European Journal of Social Sciences ISSN 1450-2267 Vol. 55 No 3 September, 2017, pp.362-361 http://www.europeanjournalofsocialsciences.com/

Polyphonic voices and political discourse: Hermila Galindo’s request of women’s suffrage to the 1917 Constituent Congress in

Rosa María Valles Ruiz Research scholar at the Autonomous University of the State of Hidalgo. PhD of Political and Social Science, National Autonomous University of Mexico. Member of the National System of Researchers (SNI, Mexico). PRODEP Desirable Profile acknowledgement. Principal lines of investigation: Discourse analysis, history and gender, oral history and student movements in Mexico E-mail: [email protected]

Alejandra Araiza Díaz Research scholar at the Autonomous University of the State of Hidalgo PhD of Social Psychology, Autonomous University of Barcelona National System of Researchers (SNI, Mexico) candidate member PRODEP Desirable Profile acknowledgement. Principal lines of investigation Women's political involvement, gender violence, domestic care and work, subjectivity critical theory, feminist epistemology, embodied experience E-mail: [email protected]

Azul Kikey Castelli Olvera PhD of Social Science, Autonomous University of the State of Hidalgo Communication Science professor. PRODEP Desirable Profile acknowledgement Principal lines of investigation: Analysis of image and discourse using gender perspective National System of Researchers (SNI, Mexico) candidate member E-mail: [email protected]

Xochitl Andrea Sen Santos Master of Communication Science. PhD of Political and Social Science National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) candidate Principal lines of investigation: Discourse analysis, history and gender, oral history Her most recent work focuses on the history of Mexican women athletes E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract Goal: To present polyphonic characteristics in the argumentative discourse of the initiative presented by Hermila Galindo to the 1917 Constituent Congress to demand women’s suffrage rights in Mexico. Method: To identify, the essential (semantic and stylistic) elements in Hermila Galindo’s argumentative speech associated with the existing sociopolitical context in the first decades of the twentieth century based on Osvald Ducrot's polyphonic theory of enunciation, Roman Jakobson's language functions, and Daniel Prieto Castillo's stylistic analysis.

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Results: Discursive actions in Hermila Galindo’s text were characterized by their argumentative nature and a blunt use of polyphony, which included contemporary characters such as John Stuart Mill and Emilio Castelar, among others, to support her ideas or reject others’, such as Alvaro Obregon’s. Conclusions: The model used in this study, based on Jacobson’s, Ducrot’s, and Castillo’s theoretical proposals, was suitable for the analysis of Hermila Galindo’s speech, uttered a century ago. An intensive use of polyphony was detected, which even surpassed known schemas and introduced more possibilities for analysis.

1. Brief Background of Feminism Advanced ideas from the beginning of the nineteenth century, spearheaded by August Bebel, Clara Zetkin, Alexandra Kollontai, Rosa Luxemburg, and John Stuart Mill, comprised the core of an ideology that nurtured Mexican men and women who pointed out the errors of a government that, due to its anchor in the past, had transformed it from a modern liberal regime into a repressive dictatorship. The Porfirio Díaz government had once defended national sovereignty, declared itself anti- reelectionist, and fought back the French intervention, but now Díaz had become a dictator whose power led him to believe in the perennial immortality of political power. The appearance of anti-reelectionist clubs created an ideal scenario to discuss the ideas of scholars who advocated the advantages of democratic systems and the inclusion of marginalized sectors, such as laborers and women; Bebel (1924) had stated that these were the most marginalized groups along history. With respect to women, Charles Fourier (D’Atri, 2017) considered the economic independence of that sector as a sine qua non condition for its emancipation because women possessed innate virtues that made them superior to men; society degraded them, forcing them to be the prostitutes of one man only into the bourgeois marriage or to offer sexual favors to many in exchange of money. D’Atri (2017) ponders, on the other hand, the contributions of socialist theory about women: Since Flora Tristan’s heartfelt cry for the proletarian woman of the working class in the mid nineteenth century to the fervent call by Leon Trotsky to open the door to laboring women, socialism represents a fully valid current in women’s fight against a system that, even nowadays, is still based on the exploitation of thousands of human beings who are themselves divided by the prejudices of patriarchal ideology and far from the real interests of the oppressed in their struggle toward the emancipation of humanity. Clara Zetkin, Rosa Luxemburg, Flora Tristán 1, and Alejandra Kollontai were the iconic woman rights fighters in the context of feminine vindications in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. For social democratic Clara Zetkin, the road to women’s emancipation was not always clear. D’Atri (2017) shows that the feminist leader: Opposed any legislation protecting maternity because it could be used by the dominant class as an excuse not to include women in the production sector, and that it could also be considered an argument to support the reactionary idea that women were inferior beings. It was until 1889, in the Second International formed in Paris, when Zetkin reasserted her position of not separating the women’s cause from the general laborers’ causeand her unwillingness to

1 Feminist Flora Tristan’s life was difficult. She said: Nearly the whole world is against me. Men, because I claim the emancipation of women, and business owners, because I claim the emancipation of wage earners. (as cited in D’ Atri, 2017).

