Journal article
Agrarian Policy and Instability in Porfirian Mexico
The Americas (Washington. 1944), v 39(2), pp 153-166
Oct 1982
Abstract
In the struggle sustained from time immemorial by the people with the haciendas, I shall be on the side of the people, once I obtain power.
— Porfirio Díaz, 1876
Given the importance of rural unrest in the destabilizing of Porfirian Mexico, it seems at least ironic to find these words attributed to Díaz during his Tuxtepec revolt. And, given the attention paid to the repressive elements of the Díaz dictatorship, one might easily argue that Díaz never intended to fulfill that promise, vague though it may be. A number of works seem to blame Díaz personally for the land problem which lead to his overthrow. Others maintain that Díaz remained aloof and was isolated from the common people; but by far the greatest number of works employ such amorphous or monolithic concepts as the “State,” the “Díaz regime,” “porjirismo,” or simply “the government” and focus exclusively on evidence of repression in Porfirian Mexico. Repression has attracted attention in part because it has been important in explaining dissatisfaction which lead to the Revolution of 1910 and in part because violence attracted a great deal of attention from contemporaries. This interest provides historians with more accessible sources while evidence of a more conciliatory attitude has remained hidden in the collection of Porfirio Díaz's presidential papers.
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Details
- Title
- Agrarian Policy and Instability in Porfirian Mexico
- Creators
- Donald Fithian Stevens - University of Chicago
- Publication Details
- The Americas (Washington. 1944), v 39(2), pp 153-166
- Publisher
- Cambridge University Press
- Number of pages
- 14
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- History
- Other Identifier
- 991021865004704721