The Quest for Power: Hispanic Collective Action in Frontier Arizona
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The quest for power: Hispanic collective action in frontier Arizona Item Type Article Authors Torres, David L.; Amado, Melissa Citation Torres, David L., and Melissa Amado. "The quest for power: Hispanic collective action in frontier Arizona." Perspectives in Mexican American Studies 3 (1992): 73-94. Publisher Mexican American Studies & Research Center, The University of Arizona (Tucson, AZ) Journal Perspectives in Mexican American Studies Rights Copyright © Arizona Board of Regents Download date 30/09/2021 18:53:07 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/624809 THE QUEST FOR POWER: HISPANIC COLLECTIVE ACTION IN FRONTIER ARIZONA David L. Torres and Melissa Amado We, too, become institutions unto ourselves and often forget the needs and desires of the whole pueblo in our own scrambling to maintain position and status. Armando Rendon in Chicano Manifesto, 1971' The majority [of social theoriesl are based on the absurd assumption that well -being is dependent on economic individualization; as if money and possessions are sufficient to save us from the austere circumstances that daily confront us. Deep blasphemy: economic independence, badly understood, merely fuels the exaltation, the erroneous belief, of personal superiority, egoism, and ultimately leads to isolation, desolation, and misery. Professor M. Castillo Martinez, 19322 Fvery generation brings with it new interpretations of the realities of class struggle. With time, some interpretations become symbolic representations of ideals, such as the many adventures of Pancho Villa as told by ancianos who experienced Mexico's days of revolution. This research was made possible by a grant from The Small Grants Program of the University of Arizona to the senior author. Both authors acknowledge the able assistance of Dina Robles, the staff of the Arizona Historical Society, and several sons and daughters of Tucson's Hispanic pioneers. Note: Dina Robles and Melissa Amado, undergraduate students at the time of data - gathering for this research, have strong roots in Tucson. Their steadfast devotion to discovering the soul of their heritage enabled the project to come to successful fruition. -73- 74 PERSPECTIVES IN MEXICAN AMERICAN STUDIES Other interpretations become symbols of undesirable attributes, such as la malinche, the Indian woman who betrayed her kind and sided with the Spaniards in their conquest of Mexico. At the core of all historical interpretations is truth -if they are increasingly garnished with elements of extraordinary heroism, evil, or tragedy, it is because these historical events tend to solicit such emotional reactions from a culture that places great significance on relational behavior. We mention class struggle, symbolism, and la malinche because they are elements we attempt to understand in our study of the role of the Mexican elite. We focus on this elite's struggle against cultural domina- tion by the United States in the town of Tucson, Arizona, at the turn of the century. According to Barton, elites are "a body of people holding positions of authority or influence in a major institution. "3 As the opening quotes illustrate, Mexican -based culture has consis- tently recognized the primacy of el pueblo, the community, over individual rights and freedoms. While this collectivist ideology is philosophically based on Catholicism, and perhaps even on ancient cultures that preceded invasion by the Spaniards, it has been buttressed by historical praxis. The masses have consistently had to band together in their struggles against one or another set of elites. Elites in Mexico have tended to be associated with treacherous oppression. At least symbolically, therefore, elites have become the antithesis of el pueblo. The tendency to cast a wary eye at the elite remains, even in contemporary times. Especially shunned are those who "sell out" to the system in the name of personal success. In the United States, the act of "selling out" takes on special significance. Not only is it possible to abandon the cause of the community and become a member of the elite, it is also possible to abandon Hispanicity altogether, in an attempt to become a part of the Anglo culture. The latter act is apt to conjure up images of la malinche. Though many times subtle, negative feelings toward those who go "too far" in assimilating are quite pervasive, affecting fields as diverse as politics and literature.4 Entrepreneurs, professionals, and politicians are especially vulner- able to being viewed as traitors to the common cause. Entrepreneurs examined by Torres, for example, were careful not to be seen as straying away from the Mexican American community, although most of them recognized that the resources needed to build their businesses resided elsewhere.' To be sure, all social groups deplore acts of betrayal or perceived betrayal (e.g., Benedict Arnold in the U. S., Thomas Sowell THE QUEST FOR POWER: HISPANIC COLLECTIVE ACTION 75 in the black community). For our purposes, it is sufficient to recognize that loyalty to el pueblo is ubiquitously