363 European Journal of Social Sciences – Volume 55, Issue 3 September (2017) ask for any particular protection. However, she then stated that they accepted only one exception: pregnant women, whose state requires particular care. D’Atri points out that both Clara Zetkin and Italian socialist Anna Kulishova acknowledged the impossibility of fighting a situation of initial inequality with equality of rights. Based on this statement, socialism incorporated to its demands the prohibition of having women work night shifts, paid maternity leave, and protection for women’s labor in certain production areas that were believed to affect their health, among others. Assuming this position was crucial, because at the time there were women who worked up to 112 hours per week. This was an advanced socialist position because it was not limited to formal rights but took into account the specific situation of thousands of women, who were the most exploited among the proletariat, a reality that feminists both in Europe and in the United States frequently overlooked as they focused in their struggle for suffrage. This struggle brought together women from all over the world, but the struggle took different forms. D’Atri reports on the case of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU), led by renowned suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst; after intense street action, thet decided to claim the right to vote only for women who owned property. Despite that the most progressive wing of the bourgeois feminism tended to join the militant social democrats in their regular activities, they actually supported liberal parties in election campaigns, even when these failed to stand for the rights the feminists fought for, as social democracy did. This split was accentuated during the First World War. Moreau (1945) refers in 1945 to the specific features of each country despite that the demand for women's suffrage was the essential point on which women’s vindication movements all over the world agreed. Together with Petrona Eyle, Alicia Moreau was the mainstay of feminist magazine Nuestra Causa (1919-1921), and distinguished herself in Latin America as a quarrelsome women’s rights activist. Amanda Labarca was a distinguished character in Chile, where she founded the Ladies’ Reading Circle in 1915. She studied at Columbia University and the Collège de Sorbonne, which facilitated her contact with advanced ideas from both the United States and Europe. She participated in the Acción Femenina journal, a dissemination tool of the Feminine Civic Party edited from 1919 to 1922. Kottow (Valles y Castelli, 2017) states, in agreement with Pinto (2012), that Labarca’s narrative fiction, which the author deems as timid, is not in line with her political action because it enshrines an image of women that is precisely what feminists sought to fight off and banish. La Mujer Mexicana (1904-1908) was founded by Luz Fernández Viuda de Herrera in the early twentieth century in Mexico. Among its prominent writers and directors were Dolores Correa Zapata, Mateana Murguía, and Laureana Wright; the last two had also been the founders of Violetas del Anáhuac , a magazine from the late nineteenth century. Both publications stressed the demand of women’s access to education. The main objective was to combat ignorance. Neither Violetas del Anáhuac nor The Mexican Woman echoed the advanced feminist thought of their time; both magazines were published during the Porfirio Díaz administration, the first in the early phase and the second in the last phase of that government. In fact, their pages failed to address political issues. On the other hand, Mujer Moderna was published between 1915 and 1919 in Mexico, a publication that openly declared itself as feminist and made a parallel contribution to ’s constitutionalist doctrine in the fight against Victoriano Huerta, who became president of Mexico after having betrayed President Francisco I. Madero and ordered his execution. 2 Hermila Galindo Acosta lectured on feminism both in Mexico and abroad, and announced and demanded the claims of women’s rights in all areas, especially in the political arena, which was an

2 In his work Los ultimos días del Presidente Madero , Manuel Márquez Sterling, Cuban ambassador to Mexico in 1913, narrates the establishment of what was called “Pacto de la Embajada” (The Embassy’s Pact), through which Henry Lane Wilson, American ambassador to Mexico, together with Victoriano Huerta, made initial plans for the “Decena Trágica” (The Tragic Decade) and the murder of President Francisco I. Madero and Vicepresident José María Pino Suárez. 364 European Journal of Social Sciences – Volume 55, Issue 3 September (2017) audacious act for her time. As Assistant to Venustiano Carranza, First Chief of the Constitutionalist Army from 1913 to 1917 and Constitutional President from 1917 to 1920, Hermila stirred consciences and opened paths, and within the rule of the new constitution, she presented a claim for women’s suffrage to the 1917 Constituent Congress. She published the full text of the claim, which this article analyzes from the polyphonic theory proposed by Oswald Ducrot.

