1 00:00:01,720 --> 00:00:04,920 Speaker 1: All the media. 2 00:00:05,440 --> 00:00:08,559 Speaker 2: Hello, and welcome to it can happen here. This may 3 00:00:08,600 --> 00:00:14,200 Speaker 2: be my final episode on Latin American anarchism. That is, 4 00:00:14,720 --> 00:00:19,880 Speaker 2: we've covered Peru, Chile, Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, the many 5 00:00:19,880 --> 00:00:23,480 Speaker 2: countries of Central America, the former countries of Grand Columbia, 6 00:00:23,560 --> 00:00:27,040 Speaker 2: and the Spaniphone Islands the Caribbean. Now we'll finally getting 7 00:00:27,160 --> 00:00:30,800 Speaker 2: to the big one, Mexico. And I say we because 8 00:00:30,800 --> 00:00:32,760 Speaker 2: I'm here with Garrison Davis. 9 00:00:32,760 --> 00:00:35,400 Speaker 3: Hello, is this has been It's got to be like 10 00:00:35,440 --> 00:00:37,240 Speaker 3: a year long series now right. 11 00:00:37,600 --> 00:00:38,280 Speaker 4: At this point. 12 00:00:38,360 --> 00:00:41,320 Speaker 2: Yeah, it's been going on for some time with breaks 13 00:00:41,320 --> 00:00:42,320 Speaker 2: in between and everything. 14 00:00:42,520 --> 00:00:44,120 Speaker 3: I'm very very excited. 15 00:00:44,400 --> 00:00:47,839 Speaker 2: Yeah, to introduce myself real quick, I'm Andrew Sage. You 16 00:00:47,880 --> 00:00:51,000 Speaker 2: can find me on YouTube androism and we should to 17 00:00:51,080 --> 00:00:53,559 Speaker 2: check out the show notes for all the references, including 18 00:00:53,640 --> 00:00:57,640 Speaker 2: and hell capalities anarchism in Latin America, which was an 19 00:00:57,680 --> 00:01:00,160 Speaker 2: indispensable resource for the entire. 20 00:01:00,280 --> 00:01:01,040 Speaker 4: Of this project. 21 00:01:01,680 --> 00:01:05,120 Speaker 2: Without further Ado faminos, we have a lot to cover. 22 00:01:06,200 --> 00:01:09,520 Speaker 2: Mexico is a massive and storied country, so I can 23 00:01:09,560 --> 00:01:12,080 Speaker 2: only really give you a gist of its pre colonial 24 00:01:12,160 --> 00:01:15,920 Speaker 2: and colonial history. For the necessary context, we have to 25 00:01:15,959 --> 00:01:19,600 Speaker 2: start thousands of years before the name Mexico or Mexico 26 00:01:19,720 --> 00:01:23,960 Speaker 2: even existed. Of course, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica, the 27 00:01:24,040 --> 00:01:25,920 Speaker 2: land we now call Mexico is home to some of 28 00:01:25,920 --> 00:01:30,200 Speaker 2: the world's most unique ancient civilizations. Whose came the Almechs, 29 00:01:30,319 --> 00:01:33,759 Speaker 2: often called the mother culture of Mesoamerica, known for their 30 00:01:33,760 --> 00:01:38,399 Speaker 2: colossal stoneheads and influence on later cultures. Then the Maya 31 00:01:38,480 --> 00:01:42,959 Speaker 2: with their dazzline cities, mathematics and calendars, and eventually the Aztecs, 32 00:01:43,000 --> 00:01:45,920 Speaker 2: who built the Grand Empire settled onto nour stietland which 33 00:01:45,920 --> 00:01:49,720 Speaker 2: is now Mexico City. Unfortunately, we can't spend much time 34 00:01:49,800 --> 00:01:52,760 Speaker 2: on this rich history. We must progress to the time 35 00:01:52,880 --> 00:01:58,920 Speaker 2: of European contact. In fifteen nineteen, everything changed Spanish Conquistra 36 00:01:59,000 --> 00:02:03,000 Speaker 2: and nan Cortez, and within just two years the mighty 37 00:02:03,080 --> 00:02:07,480 Speaker 2: Aztec Empire fell disease. Alliances with native enemies of the Aztecs, 38 00:02:07,720 --> 00:02:12,440 Speaker 2: Technological advantages and brutal warfare aided the Spaniards to overthrowing 39 00:02:12,520 --> 00:02:17,080 Speaker 2: the civilization of millions. What followed was three centuries of 40 00:02:17,120 --> 00:02:21,760 Speaker 2: colonial rule under New Spain, marked by extraction, Catholic conversion, 41 00:02:22,280 --> 00:02:26,880 Speaker 2: and the mixing, often violently, of indigenous European and African peoples. 42 00:02:27,720 --> 00:02:30,720 Speaker 2: By the early eighteen hundreds, the winds of independence were 43 00:02:30,760 --> 00:02:34,680 Speaker 2: finally blowing. A Catholic priest named Miguel Hidago sparked the 44 00:02:34,680 --> 00:02:38,200 Speaker 2: fight with a cry for freedom in eighteen ten. Specifically, 45 00:02:38,560 --> 00:02:41,839 Speaker 2: he sought the end of rule by Spanish peninsulars, which 46 00:02:41,840 --> 00:02:45,600 Speaker 2: are the people who came from Spain and ruled over Mexico. 