The Mexican Revolution: A Short History 1910-1920 Hector Agredano Rivera - SocialistWorker.org
go to original April 1, 2013

The Mexican Revolution: A Short History 1910-1920 by Stuart Easterling Check it out on Amazon.com

Haymarket Books' publication of The Mexican Revolution: A Short History 1910-1920 is a welcome introduction to an important struggle that socialists around the world should know more about.

At a time when the gap between rich and poor in Mexico is at an all-time high, when privatization threatens Mexico's natural resources, and when there is widespread dissatisfaction with the current political regime, it's important to reflect on the Mexican Revolution of 1910 - since similar conditions launched Mexico's most defining moment of the 20th century.

The Mexican Revolution is a good introduction on the subject, and it's accessible to students and general readers alike. The book successfully guides the reader through the twists and turns of Mexico's 10-year revolution and touches on the most important political questions raised during each phase of the conflict. Easterling offers us a critical yet sympathetic assessment of the key figures involved and of the intense drama of the revolution.

As we learn from the introduction, then, as now, there existed mass inequality between rich and poor, as landlords and capitalists dispossessed the population of their land and labor. Under the ruthless 30-year regime of Porfirio Díaz - known as the Porfiriato - American and European capital poured into the country and ushered in a period of rapid economic development.

The Northern states are a perfect example of this phenomenon. With the introduction of American railroads and foreign capital, the mining industry, large-scale farming, cattle ranching and industrialization, the North of the country experienced an economic boom. Towns such as Torreón, with a population of less than a thousand in 1877, grew to a thriving town of 23,000 by 1890. In the South, the industrialization of agriculture ushered in a similar economic boom that intensified the exploitation of land and labor.

Of course, the economic boom didn't benefit the majority of the population or the middle class, and even the emerging capitalists and landowners saw their fortunes restricted by the Díaz dictatorship. Especially after the depression of 1907-08, rural and urban workers and the middle class realized their precarious position during economic downturns. What's more, the lack of democracy and widespread corruption throughout the country didn't give these classes an opportunity to channel their dissatisfaction by electoral means.

Read the whole story at SocialistWorker.org

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