The history of Hermila Galindo Acosta Hermila Galindo was born in the ex-hacienda of Avilés, located in what today is Ciudad Juárez, in the Lerdo municipality of the state of , Mexico. Her mother died when she was three days old, and her father when she was a teenager; she was raised by Angela Galindo, an aunt on her father’s side, and since very young she started working in Durango and Coahuila law firms because these two states are very close. Her intellectual curiosity brought her to the liberal “Juarez Admirers” club, of which Eulalia Guzmán 3 and Luz Vera were also members (Galeana, 2014). She supported Reyes 4, Madero, and finally adhered to the constitutionalist cause. On December 29, 1914, she gave a speech in the presence of Venustiano Carranza on the occasion of the 55th birthday of the First Chief of the Constitutionalist Army. 5 Her eloquence and advanced ideas struck Carranza, who invited her to be his assistant. From this position, she walked along Carranza in his vindicating struggle and took upon herself two struggles in particular: women’s emancipation and the defense of constitutionalist ideas, which she expressed in her book La Doctrina Carranza y el acercamiento indolatino. Regarding emancipation, one of her speeches was considered as “foundational” by virtue of its historical transcendence: the demand for women’s suffrage to the Constituent Congress. In this article, we use Oswald Ducrot’s discourse analysis method and theoretical approach, specifically polyphony, in the analysis of that speech, and we also use some of the stylistic categories proposed by Daniel Castillo Prieto.

Discourse and discourse analysis The term "discourse" is polysemic. It can occur as written text, speech, visual information, actions and social practices, and the acts of being and doing, but there is a common denominator to all kinds of discourse: intentionality. Things are said to inform, explain, and persuade others, they are expressed with a certain intention in a given situation. Discourse is not naive. Word choice itself denotes an explicit intentionality. According to Roman Jakobson (1956), language (the channel through which discourse is expressed) has certain functions, such as appellative or conative, metalinguistic, emotional, referential, phatic, and poetic. 6

3 Eulalia Guzmán was the anthropologist who attested the authenticity of Cuauhtémoc’s remains in Ixcateopan, Guerrero (Mexico). 4 In 1940, Hermila Galindo was given the Revolutionary Merit award, which recognized her as a Revolution Veteran. The recommendation letters she presented to the Secretariat of National Defense and the Revolution Veterans Association were signed by relevant characters such as Eduardo Hay, Secretary of Foreign Affairs during the Lázaro Cárdenas administration, and Pablo González, who led the Ejército de Oriente (Army of the East) during the Venustiano Carranza administration, as well as during Luis Cabrera’s, who was a Revolution ideologist. In a letter to Hermila, Cabrera tells her that both her and himself had supported Bernardo Reyes, a member of Porfirio Díaz’s team, because he had the necessary attributes to ‘refresh’ the country’s political life; however, he observes that Reyes bent his loyalty to Diaz. 5 See Rosa María Valles Ruiz Hermila Galindo Sol de Libertad, third edition, Mexico, LXIII Legislatura federal, 2017. Annex section. 6 Jaques Bermeosolo refers to Jakobson’s functions as: 1) Emotional : This function is centered on the sender , who discloses emotions, feelings, moods, etc. 2) Conative or appellative : This function is centered on the receiver or addressee. The speaker wants the listener to act in accordance with their requests, made in the form of orders, pleas, questions, etc. This function focuses on the content or context , understood in the sense of a reference rather than a situation. This function is usually found in informational and narrative texts, among others. 4) Metalinguistic : This function is used when the code refers to the code itself. Metalanguage is the language used to discuss language. 5) Phatic : This function focuses on the channel , and has to do with all the resources used to maintain interaction. The channel makes contact possible. 6) Poetic: The focus of this function is message . It presents itself when the chosen linguistic construction attempts to produce a special 365 European Journal of Social Sciences – Volume 55, Issue 3 September (2017)

