Porfirio Diaz was a brilliant general who distinguished himself in the battle of Puebla in 1962, and later led the troops to recover Mexico City from the French. He became president of Mexico in 1877, and held executive power through several terms for 30 years. His presidency was named el Porfiriato.
Mural by David Alfaro Siqueiros: From Porfiriato to the Revolution
Mexico gained much during his presidency: the extension of railroads throughout the nation, growth of foreign investments, development of capitalism, and Mexican economy. However, these factors helped the top layer of the population, creating a powerful strata of those at the top, followed by a much smaller middle class, and beneath these, a massive layer of the poor, comprised mostly of indigenous people and their descendants working in fields. The greatest injustice came in the form of new land laws with Diaz allocating lands that belonged belonging to the people of Mexico, to wealthy non-nationals, and he prohibited Mexican nationals from owning land unless they had a formal, legal title. The laws had been set up to render small farmers utterly hopeless. His presidency turned into an oligarchy—a closed, exclusive government, with great inequalities and massive poverty. History shows that such a system is unsustainable in the long run; an overwhelming population of the poor will eventually rebel against the inequity. And the same happened in Mexico.
It is possible that Porfirio Diaz began his presidency with good intentions; he seemed to believe in the potential of a democratic government. But in 1908, toward the sunset of his powers, he told his Canadian interviewer James Creelman: “I received the government from the hands of a victorious army, at a time when the country was divided and the people unprepared to exercise the supreme principles of a democratic government.”
Perhaps he indeed believed that the country was unprepared, which may have led to holding on to power until such a time when the country was ready. On the other hand, the same can be read as a patronizing excuse. In that same interview he declared that he would no longer be seeking reelection.
Sparks of dissent appeared, led by the trio of the brothers Magon—Jesus, Ricardo, and Enrique—journalist who started the newspaper Regeneracion in 1900, condeming Diaz’s government. Their ideas were fundamental in shaping the new ideology of equality, anti-capitalism, and the need for radical changes in the economic structure of the country. Diaz reacted by ordering their imprisonment, and eventually forbidding them from having any newspapers in the country. They fled to the United States in 1904 and continued promoting their ideas in newspapers, first from San Antonio, later St Louis, Missouri, and finally Los Angeles from 1910 to 1918.
To better understand the resentment that had been brewing, one needs to look at what life was like for the peasants. The majority of rural land was held by hacendados, owners of vast haciendas, where peasants worked under terrible conditions, and were paid minimal wages. The challenger to Diaz and his government came from Francisco Madero who founded the Partido Democratico Independiente—Independent Democratic Party. He made a heart-felt declaration for the need of a democratic government, and ran on a platform for land reform.
The excesses and supressions of any dissent, displayed the tyrannical and cruel nature of Porfirio Diaz. In 1906 miners striked, at the US owned Cananea mines and the owners brought inUS rangers, resulting in 23 Mexican deaths. Another worker uprising again resulted in the execution of the leaders. These acts remained an open wound over the next ten years.
Because of threats of imprisonment, Madero escaped to the United States, and while abroad created a bold plan. Ten days before Diaz was to start his presidential term—won once again by fraud—on November 11, 1910 there would be a general uprising and Madero would become president.
Madero envisioned a political revolt, bringing down the Porfiriato. His support came from the middle class who wanted reform, but not an extreme revolution. But others were looking for a lot more than Madero was offering. The movement had turned into a social revolution not satisfied with a simple change in government, it wanted to change the entire economic structure, and justice itself.
It was as if a wild beast had been unleashed, and asked to only do one specific job. The beast, once free would go far beyond, devouring everything in its path. Perhaps it is true that social revolutions turn into an all or nothing.
Emiliano Zapata was a chief negotiator for the peasants who wanted the lands back from the hacienda owners and returning them to the peasants. Zapata became the leader of the peasant revolt and lent his support to Madero because he believed the latter’s promises of land changes, and joined him to oust Diaz. Together they fought against the Federal forces at the battle of Cautla described as “six of the most terrible days of battle of the whole Revolution.” Zapata's victory over the federal army convinced Porfirio Diaz to come to terms with Madero and resign. On the left we see a cartoon showing Madero shaking hands with Emiliano Zapata over an accord.
Although Madero had promised to return the land to former Indian landowners, he was more interested in reinstalling democratic processes than land reform. When he became president on November 6, 1911 he offered Zapata recompense for land, which Zapata rejected. Madero then denounced the Zapatistas as mere bandits and sent the Federal Army to root them out. His generals burned villages, removed inhabitants, and sent men to forced-labor camps. All this strengthened Zapata’s standing among the peasants, and he joined forces with Victoriano Huerta enabling a coup in which Maderos was assassinated. Huerta became the new president in 1914. But another coalition led by Venustiano Carranza, Alvaro Obregon, Zapata, and another peasant leader Pancho Villa, ousted Huerta.
In both pictures above, Emiliano Zapata appears as he truly was—a powerful leader for the peasants, whose interests he represented passionately, and he has become a revered hero for the nation. On the right the quote reads: “The soil shall return to those who work it with their hands.”
As 1915 came, there were two governments in Mexico—Carranza/Obregon and against them, the peasants, led by Zapata. When Pancho Villa was overpowered, he fled into the mountains to continue guerrilla warfare. And in 1919 Zapata was ambushed by Carranza’s troops, and killed.
While many accused Carranza of being power hungry he also lusted after peace. In the pursuit of civil rest he formed the Constitutional Army and a new constitution into which he accepted many of the rebel demands. On February 5, 1917, a new magna carta was drafted—the Constitution of Mexico.
It was considered at the time the most progressive document, encompassing land distribution, labor rights, secular and free education, and separation of church and state. The official end of the Mexican Revolution is often considered to be the adoption of the Constitution of Mexico in 1917, however the fighting continued long into the following decade.
Ultimately while the Mexican Revolution was aimed at ensuring a fairer way of life for the farming classes, many argue it achieved little more than the frequent change of leadership in the country, and as with all wars, the great loss of innocent lives.
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