the mexican revolution - haya de la torre

8/4/2019 The Mexican Revolution - Haya de La Torre

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TheSocialist ReviewEDITED BY - JOHN STRACHEY \.ASSISTANT EDITOR C. R. DE GRUCHY

The Outlook, by J. Ramsay Mac The Mexic'an Revolution, by HayaDonald, 1\1. P. Delatorre.Socialism or Potterism? by Godfrey The Rcform of the Universities, byElton. C. R. de Gruchy. .Why Abo lish the Guardians ? by Edgar The Truth Ab out Socialist SundayLa nsbury. Schools, by F. Glasier Foster.Th e Count'ryman s Polities, by Books of the Month.Montngue For dham. LCllers.Tb e Editor wiJ! be glad to cons ide r MSS . T hey ca nnot, however, bereturned if unsuitable fo r publ icat ion unles s accom pa nied by a stampedand addrcssed envelope. Th e So cialist Re'View ai ms at providin g anopen forum for discussion and debate. All signed a rti cles must beundcrs tood to represen t the op inions of their w riters, an d no t necessarlythose of the Socialist Re'IJiew.

THE OUTLOOK )' J. RAMSAY M A C D O N ~ L D

DURING- an earIy pre-breakfast walk one morning, an oldphi1osopher. whom 1 generally meet taking the Hampstead air,with)he collar oE rus overcoat turned up and his hands encased: W - o o l l y gloves, paused in his enjoyment of the sunrise throughthe mist and remarked : " Had you been in office, what a wildhullabaloo would have been raised by the T ories over your

~ b a s e surrender' at Hankow, the trampling on the U nion Jack,anc:Lso on." It is true. 1 hear the "deep-mouthed bloodbound's bay" oE the pack, and the \yild "Tally-ho" of theg e n ~ e n o n the 'osses. 1 ag reed wi th my philosopher Erienda . n c ; l ; j ~ e d in his chuckle of satisfaction, but 1 joined trembling~ ~ mirth, for we are by no means out oE the wood yet,are signs that the nature of the Tory is coming out.js against his grain, and he may be irritated intobecoming his natural self. Then there will be a row. If Canton

its cards wi th good sense, and if it is concerned solely withrecognition of Chinese nationality, the T ory natural manhave no Ercedom to stretch himself and kick. At this


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THEMEX ICAN REVOLUTION

. N 7) 1 T S rp ' l ( O 13 L E (M s.by HAYA DELATORRE

S E NOR HAYA DELATORRE is the leader of the Socialist studentmovemen t in Latn America. In this article he deals with the presentsituation in Mexico, the p roblems of which are persistently misrepre sented and misunderstood in Europe. A review of the recentlypublished life of Luiz N. Morones, the great leader of Mexican Labour,appears in this issue of the S ocialist Re'View.

L IK E R US SIA or China, Mexico suffers from an implacableblockade on the part of the capitalist Press of the U nitedStates. This has produced in the rest of the world a completeignorance of the grave and complicated problems of thatcountry.1t has even created a favourable atmosphere for the repeatedthreats and aets of bostility which the U nited States Govern ment has carried out against Mexico for sorne years, underthe I?re text of "safeguarding tbe interests of her citizens inMexlcan territory." These interests are, in faet, none otherthan the enormous interests of the S tandard Oil Company.A great p ~ r t of the sufferngs of Mexico can be easilyexplaned by her riches. In her vast area of 785,991 squaremiles, Mexico "contains all the materials which Nature pro duces for the food, the clothing and the dweHings of men, andall wrucb industry transforms and places at the service of thecommon need," I and "Mexico stands first in the world'sproduction of silver, benequen (sisal) and chicle; second in theworld's output of petroleum, lead, antrnony, onyx, dyewoodsand chickpeas ; third in the production of zinc, Indian cornand coffee ; four tb in tbe production of gold ; and fifth in theproduction of copper."

From the beginning of the independent life of Mexico, sincetbe revolution against the dominion of S pain (1 810-21), wesee the intervention of three great historical factors in thecourse of its agitated century as a republic: the great landawning class, tbe Government of the United States of America,and the R oman Cathal ic Church.

