Workers, Neighbors, and Citizens: The Revolution in Mexico City

Rating:
Summary: Highly recomended!
Review: Beginning in the mid-Nineteenth Century, Mexico City became a primary destination for the multitudes of country folk who were in search of better economic opportunities. The depravity of life for many of the countryside?s population, along with those from nearby villages and towns proved to be a compelling force in the urbanization of growing metropolitan surrounding Mexico's Federal District. The economic opportunities were a direct result of the burgeoning industrialization of the region, which had been aided, in no small measure, by foreign investors whom had held the welfare of the Mexican laborers in pitiful regard. Though the indigenous industrialists, artisans and corrupt politicos were predominantly of the same ilk. As the population swelled, the physical dynamics of the city were transformed. Advances in transportation technology permitted the steady growth of suburbs, while simultaneously feeding into a distinct stratification of economic classes along geographical lines. As the numbers of workers, skilled and unskilled continued to escalate through the early part of the Twentieth Century, a series of national political revolutions changed forever their relationship in the political power balance in Mexico.
John Lear's Workers, Neighbors and Citizens explores the relationship between the physical growth patterns of Mexico City during its forty year period of continued industrial growth, 1880's-1920's, and the formation of skilled and unskilled laborers as a nearly unified class of workers. Lear's argument is one of multi-causation. Some of the elements that force the reaction of the workers fed into the revolutionary zeal of the age. The preponderance of foreign capital and foreign industrialists which poured into Mexico during this period, certainly allowed this Latin American nation to move forward in the global economy, however, the cultural indignation that the workers suffered, both men and women, at the hands of the paternalistic elite was not unnoticed, nor easily forgiven. As the Revolution swept through the countryside, the workers repeatedly made attempts at labor reform through political and economic pressures, both of which were new elements within Mexican society, and both aided the working class in achieving some tangible reforms, such as a reduction of hours and minimal wage increases.
The book is divided into three sections. The first discusses the physical geographical developments of Mexico City along both social and economic lines during the industrial expansion. Within this context the divergent paths of the elite and workers are very neatly laid out; the reader yearns with great anticipation of the inevitably of extreme conflict and unification by the close of the second chapter, a reoccurring phenomenon throughout the entire book. The following section, "Political Cultures and Mobilization" is of sufficient scholarly merit to stand alone as an individual work. The sense of class formation amongst the ranks of labor, along with the impact of the populist political rhetoric and unionism in the solidification of this configuration is not just analyzed succinctly; Lear's suggestive, detailed narrative encapsulates a great array of factors in an economy of words. Of particular note is his treatment of the mutual (and moral) aid societies, his astute handling of the three great vices and enemies of the family: alcohol, tobacco and explicit sexualisms, and the overtly paternalistic and sexist manner of the foreign business owners and how the laborers, especially the women react to these unacceptable societal components within Mexico City. The final section wraps up the author's overarching theme, which connects the workers with the national revolution. Absolute consensus does not occur as factions of support develop along the lines that support no political involvement, the Constitutionalists, and the impact of the foreigners, especially in the formation of unions, though strangely absent is any real treatment of the influence of the Communist party.
"Workers" is a study in depth that confronts the role of the social reform movements in Mexico City that greatly parallel the Progressive era reform movements in cities such as New York, Chicago and Detroit. The common elements that all of the reformers addressed were the number of hours that folk labored, the consumption or over-consumption of alcohol (cheap whiskey in the United States, pulque in Mexico), "proper" familial order - a reduction or eradication of spousal abuse, and a real voice in politics. Where Lear truly adds to the great library is within his attention to role of women within this climate of change, though it could be argued that until the third section of his tractate the mention of women and their roles is at best cursory, with a few notable exceptions, which could be attributed to the lack of women within the industrial workers ranks before the Revolution. The image of the woman in the framework of an identifiable class formation that enveloped the laborers is represented both in text and image in other words - decisive. This book is essential for any that might have interest in urban history, labor history or Revolutionary Mexico history. Lear is an adept writer; his literary devices make this work a pleasure to read.