and intensely compelling. It cuts across many facets of Mexican and Mexican American life. Because of the collective sentiment and the resulting precarious role of elites in Mexican society, the focus of this paper examines both during a unique period in history. When Arizona territory was fast succumbing to the "manifest destiny" of the United States, there was a struggle between the Mexican bourgeoisie and proletariate (that is, between el pueblo and the elite). However, there was an even greater struggle involving U. S. versus Mexican forms of capitalism. We intend to show that the latter conflict actually resulted in unifying rather than splitting the two classes in Mexican society. The conditions that gave rise to the historical events of the late 1800s and early 1900s are likely never to occur again. Nevertheless, the values and behavior patterns elicited by these events are more institutionalized in Mexican culture. These patterns can be expected to re- emerge whenever the U. S. and Mexico are forced to address each other in more - than- superficial fashion. Recently, the two countries have discussed the establishment of a free trade agreement and there is growing interest in further development of the maquiladora program. Whenever cultural differences necessitate give- and -take, as these events are likely to do, it is better to understand the mind -set of each party that comes to the table. U. S. businesses are more apt, however, to consider only their view of capitalist praxis. United States ideology, which emphasizes individualism and a need for personal achievement, has dominated the conventional world view of what entrepreneurship is all about. However the cult of individualism is foreign to-and often unacceptable in many coun- tries of the world.6 The purpose of this study is to go beyond recounting historical events and to begin to unravel the socio- cultural praxis of frontier Arizona. Through such analyses, a better understanding of the social /cultural tools that Mexicans and Mexican Americans have vis á vis their engagement of capitalism may emerge. Culture and its effects on entrepreneurial performance have been a traditional area of scientific investigation, with Weber's The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism being one of the most noted.' Japanese, Asian -American, Greek, Black and Jewish influences on capitalism have also been 76 PERSPECTIVES IN MEXICAN AMERICAN STUDIES investigated.8 There is no similar focus on Mexican Americans, save for an excellent, but generalized synopsis offered by Abalos.9 The history of Tucson, Arizona, is similar to that of many southwest- ern cities with historical ties to Mexico. Like many other cities of the Southwest, Tucson served as a protective outpost from which the early settlers, the Spaniards, carried out their colonization of previously Native American territory. Once freed from the Spanish Crown, settle- ments like Tucson, San Antonio, El Paso, Los Angeles and San Diego gave rise to their own class structures. Only further research in other cities will enable us to gauge the generalizable nature of Mexican -based class formation in the Southwest. However, insofar as the evolution of selected cities in the Southwest are linked to one country and its social/ political influence, Tucson promises to share many dynamics with its sister cities. Tucson does have some unique characteristics. It remained fairly isolated from the outside world, resulting in delayed Anglo immigration into the area, As a result Tucson elites had more time to develop a distinct class structure.1° Capitalism: Class versus Systemic Struggle Reactionary collective action against exploitation is part of the evolution of capitalism. The Mexican case has been duly examined by historians and other social scientists.'1 Marx considered reactionary activity to be an evolving process that would culminate in revolution leading to communism.12 Thus far in the United States, such a revolution has not occurred and, perhaps, never will because the state has responded to the demands of labor at critical periods. The best examples are the federal programs begun in the 1930s and again in the 1960s.13 Keynesian economic policy, the Social Security Act of 1934, the War on Poverty, and a varied assortment of other social programs have all been responses to labor strife and have marked the progress of labor vis á vis the propertied class. In the United States, the values of an unshackled free market and individual freedom have remained strong because of the strategic ability of the propertied class, along with its instrument, the state, to respond to eminent challenges. However, that has not been the case in many other countries. In contrast to the United States, a direct confrontation between the classes did occur in Mexico, culminating in the Revolution THE QUEST FOR POWER: HISPANIC COLLECTIVE ACTION 77 of 1910. Even before the Revolution, intermittent civil and foreign wars wreaked havoc on Mexico's political infrastructure of the mid -to -late 1800s.14 The propertied classes, led by General Porfirio Diaz in the period before the Revolution, subscribed to Spencerian positivism.