexican Nationalist Victory
• The Constitution of 1917 increased Carranzas
  power and gave the Mexican government the power
  to take private property. The Catholic Church was
  restricted.

Obregón
51
Constitution of 1917

• First draft did not accommodate the radical view
  points
• Increased power of the President past Diaz
• Appointment of officials
• Article 3 and 130- not a legal entity, limited
  church control of education, property of the
  state
• Articles 34 and 35 were geared towards womens
  rights however they were denied citizenship and
  political rights
• Article 123- A true labor code- eight hour work
  day, child birth benefits, right to organize,
  bargain collectively, and strike

52
Constitution of 1917 (cont.)

• Article 27-the nation could expropriate the
  original owner of all lands with compensation to
  the owner (nation owned land)
• Most advanced law codes of its time massive
  assault on the hacienda, the power of the church,
  and foreign capital in Mexico
• Carranza became the first legally elected
  president since Madero
• Serve one six-year term
• Look it up online!!!

53
Carranzas Presidency

• Only returned a small portion to the villages,
  most land returned to previous owners or
  Carranzas generals
• Peasants cry- Tierra y libertad (land and
  liberty)
• Severe repression for the working class, free
  education was ignored
• Poor relationship with trade unions
• Mexico remained neutral during WWI limited
  diplomacy with Western Hemisphere (Independent)
• Law of Family Relations (April, 1917)- Women
  exercise guardianship and child custody, file
  lawsuits, and sign contracts

54
Fall of Carranza

• When Carranzas term came to an end he tried to
  extend his power by implementing a puppet
  president. Unsuccessful- Obregón turned against
  him
• Issued the Plan of Agua Prieta
• In May of 1920 he stole 5 million pesos in gold
  and silver (national treasury) and set off for
  Veracruz with 60 railway cars. He was slain on
  the 21st of May

55
End of the Revolution?

• Devastated land- crops and cattle mines and
  factories were closed
• Hundreds of thousands missing or dead- population
  declined by 1 million since 1910
• Famine and Disease
• September 1920- Obregon agreed to Villas request
  for amnesty of 759 men
• Villa granted a hacienda with 50 armed men
• Assassinated in 1923
• Carranzas death and Villas surrender
  effectively ended the revolution

56
Summary of the Revolution

• Wide range of causes- Nationalism, land reform,
  workers rights and anarchism
• Greatest challenge was to secure enough popular
  support
• Ultimately, the constitutionalists were able to
  satisfy enough sections of Mexican Society
• Middle class nationalists, wealthy
  industrialists, labourers
• Villistas and Zapatistas failure to unite and
  create a central government is their downfall

57
Mexican Revolution Bio

• Create a bio page for one influential leader
  during the Mexican Revolution to showcase on the
  General Mexico website
• Date of birth/death how?
• Significant events (chronological)
• Be sure to include social and political
  ideologies
• Stances on the government, land, labor and the
  church
• Alliance systems
• Support Groups
• Anything else you find interesting...

58
Reconstructing the State

• Alvaro Obregon became president in November 1920.
• Originally had been a mechanic and farmer grew
  up in an area with US intervention
• Set out to lay the economic, political, and
  ideological foundations of a Mexican national
  capitalism
• Agrarian Reform and Industrial Reforms
• Power in government was held by wealthy generals,
  capitalists, and landlords

59
Obregon as President

• Obregon provided some land to the peasants-
  however, he did not provide the means necessary
  for upkeep
• 3 million acres were distributed 320 still in
  private hands
• United States and Obregon
• Tensions still high over article 27- he would not
  recognize the United States rights to land owned
  before 1917
• However, he renewed foreign debt payments and
  returned National Railways to private ownership
• US formally recognized the Mexican Government in
  1923

60
Obregon as President

• Indigenismo- reassessment of indigenous cultural
  heritage
• Wanted to study the indigenous people to
  understand their past and present conditions so
  that they can be incorporated into
  reconstruction.
• Believed that school was the most important
  institution to reunite the nation
• Women took charge of this movement, some 4,000
  rural teachers taught the past and implemented
  capitalist ideas
• Public School led to a divide with the church-
  some teachers were attacked and killed by
  supporters of the church

61
Mexico after the Revolution
? When Villa refused to recognize Plutarco Elias
Calles as Obregóns successor, Obregón had Villa
murdered in 1923. Obregón froze the status-quo. ?
Between 350,000 and one million deaths during
eight years of warfare.
? The economy of Mexico was modernized. The
hacienda no longer dominated the Mexican economy.
? The Catholic Church lost power. ? New elites
from the urban and industrialized middle-class
arose. Upward mobility became available to men
without family connections. The mass of people
gained little.
62
Mexico After the Revolution

• Four main forces of the revolution
• Progressive Capitalists rising middle class
• Madero, Carranza and Obregon
• Landed Elite- Hacienda
• Diaz and Huerta
• Agrarian Movement- redistribution of land
• Zapata
• Overthrow of the oligarchy
• Villa

63
Plutarco Elias Calles became president on
November 30th, 1924

• Goals
• promote Mexican national capitalism
• strengthen the fiscal and monetary system
• established the Bank of Mexico
• national road commission
• national electricity code

