The Causes of the Mexican revolution Were numerous, highlighting the exploitation of the working classes, corruption, total absence of press freedom or that all privileges were in the hands of foreigners and the Mexican aristocracy.
The union of all these factors led in 1910 to a revolutionary movement that culminated in the promulgation of a new Constitution, which recognized labor rights and provided social guarantees.
The 7 Most Important Causes of the Mexican Revolution
Despotic Government of Porfirio Díaz
Porfirio Díaz was a dictator who directed Mexico between 1877 and 1880, and later from 1884 to 1911.
His government, known as the Porfiriato , Was characterized by promoting economic growth and industrial growth, but at the expense of the most vulnerable inhabitants of Mexico.
One of the most characteristic elements of the Diaz government is that it began by promising that it would not accept re-election, and ended up ruling for more than 30 years.
His rule was military, he had control of the institutions, there was no freedom of the press and the development of political leaders was avoided.
2- Progress based on foreign capital
The motto of the Government of Porfirio Díaz Was"Peace, Order and Progress". When Diaz assumed power, the state was in bad economic condition, with many debts and few reserves, and the dictator wanted to revive the Mexican economy.
For this reason, Diaz strongly encouraged foreign investment since coming to power. And to make this investment more attractive, Diaz posed very favorable conditions for investors, among which they highlight a labor at a very low cost, sometimes even at no cost.
As a result of the opening up to foreign investment, many of Mexico's resources were managed by companies in Europe and the United States.
Thus, the wealth generated by important items, such as mining or the railroad industry, went to foreigners, who constituted a very powerful new social class in Mexico.
This situation was very uncomfortable for the small businessmen and for the members of the Mexican middle class.
3- Absence of labor law
Workers had no rights. The promise of cheap labor, or even given away, implied working conditions that were really deplorable for the peasants and workers.
In addition to the number of hours of the day, which lasted 12 hours, and wages too low, a large number of prohibitions were imposed on the workers (asking for salary increases, carrying out strikes or protests, etc.).
Another way to obtain free labor was to promote the indebtedness of workers, because in this way they felt obliged to work without being entitled to receive any payment.
In some cases, it was also paid with loans rather than money. There was also labor discrimination in the middle class, because many positions were vetoed for Mexicans.
4- Land Disposal to Workers
In the period of the government of Porfirio Díaz, the Law for the demarcation and colonization of uncultivated land was created, which was in force for about 10 years, and which allowed the transfer of land considered unprofitable and the adjudication of these lands without canceling anything for they.
This action involved the dispossession of the lands, especially the indigenous Mexicans. Foreign landowners were set up, who were in charge of determining the boundaries of the lands considered vacant, which allowed that they took lands that were owned by Mexican inhabitants.
This way of distributing the lands generated that most of the lands were in the hands of very few.
There was an uneven distribution of land. In fact, it is estimated that in the last phase of the government period of Diaz, 70% of the land was owned by foreign companies and some entrepreneurs belonging to the upper class.
5- Great gap of classes
The unequal distribution of land, the granting of high benefits to the upper social class and practically no benefit to the lower social classes, the obstacles presented to the middle classes for the execution of their work, among other things, made a great difference Among the different classes that made life in Mexico.
There were three very differentiated classes:
- On one side was the upper class , The aristocracy, which owned haciendas, businesses, factories, and had broad political power
- Second, there was the middle class or small bourgeoisie, made up of small traders and professionals; the middle class Was key to the revolutionary movement due to the discontent generated because they did not perceive the privileges that corresponded to them.
- In the last place was the Lower class , Workers and workers, who were living in disastrous working conditions and practically had no rights at all.
6- Corruption
Some historians characterize the Porfiriato period as institutionalized corruption.
The idea of Diaz was to manage the country as a company, giving special place to investment from other countries, and the profits obtained were used to a limited extent to improve the quality of life of Mexicans.
Diaz gave privileges to friends and relatives, with whom he bought his will and kept them loyal to him, guaranteeing the support he needed to be able to stay in office.
The dictator used public money to pay public debts from other countries, and also to finance his incursions into various businesses, such as the railways, banking and mining industries.
7- Denial of democracy
Given his interest in staying in power, Porfirio Diaz did everything possible to avoid free and democratic elections in Mexico. Diaz was interested in maintaining a strong and powerful government, so the idea of democracy was against him.
Diaz managed to modify the Constitution as many times as necessary to perpetuate himself in power.
He began his mandate by protesting against reelection, then proposed that this reelection be allowed with a presidential term in between, and then extended the presidential term to six years.
References
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- García, S."Causes of the Mexican Revolution"(April 27, 2016) in Cltra Clctva. Retrieved on 1 August 2017 by Cltra Clctva: culturacolectiva.com.
- Vargas, D."Causes that gave rise to the Mexican Revolution"(November 12, 2015) in Mexico News Network. Retrieved on August 1, 2017 from Mexico News Network: mexiconewsnetwork.com.
- "Porfirio Díaz, president of Mexico"in Britannica. Retrieved on 1 August 2017 by Britannica: britannica.com.
- Congress of the State of Jalisco. "The Mexican Revolution"in LXI Legislature Congress of the State of Jalisco. Retrieved on August 1, 2017 from LXI Legislature Jalisco State Congress: congresojal.gob.mx.
- "The Porfiriato, a regime that fell by obsession of power"(14 May 2011) in Informador. Retrieved on 1 August 2017 from Informador: informador.com.mx.
- Bautista, E."Porfirio Díaz, the businessman... with the resources of the country"(November 11, 2015) in El Financiero. Retrieved on 1 August 2017 by El Financiero: elfinanciero.com.mx.