Cardenas and the Populist Interlude

1. Cardenas and the Populist Interlude

2. Cardenas • Revolution advanced • Increase in land distribution, acricultural productivity, and quality of life • Spirit of service among the bureaucracy

3. Land Reform • Land distributed in a variety of ways • The ejido (principal form) was a communal landholding system under which land could not be mortgaged or alienated. • Other form was rancho, a individual small holding • Collective ejidos: large-scale cultivation using large cooperative farms organized on a profit-sharing basis

4. Land Reform Continued • 45 million acres were distributed • Promoted a general modernization of Mexican life, society, and industry • Agricultural production was the highest it had been at any time since the beginning of the revolution

5. Problems • Structural defects • Much of the distributed land was of poor quality • Aid in the form of seeds, technical assistance, and credit was frequently inadequate • The government controlled farmer activities

6. Labor Reform • Workers struck in unprecedented numbers for higher wages and better working conditions • 1936, Vicente LambardoToledano organized a new labor federation, the Confederacion de Trabajadores • Labor, the peasantry, and the army became the 3 main pillars of the official party renamed the Party of the Mexican Revolution (PRM)

7. Problem • Labor’s loss of independence and the meshing of its organizations with the official apparatus led to a revival of corruption and reactionary control of trade unions

8. Economic Reform • Industrial capitalism made significant strides • Favored Mexican industry with government loans and protective tariffs • Supported domestic investors that provided industrial loans that funded public welfare projects

9. WWII • Greatly reduced the availability of imports which greatly stimulated the movement toward industrialization and import substitution • The oil nationalization = Mexican economic independence • 90% of mining industry remained in foreign hands

10. Women’s Rights • Cardenas supported the constitutional reform “to grant equal rights” and pledged to guarantee that “working women have the right to participate in the electoral struggle” • However, the constitutional amendment permitting women’s suffrage in 1939 was struck down due to party infighting and the fear of the resurgence of Catholic conservatism

11. Education • Rural school system improved • Displayed much concern for indigenous welfare

12. Cardenas Growing Moderation • Abandoned many of his reforms • Slowed down the pace of land distribution and displayed a conciliatory attitude toward the entrepreneurial class

13. Election of 1940 • General Manuel Avila Camancho was nominated and won with 99% of the vote • He was a Cardenas loyalist, devout catholic, and a man of generally conservative views • Disassociated himself from the radical leadership of the unions • Flexible attitude on the best form of agrarian reform

14. The Storm that Swept Mexico • Video Clip 6/8 • Video Clip 7/8 • Video Clip 8/8