47 00:02:46,400 --> 00:02:49,480 Speaker 2: He called for the equality of races, and he called 48 00:02:49,520 --> 00:02:53,200 Speaker 2: for the redistribution of land. As a hill capility put 49 00:02:53,240 --> 00:02:57,160 Speaker 2: it in anarchism in Latin, a miracle. Hidago proposed to abolish, 50 00:02:57,320 --> 00:03:00,960 Speaker 2: even if by gentle and gradual means, what he called, 51 00:03:01,000 --> 00:03:05,799 Speaker 2: in almost Prudonian terms, the horrible right of territorial property, perpetual, 52 00:03:06,120 --> 00:03:10,680 Speaker 2: preditory and exclusive. This whole land topic is going to 53 00:03:10,720 --> 00:03:12,280 Speaker 2: come up a lot in the history. By the way, 54 00:03:12,320 --> 00:03:15,040 Speaker 2: you may be familiar with the phrase land and freedom 55 00:03:15,480 --> 00:03:18,160 Speaker 2: pierre libertad that comes from Mexico. 56 00:03:19,280 --> 00:03:20,359 Speaker 4: Anyway, it took. 57 00:03:20,240 --> 00:03:23,079 Speaker 2: More than a decade of war, but by eighteen twenty 58 00:03:23,120 --> 00:03:25,840 Speaker 2: one Mexico had finally broken free from Spain. 59 00:03:26,600 --> 00:03:29,080 Speaker 4: Freedom, though didn't mean stability. 60 00:03:29,680 --> 00:03:32,799 Speaker 2: The nineteenth century saw emperors come and go because there 61 00:03:32,800 --> 00:03:35,480 Speaker 2: was actually a time when Mexico as a monarchy, foreign 62 00:03:35,520 --> 00:03:38,480 Speaker 2: invasions by the United States via the Manifest Destiny and 63 00:03:38,560 --> 00:03:44,200 Speaker 2: Napoleon's France via monarchical Latin League, and internal power struggles. 64 00:03:44,680 --> 00:03:48,560 Speaker 2: The Zapateec president Benito Juarez, who from eighteen sixty four 65 00:03:48,600 --> 00:03:52,000 Speaker 2: to eighteen sixty seven had resisted foreign occupation by Napoleon's 66 00:03:52,040 --> 00:03:57,560 Speaker 2: Emperor Maximilian and fought for constitutional reform, sought to stabilize, secularize, 67 00:03:57,680 --> 00:04:02,120 Speaker 2: and modernize the country. In the mid eighteen hundreds, figures 68 00:04:02,200 --> 00:04:07,000 Speaker 2: like Quarez led a sweeping movement against the old powers 69 00:04:07,040 --> 00:04:10,640 Speaker 2: of Mexico, the Catholic Church and the military, which had 70 00:04:10,680 --> 00:04:15,200 Speaker 2: long dominated both land and politics. To the layers their reforma. 71 00:04:15,680 --> 00:04:20,120 Speaker 2: They seized church property, secularized education, and promised a new 72 00:04:20,120 --> 00:04:24,000 Speaker 2: era of rights and equality. But there was a catch, 73 00:04:24,160 --> 00:04:27,760 Speaker 2: because to weaken the Church, the liberals sold off its land, 74 00:04:27,880 --> 00:04:30,400 Speaker 2: not to the peasants or indigenous communities who had worked 75 00:04:30,440 --> 00:04:34,240 Speaker 2: on it for generations, but to wealthy buyers e heroes. 76 00:04:34,760 --> 00:04:39,000 Speaker 2: The communal lands of indigenous peoples were privatized under this 77 00:04:39,320 --> 00:04:43,400 Speaker 2: liberal banner freedom and progress. They created a new class 78 00:04:43,440 --> 00:04:47,920 Speaker 2: of landlords and pushed rural people deeper into poverty. But 79 00:04:48,000 --> 00:04:51,000 Speaker 2: Nita Juarez died, but his legacy lived on with those 80 00:04:51,040 --> 00:04:53,960 Speaker 2: reforms to cement the separation of church and state, freedom 81 00:04:53,960 --> 00:04:56,400 Speaker 2: of religion, the prohibition of forced labor, and so on. 82 00:04:57,160 --> 00:05:01,000 Speaker 2: But following him came the Porfiriato earth thirty year long 83 00:05:01,080 --> 00:05:05,479 Speaker 2: dictatorship under the mixed tech president Portfyrio Dias, who continued 84 00:05:05,520 --> 00:05:08,360 Speaker 2: the modernization of the country but also deepened its long 85 00:05:08,360 --> 00:05:13,360 Speaker 2: standing inequalities. Portfolio DEAs surrounded himself with intellectuals known as 86 00:05:13,400 --> 00:05:17,440 Speaker 2: the scientific Coos. They were positivists, as in adherents of 87 00:05:17,440 --> 00:05:21,400 Speaker 2: the positivist school of philosophy, which advocated for rational planning 88 00:05:21,520 --> 00:05:25,000 Speaker 2: and economic development as a path of social progress. His 89 00:05:25,080 --> 00:05:30,080 Speaker 2: slogan was ban Opalo the bread or the stick, and 90 00:05:30,200 --> 00:05:34,520 Speaker 2: reflected the policy of rewarding compliance with prosperity while punishing 91 00:05:34,560 --> 00:05:40,039 Speaker 2: dissent with severe consequences. The liberty order and progress equation 92 00:05:41,160 --> 00:05:45,280 Speaker 2: sacrificed liberty as the Mexican people were expected to trade 93 00:05:45,320 --> 00:05:49,080 Speaker 2: freedom for the benefits of these policies. Workers ended up 94 00:05:49,120 --> 00:05:52,839 Speaker 2: facing low wages, long hours, and of course lacked rights, 95 00:05:53,000 --> 00:05:56,440 Speaker 2: while estate laborers were landless and under the arbitrary rule 96 00:05:56,680 --> 00:06:01,240 Speaker 2: of Mao demos. Education was largely restricted to elites in 97 00:06:01,320 --> 00:06:05,440 Speaker 2: major cities, groups like the Yaqi Indians were forcibly relocated 98 00:06:05,520 --> 00:06:09,960 Speaker 2: as cheap labor to plantations. Governors, those supposedly