The appellative or conative function stands out: its goal is to convince or persuade an audience of readers to accept certain positions or points of view. Adela Woizinski (2013) enhances the concept of persuasion— it is not merely something a subject exerts on another subject, but an unbreakable link between two parties by which both become involved. This is how the author introduces the concept of link, and she asserts that persuasion, beyond its nature as a particular skill associated with charisma or with the influence of one person on another, is actually a complex and specific form of link. The concept of link is revealed in the speech analyzed in this article. Hermila’s speech on women’s suffrage was targeted specifically to legislators: her audience, her receivers. Intersubjectivity emerges from the text too—the responsibilities of each of the linked parties is very accurately detected. Our analysis also takes into account the language function called referential by Jakobson because Hermila’s speech is closely related to its historical context. How are people convinced or persuaded? By selecting certain concepts and structure for the discourse. This function is associated with argumentation, a procedure by which a person or group of people try to persuade an audience to adopt certain position by resorting to arguments that seek to demonstrate the validity of what is proposed. (Háidar, 2000). Julieta Haidar (2000) deems necessary to point out that audience exists as a sociological dimension and a theoretical construct created by the speaker, two dimensions that make it difficult to analyze this basic aspect of argumentation. According to Grize ((Haidar, 2000), when the audience is considered as a fundamental component, the definition of argumentation must include the notion of purpose, because arguments are always wielded to somehow modify the other’s thinking and judgment. Therefore, the point of departure of any argument consists in shared premises and accepted opinions rather than demonstrated truths. From this perspective, argumentation entails the capacity to deal with ambiguity, tension, conflict, and swaying agreement, as proposed by Oleron (Háidar, 2000). Since the 1960s, discourse analysis has been making its way into social science and the humanities, even as it is still considered a new field of interdisciplinary study arising from other disciplines such as linguistics, literary studies, anthropology, semiotics, sociology, and oral communication (Van Dijk, 1990). Discourse analysts agree in the importance of context for a proper approach. Omer Silva (2002) states that, despite the lack of a “theory of context” per se, the term is used by various experts with a wide range of meanings. Van Dijk (op. cit.) defines context as a structure involving all the attributes of a social situation that are relevant in the production and comprehension of discourse. The background of Hermila Galindo’s speech allows for an approach to the sociopolitical landscape of its time and Galindo’s career. Silva (2002) differentiates between local and global discourse structures. The first includes the environment (time, location, circumstances), the participants, and the intentions, goals, and purposes of the speech, as well as the "socio-communicative" roles played by participants; in the context of the second decade of the twentieth century, Venustiano Carranza, First chief of the Constitutionalist Army, together with Galindo’s fellow believers (Pablo González, Salvador Alvarado, Salomé Carranza, Elena Torres, among others) are important characters next to Galindo. For its part, the global context of the period can be identified in the two fundamental themes of Mujer Moderna : feminism and constitutionalism: Global context becomes evident or relevant when identifying the development or process of discourse reflected by organizational or institutional actions known as "procedures" (laws, judgment, education, reporting or briefing). Likewise, global context becomes apparent when participants are involved in interactions as members of a group, class, or social institution (Silva, 2002:3). effect on the addressee: glee, joy, enthusiasm, etc. (https://teoriacomunicacion1.wordpress.com/lecturas/las-funciones-del- lenguaje-segun-roman-jakobson/). 366 European Journal of Social Sciences – Volume 55, Issue 3 September (2017)

An essential aspect highlighted by Van Dijk (1990) is that context is not static; it can change, and therefore, the position of actors with respect to context. In the words of Helena Calsamiglia and Amparo Tusón (1999), context can be affected by discourse and vice versa, which gives shape to a dialectical relationship. Except for essential or vital roles (gender, class, ethnicity, age), actors are subjected to the limits of social context—and they also contribute to build or change context. Commitments are based on flexible negotiations as a function of demands from the context and the general limits of society and culture; we are bent by group power, but at the same time we “defy” that power because social norms and rules can be changed creatively and a new social order emerges (Silva, 2002: 5). Olmer Silva (2002) deems Van Dijk’s arguments as “conclusive” when the author proposes that context clues can be found at all discourse levels. Discourse registers pieces of the past and stories are recovered.

The speech of Hermila Galindo Acosta One century after the issuance of the 1917 Mexican constitution, still in force today, the analysis of Hermila Galindo’s speech is relevant. She was the most important feminist of the , and her discursive actions were marked by a sui-generis style and a manifest intent: to persuade her readers of the overriding necessity for women to emancipate from three institutions: the clergy, society, and men. For Galindo, these three instances bound women to a scheme that prevented them from developing their intellectual potential. One of the first breakthroughs was the political participation of women in decisions that directly related to them as active members of society. This supported her demand of right to vote to the 1917 Constituent Congress.

Research corpus A first look at the corpus (Galindo’s full speech before the Congress) evinces an extensive and intensive use of polyphony. The inclusion of other voices—other enunciators, in Osvald Ducrot’s terms—is also used, generally to support her ideas, although it is not always the case. This study sought to pay close attention to the polyphonic characteristics of Hermila’s speech to the Congress in 1917, as well as its style. Style will be addressed using the categories raised by Daniel Prieto Castillo (2000). The research corpus consists in ten of the 38 paragraphs sent by Hermila to the Constituent Congress 7. Criteria for selection were that paragraphs used an explicit polyphonic registry to support ideas and that the included voices were used according to Ducrot’s polyphonic theory of enunciation (Jiménez, 2009), in which three types of polyphonic texts are analyzed: reproduced discourse, echoic statements, and intertexts. Reproduced discourse reflects heterogeneous enunciation and is itself divided in direct, indirect, free direct, free indirect, and mixed discourse. Selected paragraphs will henceforth be indicated by italics to differentiate the speech from the reflections about it.

