The Mexican Revolution

What happened in the revolution?

With a dictator as a President, not having
much of a say in how their government was
being runned, and not having good
conditions to work in or getting a decent
pay, the Mexicans decided to stand up for
themselves and demand for:

● A proper constitutional republic

● Unions for their jobs
● Fair wages/ equal pay compared to the
American workers
● Right to some of their land that was
taken away from them by the
 Pre- revolution: Privileged v. Non-Privileged
Privileged Groups

● Europeans
○ They were working with President Diaz and making
sure they had some control over their government
● USA
○ Were also making deals with President Diaz but so
they would make profit from the products the
Mexican workers were creating while working
● President Diaz
○ Thought that if he was to appease to foreign
countries by letting them have some control over his
country, he would be making peace with them and
his people
○ While he worked on implementing a capitalist
society building factories, dams, and roads the rural
workers and peasants suffered greatly.
○ Díaz allocated land, once belonging to the people
of Mexico, to wealthy non-nationals
○ Wealthy Landowners and Industrialists-benefited
Pre- revolution: Privileged v. Non-
Privileged
Non-privileged Groups

● Lower class workers

○ The workers had little control over the working
conditions they were put in
○ They were being paid extremely low wages
compared to the American workers in Mexico
(Mexican workers would get paid a quarter while the
Americans would make more than twice that amount
● Peasants
○ Barely had any money to buy food
○ The funds that was meant to be for them was instead
used for other purposes so there was a shortage on
food like corn and staple
● Indigenous People
○ Europeans would look down upon them and blame
them for the reason why “ Mexico can’t function
without help”
○ Were the main people that was forced to work with
little pay at all
 What resources were the Mexicans fighting for?
● Political Power
○ Mexicans wanted the freedom to vote for who they thought would listen to their voice (free suffrage)
○ Didn’t want to have presidents to be re-elected to prevent dictators from arising again
○ Stopping the oligarchy as the way how their government was being controlled
● Free Municipality
○ Mexicans wanted the federal government to give them some control over how they run their country
● Land
○ Mexicans wanted to have the land that was taken away back
○ To have some type of power over the land they work on
● Equal wages/ better working conditions
○ Mexicans wanted to be paid the same wages as the Americans
○ Have better conditions to work in
○ Have no abuse be put upon them while they’re working
○ Form unions for their jobs so they would have more rights as workers
 Protagonists
Porfirio Diaz:

- Corrupt Mexican dictator whose presidency spanned over the course of 30 years.
- His principle objective: to modernize the country with industrialization
-power was concentrated in the hands of a select few; the people had no power to
express their opinions or select their public officials.
-censorship, no democracy, and prejudice against campesinos and rural peasants.

Francisco Madero:

-Published The Presidential Succession, a political and economic critique of the

Porfirian regime.
-Argues for the right of states and municipalities to elect their own leaders without
federal interference and clean, democratic policies.
-Anti re-election clubs sprang because of this and was imprisoned.
-Called for resistance while in jail, became president in 1912 while Diaz went into exile.
-While he sparked a movement, there were others who were fighting for their own
causes (Madero’s vision was one for local landowners, merchant, local leaders; upper
and middle class people
 Tierra y Libertad: Leaders of the
Revolution
Emiliano Zapata: Pancho Villa
-of mixed Spanish and Nahua descent, he symbolized
the rural south of Mexico
-witnessed the encroachment of the neighboring sugar
plantations onto the land of his community
-became the leader of landless peasants, the Zapatistas
(as they became known)since Madero did not advocate
for land reform
-Leader of Northern Mexico, the “archetype of the
social bandit.
-Their insurgent drive was rooted in hunger, poverty,
and demeaning social status
-wanted to raise themselves socially and economically.
-wanted jobs, not small pots of land, called for the
confiscation of large haciendas that exploited peasants.
-Village campesinos in revolt.
 Before the Revolution

● Racism
○ Indians were looked at as the reason why Mexico wasn’t working properly
● Modernization
○ The U.S was forcing Mexico to adapt to their ways of working
○ Mexicans were being “taught” about the new ways of how they would be working
● Working conditions/ wages
○ Mexicans weren’t getting even pay with the Americans
○ They were working in poor conditions
○ Were abused while they were working by the Europeans
● Government
○ President Diaz was a dictator that was working against his people when he had an idea that he was
working for them
○ Mexicans didn’t really have a say in how their government was working
 What changed because of the revolution?

After the Revolution

● Dissolution of the Federal Army in 1914

● Venustiano Carranza became the
president
● The Constitution of 1917- established a
reformed agrarian system that served as a
model for other Latin-American countries.
● Reforms made by Constitution: minimum
wage, right to strike, rights of women in
work centers, etc.
● Viewed as progressive for the time