Workers' Congress

Mexico 1876

Synopsis

The first workers' congress in Mexico began on 5 March 1876 in Mexico City. Delegates to the convention named the new organization Congreso Obrero Permanente (Permanent Working Congress) with the hope that they would be able to unite all workers of Mexico. The next 30 years heralded the early beginnings of industrialization in Mexico and the parallel rise in the burgeoning labor movement. Many labor organizations formed at this time with the purpose of helping Mexican workers advance their rights after a history of struggle against repressive governmental and capitalistic groups. Unfortunately, many of these early labor organizations ultimately folded.

Timeline

• 1856: Gustave Flaubert publishes Madame Bovary.
• 1861: Emancipation of the serfs in Russia.
• 1867: Maximilian surrenders to Mexican forces under Benito Juarez and is executed. Thus ends Napoleon III's dreams for a new French empire in the New World.
• 1869: Completion of the first U.S. transcontinental railway.
• 1872: The Crédit Mobilier affair, in which several officials in the administration of President Ulysses S. Grant are accused of receiving stock in exchange for favors, is the first of many scandals that are to plague Grant's second term.
• 1874: Discovery of gold in the Black Hills of South Dakota.
• 1876: General George Armstrong Custer and 264 soldiers are killed by the Sioux at the Little Big Horn River.
• 1876: Alexander Graham Bell introduces the telephone.
• 1876: Four-stroke cycle gas engine introduced.
• 1878: Opening of first commercial telephone exchange, in New Haven, Connecticut.
• 1882: Agitation against English rule spreads throughout Ireland, culminating with the assassination of chief secretary for Ireland Lord Frederick Cavendish and permanent undersecretary Thomas Burke in Dublin's Phoenix Park. The leader of the nationalist movement is Charles Stewart Parnell, but the use of assassination and terrorism—which Parnell himself has disavowed—makes clear the fact that he does not control all nationalist groups.
• 1886: Bombing at Haymarket Square, Chicago, kills seven policemen and injures numerous others. Eight anarchists are accused and tried; three are imprisoned, one commits suicide, and four are hanged.

Event and Its Context

Political Background: The 1850s and 1860s

The Mexican labor movement, especially in the mining, railroad, textile, and tobacco industries, led to the beginning of the first workers' congress in Mexico in 1876. The Mexican movement can be traced back to the late 1850s (although its roots probably go back much further) and to the rule of Emperor Maximilian from 1863 to 1867.

Mexican president Ignacio Comonfort enacted a new liberal constitution that reestablished a federal form of government in 1857—providing for liberties such as individual rights (including labor rights), male suffrage (that is, male voting rights), and freedom of speech. After a period of civil disturbance known as the War of the Reform from 1858 to 1860, Benito Pablo Juárez, a liberal from a minority political faction, overpowered his opposition and was elected president in 1861. He set about trying to establish order in the financially troubled country. One thing that Juárez did was to suspend interest payments on foreign loans incurred by preceding governments. Taking offense at such action, the French emperor Napoleon III, with the support of English and Spanish leaders, persuaded

Maximilian in 1863 to accept the crown of Mexico in order to protect their financial interests. Backed by French troops, Juárez was removed (temporarily, it turned out) from power and Maximilian was installed as the country's ruler. Around 1866 the United States, which objected to France's intervention, began pressuring the French to leave. When they withdrew in 1867, Maximilian refused to go with them. After that, republican forces under Juárez quickly regained control of Mexico in 1867 (and held power until 1872), under what was called the Restored Republic. Captured by the republicans at Querétaro, Maximilian was tried by court-martial and shot in June 1867. Juárez died in office in 1872 and was succeeded by Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada, head of the Mexican supreme court, who remained in power until 1876.

Labor Organizations

Under the political conditions of the mid-1850s to the mid-1870s, the country struggled with political unrest and uncertainty. The economy was dormant, with little opportunity for Mexican workers to improve their working conditions. Manufacturing, except for a struggling cotton textile industry and a few other minor factories, was generally confined to artisans producing specialized goods, such as silver jewelry, by hand for local markets. The 1850s saw the rise of mutualist organizations (worker benevolent societies) such as the Sociedad Particular de Socórros Mutuál (or Particular Society of Mutual Aid), which was founded in October 1864 with the support of such anarchist leaders as Santiago Villanueva, Francisco Zalacosta, and JoséMaría González. The primary purpose of these societies was to improve the economic and social conditions of their members, which included craftsmen such as shoemakers, tailors, and carpenters. The organizations also established savings funds for their members for medical expenses, unemployment compensation, and pensions. The labor movement began to change at this time, shifting focus from providing help and cooperating with employers to one of revolution as militant organizers spread the word about miserable working (and living) conditions throughout Mexico.

