Mexican Revolution IB Extended Essay
Roots of Revolution
The Mexican revolution of 1910 was a pivotal time in Mexican history. This conflict and its effects were paramount to all citizens in Mexico, both proletariat and bourgeoisie alike. Two important provisions in the Constitution, Articles 27 and 123, are the economic and social manifestations of these political forces. Article 27 outlined a program of "expropriation in the public interest," barring foreign ownership of many lands or subsoil resources (Weyl 56). It also mandated measures to ensure equitable distribution of land and aid growth of small and middle-sized farms in favor of the latifundia system previously in operation. Article 123 was, known as the "Magna Carta of labor" provided many rights for wage earners which were previously not guaranteed (Hart 331). The article provided for an eight hour day for workers and protected their rights to strike against the employer, while making employer lockouts much more difficult (Bazant 149-151).
The subject, intent, and focus of both Article 27 and Article 123 of the Mexican Constitution of 1917 are ostensibly in response to the peasants involvement and response to social conditions. However, the motive behind these provisions is rather unclear. Many historians, such as professor Jan Bazant, argue that the goal of these land and labor reform provisions was to strengthen the villages, making them self-sufficient, and not reliant on the government or foreign investors for survival. This sort of nationalism, directed by a policy of "real politick," reflected the desires and biases of the politically repressed bourgeoisie. Many also take this argument further and suggest that the Constitution was written with the interest of the nation in mind, and it "owed something to the socialist doctrine" (Parkes 361).
The sole cause of these philosophical and idealistic changes in Mexican domestic policy is not simply the good-natured ideals held by the policy makers in the Mexican Government. If this was so, the Constitution of 1857 would have been sufficient and many grievances of the peasantry would have not occurred. History professors Hector Camin and Lorenzo Meyer argue that the Revolution, followed by the Constitution, was the "only way out" for the millions of oppressed peasants who had no voice otherwise. It is the creation of the Revolution which helped apply force to the legislature and enact as well as enforce these policies (Camin and Meyer 112). The pressure forced on the government by revolutionaries such as Emiliano Zapata, they argue, was...