elected, were 99 00:06:10,000 --> 00:06:14,920 Speaker 2: effectively presidential appointees, monitored by Heife's politicals, who intervened the 100 00:06:15,000 --> 00:06:20,039 Speaker 2: local affairs. The rulatis and elite constabulary maintained order, but 101 00:06:20,120 --> 00:06:23,800 Speaker 2: often disregarded due process, which fostered a whole reign of 102 00:06:23,920 --> 00:06:28,240 Speaker 2: terror in the rural areas. Diaza's popularity eventually waned as 103 00:06:28,360 --> 00:06:32,960 Speaker 2: prosperity was monopolized by a small, often foreign elite. This 104 00:06:33,080 --> 00:06:37,080 Speaker 2: elite emulated European customs, which created a stark divide with 105 00:06:37,160 --> 00:06:41,600 Speaker 2: the growing proletariat and middle classes. By the second half 106 00:06:41,640 --> 00:06:45,080 Speaker 2: of the nineteenth century, Mexico was caught in a contradiction 107 00:06:45,880 --> 00:06:49,880 Speaker 2: a state that promised emancipation through property rights while dispossessing 108 00:06:49,920 --> 00:07:02,680 Speaker 2: the very people it claimed to free. The liberal project 109 00:07:02,720 --> 00:07:05,960 Speaker 2: have feeled them, and in its failure, space opened for 110 00:07:06,120 --> 00:07:10,240 Speaker 2: deeper critiques of property power and the state itself. A 111 00:07:10,280 --> 00:07:14,240 Speaker 2: younger generation began questioning the system, and with this rise 112 00:07:14,280 --> 00:07:17,920 Speaker 2: in criticism, gim rise and repression, which set this stage 113 00:07:18,080 --> 00:07:20,800 Speaker 2: for the Mexican Revolution of nineteen ten. 114 00:07:21,520 --> 00:07:23,960 Speaker 3: This whole era of the of like the turn of 115 00:07:24,000 --> 00:07:26,960 Speaker 3: the millennia and the start of the twentieth century has 116 00:07:27,000 --> 00:07:29,440 Speaker 3: like so much of this same stuff happening all over 117 00:07:29,480 --> 00:07:31,440 Speaker 3: the world. Like that's kind of one of the biggest 118 00:07:31,480 --> 00:07:34,240 Speaker 3: trends that we've been able to see throughout your Latin 119 00:07:34,280 --> 00:07:38,160 Speaker 3: American anarchism series, is like how how much they all 120 00:07:38,320 --> 00:07:41,040 Speaker 3: mirror each other, and like how much of like a 121 00:07:41,120 --> 00:07:45,760 Speaker 3: global movements used to exist, like not like a organized fashion, 122 00:07:45,840 --> 00:07:49,000 Speaker 3: but like there's like some like other force that is 123 00:07:49,560 --> 00:07:52,680 Speaker 3: that is like a driving these like global trends of 124 00:07:52,720 --> 00:07:55,840 Speaker 3: like revoltant revolution. Yeah, and like we see this a 125 00:07:55,880 --> 00:07:57,960 Speaker 3: lot in like the yeah, like the nineteen ten to 126 00:07:58,040 --> 00:08:02,000 Speaker 3: nineteen twenty time period, I mean even just in Latin America. 127 00:08:03,120 --> 00:08:03,720 Speaker 4: Absolutely. 128 00:08:04,360 --> 00:08:07,840 Speaker 2: I also think, of course, it's really easy to notice 129 00:08:07,840 --> 00:08:11,200 Speaker 2: these trends and notice these tides of history in retrospect. 130 00:08:11,600 --> 00:08:13,560 Speaker 2: You know, when you submerged in it, it's just like, 131 00:08:14,080 --> 00:08:16,280 Speaker 2: you know, all these conversations and stuff happening, for sure, 132 00:08:16,320 --> 00:08:19,400 Speaker 2: all these events and stuff happening around you. But when 133 00:08:19,480 --> 00:08:21,160 Speaker 2: by looking in the past you could say, oh wow, 134 00:08:21,200 --> 00:08:23,960 Speaker 2: this is like a global pattern. You know some I'm 135 00:08:23,960 --> 00:08:27,720 Speaker 2: always curious to see, like when we look back, I mean, 136 00:08:27,720 --> 00:08:30,920 Speaker 2: the twenty tens are already over. The narratives around it are 137 00:08:30,960 --> 00:08:33,439 Speaker 2: still formulated, right, We're still in the midst of the 138 00:08:33,480 --> 00:08:37,280 Speaker 2: nineteen twenty in the nineteen twenties, the twenty twenties, say, 139 00:08:37,320 --> 00:08:39,960 Speaker 2: you know, the narratives around it will still be developing 140 00:08:40,080 --> 00:08:42,920 Speaker 2: all now. But we're already halfway through, and I'm sure 141 00:08:42,960 --> 00:08:45,120 Speaker 2: people have already seen certain trends that are going to 142 00:08:45,200 --> 00:08:48,400 Speaker 2: make for some excellent retrospective commentary. 143 00:08:48,600 --> 00:08:49,080 Speaker 4: Definitely. 