DATES AND EVENTS: MEXICO 1909 - 1969
(Compiled by Geoffrey Kantaris - please inform me of any errors, problems or key omissions)
1909 Francisco Madero writes La sucesión presidencial en 1910 * tremendous success, becomes favourite of liberal and opposition groups; gaoled in San Luis Potosí. Crop failures in Zapata’s region.
1910 Madero breaks gaol, proclaims a revolution in manifesto (5 Oct 1910) and flees to Texas; Aquiles Serdán, shoe-store owner, killed in failed rebellion in Puebla. Zapata’s agrarian revolt begins. (70% of population over age 10 illiterate.)
1911 Revolutionary army under Pascual Orozco captures Ciudad Juárez (9 May); Porfirio Díaz and Corral negotiate conditional surrender to resign by end May; Madero triumphantly enters Ciudad México (7 June); elections held October, with Madero triumphant and assuming office 6 November; Madero disbands revolutionary troops. Zapata proclaims revolt against Madero via “Plan de Ayala” (Nov). Army rebellion (Gen. Bernardo Reyes) put down.
1912 Pascual Orozco leads revolt in Chihuahua; Madero dispatches Gen. Victoriano Huerta to fight uprising * Orozco defeated (Aug), but his guerrilla forces let loose. Félix Díaz revolts in Veracruz (Oct) and imprisioned in Mexico City. Madero attempts to introduce compulsory military service.
1913 Extreme elements of army attempt coup (9 Feb); fails and they withdraw to army arsenal; Madero appoints Gen. Victoriano Huerta as commander of loyalist troops; Ten Tragic Days begin * Huerta defends palace only because he intends to become president himself; stalemate between two sides; U.S. Ambassador Henry Lane Wilson negotiates settlement; Huerta assumes power; Madero placed under arrest (18 Feb) and resigns (19 Feb); Madero shot “while trying to escape” (22 Feb). Northern states revolt: in Coahuila, governer Venustiano Carranza calls emergency session of state Congress (18 Feb), Manifesto of Guadalupe declares Carranza first chief of constitutionalist army; in Chihuaha, assassination of local governer (González) by Huerta’s army leaves power vacuum quickly filled by Francisco Villa, owner of butcher shop, who pays no allegiance to Carranza; in Sonora governer pledges allegiance to Carranza and appoints Alvaro Obregón as chief of military operations, with Yaqui Indians as backbone of his army. Fully fledged civil war.
1914 Huerta obtains new foreign loan. Recently elected U.S. President Woodrow Wilson orders landing of American forces in Veracruz (April); Huerta and Carranza condemn the aggression; Villa’s northern division destroys the National Army at Zacatecas (June); Huerta resigns (July) and flees to exile; Carranza and Obregón enter Mexico City (Aug); U.S. evacuates Veracruz (Nov). Convention between Carranza and Villa in Aguascalientes fails (Nov), and new civil war begins; Zapata joins Villa and their armed peasant masses expel Carranza and Obregón from Mexico City: high-‑point of populist revolution; Carranza withdraws to Veracruz.
1915 Carranza tries to win over peasants * publishes “Additions to the Plan of Guadalupe” by Cabrera with promises for dissolution of latifundia * and workers with promise for better employment legislation, joining leaders of Casa del Obrero Mundial who swing over to Constitutionalism and sign ‘Red Battalions’ pact against the peasant armies. Obregón routs Villa’s army (Northern Division) in the Bajío battles near Celaya * the bloodiest of Mexican history (April). Zapata’s army leaves Mexico City (Aug). U.S recognizes Carranza’s government (Oct).
1916 Félix Díaz attempts to start new revolution (Feb), but collapses. Carranza appoints Obregón as minister of war. Carranza openly clashes with the workers’ movement in failed general strike * Casa del Obrero Mundial routed. Elections to national Congress held (Oct), and assembles in Querétaro to draw up new constitution.
1917 New Mexican constitution passed: Art 27 regarding ownership of property, 123 regarding protection of wage-‑earners. Carranza takes oath to obey constitution (31 Jan). Carranza proclaims Mexican neutrality in World War I (April), but “lets it be known” that his sympathies lie with Germany (thus manipulates U.S. gov very astutely). Carranza inaugurated president 1 May. Moves quickly to consolidate power in regions, however in Sonora Gen Plutarco Elías Calles at the helm. Obregón returns to his farm in Sonora ostensibly “for reasons of health”, but in fact to prepare for 1920 candidacy
1918 Confederación Regional de Obreros Mexicanos formed (CROM) (12 May) * first national workers’ organization. Effect of Russian Revolution causes resurgance of workers’ movement.
1919 Zapata assasinated. Worker agitation (cp ‘semana trágica’ in Buenos Aires, Jan). Obregón announces candidacy (1 June); signs secret pact with CROM. Carranza opposes Obregón and chooses as his candidate Bonillas, ex ambassador to U.S.