Most artisan mutualist societies did not promote strikes. However, several strikes occurred during this time and disrupted the nation's industrial environment, as workers, especially in the textile and mining industries, tried whatever means they could to improve their meager existence, especially with regard to wages. The influence of anarchist leaders such as Plotino C. Rhodakanaty guided the strike activities of artisans (and sometimes students, common laborers, and intellectuals). On 10-11 June 1865 strikes began at the textile mills of San Ildefonso and La Colmena, near Mexico City. On 19 June 1865, 25 armed representatives of the government fired upon the San Ildefonso strikers. Several of the strikers were wounded and about 25 were jailed. The strikes in both cities failed with respect to worker demands. In July 1868 workers at La Fama Montaneasa in the Federal District that surrounds Mexico City carried out a successful strike in which they gained improved working conditions.

Mutualist and Cooperative Societies in the 1870s

By the early 1870s numerous mutualist and cooperative societies had been formed among such Mexico City artisans as carpenters, shoemakers, tailors, and among mill workers at various Federal District cotton textile factories. By the mid-1870s the number of members of such organizations in Mexico City alone was estimated at between 8,000 and 10,000 workers. The 1870s were much better for organizing labor than the two previous decades. Although the strike was not the preferred method of effecting change during this time, several strikes, mostly for wages, did occur. Miners at Real del Monte in Hidalgo struck from August 1872 to January 1873 and were able to secure an acceptable settlement. However, the government later deported a number of miners because of their labor activities.

On 16 September 1870 leading Mexico City artisans, including Santiago Villanueva, established a national labor federation that involved several mutualist organizations. The new federation was called the Gran Círculo de Obreros de México (Great Circle of Workers of Mexico, or the "Circle"). The stated purpose of the Circle was to improve the social and economic condition of the working class. By 1875 the Circle had established 28 branches in 12 states and the Federal District, including locals in several cotton textile mills. Total membership was about 2,000 workers. Hoping then to establish a national labor congress, the Circle asked labor delegates to meet in the spring of 1876.

At a convention in Mexico City on 5 March 1876, 35 delegates (of the eventual total of 73) representing numerous diverse labor groups attended the first Permanent Working Congress (Congreso Obrero Permanente) for the purpose of uniting Mexican workers. The delegates elected officers, organized committees, and determined its business operations. Its objectives included support for adult and child education, founding of artisan-run businesses, the right to operate as the agent for all Mexican workers, and the right to establish wages based on industry or region. The new organization viewed the strike as a legitimate way to achieve its purposes and even went so far as to declare that its members should be free from the "yoke of capitalism." These strong words came from the anarchist-led members of the congress.

Labor during the Porfiriato

The regime of Mexican president Porfirio Díaz from November 1876 to 1911 (with a temporary break from 1880 to 1884), was known as the Porfiriato. This administration led the way to broad industrialization. The regime stabilized Mexico's finances, and the country experienced dramatic economic development. Foreign investors, especially American, put capital into mineral resources, and mining, textile, and other key industries expanded; railroad and telegraph lines were constructed; and foreign trade expanded. Along with these developments came the formation of labor unions. On the other hand, foreign investors removed much of the country's wealth, and much of the land was redistributed to a small number of landowners. During Díaz's long rule, he forcibly suppressed social discontent, which created several factors that restricted the growth of unions. The unions that developed were usually numerically small, ideologically diverse organizations that were widely scattered throughout the country. These factors in combination greatly hindered such organizations from gaining strength among laborers.

Numerous conflicting political groups slowed the progress of unions. Such groups as the anarcho-syndicalists, anarchists, utopian socialists, Christian democrats, communists, mutualists, and progovernment reformists vied for the attention of the Mexican workers, especially among the peasants, the lower middle class, and the rapidly growing sector of blue-collar laborers. Most damaging to these early unions was the power that Díaz and his technical staff held over the workers and the general populace of Mexico. Díaz's technical organization, known as the "scientists" ("científicos"), was determined to maintain a peaceful environment in the nation's mines, factories, farms, and transportation centers. Díaz was adamant that foreign investors, so important in reshaping Mexico's industrial base, would view their manufacturing sector as conducive to profits. Díaz did not want a repeat of Mexico's first 50 years of independence, which was plagued with political turmoil and few industrial advances. (Mexico had been proclaimed a republic with the full name United Mexican States, or Estados Unidos Mexicanos, in 1824.)

