Historical Note on the Mexican Revolution
Much controversy exists about the duration of the Mexican Revolution. Some argue it lasted ten years (1910–1920), others say that it was much longer (1910–1924, or even 1910–1942), and some claim it’s never really ended. What most agree on, however, is on its beginnings. Years of oppression under a dictator resulted in widespread poverty, hunger and a desperation that exploded in a struggle for justice. But to understand these beginnings, we must look back at the four centuries prior.
In the early 1500’s, a comet hung over Mexico and the Aztecs believed it foretold doom. A few years later, the Spanish arrived, and, under the command of Hernán Cortez, claimed victory against the Aztec empire. The Spanish controlled Mexico for three hundred years, and when the Spaniards intermarried with the indigenous people, a new race – the mestizos – was born. With the mestizos came a new caste system. The whites of pure Spanish blood, who owned most of the land and wealth, enslaved both the mestizos, who had very limited privileges, and the indigenous people, who had absolutely no voice or power.
In 1810, Mexico fought for independence and won, but even though the Spanish left Mexico, the caste system remained. Those with the most Spanish blood in them remained in power, and the ones with the least, lived a wretched life filled with servitude for the rich. Despite Mexico having won its independence, unrest continued through the next six decades as new conflicts arose with Spain, Texas, the United States, Britain, France and even with itself as political instability continued. It was not until the 1870’s that Mexico began to experience a sense of peace but by then the economy was in shambles and what remained were great land estates known as haciendas.
A new leader ascended during this time; a military hero named Porfirio Díaz. After becoming president, Díaz constructed an economy based on mining and agricultural exports, foreign investments, and improved transportation. To appease the powerful people who opposed him, he increased their riches. He allowed haciendas to grow bigger by forcing poor, illiterate peasants off their lands. Díaz’s actions helped Mexico’s economy but also drove more and more people deeper into poverty. The destitute were no longer slaves to the Spanish but instead, were forced to labor on haciendas, on the same lands that had been stolen from them. The chains of slavery that were broken with Mexico’s independence were replaced by immense debts owed to the rich landowners, the hacendados. Hacendados forced peasants to work for meager wages and to purchase goods from their store at gauged prices. The peasants and their family members were not allowed to leave the hacienda unless the debt was paid in full. The system was rigged so that the debt could never be paid off and instead would be passed down from father to son. If anyone tried to flee, the mounted police, los rurales, were sent out to capture the escapee and bring him back to be whipped. Other offenses, like stealing food from the hacienda store, were punishable by two hundred lashes.
President Díaz knew of the harsh treatment of the poor, but his focus was on modernizing the country. He admired the elite classes of Europe and allowed a small group of Mexican businessmen who called themselves los científicos, the scientists, to influence his decisions. The científicos, most of European ancestry, believed that by allowing Americans and Europeans to own land, mines, and resources, Mexico would be on the best path to modernization. In their eyes, indigenous people and mestizos were only suitable for manual labor, and therefore, it should be foreigners who supply the skilled work. Díaz’s mother was a full-blooded indigenous woman, however, in an effort to be viewed as being from European descent, he agreed with the científicos. When foreigners arrived and settled in Mexico, they brought their dollars and European money with them, causing the price of food to skyrocket.
By 1910, Díaz had achieved much progress in modernizing Mexico but class inequities were vast. Only 2 percent of Mexicans owned land and 9 out of 10 people worked in haciendas. Then in May of that year, another comet brightened Mexico’s night sky, spreading a sense of doom once again. Soon after, people’s desperation reached its peak, and the country was thrown into unrest as protests and rebellions erupted throughout Mexico.
Very few elites opposed Díaz’s ideologies. One of them was Francisco Madero, a wealthy hacienda owner from northern Mexico. Madero studied abroad and learned philosophies that influenced his progressive, yet religious background. Unusual for his time, he didn’t smoke or drink and was a strict vegetarian. He was also a philanthropist and took great care of the people on his hacienda. He paid fair wages, provided clean, well-ventilated living quarters for families, and had his personal physician do regular check-ups and provide care for the sick. Out of his own funds, he opened community kitchens and schools, which children were required to attend rather than work in the fields. He implemented agricultural techniques he had learned while at school in Berkley to prove that the wealth of a hacienda could grow without compromising the welfare of the peasants. Neighboring hacienda owners, however, ignored his successes and became upset when he demanded fair and democratic elections for regional appointed officials. Madero saw the government corruption from the local level all the way up to the national level and understood how it affected the impoverished masses. He led an anti–re-election movement, and when Díaz declared himself president for the seventh time, he had Madero arrested. While imprisoned, Madero wrote a political document called “El Plan de San Luis Potosí”. In it he called Díaz’s election null and void and urged Mexicans to take up arms against the government and begin a revolution on Sunday, November 20, 1910 at 1800 hours.
Over the next decade, more than one million people would perish in the Mexican Revolution and almost 2 million more would migrate to the United States. This period proved to be the largest migration of Mexicans into the United States and greatly influenced the future of both countries. Many Americans to this day can trace their ancestry to those who survived this monumental civil war.