1920 New leader of Zapata movement, Gildardo Magaña, orients movement towards supporting Obregón (March). Obregón escapes arrest disguised as railroad worker; Obregón’s followers in Sonora proclaim rebellion of 23 April in Agua Prieta Manifesto, declaring Carranza deposed and Adolfo de la Huerta provisional president. Carranza boards train to Veracruz, but too late; murdered (20 May). Huerta’s government gives Villa an 80,000 hectare hacienda and an escort of 50 men to keep him quiet. Elections give Obregón overwhelming majority, and he is sworn in (30 Nov).
1921 Obregón resists radical transfers of property to peasants in North * planning to enlarge his own hacienda in Sonora (!) and fearful of U.S. military pressure * but begins radical land reform in Morelos and Yucatán. Campaign against “bolshevist” Mexico unleashed in U.S. press. Confederación General de Trabajadores (CGT) founded.
1922 Obregón reaches settlement with foreign bondholders of Mexican public debt, increasing debt by 368 million pesos of previously unrecognized railway bonds: total 1.5 thousand million pesos (June). Meanwhile, Mexico “extra-‑officially” cedes subsoil to existing oil companies. José Vasconcelos establishes rural elementary education; Rivera and Orozco given public space for murals. Catholic labour unions come into existence.
1923 Villa assassinated (July). U.S. recognizes Obregón (end August). Gen. Plutarco Elías Calles (Obregón’s choice) makes public his candidacy for presidency (5 Sep); De la Huerta resigns and proclaims military revolt; Obregón counts on peasant and labour organizations and purchases equipment from U.S.; uprising crushed.
1924 Obregón suspends debt payments agreed upon in 1922 (doesn’t need goodwill of bondholders anymore, since recognition by U.S. gov.). 136 strikes. Gen. Plutarco Elías Calles elected by overwhelming majority (July).
1925 Finance minister, Alberto Pani, negotiates reduction of foreign debt from bondholders. Bank of Mexico created. CROM instigates terrorist attacks against churches; landowning peasants in Jalisco, Michoacán, Guanajuato, fearing their newly acquired land might be reappropriated by other landless peasants, revolt against government under leadership of parish priests with cry “¡Viva Cristo Rey!” (Cristeros Revolt for next three years: schools burnt, ninety priests shot or murdered).
1926 Under pressure from Obregón, congress amends Constitution to permit just one non-‑consecutive re-‑election. Oil production has decreased by one half since 1921 because U.S. companies wary
1927 Amendment published. Tense relationship with U.S. over oil issue; tension decreases when Dwight Monrow appointed U.S. ambassador to Mexico (Sep) and initiates Good Neighbour Policy. Mexican army generals revolt (Oct), but fail.
1928 New amendment extends term of next president to six years. Obregón reelected 1 July, but slain by Catholic terrorist 18 July; public suspiscion falls on Calles as somehow responsible; Calles sacks Morones and appeases Obregón’s supporters; declares that institutions and parties, not national leaders, are to rule from now on. Congress elects Emilio Portes Gil as interim president (1 Dec); Calles announces formation of National Revolutionary Party.
1929 Convention of Partido Nacional Revolucionario held in first months at Querétaro; CROM does not join party; aspiring candidate Aaron Sáenz outmanoeveured as peasants, not industrialists, dominate convention; Ortiz Rubio chosen as compromise candidate. Some generals revolt against prolongation of Calles regime (March); insurrection defeated with help of agrarian militias. Gil reaches settlement with church * Catholic worship resumed. Rubio opposed by Vasconcelos, who attacks U.S. ambassador Monrow. Rubio wins.
1930 Ortiz Rubio president (Feb). Calles’ position institutionalized as ‘jefe nato’ of the party, and is in a stronger position of power than the president. Calles declares agrarian reform a failure and that it should be terminated. Distribution of land drops sharply. 60% of population over age 10 illeterate.
1931 Federal labour law issued, specifying rights of permanent agricultural workers, thus implying that traditional hacienda and peones here to stay.
1932 Rubio resigns due to Calles’ interference; Congress elects friend and associate of Calles, Abelardo Rodríguez for rest of term.
1933 Calles now argues that land distribution to villages should be resumed; possibly due to world crisis of early 1930s which shattered Mexico’s export cash crops, as well as mining and metallurgy; wide-‑spread unemployment in countryside; leads to conclusion that peasants should be allowed to practise subsistence agriculture. In U.S., Roosevelt inaugurates New Deal (March) and sends personal friend Josephus Daniels as ambassador to Mexico; unique opportunity to carry out promises of 1917 Constitution and nationalize subsoil wealth. Congress annuls Obregón’s amendment on reelection. Portes Gil and others urge resumption of agrarian reform and nominate Gen. Lázaro Cárdenas as party candidate. Party convention in Querétaro discusses Six Year Plan for agrarian reform and industrialization; Cárdenas declares that instruments of production will be given to “the organized proletarian masses”; that Mexican revolution will progress towards socialism but not state communism. Article 27 modified.
