larles A. He Josefina Zoraida Vaequeg | Roderie A. Camp, Ch editores LOS INTELECTUALES Y EL PODER EN MEXIco INTELLECTUALS AND POWER IN MEXICO Memorias de la. VI)Conferencia Mexicanos » BstadounidINTELLECTUALS IN THE MEXICAN REVOLUTION 9.1 ALAN KNIGHT University of Essex als, according to the perspective of this paper, are creators and pur- mellectuals, 5 liscuss the role of intellectuals in. the Revolu- 1 0 SE ee or idoolonyy But, it should be recognized at the oni 10 cal covamiirpents end dominations form only parrot ihe gee See eee nae other factors must be includ- exe cUson, and patron-clfent allegiance, While in reality these rein tortuous lusters, sometimes strengthening, a of thINTELLECTUALS IN HE MEXICAN mEvoLUM, u Nag ssfalse consciousness.””” For, as all but the m on 10? i pbesian would now accept, regimes (including Diaeayae aris on force 10 survive, and such ideological supsor ‘teonaiie, ie simp of class, eh egion— are crucial for thelr Se tin , periods of social revolution, like that sae al. Ee ds when the old pillars —like ry crite aio? nerf the Philistines of Gath— are wrenched down by the Tevolution. a gan, when rival ideologies compete for allegiance, and whee teat 9 Sa ogical constructs are raised upon the rubble of the old tA urge, such @ process is long and complex. Armies may cong in Of cor ideologies May require generations. Furthermore, within this day, Por ig not what it seems. Intellectuals —the obvious, articulate, process, uals—? may make a great deal of noise, like the iluvian “eal rke's celebrated image; but, in this particular context, it efteg pes in Bulent, ruminants who count, who overthrow one regime and cer thes ner, and ho work to the accompaniment of the ‘‘great” intellectu- aPEN R RAEN TERR TEESE AE Fs INTELLECTUALS IN TH8 MEXICAN AEYoAiinoR’ 44g 5 he jumbled reality of historical events. Hence, ee cinoma Af oats type (Ce Dee ectiole beth Defers the Reon n (. mae al estan alter the Revolution (leant ) Se mite influence during the decade of eed ile itis argued ‘llegas’ intellectuals), 1900-1910) and again . they exercised only a conflict —as both Tan ilegas suggest, more recent historiography ecrwage areas a een ence that, on the basis of the (Gramscian) standing. But et forward in contradistinction to the classic or commen. Bee an alcunne manent organic intellectuals made an ime Be ce on Station to the Revolution dudseitsammer cia ual See rial Tor aqrahins bawea tole 1920, but not and idertrekeroft and many historians of the period have segs ‘mannerBER LATUNS wo cn asinae oie ey were thinking movements; they py a srs and the cogency of their ideas; they sag wah Premium nartiouat ers, the writers, the lovers of the Fatherana and of Libero she piilosor rey also attracted political “outs” like Carranza of Mayo Of cous. impelled by considerations of personal ang familial advantage, sa) WHO WETS esion is best analyzed in Namierite terme: —who knew wher, sxdvtos ghose patron or client. But timesservers cougar Hon so we such a broad and burgeoning movement (and, by defiatey they dina pe held responsible for setting it in motion); furthermore, Reyis- sold Maderismo both remained long shots for astute polite gage, ae eee returds'—herice-the caution, even Ge trepidation, of See tisha patallyureivaiecree en uncle Emesto.® ‘Gstorians would employ Marxist rather than Newnece explana- Some niperal opposition of the 1900s. Cleverly suse sea ar- ae matinad \atiective Sutter Re-election”’) and ee ree alicely amine ausibute thie Seo puleglatata ssonnmnieyaeiralcpeaee hardship, for- ee Sees Cockerof’sanal- gn competition, the par -partout.*! More concretely, some point to o oe crisis.22 In short, Anti-Reelectionism,INTELLECTUALS 1 THE MEXICAN nso airy 'VOLUTION 149 called free country,” men like Franc: se i and in pera and youthful opposition journalist, whose as, oe before the depression and not for want of secur sod => densken likely to prejudice than to advance his professional cascer 8 vas Zune offended liberal conscience complained: and, by way of aie sition sought not simply ‘areal vote and no boss rule” fore thes was the centerpiece of their program), but also a general moraleiog if this Wa P'illiterate and degenerate people — People whom the liberals of Mex sed, patronized, and feared.” Along with free sieewen and a at once ‘ive democracy, they also sought sobriety, thrift. tem. FE ead |, as a means to these worthy Victorian ends, education, race, any was a panacea. In this they followed Porfirian precedents which precedents set elsewhere in the world): enlightened {notto mention Sierra had harped on just the same themes. But, in the eyes. old regime had not delivered the goods: ‘have I not said. on Timoteo declared, “‘that the ignorance of the mass- ce?” And many real-life reformers echoed his senti-_ ools, as well as to the press. ‘make them oi homaveryin thelrapephsoe ee eeeSNR MESSI TA FL0F2 27 BAMLECTUAtS w Tiasaniend ala 1st ing the development oF the revolution) Sr. Contra i ts opaganda among the middle and upney sce He wrote eneceme ake ing Barguments against the dictatorship in the independent ress and on the sanes fea the armistice was reached y: Heke 8 Notable article in which he ‘ated forthe resignation of General Diaz, This isa thine called for the of his work for the revolution, revolution had triumphed, others of this kind (the “platonic Reeagane Tere called them) bent their energies toward forces, urging calm, dispensing empty promises, and, ial.