Cárdenas Compromised: The Failure of Reform in Postrevolutionary YucatánCárdenas Compromised is a political and institutional history of Mexico’s urban and rural labor in the Yucatán region during the regime of Lázaro Cárdenas from 1934 to 1940. Drawing on archival materials, both official and popular, Fallaw combines narrative, individual case studies, and focused political analysis to reexamine and dispel long-cherished beliefs about the Cardenista era. For historical, geographical, and ethnic reasons, Yucatán was the center of large-scale land reform after the Mexican Revolution. A long-standing revolutionary tradition, combined with a harsh division between a powerful white minority and a poor, Maya-speaking majority, made the region the perfect site for Cárdenas to experiment by launching an ambitious top-down project to mobilize the rural poor along ethnic and class lines. The regime encouraged rural peasants to form collectives, hacienda workers to unionize, and urban laborers to strike. It also attempted to mobilize young people and women, to challenge Yucatán’s traditional, patriarchal social structure, to reach out to Mayan communities, and to democratize the political process. Although the project ultimately failed, political dialogue over Cárdenas’s efforts continues. Rejecting both revisionist (anti-Cárdenas) and neopopulist (pro-Cárdenas) interpretations, Fallaw overturns the notion that the state allowed no room for the agency of local actors. By focusing on historical connections across class, political, and regional lines, Fallaw transforms ideas on Cardenismo that have long been accepted not only in Yucatán but throughout Mexico. This book will appeal to scholars of Mexican history and of Latin American state formation, as well as to sociologists and political scientists interested in modern Mexico. |
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Cárdenas Compromised: The Failure of Reform in Postrevolutionary Yucatán Ben Fallaw Limited preview - 2001 |
Common terms and phrases
AGEY AGN DGG AGN LC Agrarian Bank agrarian Cardenistas agrarian reform Alayola Antonio April August Avila Betancourt Pérez caciques caja 201 leg campaign Candelario Reyes candidate Canto Echeverría Cár Cárdenas's Cardenismo in Yucatán Chalé Communist crusade culture December denas Diario de Yucatán Diario del sureste economic ejidal ejidatarios Ejido Plan election Estado federal agrarian Felipe Carrillo Felipe Carrillo Puerto FUTV González governor groups Gualbertista Gualberto Carrillo Puerto gubernatorial hacendados haciendas henequen ejidos henequen zone Historia July June land reform landowners Lázaro Cárdenas leaders Left-Cardenismo López Cárdenas March Maya Mayab Mérida Mexican Mexican Revolution Mexico City mobilizations Motul Mújica Muxupip national Cardenistas November October official camarilla organizations Palomo Valencia Partido peasants and peons peons popular support President Cárdenas Progreso Revolución Revolution revolutionary rural September 1937 social Socialist Tixkokob town council unions urban labor votes Yucatecan