64
Calles and the Land

• Doubled the distribution of land that Obregon had
  started
• Usually wasnt arable land, did not make a
  serious effort to provide fertilizer, and the
  governmental bank designed to promote production
  for the peasants usually provided loans to the
  Hacendados instead
• In 1930 grain production turned below the levels
  of 1910.
• Abandoned land distribution
• Calles introduced machinery and other modern
  agricultural techniques

65
Calles

• Calles did little to advance the rights of Women-
  opposition arose against him.
• In 1925 Mexican Congress passed laws to implement
  Article 27- 50 year concessions for oil leases in
  Mexico
• United States not happy- refuses to follow and
  moves them to the thought of war
• Dwight Morrow (ambassador)- negotiated with
  Calles in September of 1927 and was able to get
  rid of the time constraints
• Catholic Church went against the constitution in
  1926 militant Catholics, in alliance with
  hacendados, attacked and killed many of the
  teachers in rural areas

66
Calles and the Church

• January 1926- Church declared the constitution of
  1917 wounds the most sacred rights of the
  catholic church
• Education
• Calles responsed with The Calles Law-
  registration of priests with civil authorities
  and the closing of religious primary schools
• Catholics guerrillas, Cristeros, responded with
  the slogan, Viva Cristo Rey (long live Christ the
  King)
• Put down by the summer of 1927

67
Working together

• Obregon and Calles worked together to amend the
  constitution and extend the presidential term to
  from 4 to 6 years and allow reelection after one
  term out of office
• Hoped to rotate the presidency
• Plan took a halt after Obregon was elected in
  1928 but was assassinated in July of 1928 by a
  Crisero

68
The future of Mexico

• In response Calles organizes the National
  Revolutionary Party (PNR later PRI)- takes down
  the last of the powerful military caudillos.
• Puppets (3) of Calles ruled during Obregons
  six-year term
• Jefe maximo- maximum chief of the revolution
• Revolutionary Family began to obtain more
  wealth- ignored agrarian reform, hostile to
  strikes and unions
• More corrupt than Porfirista regime
• Controlled Mexico until the election of Vicente
  Fox in 2000

69
The Great Depression

• Led to a new generation of young, middle-class
  reformers (intellectuals)
• Called for implementation of the constitution of
  1917
• Liked Marxism and the model of the soviets
• Advance the bourgeois
• National Congress of Women Workers and Peasants
  (1930s)
• Expand indigenous rights, protect women workers,
  raise the minimum wage, increase land reform,
  promote womens suffrage

70
Progressive Lazaro Cardenas

• His honesty and compassion made him famous, spent
  half of his money on education as governor of
  Michoacan
• Part of the Revolutionary Family able to win
  the election 1934 through this support and Calles
  blessing
• Land distribution to villages- aimed to raise
  agricultural productivity and improve quality of
  life
• To end corruption he set an example and cut his
  pay in half
• Answers questions from the peasants himself
• These ideas angered Calles and he denounced the
  labor movement
• Cardenas had Calles deported to the US in 1936

71
Land Reform

• Ejido- communal landholding system
• Distributed land to villages, 45 million acres
• Rancho- land provided to the individual in
  northern Mexican states
• Land also set aside for scale cultivation of
  commercial crops- sugar, coffee, cotton, rice
• Organized by profit sharing (oversaw by
  government)

72
Land Reform (cont.)

• Land Reform, schools, medical care, roads led to
  the modernization of Mexican life and society by
  1940.
• Led to the growth of the internal Mexican market
• 1939-1941- highest production during the
  revolution
• However, the land in the Ejido was usually poor
  for farming with limited amount of resources to
  help production
• By 1940, government oversee led to a decline in
  the ejido system and a growth in large landed
  property

73
Labor Reform

• Workers were aware of the sympathetic view of the
  new regime
• 642 strikes in 1935- more than twice the number
  in the six years before
• Reforms centered around raising of wages
• Reform weakened the power of the generals
• Negatives- Labor lost independence to government
  oversight which eventually lead to corruption and
  control of trade unions

74
Economic Reform

• Cardenas supported labors efforts for higher
  wages along with favoring Mexican industry with
  government loans and protective tariffs
• Nacional Financiera- government bank that funded
  industrial loans, public welfare projects
• WWII helped the economy- fewer imports
• March 18, 1938- Dispute over oil between the US
  and Britain
• Cardenas expropriated the companies in the
  interest of the public
• Oil Nationalization- provided cheap, plentiful
  fuel for Mexican industry
• 90 of mining industry still rested in foreign
  hands

75
Womens rights

• Cardenas pledged to grant women equal rights
• Saw little in the governmental sector, more
  workers rights
• Womens suffrage started in 1939 but wasnt put
  into effect until 1953

76
Legacy

• Material and cultural condition of the masses had
  improved
• Peasants and workers managed to secure a larger
  share of the total national income
• Promotion of education in rural areas
• By the end of his presidency Cárdenas had
  abandoned reform. The conservative general Manuel
  Ávila Camacho succeeded Cárdenas and all pretence
  of reform ended

77
Outcome of the Revolution

• 350,000 to a million deaths
• Country economically devastated
• Fall of the Hacienda and the Hacendado
• Caudillo Rule
• Redistribution of Land
• Capitalist Economy and a Functioning Democracy-
  Oil
• Catholic Church lost economic and political
  influence
• Poverty and economic inequality

78
91 The Mexican Revolution Timeline