Civic Representatives in Congress: With due respect to this honorable Assembly, I submit the ensuing law initiative to thorough deliberation by its worthy members, so that, if it is deemed appropriate, as I expect it to be the case, you can illustrate it and support its approval for incorporation into the new constitution, which will save the country today and secure the Republic’s stability in the future. This first paragraph, preceded by the greeting, is characterized by its acknowledgement of the category of the Constituent Congress through language. It expresses her recognition of the Constituent Congress’s standing. Stylistically, the use of first person singular stands out: “ I will submit to

7 Paragraphs used in this article translated by Miguel Ángel Ríos for ScienTech LSP . Complete speech available in Spanish in: https://www.uaeh.edu.mx/investigacion/productos/6844/ . 367 European Journal of Social Sciences – Volume 55, Issue 3 September (2017) deliberation...”, from whence the value given by the author to her own proposal is deducted. The phrase “As I expect” reflects self-confidence about the petition. Additionally, when she refers to the constitution she writes “new”, and she uses magnification as a resource when she asserts that the Constitution will save the country’s present and secure its stability in the future. In order to avoid digressions, I will at once get to the matter at hand. (Paragraph 2/38) This brief paragraph can be considered as a transition element. Under any criterion that is free from prejudices derived from an ill organization of societies, there is no fundamental reason for women not to participate in their country’s political life, since their natural rights are equal to men’s, and consequently, there is no reason for women to be denied rights derived from those, which we must consider as essential. It is generally accepted that equality before the law must be complete, and it is also regarded as a general principle of justice by the moral judgment of all civilized societies. (Paragraph 3/38) Term selection plays a fundamental role in argumentative texts. The reiteration of concepts contributes to support the speaker’s point of view. In Paragraph 3, Hermila Galindo insists on the absence of a fundamental reason for women not to participate in their country’s political life or for their rights to be denied. Consequently, the speech is made to point out that “as a general principle of justice” and per the “moral judgment of all civilized societies […] equality before the law must be complete” among men as well as among women. Here she combines the stylistic device of universalization by referring to the "moral judgment" of “all civilized societies”. She makes an assertion of the existence of a “moral judgment" associated with civilized societies only, and consequently, a ‘non-moral judgment’ would pertain to uncivilized societies. An argument wielded by those who oppose that women be granted the same political rights as men is that they do not take arms to fight for their country. Such an argument needs to be analyzed at some length. Of course, I will say that women do in some cases take arms to fight for their country. There are examples of this in some nations currently at war in old Europe, and we saw it in Mexico itself during the worst years of the Constitutionalist revolution (Paragraph 4). Hermila rejects the argument that women are not granted the same political rights as men because they do not go to war to defend their homeland. She mentions cases in which women have participated in armed engagements in Europe and that “we saw it in Mexico itself during the worst years of the Constitutionalist revolution.” This paragraph uses polyphony by evoking cases of European women participating in armed combat, although it uses the generalization technique to bring up the cases of women fighting in Mexico during the revolution. Here, polyphony means more than only evoking the other’s discourse, but the results of facts or events from abroad, such as in the case of Paragraph 4.

Armed struggle is a consequence of the struggle of ideas But I am far from assuming that an assertion is the same as a truth. Even so, denying women their political rights, including their right to vote, would lack logical strength and moral fiber, and I shall prove it. (Paragraph 5/38) It will not escape the Congressmen, inasmuch as they have known this as a result of painful experiences, that civic struggles for the country oftentimes bring about more peril to one’s life than battlefields themselves. Let us not forget that armed struggle is a consequence of the struggle of ideas, so that when spirits lack proper preparation, armed forces deliver only negative results and are conducted without guidance and a strong ideal to hold them up and bring them prestige. For an armed revolution to bring fruitful results, and even for it to be made effective, a revolution of spirits is first necessary. And it is so that, delving into any revolution truly deserving that name, we discover those who provided an ideal, those who marked the whereabouts of and gave life to a moral fiber that will always be the most positive merit in national demands, because such moral value is generated by the deepest conviction, arrived at after all sorts of sacrifices at times of greatest attestation without the faintest abandonment of one’s principles. (Paragraph 6/38) 368 European Journal of Social Sciences – Volume 55, Issue 3 September (2017)