144 00:08:49,160 --> 00:08:51,560 Speaker 3: Yeah, Like the past ten years we've seen this like 145 00:08:51,720 --> 00:08:55,360 Speaker 3: global far right power grab and this like rebirth of 146 00:08:55,400 --> 00:08:59,760 Speaker 3: right wing populism sweeping a whole bunch of neoliberal democracies, 147 00:08:59,800 --> 00:09:03,439 Speaker 3: like post nineties, post War on Terror, post end of 148 00:09:03,559 --> 00:09:05,800 Speaker 3: history stuff where you see like the full extent of 149 00:09:05,880 --> 00:09:11,120 Speaker 3: like the Clinton, Reagan Thatcher economics completely completely crumble with 150 00:09:11,480 --> 00:09:14,360 Speaker 3: far right populism like taking taking over the reins of 151 00:09:15,040 --> 00:09:18,360 Speaker 3: most popular consciousness. Yeah, to the point where even like 152 00:09:18,440 --> 00:09:21,800 Speaker 3: the more like liberal parties are being quote unquote forced 153 00:09:21,840 --> 00:09:25,200 Speaker 3: to adopt like similar rhetoric looking at like like like 154 00:09:25,240 --> 00:09:28,640 Speaker 3: the Labor Party in the UK and hear in the States, 155 00:09:28,679 --> 00:09:31,360 Speaker 3: how how much like the Democratic Party last year, like 156 00:09:31,440 --> 00:09:34,880 Speaker 3: completely caved on like far right populist talking points on 157 00:09:35,360 --> 00:09:36,440 Speaker 3: immigration and stuff. 158 00:09:36,960 --> 00:09:38,400 Speaker 4: Exactly exactly. 159 00:09:38,440 --> 00:09:40,040 Speaker 2: I think part of it as well as a failure 160 00:09:40,120 --> 00:09:44,400 Speaker 2: to advance a positive, totally direction and a positive program. 161 00:09:44,720 --> 00:09:45,000 Speaker 1: Yeah. 162 00:09:45,160 --> 00:09:50,280 Speaker 2: You know, when we allow the tunes of discourse, the 163 00:09:50,360 --> 00:09:53,480 Speaker 2: arena discussion to be dictated by the right, when we 164 00:09:53,600 --> 00:09:56,280 Speaker 2: simply react to what they are saying, when we simply 165 00:09:56,720 --> 00:10:00,240 Speaker 2: respond to their policies and their efforts, you know, we they. 166 00:10:00,240 --> 00:10:02,600 Speaker 4: Slew down the progress of their goals. 167 00:10:03,240 --> 00:10:05,960 Speaker 2: But ultimately, as long as we are engaged in dialogue 168 00:10:05,960 --> 00:10:08,480 Speaker 2: with their goals, they are stoly inching their goals closer 169 00:10:08,480 --> 00:10:09,600 Speaker 2: and closer to reality. 170 00:10:10,720 --> 00:10:10,960 Speaker 4: Yeah. 171 00:10:11,040 --> 00:10:13,920 Speaker 3: Yeah, that is certainly the trend that I've been seeing 172 00:10:14,000 --> 00:10:16,360 Speaker 3: the past ten years, and I'm sure sure many people have. 173 00:10:16,679 --> 00:10:19,600 Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, the overturn windows pretty much entirely dictated 174 00:10:19,640 --> 00:10:22,640 Speaker 2: by what they decide. You know, I think I've mentioned 175 00:10:22,640 --> 00:10:25,439 Speaker 2: this before. The right to decided they wanted to talk 176 00:10:25,480 --> 00:10:28,200 Speaker 2: about critical race theory, and then critical race theory became 177 00:10:28,240 --> 00:10:29,400 Speaker 2: the center of conversation. 178 00:10:29,880 --> 00:10:32,040 Speaker 4: The right decided they wanted to target. 179 00:10:32,520 --> 00:10:35,480 Speaker 3: DEI gender ideology. 180 00:10:35,160 --> 00:10:37,800 Speaker 2: Right, Yeah, and then that becomes the whole thing is 181 00:10:38,000 --> 00:10:40,760 Speaker 2: the whole center of discussion. They're not putting forward the 182 00:10:40,840 --> 00:10:45,199 Speaker 2: policies that are going to hurt pretty much everybody as 183 00:10:45,200 --> 00:10:46,160 Speaker 2: the center of their policy. 184 00:10:46,160 --> 00:10:47,080 Speaker 4: That's more like an aside. 185 00:10:47,640 --> 00:10:51,000 Speaker 2: When they give themselves, you know, salary raises and they 186 00:10:51,400 --> 00:10:53,280 Speaker 2: cut taxes on the ridge. That's not the center of 187 00:10:53,320 --> 00:10:54,240 Speaker 2: their political messages. 188 00:10:54,280 --> 00:10:55,840 Speaker 4: Center the plical messages. 189 00:10:56,000 --> 00:11:00,000 Speaker 2: You know, various culture related issues that they can use 190 00:11:00,040 --> 00:11:05,320 Speaker 2: silly their base, but it's nothing that's actually benefiting people, 191 00:11:06,480 --> 00:11:10,120 Speaker 2: you know. And instead of circumventing that that effort to 192 00:11:10,200 --> 00:11:13,480 Speaker 2: dictate the course of conversation and dictate our own conversations 193 00:11:14,000 --> 00:11:17,040 Speaker 2: instead what it's kind of following along the tail. But 194 00:11:18,000 --> 00:11:22,040 Speaker 2: that's a bit outside the scope of this a bit 195 00:11:22,080 --> 00:11:24,719 Speaker 2: of a digression here. But before we get to the 196 00:11:24,760 --> 00:11:27,840 Speaker 2: point of the Mexican Revolution, though, we should really take 197 00:11:27,880 --> 00:11:30,280 Speaker 2: a look at the slow and sell development of radical 198 00:11:30,320 --> 00:11:34,840 Speaker 2: ideas in Mexico during the nineteenth century. You see, indigenous 199 00:11:34,840 --> 00:11:40,319 Speaker 2: resistance persisted throughout Mexico's history through often quiet, revolved acts 200 00:11:40,360 --> 00:11:43,280 Speaker 2: of non cooperation that would steadily ensure that Spain could 201 00:11:43,320 --> 00:11:47,680 Speaker 2: never fully establish his dominion even after independence. The cldinal 202 00:11:47,679 --> 00:11:50,240 Speaker 2: structure lived on in the haciendas, the church, and the state. 