{"id":42,"date":"2012-07-30T13:06:47","date_gmt":"2012-07-30T18:06:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/library.brown.edu\/modernlatinamerica\/?page_id=42"},"modified":"2012-07-30T13:06:47","modified_gmt":"2012-07-30T18:06:47","slug":"42-2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/modernlatinamerica\/chapters\/chapter-3-mexico\/moments-in-mexican-history\/42-2\/","title":{"rendered":"The Lower Classes and Revolution"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Role of Populism in Catalyzing Social Change
\n<\/strong>by Mario Vega<\/p>\n

Contemporary conceptions of the Mexican Revolution are almost unanimous in attributing its successes to the widespread mobilization of lower-class populations against social and political oppression. However, certain scholastic interpretations give credence to the interpretation that the Mexican Revolution was not as nation-consuming and drastic as the rapid succession of leaders during the period would indicate. Furthermore, some scholars analyzing the course of revolutionary events in hindsight tend to downplay the importance of unity and cohesion amongst the peasant classes in actualizing the dissent so commonly cited as the driving force behind the revolution.<\/p>\n

Alan Knight, in his study of the role of peasantry during the early stages of Madero’s presidency, asserts that, \u201cThe doyen of ‘peasant studies’ has asserted that the bulk of the Mexican peasantry was not much involved in the revolution of 1910-20\u201d (Brading 19). By Knight\u2019s account, the furor created by Zapata’s 1911 Plan of Ayala, which called for the ouster of Madero as a traitor to Mexican interests, was largely endemic to his home state of Morelos, and did not succeed in creating a large-scale mobilization of forces sympathetic to his interests.<\/p>\n

So what role did the lower classes really play in the Revolution? While it cannot be stated that the movement was of a nature as unified and as passionate as proponents of the Revolution as a cultural and nationalistic concept would like to believe, the support of the rural populations in establishing a centralized state cannot be reduced to an unthinking reaction to seemingly oppressive conditions. In parsing exactly which demographics were directly involved in military and political action, it becomes clear that the most active groups tended to be rural rather than industrial. Unlike the civil reforms occurring in the United States during the beginning of the 20th<\/sup> century, where union leaders and factory workers played a crucial role in raising awareness of inhumane working conditions, the urban sectors of the Mexican population were largely silent during the early stages of the Revolution. This makes a certain amount of sense; the ones most affected by the economic policies of Diaz were indigenous people and small farmers who had been pushed off their land to make room for large plantations and foreign development. Indeed, it would be possible to claim that urban populations benefited from the industrialization and job creation that characterized development in the years leading up to the Madero takeover. By this logic, the division of sentiment within the poor populations along occupational lines seems natural, even, to a degree, expected.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Further Reading:<\/span><\/p>\n

Brading, D.A.\u00a0Caudillo and Peasant in the Mexican Revolution<\/em>. 1st . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1980. Print.<\/p>\n

Gilly, Adolfo.\u00a0The Mexican Revolution<\/em>. 1st. Thetford: The Thetford Press, 1983. Print.<\/p>\n

Wolfskill, Gregory, and Douglas Richmond, ed.\u00a0Essays on the Mexican Revolution<\/em>. 1st. Arlington: University of Texas Press, 1979. Print.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Role of Populism in Catalyzing Social Change by Mario Vega Contemporary conceptions of the Mexican Revolution are almost unanimous in attributing its successes to the widespread mobilization of lower-class populations against social and political oppression. However, certain scholastic interpretations … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":0,"parent":38,"menu_order":1,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"sidebar-page.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-42","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/modernlatinamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/42","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/modernlatinamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/modernlatinamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/modernlatinamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/37"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/modernlatinamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/modernlatinamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/42\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/modernlatinamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/38"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/modernlatinamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}