Victor Hugo has expressed it most eloquently: Revolution is the idea and war is the fact. And it is clearly appreciated that there is no possible fact without an idea. Spirits boasting highest practicality, those who hold disdainful affectations toward idealists, do nothing except taking advantage without realizing the fact—and probably their persistent efforts, inasmuch as it is the idealist who deflowers all progressive ideas, result in the actionable part of any ideal. Progress would stagnate the day on which idealists disappeared. Fortunately, ideals that are ahead of their time due to their very nature are never achieved at their full length and extent, and this, which can be a reason for superfluous spirits to despise them, is what makes up their virtuality, which acts as the engine of that animated machine called human life in its unceasing strive for new conquests in the grounds of civilization. (Paragraph 7/38) The argument to which I have referred, that of women’s opponents, is negated especially by women’s right to vote, and because it is precisely the right to suffrage what I demand from this Assembly for people of my same sex, I will state here to support my ideas what a subject matter authority has to say about this. I am referring to Uruguayan writer Justino Aréchiga, who expresses this idea in his interesting book, El Poder Legislativo, in the following way: In regard to voting, military effectiveness has never been the basis for such right in any part of the world—quite oppositely, in very advanced countries the military element is and must be separated from voting, both active and passive. (Paragraph 8/38) The objective of this separation is effortlessly understood because the military, given their command of armed forces, by means of suggestion or other sort of imposition, can lean the vote of those who depend on them in favor of people from their guild, which results in a new military caste that becomes the sole arbiter of a country’s destiny. In other words, the resurgence of praetorianism. (Paragraph 9/38) The core idea in paragraph 6 is summarized by the following statement: “Armed struggle is a consequence of the struggle of ideas”. After this sentence, the ensuing paragraphs explain the reasons why an armed conflict is always preceded by a “revolution of spirits”. Paragraphs 7, 8, and 9 make a clear illustration of the use of polyphony, which is considered as the incorporation of other authoritative voices. In this case, she refers to the poet Victor Hugo, who said "Revolution is the idea and war is the fact” (Paragraph 7/38). Galindo adheres to the poet’s thoughts to support her idea of the remarkable role of idealists in any revolution. “Progress would stagnate”, she asserts, “the day on which idealists disappeared”. I will point out a concrete case of this separation: the Constitution of the Republic of Chile, anticipating this result, states that no member of the military can be the first magistrate of the country. And it happened so once, when a general of high merit was endorsed with the votes of most of his fellow citizens to become president, but he could not accept the nomination because. as a member of the military, he was forbidden to take office by the relevant constitutional article. (Paragraph 10/38) The previous paragraph uses a sui-generis type of polyphony that explicitly refers to a relevant document. Within the typology of reproduced discourse, this would correspond to the indirect type, in which the first sender’s meaning is reproduced, but not their exact words, which are integrated to the speaker’s words after using a reporting verb and the completive conjunction “that” (Berrio, 2009). Therefore, when the supremacy of ideas over weapons is exemplified using a concrete example, she refers to the Chilean constitution, which states that (completive conjunction) no member of the military can be president. From the stylistic point of view, this paragraph uses magnification in the form of the expression “ no member ”. In other words, it closes the door to all exceptions. She endorses the Chilean constitution by remembering that “a general of high merit” was not appointed president despite that the majority of his fellow citizens had voted for him. I will not deny that there are cases in which soldiers rule as civilians and civilians as soldiers, but that is not the usual case. As a result of their constant service, army members become accustomed to be in command and they often have the propensity to consider society as their headquarters. (Paragraph 11/38).