I Rabasa. La E'Voludon Historica de Mexico. Address by lhe Mexican Minister to the London Chamber of Commerce(March. 1926). .

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erHE M E X ICAN 7{E TlOL UTIONThese three factors , moved by strong economic interests,are the three great enemies against whom the Mexican peoplellave had to struggle, are still struggling, and will perhaps have

to struggle fo r a long time.5ince tbe Spanish Conquest , which destroyed the nativeagrarian organisation of the Aztec E mpire, the great landowners, or hacendado , have represented the institution of thelatifundia (the feudal ownersrup of land). T hey have oppressedthe Indians in the most goominious manner, dispossessed themof their ejidos, and reduced them to tbe most brutal servitude.They reached the summit of their power as a ruling cIass duringthe long dictatorship of General Diaz (I8 76-19JO) . It iscalcuJated that at the end of bis rule only 834 landownerspossessed all the productive Iand of Mexico, employing about10,000,000 peones (dispossessed native slaves).

Y ankee 1mperialisrn.The U nited States began their aggressions against Mexicoby the unequal and cruel war of 1846-48 . Nearly half the richMexican territory was snatched away by an unjustifiable act ofnquest. "The treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (after the wareen U.5. and Mexico) had given us the vast territoryknown as New Mexico and California, but coveriog noton1y the California and New Mexico of the present map, butatso Nevada, Utah, Arizona and portions of Colorado andYroming." says Mr. Woodrow Wilson: " Mexico gave upal claim to Texas." In later years, the United States did not have recourse to

arms tooconquer Mexico , but used thei r great capital to assumepossesslon ?f the country 's .sources of weal th. The imperialismof the Uruted States, whlch threatened the whole of Latinm,enea, f?und in ~ I e x i c o one of its first fields of action.. The ~ l O g d o ~ of petroleum" was disputed during the. torshlp of D laz by .fo reign capitalists , especially by thentish and North Amencans. Diaz reinforced his dictatorialer by opening the gates to imperialism aod dispensing his~ ~ u r s alternately to the Americans of the North and to the ntJsh .. At the of Diaz' s d ictatorship, the fo reign holdings10. ~ e x l : O were S l I ~ a t as foUows :-United tates, $I,oS 8" t ~ : o n s , Bn ta lO , $ 321 millions ; France, $ I43 miIJions;

W I e MeXJco had $ 793 mil lions and others $ II 9 millions.':~ = t t . lJ!t Mexican Revol,tion and t lle U.S . 1910-H}26, p. 140 . lbid pO"; Ie n -E Poc /s oi Americall Ristory, Vol. IrI., p. 156. Nea . 5t. ong-mans Green & Co. Ed. N.Y. , 1900.PI'e$S, N.V: & ' reeman Dollar D if>lomacy , p . 8. ; . B. W. Huebsch & Viking


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'[HE SOCIALIST 7{EVleWT he ChUTCh in Mexican History. T he Roman Catholic Church is another great factor in thehi storie life of Mexico. 1 was united to the State in the timeof Spanish rule and became the owner of great wealth. The

Mexican L iberal Governrnent, by the Constitutin of 1857 andthe laws of La Re form e of 1859, declared, however, that theChurch hould be separated from the State, and decreed thenationalsation of the property of the Church, the di ssolution' , - of the religious orders, the suppression of fueTos or ecclesiasticalpriv ileges, and the secularisation of education. Pope Pius IX.fu lminated against these decsions, declaring therri "nuIl, voidancl without any value, " and the clergy, in conjunction withNapoleon IIl., decided, on the invasion of Mexico by theF rench army . to crown Maximil ian of Habsburg as emperorand to re-establish al1 the privileges of the clergy.President Juarez headed the insurrection of the Mexicanpeople against the invasion , defeating the French and takingprisoner the Catholic Emperor, who was executed (May,1867). T he long dictatorshp of Diaz , formerly an officer inthe Liberal Anny , favoured the C hurch in the end, and practica ily all its power was restored. .The dictatorship of Diaz thus represented the three greatenemies of the Mexican people : the landowners, the United.States (imperialism) , and the Roman C hurch. The people ofMexico rose again st trus dictatorship in 1910, and since thenthey have been struggling against the three great forces ofoppression which it represented.