In 1876 Díaz and the Mexican government established the Large Confederation of Associations of Workers of the Mexican Republic (GCATRM). It endorsed trade unionism, established producers' and consumers' cooperatives, and focused on creating a stable working-class. Professor Stephen Niblo, who studied the economy surrounding the Porfiriato rule, stated that due to these prolabor stands early in the presidency, most workers and artisans believed Díaz would improve their working situation.

However, Díaz was not as supportive of the labor movement as was hoped. By the late 1880s Díaz reversed his decision about labor unions as he was unable to tolerate the often abusive and violent opposition generated by the workers' organizations. The Mexican government shut down the union newspapers, persecuted union leaders, and forcibly ended strikes. Several violent demonstrations—such as the ones at the Cananea copper mine in Sonora (1906), the Río Blanco-Orizaba textile mill in Veracruz (1907), and throughout the railroad industry (1907-1908)—were quickly terminated by violent counterattacks from the police and military troops.

The congress called its second conference at the end of 1879 in Mexico City. The delegates promised to provide financial support for strikes, to fight for wage increases, and to better the conditions of rural workers. However, with pressure from an increasingly hostile government and internal discord, the congress broke up in the spring of 1880. Although various labor groups remained active through 1882, the government increased its repressive campaign against all labor groups with the arrest, incarceration, and execution of several labor leaders. In the 1880s various groups attempted to reorganize the mutualist movement, but all failed.

Conclusion

Although Mexico's first working congress was short-lived, the early strikes by Mexican workers showed an intense interest in better working conditions and wages. However, the era was also marked by the ability and willingness of the Mexican government and the country's industrial community to squash the independent labor movement. Political and economic dissatisfaction were leading rapidly to "the year of the strikes" in 1906 and to the Mexican workers' revolution of 1910. Although this revolution produced improvements to working conditions, the labor movement in Mexico continues today in its long struggle for better wages and working conditions.

Key Players

Díaz, Porfirio (1830-1915): Díaz, whose full name was Joséde la Cruz Porfirio Díaz, was a Mexican soldier and statesman. He entered the army and served in three wars: the Mexican War (1846-1848), the Civil War (1858-1860), and the Patriotic War (1863-1867). In 1867 and 1871 Díaz was an unsuccessful candidate for the presidency of Mexico. In 1876 he overthrew the government of President Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada and became president the following year. Under the Mexican constitution, he could not serve two consecutive terms, so Díaz gave up the presidency in 1880. He was reelected in 1884, secured passage of an amendment to the constitution permitting successive presidential terms, and remained in power until 1911.

Rhodakanaty, Plotino Constantino (1828-?): Rhodakanaty was a scholar, crusader, and political activist. Arriving in Mexico in the early 1860s, he became a teacher at the Colegio de San Ildefonso in Mexico City. He was one of the first advocates of anarchist doctrine and founded the first anarchist working-class organizing group in Mexico. Rhodakanaty had a tremendous impact on the labor movement in Mexico during the 1860s through the 1880s.

Villanueva, Santiago (1838-1872): Villanueva began work in a cabinet shop at a young age to help his poor parents. He eventually became a master woodcarver. While attending medical school, he came into contact with Francisco Zalacosta and Plotino Rhodakanaty. Villanueva spent most of the rest of his life organizing urban workers and popularizing anarchism. He coordinated the unionization effort in the Valley of Mexico.

Zalacosta, Francisco (1844-c1882): Zalacosta joined a group of students studying under Plotino C. Rhodakanaty while he was in preparatory school in Mexico City. Zalacosta was one of Rhodakanaty's most ardent disciples and played an important role in the Mexican labor movement of the late nineteenth century.

See also: Cananéa Strike.

Bibliography

Books

Anderson, Rodney D. Outcasts in Their Own Land: Mexican Industrial Workers, 1906-1911. De Kalb: Northern Illinois University Press, 1976.

Clark, Marjorie Ruth. Organized Labor in Mexico. New York: Russell & Russell, 1973.

Grayson, George W. The Mexican Labor Machine: Power, Politics, and Patronage. Significant Issues Series, XI, no. 3. Washington, DC: The Center for Strategic and International Studies, 1989.

Hart, John M. Anarchism and the Mexican Working Class,1860-1931. Austin and London: University of Texas Press, 1978.

Niblo, Stephen Randall. The Political Economy of the Early Porfiriato: Politics and Economics in Mexico, 1876 to 1880. Ph.D. Diss., Northern Illinois University, 1972.

—William Arthur Atkins