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It would not be logical to admit that General Álvaro Obregón had the right to dictate national laws due to the fact that he knew how to conduct decisive battles and that he gloriously lost an arm in one of them. Oppositely, we could not deny that power to citizen Carranza, who is neither a member of the military nor has he won any battles except in the field of ideas, but the idea he represents derived in the great vindicative movement . (Paragraph 12/38) And it comes to mind, in this respect, with the goal of providing full evidence in that the fact cannot be above the idea (because the latter gave life to the former), as the arm cannot be above the head, it comes to mind, I repeat, the memory of unrivalled Spanish orator Emilio Castelar during a Constituent Assembly in which it was intended that a glorified military chief be appointed as the nation’s political director—Castelar opposed to that by giving a superbly eloquent speech from which the following excerpts are taken: Dear Congressmen,—Six years ago, more than six years ago, that the liberal parties were retracted. Today, at last, we step out of that retraction, and we do it as we had promised via universal suffrage… It is most surprising to me that after six years of silence we now end up rushing our resolutions, expecting to arrive at mature ones in haste. Gentlemen: I am, and I say this without a blush, without any kind of reluctance, I say this from the bottom of my heart, I am deeply grateful to all those who have opened the doors of Spain. I thank the army, who broke our chains, and I thank the navy, who—inspired by those horizons, as immense as human consciousness, on the swell of the sea, so tempestuous, but as booming as the swell of freedom, on those American beaches, devoid or almost devoid of kings, an immense slate where the equations of modern human civilization are written—cast the dynasty, the throne, tyranny and the tyrant into the abyss with one single cry. I thank Brigadier Topete for the noble intentions that drove him; I am grateful to General Prim for being willing to merge his African vigor and his retreat from Mexico with the glory of such a tenacious and stubborn conspiracy, completely Catalan in nature. I thank General Serrano for having channeled his military fascination, which so many times was exercised upon us, to carve the sentence of the old monarchs and the emancipation of future peoples by sword on the bridge of Alcolea. Well then, gentlemen: Would you like your names on a tombstone? Would you like a column in your praise? Would you like a laurel wreath crowning it? Congratulations, but include an inscription on the column that reads: “The country is grateful, but bans you from being in power again, because you know how to win, but you do not know how to take advantage of victory…” Indeed, societies cannot exist today without an army, such as the planetary system needs mechanics to exist, but societies that have an army must place the sun, that is, reason and law, above strength and the military. Asking whether ideas should prevail over weapons or weapons should prevail over ideas is equivalent to asking whether the arm should command the head or the head should command the arm. You, who have been appointed by universal suffrage, supreme expression of the highest participation ever in Spanish elections; you, who now purely and genuinely represent our people’s sovereignty; you, standing between the crumbling world of monarchy and the forward-moving world of democracy, take a step back and consider your ministry, be aware that all of Europe is watching you, that all of Europe expects your commitment to the rule of law, and instead of acquiescing to the will of two generals, recover the power that has been taken away from you, use it in the service of this Assembly, and proclaim that your president will command ground and maritime forces from now on, and the world will be certain about your sovereignty and your resolution to never abdicate it, and your men will be blessed by all generations, because you will have truly begun the age of honor and dignity in our Spain. The Revolution was not solely your work, nor Brigadier Topete’s, nor General Prim’s, nor General Serrano's. You have much contributed, but not made it. And just as a storm does not being to rage in the atmosphere except when the air is charged with electricity, and just as planets are not formed except when cosmic matter accretes, a revolution comes only after the deeds of many heroes, after the suffering of many martyrs, after the speeches of many champions, after the writings of many

370 European Journal of Social Sciences – Volume 55, Issue 3 September (2017) journalists—blood and tears evaporate after all of that to form a great cloud above public consciousness, and this irresistible, unstoppable cloud seeks an instrument such as General Serrano, and it comes to be by virtue of the strength of the ideas it carries in its tempestuous womb. Paragraphs 10 to 18 reveal a kaleidoscopic polyphony that unconditionally accepts its closeness to the speech of other enunciators as readily as it detaches itself from others’. When referring to General Álvaro Obregón, she first praises his military virtues but immediately clarifies: “It would not be logical to admit that General Álvaro Obregón had the right to dictate national laws only due to the fact that he knew how to conduct decisive battles and that he gloriously lost an arm in one of them”. When Hermila describes how Obregón lost his arm, she uses the adverb “gloriously” to acknowledge and stress Obregón’s military virtue. Hermila uses irony in this paragraph. According to Ducrot’s polyphonic theory of enunciation, this resource is used when the speaker presents two speakers (in this case, Obregón and Carranza) and expresses her distance from one and closeness to the other. Semantically, the distance from Obregón is indicated when she affirms that he is not entitled to govern the country only due to the fact that he knew how to conduct decisive battles. When referring to Carranza, however, she states that he is “neither a member of the military nor has he won any battles except in the field of ideas, but the idea he represents derived in the great vindicative movement.” The goal of the discourse structure in this set of paragraphs is to demonstrate the preeminence of ideas over weapons. The speech also claims that members of the military become accustomed to being in command, which leads to a risk because “they often have the propensity to consider society as their headquarters”. There is a specific example of indirect free discourse in Hermila’s speech consisting in a transcription of the contents of one consciousness so that confluence takes place between the points of view of the speaker and the enunciator, which is reflected on the surface of the text. Reporting verb and completive nexus are eliminated (Berrio, 2009:2). The transcribed contents are Emilio Castelar's arguments opposing that military members Topete, Prim, and Serrano govern his country; their decisive participations are acknowledged, but the argument is against their governing. The argument Hermila adheres to is summarized by one of Castelar’s sentences: Societies that have an army must place the sun, that is, reason and law, above strength and the military. Asking whether ideas should prevail over weapons or weapons should prevail over ideas is equivalent to asking whether the arm should command the head or the head should command the arm. When returning to her initial demand, women’s suffrage, Hermila expresses the following to the Constituent Congress: Another argument that women’s political rights opponents consider significant is that women are easily suggestible by the clergy, which would probably result in the triumph of backwardness if vote were allowed to women. (Paragraph 19/38) This argument is also devoid of the logical and historical strength its wielders would grant it. Its lack of logical strength resides in that only a state of ignorance can make a woman be subjected to clericalism; and it is precisely addressing this circumstance that I desire the same enlightenment for me and my sex—the most practical means for us to acquire such enlightenment is by exercising our political rights, given that there is no better path to knowledge and better use of knowledge. (Paragraph 20/38) Only governments with tyrannical tendencies, under the pretext that peoples are not capable of exercising democracy, have made the greatest effort to suffocate peoples’ legitimate aspirations, and it is incontrovertible that this conduct reflects an unjustified concern, since no act of life is to be carried out with more or less perfection if conducive means to allow for the act are not put in place. Any halt in the general progress of countries represents a step toward regression. (Paragraph 21/38)

