The Porfiriato Diaz consolidated power in Mexico redistributed it from the provinces to the central government. With the stability he brought by ruling Mexico with a stiff hand came foreign investment primarily from the US Railroads were constructed, the oil industry was developed, even Hollywood invested in Mexico However, wealth was not shared by the masses and much discontent existed.

The Porfiriato Diaz was a captain of the revolutionary forces in the War of Reform in which Mexican forces overthrew the government of Emperor Maximilian. Diaz went on to become a mayor of the small provincial capital city of Oaxaca before being appointed President of Mexico before being elected in The death of Benito Juarez in 1872 prompted his ambition.

The Porfiriato Diaz leadership of Mexico was characterized by: Using a state police unit known as the Rurales to intimidate voters and scare Mexicans into submission. Diaz lived by the motto: “Order followed by Progress” Diaz helped a few members of the criollo class consolidate their power and actually took land from peasants and redistributed to the wealthy by demanding that all landowners demonstrate their legal title to the land.

2. The Porfirato Diaz was supported by school of thought in Mexico known as the cientificos. They generally called for “order and progress.” Regionally the philosophy came to be known as Positivism and usually could be characterized by the following qualities: Ensured order above rule of law Saw progress through a Western and European perspective- that meant industrialization, urbanization and free-market capitalism Generally emphasized the exportation of a single crop or raw material product

The Porfiriato and Positivism Positivist leaders viewed the world through what we would consider to be racist ideas Large Indigenous and African-Latino populations were seen as barbarous As a result they often encouraged European immigration and miscegenation (mixing of the races).

Porfirato and Positivism Often was based on other dubious sciences like: Social-Darwinism and Eugenics Sierra Justo, education minister under Porfirio Diaz- “We still need to revitalize the earth by way of irrigation. We need to attract immigrants from Europe so as to obtain cross with indigenous race, for only European blood can keep the level of civilization that has produced our nationality from sinking, which would mean regression, not evolution.”

Porfirato and Positivism Positivism had much in common with the theories of Manifest Destiny “Positivism offered the social hierarchies a new justification. Inequalities were now explained, not by race or inheritance or religion, but by science.” - Octavio Paz, a Nobel prize winning Mexican author. “Before 1810, two distinct, rival, and incompatible forms of society, two differing kinds of civilization existed in the Argentine Republic: one being Spanish, European and cultivated, the other barbarous, American, and almost wholly of native growth… the Revolution of 1810… gave cause for a contest between them, to be ended, after lasting many years, by the absorption of one into the other.” – Domingo F. Sarmiento “Civilization and Barbarism”- a liberal opponent of Juan Manuel de Rosas- Argentine Caudillo

6. Back to Mexico While the Mexican aristocracy mimicked European ways and open Mexico to foreign investment most Mexicans lived with alarming poverty. In % of male children died within one year and 25% of the population was literate. Some estimate that the average purchasing power of Mexicans in 1910 was quarter that of what it had been in 1810.

Sparks of the Mexican Revolution Diaz decide that Mexico was ready to return to democracy and called for elections in Francisco Madero, the owner of a large estancia and a US educated aristocrat who openly supported a new constitution and democratic change challenged Diaz. Diaz had Madero imprisoned in Monterrey for the election

Plan de San Luis Potosi After being released from prison Madero went into exile in the United States where he wrote the Plan de San Luis The Plan basically claimed that Diaz was not the legitimate leader of Mexico and that the election had been a fraud. Upon returning to Mexico Madero claimed he was the President Pro-Temp until new elections could be held. As President Pro-Temp Madero claimed that he would return all confiscated land to peasants and ensure universal male suffrage.

The Revolution Begins Madero enlisted Pancho Villa and Pascual Orzoco to join the revolution. Soon all hell broke loose and different groups throughout Mexico joined the revolution by overthrowing local leaders One prominent revolutionary leader, Emiliano Zapata, led peasants in Morelos with the promise to return to them land and water rights. Within 6 month the Diaz regime fell and Diaz exiled himself to France

Madero’s Mistakes Upon assuming the Presidency of Mexico Madero allowed Diaz’s military forces to remain in the military with the assumption that they had learned their lesson. He told Emiliano Zapata that lands taken from Indian villages by hacendados could not be returned by force. Madero did increase funding on education, openly supported a plan to return lands to Indians and supported trade unionism Large oil companies (American owned), large land owners and others in the economic elite waged a war of words against Madero in the Mexican press which inspired rebellion One former general under Diaz tried to over throw Diaz, another cattle rancher upset with a law that limited land possession to 20 square miles, Pascual Orozco also tried to overthrow him bu was defeated by Pancho Villa’s forces who remained loyal to Madero

Zapata and the Plan de Ayala Disillusioned with the slow pace of change under Madero’s leadership, Zapata continued the revolution by advancing his own plan, the Plad de Ayala. In the Plan de Ayala Zapata writes that Madero had “no intentions other than to satisfy his personal ambitions, boundless instincts as a tyrant, and his profound disrespect” for the constitution of Zapata went onto promise small largely indigenous land holders that they would be returned their properties taken by their “oppressors.” It should be noted that Madero was the owner of an enormous estancia and had appointed many members of his family to his government

General Huerta Succeeds Madero In 1913 General Victoriano Huerta overthrew the Madero government by assassinating him. Huerta, a general under Madero in the Mexican army, rose to power with Madero’s death and with the hope of restoring the Porfirato. Huerta rise to power initiated the truly revolutionary phase of the Mexican revolution.

Villa in the North and Zapata in the South Villa organized small landholders, cowboys and the unemployed in the north join the revolution and Zapata organized the small largely indigenous landholders of the south as the government was forced to deal with a two fronted revolution for radical social change that called for widespread land redistribution.

15. Venustiano Carranza joins the Revolution Carranza, a wealthy landholder like Madero organized a third army, mostly of Mexico’s elite to contest Huerta’s presidency. In his Plan de Guadalupe (March 1913) Carranza declared himself the “First Chief of the Constitutional Army,” but said nothing about socio-economic conditions that propelled Villa and especially Zapata.

Alvaro Obregon Joins Carranza Huerta resigned as President in 1914 after the US refused to recognized him as a President and sent troops to Veracruz. Obregon joined Carranza as a military strategist. Together they defeated Villa’s forces in the North and ultimately assassinated Zapata in the South.

The Mexican Constitution on 1917 institutionalizes the revolution The Mexican constitution of 1917 empowered the government to redistribute land, recognized labors right to organize, subjected the church to new restrictions. Carranza assumed to the presidency in 1917, but resigned after trying to rig the first election under the new constitution. Obregon succeeded Carranza and organized the Partido Nacional Revolucionario now known as the Partido Revolucionario Institucional

17. The Mexican Revolution Accomplished the Following: Nationalization of the oil industry Transfer of more than 45 million acres of land to the power The near monopoly of political power by the PRI A socialist orientation by the politicians that followed