8.4: The Politics of Inclusion and Exclusion in the Americas - Forging the Cosmic Race

The Rise of Lazaro Cardenas

The twentieth century began in Latin America with the Mexican Revolutions. Peasants demanded land and workers sought higher wages. With the power of the elites weakened, middle-class reformers took over and drafted a constitution that embraced agrarian reform, an eight-hour workday, the right to organize labor unions, and a declaration that the subsoil belongs to the state in the name of the people. These ideas were inspirational for the rest of Latin America and even other parts of the world.

In the USA, Chile, and Mexico, new governments came to power during the Depression with the support of the middle and working classes and put in place policies that raised the incomes for both groups.  Industrial workers received the right to form unions and obtained welfare benefits. However, the Mexican government was more inclusive than either the USA or Chile by addressing the poverty of indigenous agricultural workers. While the US government sought to revive the economy by stabilizing the financial system and increasing the earning power of workers, the Chilean and Mexican governments implemented policies to rapidly industrialize their economies.

In Mexico, the Great Depression demonstrated the shortcomings of unregulated capitalism and alternative economic policies emerged during this period.  Mexico was hard hit because of its close ties to the USA. Exports dropped and poverty increased dramatically. Lazaro Cardenas, the president of Mexico from 1934-1940, was part of a worldwide trend of rejecting unregulated capitalism.  While campaigning for president, Cardenas gained first-hand knowledge of the problems of the poor by traveling throughout Mexico and visiting factories and villages. His campaign raised popular expectations for change. Cardenas promoted the integration of natives as well as the formation of a common front of workers and peasants.  He promised to reduce poverty and provide greater access to education. His campaign asserted that economic transformation could only occur with the mobilization of workers and peasants. Cardenas supported private ownership of land and private business, but the economy needed to be regulated by the government which stood above the different classes. Similar to the Chilean and American governments, industrial workers were able to successfully go on strike and earn more money under Cardenas. 

The Policies of Larzaro Cardenas 

In contrast to the New Deal and the Popular Front, the Mexican government in the 1930s had policies that sought to improve the lives of agricultural workers and non-whites. The power of the landowning elites was diminished during the Mexican Revolution. These elites no longer controlled the military as the elites did in Chile. Under President Cardenas, land reform was implemented that brought back indigenous communal landholdings which had been broken up in the late 1800s. As a result, 728,847 peasants received land and millions of acres of land were redistributed to the natives of Mexico. Agricultural workers could also join the government-controlled peasants' labor union. 

There was also a major push to both acknowledge the importance of the natives of Mexico and to integrate them in a policy known as indigenismo. The government rejected scientific racism and believed that the natives would succeed economically with some government assistance. Overall, the indigenous population was overwhelmingly rural and benefited from land redistribution.  Cardenas wanted the natives to be loyal to the new national government. So, native customs were integrated into national traditions. The Cardenas administration restored the pre-Hispanic city of Teotihuacan and funded studies on Mexico’s ancient civilizations. The governments after Cardenas would go on to construct a massive museum in Mexico City, the National Museum of Anthropology, which highlighted the history and contributions of Mexico’s indigenous cultures. The Mexican government also funded art such as murals which highlighted natives in Mexican history.  However, the natives were to culturally assimilate. There was a massive increase in education to teach the natives Spanish. What Cardenas envisioned was a mestizo nation, embracing Mexico’s mixed heritage. The new Mexican was a mestizo, part of the “Cosmic Race” which was a culture that combined the best of Europe with the best of the Americas.

Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\): Lazaro Cardenas Nationalizes the Railroads, by Doralicia Carmona Dávilavia, Memoria Politica de Mexico, is licensed under CC BY.

Cardenas was also a nationalist. In 1937, the Mexican government took over control of the nation's railroads. In figure 8.4.1 Cardenas is pictured with indigenous peasants proclaiming that now Mexico controls its own railroads. Why would he be pictured with indigenous villagers? Cardenas also nationalized Mexican oil, taking over leases given to U.S. and British oil companies.  In addition to the oil wells, communications, and the electrical industry would also eventually be nationalized.  At this time, the US government was focusing on its own recovery and was more interested in the promotion of manufactured goods than extractive industries in Latin America. The American president, Franklin Roosevelt, began a “Good Neighbor Policy” toward Latin America which emphasized trade and cooperation rather than military intervention. So, settlements were reached in the 1940s on favorable terms to Mexico, because the USA wanted to maintain a strong relationship in the midst of World War II.

Similar to Chile, there was a big push to industrialize with higher tariffs and massive investments in irrigation, roads, and railroads. There were still serious economic problems in Mexico that were not addressed. Although the standard of living for peasants improved, poverty remained a significant problem in the countryside. Fifty percent of the agricultural workforce remained landless and impoverished.  For the most part, the government was more concerned with demobilizing the peasants and stabilizing the countryside rather than creating a prosperous middle-class peasantry.  Overall, Cardenas did not provide the necessary resources to peasants other than land.   The government modernized agriculture mostly in the north where small and medium-sized farmers were producing fruits and vegetables to export to the USA. However, corn and wheat production was not modernized and by 1970, Mexico had to import food.

Mexican industry was stunted by poverty in the countryside and the neglect of exports. By 1940, Mexico still exported lower-value primary products and mineral exports accounted for 60% of all exports.  However, industrialization in both Mexico and Chile required imports to work. Modern factories needed expensive technology, equipment, and machinery from the USA. Similar to Chile, Mexico was not on the technological frontier. Large US corporations, such as General Motors and Chrysler, came in and established factories. The technology was imported and the profits were repatriated back to the USA rather than being reinvested in Mexico. The Mexican government was going into debt to fund industrialization.  Also, the factories were heavily mechanized and did not employ millions of people. So, poverty in the cities and countryside placed limits on the market for production in factories.

The government also remained undemocratic. During the 1930s, the president gained more power at the expense of the legislature.  Cardenas controlled land redistribution and the nationalization of foreign industries. The government had a tight grip over the unions, because workers had to join the government union and the government appointed the union leaders.  Employers could not hire workers who were not members of the recognized union. For the 1940 presidential election, the more pro-worker candidate, Francisco Jose Mugica, sought to continue with the policies of Cardenas. However, Cardenas chose the more moderate Manuel Avila Camacho as his successor. The election was then fixed to ensure that the official candidate won. Cardenas began a practice known as the dedazo (finger pointing) where the incumbent president chose his own successor. Elections would continue to be rigged in favor of the “official” candidate until the 1990s.

Review Questions

• How were the policies of racial inclusion and exclusion different in the USA and Chile compared to Mexico?
• How were the economic recovery policies of Chile and Mexico different from the USA?