203 00:11:50,559 --> 00:11:53,880 Speaker 2: So the indigenous communities would continue to resist, sometimes in 204 00:11:54,000 --> 00:11:58,760 Speaker 2: profoundly anti authoritarian ways, by the nineteenth century. And this 205 00:11:58,960 --> 00:12:02,440 Speaker 2: history is courtesy Anahill Cappialities anarchism Latin America. As I 206 00:12:02,520 --> 00:12:06,040 Speaker 2: mentioned in eighteen sixty one, a man arrived in Mexico 207 00:12:06,200 --> 00:12:12,400 Speaker 2: with a very distinct name. He was Platino Constantino Rourkanati. 208 00:12:12,840 --> 00:12:16,200 Speaker 2: He was a Greek immigrant, radicalized by the revolutions in 209 00:12:16,240 --> 00:12:18,959 Speaker 2: Europe and steeped in the works of Furia. Was a 210 00:12:19,040 --> 00:12:23,160 Speaker 2: utopian socialist and prudon who was an anarchist Fuist anarchist. 211 00:12:24,000 --> 00:12:26,800 Speaker 2: He had fled the counter revolutionary tide crashing over the 212 00:12:26,840 --> 00:12:32,000 Speaker 2: continent with a mission. Rocannati believed Mexico, with its long 213 00:12:32,080 --> 00:12:36,199 Speaker 2: standing indigenous traditions of communal landholding and mutual aid, was 214 00:12:36,240 --> 00:12:38,640 Speaker 2: the perfect place to plant the seeds of a new 215 00:12:39,000 --> 00:12:42,440 Speaker 2: utopian society. And in a lot of ways he was right. 216 00:12:42,559 --> 00:12:42,800 Speaker 4: You know. 217 00:12:42,960 --> 00:12:45,600 Speaker 2: He saw in the hero system the indigenous Kuna lan 218 00:12:45,679 --> 00:12:49,079 Speaker 2: Tenniel a living echo of the kind of society utopians 219 00:12:49,080 --> 00:12:52,960 Speaker 2: in Europe could only dream of. Where the liberally saw backwardness, 220 00:12:53,240 --> 00:12:57,760 Speaker 2: Rourkanati saw potential. His aim wasn't to civilize these communities, 221 00:12:57,800 --> 00:13:00,600 Speaker 2: but to learn from them and held them protect their 222 00:13:00,600 --> 00:13:04,880 Speaker 2: autonoity from the encroaching state through political philosophy and practice. 223 00:13:06,000 --> 00:13:08,440 Speaker 2: He seems to be a very interesting fellow, by the way, 224 00:13:08,480 --> 00:13:13,040 Speaker 2: I mean. He apparently spoke seven languages. He practiced medicine 225 00:13:13,080 --> 00:13:16,440 Speaker 2: by day and philosophy by night. He was a Christian, 226 00:13:16,559 --> 00:13:19,320 Speaker 2: but not anything like the Christians that dominated Mexico at 227 00:13:19,320 --> 00:13:22,679 Speaker 2: the time, because as an hil Caplite, he puts it 228 00:13:22,720 --> 00:13:25,800 Speaker 2: for him, the essence of Christianity is charity, that is 229 00:13:25,920 --> 00:13:28,360 Speaker 2: love for all, as it is taught in the Gospels, 230 00:13:28,640 --> 00:13:31,120 Speaker 2: and that essence is the moral foundation of socialism and 231 00:13:31,120 --> 00:13:35,000 Speaker 2: revolution as well. Pure Christianity, he wrote, is the religion 232 00:13:35,000 --> 00:13:37,640 Speaker 2: that will regenerate the world when people finally come to 233 00:13:37,720 --> 00:13:41,679 Speaker 2: understand the power of its basic principles liberty, equality, and fraternity. 234 00:13:42,240 --> 00:13:45,560 Speaker 2: But it is Christianity without dogma like Saint Simon's and 235 00:13:45,600 --> 00:13:50,120 Speaker 2: without priesthood, liturgy, or hierarchical organization, the model for which 236 00:13:50,120 --> 00:13:52,600 Speaker 2: he finds in the life of Jesus and his earliest followers. 237 00:13:53,040 --> 00:13:56,880 Speaker 2: Primitive Christianity is authentic Christianity, but has been entirely degraded 238 00:13:56,880 --> 00:13:59,560 Speaker 2: by the Catholic and Protestant churches, and has nothing to 239 00:13:59,600 --> 00:14:03,199 Speaker 2: do with so many sects that call themselves Christian end quote. 240 00:14:04,040 --> 00:14:06,400 Speaker 2: A few months after his arrival in eighteen sixty one, 241 00:14:06,480 --> 00:14:09,679 Speaker 2: he published a socialist primary in Mexico that marked him 242 00:14:09,720 --> 00:14:13,720 Speaker 2: as the first anarchist to put forward distinctly anarchist theory 243 00:14:13,720 --> 00:14:16,720 Speaker 2: in the country. In the mid eighteen sixties, he formed 244 00:14:16,720 --> 00:14:19,200 Speaker 2: a group called Lass Socil the goal of spreading the 245 00:14:19,240 --> 00:14:24,280 Speaker 2: ideas of mutualism, free association, anti capitalist cooperation through books, 246 00:14:24,400 --> 00:14:28,960 Speaker 2: pamphlets and education. Barucannati and his collaborators launched workers schools 247 00:14:29,000 --> 00:14:33,080 Speaker 2: aimed the promoting literacy, political