Anarchism & The Mexican Working Class, 1860-1931

by John Mason Hart

The anarchist movement had a crucial impact upon the Mexican working class between 1860 and 1931. John M. Hart destroys some old myths and brings new information to light as he explores anarchism's effect on the development of the Mexican urban working-class and agrarian movements.

Hart shows how the ideas of European anarchist thinkers took root in Mexico, how they influenced revolutionary tendencies there, and why anarchism was ultimately unsuccessful in producing real social change in Mexico. He explains the role of the working classes during the Mexican Revolution, the conflict between urban revolutionary groups and peasants, and the ensuing confrontation between the new revolutionary elite and the urban working class.

The anarchist tradition traced in this study is extremely complex. It involves various social classes, including intellectuals, artisans, and ordinary workers; changing social conditions; and political and revolutionary events which reshaped ideologies. During the nineteenth century the anarchists could be distinguished from their various working- class socialist and trade unionist counterparts by their singular opposition to government. In the twentieth century the lines became even clearer because of hardening anarchosyndicalist, anarchistcommunist, trade unionist, and Marxist doctrines. In charting the rise and fall of anarchism, Hart gives full credit to the roles of other forms of socialism and Marxism in Mexican working-class history.

Mexican anarchists whose contributions are examined here include nineteenth-century leaders Plotino Rhodakanaty, Santiago Villanueva, Francisco Zalacosta, and Jose Maria Gonzales; the twentieth-century revolutionary precursor Ricardo Flores Magon; the Casa del Obrero founders Amadeo Ferres, Juan Francisco Moncaleano, and Rafael Quintero; and the majority of the Centro Sindicalista Ubertario, leaders of the General Confederation of Workers.

This work is based largely on primary sources, and the bibliography contains a definitive listing of anarchist and radical working-class newspapers for the period.

Genres: History, Latin American History, Politics

260 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1978

Reviews

[Trey]

This book was fascinating. The writing is dry and academic, I suppose, but the subject matter is so engrossing that I found the book hard to put down. The title speaks for itself, but essentially the history extends from the earliest inception of political rumblings among Mexico's working people through the Revolution and its fallout, culminating in the establishment of the modern Mexican government.

Hart is very clear about the anarchist movement not being the only "leftist" or "progressive" movement among the urban and rural working population, which is underscored by the sudden sometimes jolting interruption in his historical narrative by major figures as Emiliano Zapata, Pancho Villa, and Venustiano Carranza.

It is also clear, however, that the anarchist movement within Mexico during the first 15 - 20 years of the last century very nearly achieved its aims. And it was with bated breath that I read the last two or three chapters, knowing the outcome and saddened by the inevitable. I was intrigued to see how the events played out.

Anyway, I highly recommend this for anyone who's gotten so interested in this subject that you've discovered this book. If you're reading this, you'll probably like this book.

[José Angel Hernández · Rating 5 out of 5]

A true classic of Mexican Historiography and Anarchist thought in Mexico.