Movimiento de Maestros 1958

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Movimiento de Maestros 1958

The Movimiento de Maestros of 1958 was a social movement led by Mexican primary and preschool teachers who were members of the National Educational Workers Union. They had two demands: an increase in salaries and union democracy. They opposed the vertical, authoritarian control exercised by the union leaders, who were part of the Institutional Revolutionary Party. The teachers were led by Professor Otón Salazar, who was influenced by the Mexican Communist Party. The movement had some triumphs, but the repression and jailing of its leaders, as well as errors of leadership, caused internal wrangling that led to the movement's defeat in 1960 (Loyo Brambila 1990). The movement is considered to have been a significant precursor of the struggles of the 1980s and a landmark in the collective memory of leftist teachers (Cook 1996).

See alsoMexico, Political Parties: Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI); Mexico, Political Parties: Partido Comunista Mexicano; Movimiento Ferrocarrilero.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Cook, María Lorena. Organizing Dissent: Unions, the State and Democratic Teachers' Movement in Mexico. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1996.

Loyo Brambila, Aurora. El movimiento magisterial de 1958 en México. 2nd ed. México D.F.: Ediciones Era, 1990.

                                        Aurora Loyo

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Movimiento de Maestros 1958

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