consciousness, and autonomy. Once at 248 00:14:33,160 --> 00:14:37,680 Speaker 2: school was the Esquila de Rio id Socialismo, the School 249 00:14:37,840 --> 00:14:43,720 Speaker 2: of Lightning and Socialism Hellier. It combined moral instruction with 250 00:14:43,800 --> 00:14:48,080 Speaker 2: a deep critique of the exploitative labor system. This was, 251 00:14:48,120 --> 00:14:50,480 Speaker 2: you know, education as a rebellion, not just to read, 252 00:14:50,560 --> 00:14:55,520 Speaker 2: but to recognize the exploitation and to imagine alternatives. Rotconnati 253 00:14:55,640 --> 00:14:58,320 Speaker 2: thought of his socialism as the fullest expression of the 254 00:14:58,320 --> 00:15:02,640 Speaker 2: French revolutionary motto of liber equality and fraternity, which no 255 00:15:02,840 --> 00:15:06,440 Speaker 2: half measure like liberalism could ever reach. He recognized that 256 00:15:06,480 --> 00:15:10,240 Speaker 2: the immediate objective must be quote, the extinction of poverty, 257 00:15:10,640 --> 00:15:14,520 Speaker 2: the distribution and increase to the commonwealth, the abolition of prostitution, 258 00:15:15,000 --> 00:15:18,760 Speaker 2: and the conservation of all our faculties, including the intellectual, physical, 259 00:15:18,760 --> 00:15:22,760 Speaker 2: and moral ones, for the transformation of humanity through science, beauty, 260 00:15:22,800 --> 00:15:24,440 Speaker 2: and virtue end quote. 261 00:15:25,360 --> 00:15:26,800 Speaker 4: One of those things was not like the others. 262 00:15:26,800 --> 00:15:31,240 Speaker 2: I'm surely you noticed there was a standout in inclusion there, 263 00:15:31,320 --> 00:15:35,240 Speaker 2: but it makes sense considering his background. He also saw 264 00:15:35,320 --> 00:15:38,760 Speaker 2: himself as a cosmopolitan, perhaps owing in part to his 265 00:15:39,560 --> 00:15:43,160 Speaker 2: unique circumstances as a man with a Greek father, Austrian mother, 266 00:15:43,280 --> 00:15:46,920 Speaker 2: a French education, and Mexican who He said, quote, we 267 00:15:46,960 --> 00:15:51,240 Speaker 2: are Cosmopolitans by nature, citizens of all nations, and contemporaries 268 00:15:51,360 --> 00:15:54,720 Speaker 2: to all the asias. The greatest and most heroic human 269 00:15:54,800 --> 00:15:59,800 Speaker 2: actions belong equally to all end quote. In other words, 270 00:16:00,200 --> 00:16:03,800 Speaker 2: our country is the entire world, and all men are brothers. 271 00:16:04,840 --> 00:16:07,520 Speaker 2: He also wrote that the abolition of all government in 272 00:16:07,560 --> 00:16:10,880 Speaker 2: the nations, which frightens you and you consider impossible and absurd, 273 00:16:11,240 --> 00:16:13,800 Speaker 2: they have never tried it will usher in a totally 274 00:16:13,840 --> 00:16:16,440 Speaker 2: new world of institutions in which the peoples of the 275 00:16:16,440 --> 00:16:30,720 Speaker 2: world will live in happiness end quote. Brouclati was a 276 00:16:30,760 --> 00:16:34,360 Speaker 2: pacifist and as a prosch anarchism, which bought his original instruction 277 00:16:34,440 --> 00:16:37,880 Speaker 2: of socialism being via Charles Furia. But eventually he came 278 00:16:37,920 --> 00:16:41,400 Speaker 2: to understand the need for a class struggle, as he said, quote, 279 00:16:41,600 --> 00:16:44,520 Speaker 2: a social revolution in which many heroic victims will be 280 00:16:44,560 --> 00:16:47,720 Speaker 2: sacrificed in the sacred altar to restore the justice denied 281 00:16:47,760 --> 00:16:52,520 Speaker 2: it to the people end quote. His work attracted young radicals, 282 00:16:52,560 --> 00:16:54,920 Speaker 2: many of whom would later play key roles in the 283 00:16:54,920 --> 00:16:58,920 Speaker 2: development of Mexico's labor movement. Before he started Lass social 284 00:16:59,280 --> 00:17:02,760 Speaker 2: he had initiated the first group or is Sudiante Socialistas, 285 00:17:02,960 --> 00:17:06,320 Speaker 2: from which game figures such as Santiago Vilenueva, who tried 286 00:17:06,320 --> 00:17:11,080 Speaker 2: to organize the worker's movement, Permeneghillo, Phil Vicencio and Francisco's 287 00:17:11,119 --> 00:17:14,479 Speaker 2: at a Costa a leader of rural masses. It's the 288 00:17:14,520 --> 00:17:16,440 Speaker 2: core of this group that would help him to create 289 00:17:16,480 --> 00:17:19,879 Speaker 2: lessocl which would educate and agitate but also assist workers 290 00:17:19,920 --> 00:17:23,119 Speaker 2: beyond mutual aid to an active class struggle posture in 291 00:17:23,200 --> 00:17:27,440 Speaker 2: defense of the interests against bosses. So basically he took 292 00:17:27,480 --> 00:17:30,439 Speaker 2: these mutual aid societies and made sure that they didn't 293 00:17:30,520 --> 00:17:35,680 Speaker 2: stay mutual aid societies, that they were radicalized into resistance societies, 294 00:17:36,440 --> 00:17:38,760 Speaker 2: because those sort of