In the Mexican Revolu tion, which began with a democraticmovemen t (1910) directed by rvladero (a man of the new bourgeois or business cIass which had created industrialism and introduced foreign capi tal), it is necessary to distinguisbbetween various aspects : the peasan t or agrarianmovement,whose first great leader was Zapata , and which represented. the direct revolutionary action of the oppressed rural workersagainst the lanclowners ; the industrial aspect, or that of theworkers, in a revolution in timately connected with imperialism ;and the poltical action. cf the leaders and groupswho headedtbe R evoluton. Peasants and Work ers. The peasant movement is the most advanced social andeconomic fea ture o the Mexican Revolution. The countryworkers have striven to prevan , not only against the landowners, but even against the leaders each time that the latter(Madero, Carranza and de la Huerta, for instance) have' Elias. The M ex ican People and Th e ChUTCh, N.Y., p. 22 .

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'1HE M EXICAN '1{E JlOLUTIONdeparted from. the agra.rian. programme , or have contravenedit or wavered m upholdmg It. In the industrial or workers' movemen t the advance of theRevolution is less, for lack of an advaneed Soeialist programmeand of sufficient strength to oppose the menaees of NorthAmerican Imperialism . The Revolution has given to Mexicothe Const itution of 1917, recognising tbe right to strike , eighthours ' daily work and seven hours ' night work, three months'pay to the worker unfairly d ismissed, obligatory arbitration bythe 5tate , a period of rest from work for women before and after childbirth, and so On ; but the industrial aspect of theRevolution has been kept back by North AmericanImperialism.

The 1917 Constituton and the Gil In terests.AH the difficulties between Mexico and the U nited Stateshave their root jn the ~ t a t i o of Article 7 of the Revolutionary Constitution , w h ~ deer es the nationalisation of .theland and aU below it, and the condition that " only Mexicansby birth or naturalisation and Mexican eompanies have therigbt to acquire ownership in lands , waters , etc." T he fundamental question which confron ts the Government of theUnited States in considering its relations with Mexico is tbesafeguarding of property rights against eonfi carian," saidS ecre tary H ughes (June 7th, 1921). After the disembarkation .of North American traops in Veracruz and the massacreof more than two hundred men, women and eruldren (1914),and the "punitive expedi tion" of General Pershing in 1916,ordered by President Wilson, the Constitution of 1917 wasthe subject of 10nO" debate between the S ecretaries of Statein 'Washington and Mexico. Each time that the G overnmentendeavoured to apply Article 27 oE he Constitution to its fu lle v o h ~ t i o a r y extent large sums of money were spent by theAmenC?-n (o r British) oi! kings to produce d1so rders or counterrevolutlOOS .Arter a prolonged exchange of diplomatie notes and theoccurrence of many incidents , the Mexican Government interpreted this arti le as "Ilot retro-active" in March, 1926.' ThisImportan.t decision was well received by the great oi! owners.

Tlie capI tal invested in the petroleum industry from I90r toJ 9 24 has been officiaUy estimated as folJows :- U ni ted States ,

~ , 2 6 3 English, $ 356,776 ,199; D utch , $ 75,758, 960;M$eXlcan, $11 ,582,405 ; others, $9,943, 238, givi ng a total of

1,065,548 , 1 lO (Mexican pesos).''dSecretarl a de RR.EE. M xico. Dpto. de Pub licidad. Serie A. Anno 2 0 .23 ,an. Corresponden cia O ficial (1926) , pp . 76 a nd follo \Vs.

Informaciones oficiales MM .SS.


