From Porfiriato to the Revolution, mural by David Alfaro Siqueiros
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by Natalie Taylor

Porfirio Diaz was a brilliant general who distinguished himself in the battle of Puebla in 1862, and later led the troops to recover Mexico City from the French. He became president of Mexico in 1877, and held executive power for 30 years. His presidency was named el Porfiriato.

Mexico gained much during his presidency: the extension of railroads throughout the nation, growth of foreign investments, development of capitalism, and the Mexican economy. However, these factors principally helped the top layer of the population, creating a powerful strata at the top, a much smaller middle class, and beneath those, a massive layer of the poor, comprised mostly of indigenous people working in fields.

The greatest injustice came in the form of new land laws with Diaz allocating lands that belonged to the nation of Mexico to wealthy non-nationals, and prohibiting ownership of land by Mexican nationals without a formal, legal title. The laws had been set up rendered small farmers utterly hopeless.

Porfirio Diaz's presidency turned into an oligarchy, a closed, exclusive government, with great inequalities and massive poverty. History shows that such a system is unsustainable in the long run; an overwhelming population of the poor will eventually rebel against the inequity. And that is what happened in the Mexican Revolution.

Perhaps Porfirio Diaz began his presidency with good intentions. He seemed to believe in the potential of a democratic government. However, in 1908, toward the sunset of his powers, he told his Canadian interviewer James Creelman: "I received the government from the hands of a victorious army, at a time when the country was divided and the people were unprepared to exercise the supreme principles of a democratic government."

A belief that the country was unprepared may have led to his holding on to power until such a time when the country was ready. On the other hand, his statement can be read as a patronizing excuse.

Sparks of dissent appeared, led by the trio of the brothers Magon—Jesus, Ricardo, and Enrique—journalists who in 1900 started the newspaper Regeneracion, which condemned Diaz's government. The brother's ideas were fundamental in shaping the new ideology of equality, anti-capitalism, and the need for radical changes in the economic structure of the country.

Diaz reacted by ordering their imprisonment, and then forbidding them from having any newspapers in the country. They fled to the United States in 1904 and continued promoting their ideas in newspapers, first from San Antonio, later St Louis, Missouri, and finally Los Angeles from 1910 to 1918.

To better understand the resentment that had been brewing, one needs to look at what life was like for Mexico's peasants. The majority of rural land was held by hacendados, owners of vast haciendas. Peasants worked under terrible conditions, and were paid minimal wages.

The challenge to Diaz and his government came from Francisco Madero who founded the Partido Democratico Independiente (Independent Democratic Party). Madero made a heart-felt declaration for the need for a democratic government, and ran on a platform of land reform.

Excesses and the suppression of any dissent, displayed the tyrannical and cruel nature of Porfirio Diaz. In 1906 miners struck, at the US-owned Cananea mines. The mine owners brought in US Rangers, resulting in 23 Mexican deaths. Another worker uprising also resulted in the execution of its leaders. Such acts remained an open wound over the next ten years.

The strike against the mining company
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Fleeing threats of imprisonment, Madero escaped to the United States, and while abroad created a bold plan. Ten days before Diaz was to start his presidential term, won once again by fraud, on November 11, 1910 there would be a general uprising and Madero would become president.

Madero support came from the middle class who wanted reform, but not an extreme revolution. But others were looking for a lot more than Madero was offering. The movement had turned into a social revolution. Not satisfied with a simple change in government, it wanted to change the entire economic structure. it wanted justice itself.

The revolution was like a wild beast that had been unleashed, and asked to only do one specific job. The beast, once free, would go far beyond that one job, devouring everything in its path. Perhaps it is true that social revolutions always turn into an all or nothing situation.

Emiliano Zapata was the chief negotiator for the peasants who wanted land from the hacienda owners. Zapata became the leader of the peasant revolt and lent his support to Madero because he believed the latter's promises of land changes, allying with him to oust Diaz. Together they fought against the Federal forces at the battle of Cuautla, described as "six of the most terrible days of battle of the whole Revolution." Zapata's victory over the federal army convinced Porfirio Diaz to come to terms with Madero and resign. Here we have a cartoon showing Madero shaking hands with Emiliano Zapata over an accord.

Madero and Zapata
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Although Madero had promised to return the land to its former Indian landowners, he was more interested in reinstalling democratic processes than land reform. When he became president on November 6, 1911 he offered Zapata financial recompense for land, which Zapata rejected. Madero then denounced the Zapatistas as mere bandits and sent the federal army to root them out. His generals burned villages, removed inhabitants, and sent men to forced-labor camps. All this strengthened Zapata's standing among the peasants, and he joined forces with Victoriano Huerta enabling a coup in which Maderos was assassinated. Huerta became the new president in 1914. But another coalition led by Venustiano Carranza, Alvaro Obregon, Zapata, and another peasant leader, Pancho Villa, ousted Huerta.

As 1915 came there were two governments in Mexico, Carranza/Obregon and against them, the peasants, led by Zapata. When Pancho Villa was overpowered, Zapata fled into the mountains to continue guerrilla warfare. In 1919 Zapata was ambushed by Carranza's troops, and killed.

Emiliano Zapata
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While many accused Carranza of being power hungry, he also craved peace. In the pursuit of civil rest he formed the Constitutional Army and a new constitution into which he incorporated many of the rebel demands. On February 5, 1917, a new magna carta was drafted, the Constitution of Mexico.

It was at the time a most progressive document, encompassing land redistribution, labor rights, secular and free education, and the separation of church and state. The official end of the Mexican Revolution is considered to be the adoption of the Constitution of Mexico in 1917, however the fighting continued long into the following decade.

The Mexican Constitution
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Ultimately while the Mexican Revolution was aimed at ensuring a fairer way of life for the farming classes. Many argue it achieved little more than the frequent change of leadership in the country, and, as with all wars, the great loss of innocent lives.

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Natalie Taylor: BA in English Lit and Journalism, Loyola University, Chicago, 1995. MFA in Creative Writing, Vermont College, Montpelier, VT, 1999. Published writer, editor, journalist. Spanish teacher in the US, English teacher in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Translator. Contact: tangonata@gmail.com

Read more by Natalie Taylor at:
www.natalietaylor.org

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