Cardenas Compromised: The Failure of Reform in Postrevolutionary Yucatan

By Ben Fallaw

Book Overview

C rdenas Compromised is a political and institutional history of Mexico's urban and rural labor in the Yucat n region during the regime of L zaro C rdenas from 1934 to 1940. Drawing on archival materials, both official and popular, Fallaw combines narrative, individual case studies, and focused political analysis to reexamine and dispel long-cherished beliefs about the Cardenista era.
For historical, geographical, and ethnic reasons, Yucat n was the center of large-scale land reform after the Mexican Revolution. A long-standing revolutionary tradition, combined with a harsh division between a powerful white minority and a poor, Maya-speaking majority, made the region the perfect site for C rdenas to experiment by launching an ambitious top-down project to mobilize the rural poor along ethnic and class lines. The regime encouraged rural peasants to form collectives, hacienda workers to unionize, and urban laborers to strike. It also attempted to mobilize young people and women, to challenge Yucat n's traditional, patriarchal social structure, to reach out to Mayan communities, and to democratize the political process. Although the project ultimately failed, political dialogue over C rdenas's efforts continues. Rejecting both revisionist (anti-C rdenas) and neopopulist (pro-C rdenas) interpretations, Fallaw overturns the notion that the state allowed no room for the agency of local actors. By focusing on historical connections across class, political, and regional lines, Fallaw transforms ideas on Cardenismo that have long been accepted not only in Yucat n but throughout Mexico.
This book will appeal to scholars of Mexican history and of Latin American state formation, as well as to sociologists and political scientists interested in modern Mexico.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0822327678
• ISBN13: 9780822327677
• Release Date: August 2001
• Publisher: Duke University Press
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.9" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

A Great Book for Students of Twentieth Century Mexico

This book is about the important state of Yucatan, Mexico during the radical presidency of President Lazaro Cardenas (1934-1940). Fallaw, in less than 200 pages, gives a lucid account of Yucatan's agrarian and labour politics in these years. It is an original and excellently researched work, and it is a pleasure to read. I would recommend this book to any student of Latin American history since independence.