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'[H E SOCIALIST 1{EVlfWW hy Mexic o Broke with the Church..In the spring of last year , the Governmeot of Mexicoini tiated an active anti-religious eampaign to put ao eod towhat remained of the power of the Catho!ie Chureh. The

agitasion whieh this eampaigo produeed in Mexieo dstraeted theattention C!f the public at a very opportune moment from thediplomatic debate with W ashi ngton, aod from the importantdeclaraton oE the G overnment of Mexieo as to the non retrospectiv e effect of Article 27 of the Constitution. One ofthe most iniportant pomts of the anti-religious eampaign wasthe new regulation of private elementary sehools. The Govern ment declared that religious mstruction must oot be impartedin any private school. No sehool must have an oratory orchapel intended for religious services , and no minister of religioneould be a sehoolmaster.' The G overnment ordered the dissolution of the monastic orders and the expulsioo of foreignclergy , .regulating the number of priests io proportion to thenumber of inhabitants. T hese steps called forth great protestfrom the conservative elemeots, directed by the old Mexieanclergy . T he Catholic Church considered it oppor tune to makea bold agitation against the Government -and to use the socalled boyeott or " strike" as a weapon. T he places of worshipwere c10sed and public demonstratioos were made by bothsides . O ne of the most important things aeeomplished duringthis campaign was the publ ic debate between representativesof the C.R .O. M . (Confederaton of Mexiean Workers) andrepresenta tives of the Catholie movement. D uring this debate,wruch took place in the Iris T heatre in M. eo on the 4th ofAugust last, sorne sensational documents were read, whiehproved that tbere was a poltical conspiracy of the Catholicclergy in favour of a reactio na ry political movement. 11 Threesecretaries of tbe Cabinet of Genera! Calles were the repre sentatives of the workmen in this debate. O n the 22nd and 23rdof S eptember last, the Chamber of Deputies diseussed amemorial presented to Parliament by the Catholjc Arehbshopand bishops, requesting the reform of various artides of theConstitution of 191 7. T hese articles referred to non-religiousinstruetion, to the non-celebration of public religious services,and of the incapacity of churches or religious bodies to acquire,own or administer property , an d also to the nationalisation ofa ll place s of The memoria! )Vas rejected. u

JI R eglamento de Escuelas Particulares Cap . n. arto 6 and Cap. 111. arto10 B-Sea-etaria de RR.E E. notes in formatives, n n o JI . N.39 .h ContTtnJersia sobre el tema: El Movimiento Revolucionaria y el Clericalismo Mexicano. lng. Luis Lean, Lic. Manuel Herrera Lasso. Seco edition.T acubaya. pp. 18, I9. 29 and 30.u Diario de los Debates de fa Camara de Diputados del Congreso de losEE.UU MexicaMs," Vol. 1. nwn. 12 and 13. .

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T HE MEXICA N 1{E POL UTION T he Catholie agitaton in Mexico was openly seeonded bythe Catholics of the United S tates , who asked their Government to intervene with the Mexican Government. TheImperialist Press of the United States supported the Catholics.T he Mexican Government declared energetically that it wouldnot ad ro it any mtervention and rejeeted the request of thePresident of Peru , closely allied to the Vatican and to WallStreet, in favour of the Catholies. The working c1asses openlysupported the Government against the Catbol ic Chureh, andnow the eonAict is praetically over . Tbe overthrow of theChurch was considered bv the Mexiean Socalists to be neces

sary to free the' country troro a dangerous ally of reaetion andlmperialism. .The Future o/ the Mexican Republic.

The Mexican Revolution is not com plete, in spite of themagnificent impulse and decision of the revolutionary masses,par tIy for lack of a concrete Soeiallst programme and of apoltica! discipline which would co-ordinate a real pol tical partyand control the aetion of the leaders ; and partly on aceount ofthe fo rmidable resistance and the menace of North AmericanImperialism. However , it represents the mos t advancedrevolutiooary impulse in Latin America and the strongestbarrier against the advance of Imperialism in its territories . Inspite of its errors and de fic iencies, the Mexican Revolution is asplendid experience fo!" Latin America. I ts struggle againstImperialism is simply a question of strength. Mexico cannotface the foe and overthrow it without uniting with the workingc1asses of the other countries of Latin America, whicb, in theirturn, have to strive against the landowning and bourgeoisc1asses of the nations whieh are on the side of Imperialism.

the mexican revolution - haya de la torre

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