Rating:
Summary: Highly recomended!
Review: Beginning in the mid-Nineteenth Century, Mexico City became a primary destination for the multitudes of country folk who were in search of better economic opportunities. The depravity of life for many of the countryside?s population, along with those from nearby villages and towns proved to be a compelling force in the urbanization of growing metropolitan surrounding Mexico's Federal District. The economic opportunities were a direct result of the burgeoning industrialization of the region, which had been aided, in no small measure, by foreign investors whom had held the welfare of the Mexican laborers in pitiful regard. Though the indigenous industrialists, artisans and corrupt politicos were predominantly of the same ilk. As the population swelled, the physical dynamics of the city were transformed. Advances in transportation technology permitted the steady growth of suburbs, while simultaneously feeding into a distinct stratification of economic classes along geographical lines. As the numbers of workers, skilled and unskilled continued to escalate through the early part of the Twentieth Century, a series of national political revolutions changed forever their relationship in the political power balance in Mexico.
John Lear's Workers, Neighbors and Citizens explores the relationship between the physical growth patterns of Mexico City during its forty year period of continued industrial growth, 1880's-1920's, and the formation of skilled and unskilled laborers as a nearly unified class of workers. Lear's argument is one of multi-causation. Some of the elements that force the reaction of the workers fed into the revolutionary zeal of the age. The preponderance of foreign capital and foreign industrialists which poured into Mexico during this period, certainly allowed this Latin American nation to move forward in the global economy, however, the cultural indignation that the workers suffered, both men and women, at the hands of the paternalistic elite was not unnoticed, nor easily forgiven. As the Revolution swept through the countryside, the workers repeatedly made attempts at labor reform through political and economic pressures, both of which were new elements within Mexican society, and both aided the working class in achieving some tangible reforms, such as a reduction of hours and minimal wage increases.
The book is divided into three sections. The first discusses the physical geographical developments of Mexico City along both social and economic lines during the industrial expansion. Within this context the divergent paths of the elite and workers are very neatly laid out; the reader yearns with great anticipation of the inevitably of extreme conflict and unification by the close of the second chapter, a reoccurring phenomenon throughout the entire book. The following section, "Political Cultures and Mobilization" is of sufficient scholarly merit to stand alone as an individual work. The sense of class formation amongst the ranks of labor, along with the impact of the populist political rhetoric and unionism in the solidification of this configuration is not just analyzed succinctly; Lear's suggestive, detailed narrative encapsulates a great array of factors in an economy of words. Of particular note is his treatment of the mutual (and moral) aid societies, his astute handling of the three great vices and enemies of the family: alcohol, tobacco and explicit sexualisms, and the overtly paternalistic and sexist manner of the foreign business owners and how the laborers, especially the women react to these unacceptable societal components within Mexico City. The final section wraps up the author's overarching theme, which connects the workers with the national revolution. Absolute consensus does not occur as factions of support develop along the lines that support no political involvement, the Constitutionalists, and the impact of the foreigners, especially in the formation of unions, though strangely absent is any real treatment of the influence of the Communist party.
"Workers" is a study in depth that confronts the role of the social reform movements in Mexico City that greatly parallel the Progressive era reform movements in cities such as New York, Chicago and Detroit. The common elements that all of the reformers addressed were the number of hours that folk labored, the consumption or over-consumption of alcohol (cheap whiskey in the United States, pulque in Mexico), "proper" familial order - a reduction or eradication of spousal abuse, and a real voice in politics. Where Lear truly adds to the great library is within his attention to role of women within this climate of change, though it could be argued that until the third section of his tractate the mention of women and their roles is at best cursory, with a few notable exceptions, which could be attributed to the lack of women within the industrial workers ranks before the Revolution. The image of the woman in the framework of an identifiable class formation that enveloped the laborers is represented both in text and image in other words - decisive. This book is essential for any that might have interest in urban history, labor history or Revolutionary Mexico history. Lear is an adept writer; his literary devices make this work a pleasure to read.