mutual aid associations were very common 295 00:17:38,800 --> 00:17:41,360 Speaker 2: in Latin America at the time. You know, workers would 296 00:17:41,359 --> 00:17:43,480 Speaker 2: create these little groups where they would try and support 297 00:17:43,480 --> 00:17:45,679 Speaker 2: each other. But it's very easy to fall back on 298 00:17:45,720 --> 00:17:47,959 Speaker 2: that and to assume, you know, that's all you have 299 00:17:48,040 --> 00:17:50,959 Speaker 2: to do. Making sure that they have a radical posture, 300 00:17:50,960 --> 00:17:53,840 Speaker 2: a revolutionary posture. It's important to ensure that you're not 301 00:17:54,000 --> 00:17:57,480 Speaker 2: just rest in your laurels and expecting change to come 302 00:17:57,520 --> 00:18:01,199 Speaker 2: to you, and indeed they did not expect the change 303 00:18:01,200 --> 00:18:04,720 Speaker 2: to come to them. In June eighteen sixty five, these 304 00:18:04,800 --> 00:18:09,960 Speaker 2: resistant societies supported the first industrial strike in Mexico. Unfortunately, 305 00:18:10,000 --> 00:18:12,159 Speaker 2: it was crushed by the leader of the country at 306 00:18:12,200 --> 00:18:16,040 Speaker 2: the time, Emperor Maximilian, but it was his occupation and 307 00:18:16,080 --> 00:18:18,760 Speaker 2: the economic harshness of it all that fermented the spread 308 00:18:18,880 --> 00:18:23,000 Speaker 2: of anarchist ideas. Another student tut of Rocannati school came 309 00:18:23,080 --> 00:18:27,120 Speaker 2: Julio Chavez, a precursor to the more famous Emiliano Zapata 310 00:18:27,520 --> 00:18:31,479 Speaker 2: and a fervent anarchist communist. He agitated for a peasant 311 00:18:31,520 --> 00:18:35,520 Speaker 2: rebellion and engaged in land expropriations, which grew in popularity 312 00:18:35,560 --> 00:18:38,399 Speaker 2: wherever he was active, from the chalcot Tex Soco region 313 00:18:38,440 --> 00:18:41,360 Speaker 2: where he began, to all the states of Quebler and Morellia, 314 00:18:42,080 --> 00:18:45,879 Speaker 2: as Capelletti recounts, quote, the federal army finally moved against 315 00:18:45,960 --> 00:18:48,960 Speaker 2: him and defeated and imprisoned. He was executed in eighteen 316 00:18:49,000 --> 00:18:53,320 Speaker 2: sixty nine by order of President Benito Juarez. Before he died, 317 00:18:53,680 --> 00:18:59,159 Speaker 2: Chavez cried out, long live Socialism end quote. His manifesto, 318 00:18:59,240 --> 00:19:01,480 Speaker 2: which was written of few months before he died, would 319 00:19:01,480 --> 00:19:04,000 Speaker 2: help introduce more masses in the Mexican movement to the 320 00:19:04,040 --> 00:19:06,840 Speaker 2: idea of class struggle, and like a light bulb over 321 00:19:06,960 --> 00:19:09,679 Speaker 2: one's head, it immediately made it clear who was responsible 322 00:19:09,680 --> 00:19:12,920 Speaker 2: for their suffering. Santiago vid and Weever, and a fellow 323 00:19:12,960 --> 00:19:17,159 Speaker 2: student Rocanati named Vila Vitensio worked arduously to organize the 324 00:19:17,280 --> 00:19:21,720 Speaker 2: artisans and workers in Mexico City, and they definitely had 325 00:19:21,760 --> 00:19:24,800 Speaker 2: the cards stacked against them, but they helped to organize 326 00:19:24,800 --> 00:19:27,320 Speaker 2: an industrial strike in a textile mill in eighteen sixty eight, 327 00:19:27,760 --> 00:19:30,800 Speaker 2: and in eighteen sixty nine they established a Circulo Peraltario 328 00:19:30,920 --> 00:19:33,680 Speaker 2: and in eighteen seventy the Grand Seculio de Obreros de 329 00:19:33,800 --> 00:19:37,240 Speaker 2: Mexico and in eighteen seventy one the newspaper Al Socialista. 330 00:19:37,880 --> 00:19:40,120 Speaker 2: And this is when the red and black so famously 331 00:19:40,160 --> 00:19:44,359 Speaker 2: associated with anarchism came into the Mexican workers movement. The 332 00:19:44,359 --> 00:19:48,560 Speaker 2: eighteen seventies saw struggles between radical and moderate factions among workers, 333 00:19:48,960 --> 00:19:52,040 Speaker 2: proletarian presses making a name for themselves, and the first 334 00:19:52,080 --> 00:19:54,719 Speaker 2: Convention of the General Workers Congress of the Mexican Republic 335 00:19:54,720 --> 00:19:57,639 Speaker 2: in eighteen seventy six with a manifesto that indicated the 336 00:19:57,640 --> 00:20:02,080 Speaker 2: crown influence of libertarian ideology in Mexico. Of course, there 337 00:20:02,119 --> 00:20:04,359 Speaker 2: was a tension in that Congress between the socialists and 338 00:20:04,400 --> 00:20:10,040 Speaker 2: the anarchists, but water is wet. Sadly, Mexico wasn't ready 339 00:20:10,520 --> 00:20:15,600 Speaker 2: for revolution, or rather, the ruling class wasn't. While Rovercinnati 340 00:20:15,680 --> 00:20:19,600 Speaker 2: and others sold seeds among students and workers, the country 341 00:20:19,760 --> 00:20:21,240 Speaker 2: was swinging toward reaction. 