® But, as Madero found in hisINTELLECTUALS IN THE Mexican ICAN REVOLUTIOy 10N was true elsewhere. Villa's self-a Soros, Angeles, Diaz Lombardo, Escudero, Ma La oul Por “decent” Villistas— made little progr we Luis Guzman, ‘moral and political “principles that eines smprehensible for him." This was made abana, a in 1914-1915, especially in Mexico Citys ission (the brawls, abductions, and killings, fess of revolutionary intellectuals, David Berl tbat ginal sins of omission (the failure to construct a soung ee reaiistration as the Fespectable Villistas ad m passes eminence of lesser caudilog fas we better. The G snadtanyer said to have manipulated Julian Blaney egy t the hands of Sil re Maar te n on at the hands of Silvestre wd ‘of the earnest, civilian reformer— found it impossible the company of upstart Popular cabelas; Emiliano Sra ilar in Durango in Luis in 1915; while Vasconcelos’s bid to play: int nSab LS LE fff Ae. thE _ INTELLECTUALS IN 1H LET HEMEXICAN REVOLUTION, gy, In these cases, the village intellectuals the mobilization and radicalization of ne pean en porta ee ploiters. Of course, village intellectuals could, in erher circumstances, trol and manipulate the peasantry in the imterest of the exploiten sje cording to Gramsci, was their exclusive role in the 0 Mexico, t0o, there were plenty of complain of pre-revolutionary Papantia, who served region, or against officials, of the town council of Zaragoza, Coahuila, to every successive cacique.§* But the village intellectual could alse rennet and inspire: not as a devious agitator preying upon innocents, but as an or. ganic member of the community, sharing its interests, while possessing con, tain special talents suitable for these tasks. 3%" Sapinaaelaoas If the village intellectual was thus a Janus figure popular grievances— tand secular lardena), hich could enable the former, the cura Participate in the encourae’, tment, organization, and articulation of local opponine The Church afforded “entertainment, information, education’: it outa ot but function as an 3 tual and political guide in small, arecly illiterate, often indigent aa barrage of liturgy and lel Obrero Mundial, for While the Catholic priest could deploy the full itual, and could even —in combatting the Cass 1 aa resort to excommunication, his Protect, ‘ant rival had no compara. institutional resources. Yet the presence of Protestamt peat ere once again, the intellectual whateverINTELLECTUALS IN THE MEXICAN REVOLUTION 46) eff Lesser known maestros also made an impact durin pavid Aguilar of Jayacatlin”(perha the unlgutone sp teachers who populated the pueblos of Oaxaca) led a rescue patty to sche eleven captive agraristas and to consign the lneat to jail, Feitheir place." Gabriel Gavira, sheltered at Santa Anu Atsannn vege the dark, early days of the Madero revolution, was aided by "Henge ina, fez, music teacher of that village, who with some resolute Indvane had promised t0 put themselves at my orders.” As some of these examples ‘the village teacher might also play the part of village lawyer, und snbfatter ranked second to the maestro ns the classic, sevulatintellecval ot the pueblo. The village lawyer was, of course, far removed from the respect. able attorneys of the major cities, who displayed an allegiance to the old ‘at best, an opportunistic adherence to the Revolution in its na-_ EP RRE 2. SHR £ Fe 2. Veracruz; | Pin Bal SFocHE Ne OER sons itinerant gommanINTELLECTUALS IN THE MEXICAN REVOLUTION 163 currency in working-class circles (diminutive circles, it should be remembered, with bourgeois politicos and generals at the center twitching the strings) ‘Although some ideological cross-pollination took place —with the migra- tion of Casa spokesmen to Morelos or, more important, the absorption of mnuine agraristas into the Carrancista camp— the tendency was for city and, Sountryside to remain ideologically distinct, certainly during the decade of omed revolt. Indeed, that very anti-lericalism which, allied to Puritan ethic, gave the Carraneistas and the urban working class certain common ground aeyally offended rural sensibilities, creating a pulf rather than a bond be- ween revolutionary city and revolutionary countryside."