1934 Agrarian Code approved, detailed law implementing the constitution: sets certain limits on division of land; village land to be divided amongst individuals who have no right to mortgage or sell land. 202 labour strikes. Economic upturn. Bank of Mexico persuades people to accept its notes. Gen. Lázaro Cárdenas elected comes to power (Dec). Article 3 ammended to read “State education will be socialist in character”.
1935 642 strikes, with findings of labour courts favourable to workers.
1936 Calles expelled from country (April); Cárdenas invites generals and politicians exiled by Obregón and Calles to return. Confederación de Trabajadores Mexicanos created by labour leader Lombardo Toledano with president’s support. Cárdenas pushes through law allowing him to expropriate private properties and enterprises and socialize means of production. When cotton workers strike for higher wages, Cárdenas, fearing that CTM will become all-‑powerful monopoly, orders immediate splitting up of all haciendas. 3.6 million hectares divided.
1937 5 million hectares divided, including irrigated lands in Sonora belonging to U.S. citizens. National Railways nationalized (June).
1938 Railroads given to workers’ cooperative; large state sugar factory built for whole of Morelos region. Federal Labour Court awards oil workers 27% increase; pertolium companies refuse to comply; Cárdenas nationalizes their holdings (18 March); Great Britain severs diplomatic relations; U.S. demands fair and prompt payment, and U.S. press renews campaign against “Communist Mexico”; boycott by oil companies forces Mexico to sell to Germany and Italy. Mexican nationalism aroused: peasant women offer their gold jewelry to the national treasury. General Cedillo revolts (May), accusing Cárdenas of leading Mexico to communism, but revolt collapses and Cedillo loses his life. Cárdenas decides to sacrifice socialization for national unity: strikes reduce by half and redistribution slows down. Confederación Nacional Campesina created; party changes name to PRM (30 March)
1939 PAN opposition party founded (conservatives and oil owners). Cárdenas decides not to choose socialist Mújica as successor, but opts for mildly conservative General Manuel Avila Camacho.
1940 On election day (July), many dissatisfied workers and intellectuals vote for candidate of reaction (Gen. Almazán). Nevertheless, Camacho receives typical “overwhelming majority” under the banner of “national unity” and assumes office (1 Dec). The military wing is excluded from the PRM.
1941 Second Six Year Plan guarantees to respect private property, aims to establish Social Security, minimum wage and political rights for women. Deal signed with U.S. by which Mexico pays only US $24 million as indemnization for nationalization of oil companies instead of the $450 million the U.S. companies were demanding (Nov).
1942 Mexican oil tankers come under fire from German submarines (May); Camacho, who had already broken relations with Japan, Germany and Italy after Pearl Harbour, officially announces a state of war. Agreement with U.S. to reduce external debt (Nov) by 20%
1943 Confederación Nacional de Organizaciones Populares created (Feb); newly created Education Workers’ Union (SNTE) declares its support for the reform of Article 3 of the Constitution, eliminating references to “socialist education” which Cárdenas had promoted.
1944
1945 New electoral law passed (31 Dec) which denies registration to the Partido Popular.
1946 PRM changes to Partido Revolucionario Institucional (Jan), affirming the institutionalization of ‘revolutionism’ within State structures: socialist banner dropped in favour of “workers’ democracy” and “Social Justice”. Miguel Alemán (a lawyer rather than a general!) elected president in the first peaceful elections in post-‑revolutionary history; civilismo inaugurated. Article 3 (education) ammended to delete references to “socialism”, declaring education to follow “democratic” and “national” criteria.
1947 Land distribution for period 1946-52 slows to a trickle; Alemán’s regime blatantly industrialist and anti-‑agrarian.
1948
1949
1950
1951
1952 Adolfo Ruiz Cortines
1953 Women granted full political rights in Mexico.
1954 Mexican peso devalued by 30%; sudden jump in prices and panic buying; CTM and CGT come out in support of government; nevertheless, workers unrest at rising prices, strikes; government supporters and institutions manage to organize a 250,000 strong demonstration in support of government (Sep).
1955
1956
1957
1958 Primary school teachers order all-out strike after police break up demonstration (April); government agrees wage rises (June); railroad workers on strike. Adolfo López Mateos elected president.
1959 New president shows tougher hand: imprisons leaders of railroad workers and several striking unions (March) using old stalking horse of “communist threat”; Government regains control.
1960 Electricity industry nationalized (27 Sep).
1961
1962
1963
1964 Gustavo Díaz Ordaz; the Frente Electoral del Pueblo is denied electoral registration.
1965 Most of the leaders of the FEP are imprisoned.
1966
1967
1968 July-October: Middle-‑class student dicontent climaxes in student demonstrations; Government forces, nervous in anticipation of Olympic Games, fire on demonstrators, killing several hundred: La noche de Tlatelolco (2 Oct); attempt by government to justify repressive measures by alleging Communist control of the students * several leaders of PCM arrested and imprisoned.