342 00:20:22,440 --> 00:20:23,280 Speaker 4: As I mentioned. 343 00:20:23,000 --> 00:20:25,760 Speaker 2: Earlier, with the rise of Porphilrio Diaz in eighteen seventy six, 344 00:20:26,160 --> 00:20:30,000 Speaker 2: any space for radical thought began to close. Diaz, the 345 00:20:30,080 --> 00:20:33,960 Speaker 2: strong man of Oneization, was obsessed with order and progress. 346 00:20:34,440 --> 00:20:38,439 Speaker 2: He welcomed foreign capital, built railroads across the nation, and 347 00:20:38,520 --> 00:20:41,960 Speaker 2: gutted the countryside to make room for exports, and he 348 00:20:42,119 --> 00:20:47,240 Speaker 2: crushed dissent. While Rocnati avoided outright persecution thanks in parties 349 00:20:47,320 --> 00:20:51,120 Speaker 2: foreign status and pacifist leanings, the educational projects he inspired 350 00:20:51,119 --> 00:20:54,879 Speaker 2: were dismantled or sidelined. The more confrontational elements of the 351 00:20:54,880 --> 00:20:58,440 Speaker 2: early anarchists current went underground. Those who spoke of abolishing 352 00:20:58,440 --> 00:21:01,520 Speaker 2: property or questioned the Porphyria vision of modernity were met 353 00:21:01,560 --> 00:21:06,520 Speaker 2: with jail, exile, or worse. Rotcarati's allies, Alacosta, through his 354 00:21:06,560 --> 00:21:11,199 Speaker 2: newspaper Like International, promoted a twelve point socialist agenda, advocated 355 00:21:11,200 --> 00:21:17,320 Speaker 2: and universal social republic, municipal autonomy, workers' rights, workers associations, 356 00:21:17,560 --> 00:21:22,919 Speaker 2: wage avolition, and property equality. Despite Diaz's rise in eighteen 357 00:21:22,960 --> 00:21:26,000 Speaker 2: seventy seven, he led a present uprising in Sierra Gorda 358 00:21:26,280 --> 00:21:30,399 Speaker 2: and planets to La Baranca, battling federal forces until eighteen eighty. 359 00:21:31,320 --> 00:21:34,080 Speaker 2: Despite his defeat and imprisonment in eighteen eighty one, the 360 00:21:34,160 --> 00:21:39,720 Speaker 2: rebellion persisted. Salacosta's ally, Colonel Alberto Santa Fe, introduced the 361 00:21:39,800 --> 00:21:43,359 Speaker 2: Lays del Pueblo, Influenced by Mercunan's ideas. Though not a 362 00:21:43,520 --> 00:21:50,360 Speaker 2: purely anarchist manifesto, this document emphasized land distribution, national industry promotion, 363 00:21:51,000 --> 00:21:55,840 Speaker 2: army suppression, and free education. Salafe argued that true Mexican 364 00:21:55,880 --> 00:21:59,760 Speaker 2: independence depended on reclaiming stolen lands, a movement which, of 365 00:21:59,760 --> 00:22:04,200 Speaker 2: course ski in traction among the peasants. General Negrete supported 366 00:22:04,200 --> 00:22:06,959 Speaker 2: Santa Fe's revolutionary efforts, just as he had backed Chavez, 367 00:22:07,000 --> 00:22:11,280 Speaker 2: Lopez and Sanlacosta earlier. Santa Fe's resistance against Diaza's dictatorship 368 00:22:11,400 --> 00:22:15,080 Speaker 2: was more radical than mayor electoral opposition. It aimed at 369 00:22:15,080 --> 00:22:20,880 Speaker 2: transferring sovereignty to local municipalities and land to peasant collectors. However, 370 00:22:21,080 --> 00:22:25,240 Speaker 2: by the eighteen nineties, Diaz effectively suppressed most worker movements 371 00:22:25,240 --> 00:22:29,359 Speaker 2: through bribery and repression. While industrial workers and miners fared 372 00:22:29,359 --> 00:22:33,280 Speaker 2: slightly better than the peasant, wages steadily declined after eighteen 373 00:22:33,320 --> 00:22:37,720 Speaker 2: ninety eight. Rodocanati left Mexico in eighteen eighty six after 374 00:22:37,760 --> 00:22:40,159 Speaker 2: giving over two decades of his life to the cause, 375 00:22:40,840 --> 00:22:42,920 Speaker 2: But as two decades of so and seeds would eventually 376 00:22:42,920 --> 00:22:46,320 Speaker 2: flourish in the Mexican Revolution. What will be covering in 377 00:22:46,400 --> 00:22:51,080 Speaker 2: the next episode Thanks for tuninen A madrasage. You can 378 00:22:51,160 --> 00:22:54,240 Speaker 2: follow me on YouTube at andrewism and patron dot com 379 00:22:54,240 --> 00:22:55,080 Speaker 2: slash Saint Drew. 380 00:22:55,920 --> 00:22:59,280 Speaker 4: Thanks again. This is it Could Happen Here. All power 381 00:22:59,359 --> 00:23:01,040 Speaker 4: to all the people peace. 382 00:23:04,720 --> 00:23:07,240 Speaker 1: It Could Happen Here is a production of cool Zone Media. 383 00:23:07,400 --> 00:23:10,480 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from cool Zone Media, visit our website 384 00:23:10,560 --> 00:23:14,120 Speaker 1: Coolzonemedia dot com, or check us out on the iHeartRadio app, 385 00:23:14,200 --> 00:23:17,760 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. You can 386 00:23:17,800 --> 00:23:20,159 Speaker 1: now find sources for it Could Happen Here listed directly 387 00:23:20,160 --> 00:23:22,399 Speaker 1: in episode descriptions. Thanks for listening.