® For the counter-ideology and counter-symbols of rural protest —the stock in-trade of the village intellectuals— were in the first place religious. Paiests —be they Catholic or Protestant— could count on sure beliefs as well ‘as emotive symbols and rituals: the sacraments and services, the saints of ‘pueblo and barrio, the panoply of Church ritual, the cautionary tales told pease HT TE eee eee endive relent banner of the Virgin and the ©of oe INTELLECTUALS IN THE MEXICAN REVOLUTION 16s Church were the focus of one intellectual tradition, so the maesiro and fhe schoolhouse were the embodiments of another. For some, the schoolhouse aise the temple of the highest national transcendence”; the phrase is taken, . Nor from the writings of some grand intellectual, Porfirian or revolution nev, but from a petition of humble folk from the country town of Ameca- ardsa, Mexico, who were protesting against the military's use of the school a billet in 1913." ‘The village lawyers, too, had their symbols of office: most notably the jand fitles which were at the center of so much litigation, which were en- {isted to their care, and which were treated with something approaching uation." The tinterillos’ preservation of these important, if tatty, docu-INTELLECTUALS IN THE MEXICAN REVOLUTION 167 ty) were fobbed off with, at best, lowly commissions in th aap in 1913, the country witnessed a trahison des cleres on a eapeined as the great majority of Maderista office-holders kowtowed to Huerta, Cat and the Sonorans, pushed into a revolution that was orderly, profes. sional, and highly pragmatic, were seconded by a host of rural cabecillan, their campesino forces, and associated intellectual caciques. The Maderista intelligentsia —the classic, urban intellectuals— now paid the price for their double apostasy: some eschewed politics altogether; some, cold-shouldered by the Carrancistas, ventured a brief flirtation with Villa; some had been, pushed so far right by their antipathy to popular upheaval that, like Jess Flores Magén or Toribio Esquivel Obregén, they came to support and serve under Huerta. ; : ‘The success of Carrancismo in its struggle first against Huerta, and then against Villa, depended on its distinctive blend ofa it PARLE EE A Ee INTELLECTUALS IN THE MEXICAN REVOLUTION 169. the Mexican Herald (no friend of revolution) had advised that ‘the govern- nent should take a leaf from the book of Socialism and not let the peon ‘ind be left to the mischievous propaganda of the anarchist’! —for if it did, the palpable crisis of legitimacy of 1910 would one day be repeated. Stable government —and successful economic development— required the creation of (call it what you will) legitimacy, consensus, ideological hegemo- ny, false consciousness; and such an act of creation demanded a major con- tribution on the part of intellectuals. "An early, classic example of this process was provided by the Constitu- tionalists’ bid for working-class support, evident not simply in the pact with the Casa del Obrero Mundial but also, and more typically, in the ideological battle fought between the Constitutionalists and the Department of Labor cn the one hand and the Casa spokesmen on the other.5 But it was one thing to sustain such a policy in the cities, where propaganda tended to be ‘more effective, and the proletarian audience was more concentrated, and quite another in the sprawling, sullen, illiterate countryside, among those ‘multitudinous “Indians refractory to organization"” who had no love for Con- stitutionalism, the Sonorans, or the revolutionary State, and who had in many cases emerged from the revolution | submis-LE F, FF S fay Hi EEE Oe INTELLECTUALS IN THE MEXICAN REVOLUTION {71 relos, red shirts were worn instead of bagay white blous Motfete usurped the Virgin of Guadalupe," Petitions now ad to bediogs fdto new sources Of power: to agrarian commissions and ejidal authorities, fs well as to presidents and governors; and the peasantry had to form new Organizations of their own, appropriate to the emerging, corporatist, politi- fal economy —leagues, parties, sindicatos.'56 'As these ideological and institutional demands increased, so a new brand of popular agrarian leader evolved (or, which was more difficult, old lead- ‘ers changed with the times): the redoubtable Dofa Lola at Atencingo; Pri- fno Tapia —“muy indio pero muy listo” — who filled the leadership vacuum. at Naranja; erstwhile country dwellers like Ursulo Galvan and Manuel Alman- sa of Huatusco, who returned o ararsm ale a eracal formative pero in revolutionary army and urban sindicatos.'*7 Ideological models ret ess from the liberal, patriotic past than from the socialist, ‘and future (Galvan visited Moscow; Carrillo Puerto. 158 The second and third generations of post-revolutionary.