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When addressing the assertion that women were manipulated by the clergy because of their ignorance, she demands “the same enlightenment” for women than for men. She continues: I am not losing sight of the conditions of the country in which legislation is made, therefore, I am not demanding universal suffrage for women, but restricted suffrage, because in accordance with Stuart Mill I think that it is more detrimental than beneficial for a nation to declare equal rights for ignorance than for enlightenment. But I also consider, and people of liberal criteria will agree, that the most adequate way to educate women for democratic practice is their constant exercising of political liberty. Consequently, the right to vote should be restricted, and it should be available only to women of efficient culture who at the same time contributed with their activities in any of the branches of science, of industry, of commerce, of public administration, etc. Is it not the function itself that creates the organ? The aptitude for voting will come to women as a result of a staged exercise, beginning with municipal elections, as proposed by Martínez Sierra. (Paragraph 22/38) In the previous paragraph, Hermila Galindo’s polyphony employs the mixed type of reproduced discourse; on the one hand, she reproduces the meaning of the first speaker, John Stuart Mill, in the sense that “it is more detrimental than beneficial for a nation to declare equal rights for ignorance than for enlightenment”, and on the other hand, she introduces other voices—without indicating names—by referring to the “people of liberal criteria” whose ideas she shares in the sense that “the most adequate way to educate women for democratic practice is their constant exercising of political liberty”. In this form of expression, she combines the ideas of two enunciators (Stuart Mill and the people of liberal criteria) and adheres to the latter. Theoretically, this paragraph could also exeplify what Ducrot calls metalinguistic negation, because what is introduced by the speaker in the first part (Stuart Mill) expresses rejection (alien to the first enunciator) to what is presented as the other enunciator (people of liberal criteria). It is absurd to deny suffrage to capable women due to the fact that there are many ignorant and incapable women in their country. Political liberty for women with respect to voting is of utmost importance because this path will lead women to higher moral levels as they become citizens, which will make them fully realize their dignity, and will also allow them to obtain privileges by their own means, as should be in a fully democratic republic, instead of inheriting such privileges, which will make a powerful contribution to the transformation of future society by stimulating aptitudes instead of serving lineages and ancestries. (Paragraph 23/38) For the Constitutionalist Revolution—amidst one of the most important reformations of the current historical moments—to avoid a serious injustice that would seriously devalue its ends, for its facts not to be in contradiction with the ideas of liberty it proclaimed and gave it life, women must not be excluded from the active political phase of the revolution in the same way that they were not excluded from the actively revolutionary phase. (Paragraph 24/38) In pondering and measuring the decision you will make concerning this matter, the congressmen gathered by this honorable Assembly must bear in mind that their verdict will go down in history either glorifying them or taking away part of an enduring glory that, unlike the fleeting glory of stage artists, does not end due to lack of organic capacities, decrepitude or other reasons. The glory of a good ruler, a faultless legislator, or a conspicuous journalist is permanently tied to their works, which last throughout all futures. (Paragraph 25/38) From the stylistic point of view, the resource used in the previous paragraph is the generalization expressed by the use of the modal verb of obligation “must”: in pondering and measuring their decision, congressional representatives must bear in mind that their verdict will go down in history either glorifying them or taking away part of an enduring glory. Immediately, within the framework of polyphony, Hermila uses Ducrot’s polemic negation as two enunciators are summoned, in this case congressmen and “stage artists”, and the latter are attributed a fleeting glory that ends “due to lack of organic capacities, decrepitude or other reasons”.

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On January 2nd this year, in this city, the First Chief of the Constitutionalist Army expressed these significant concepts: It gives me great satisfaction to see representatives of the fair sex side by side with us sitting at this table because they have taken an important part in the fight we have set out on by enlivening our spirits to achieve victory, and even though very few have fought using weapons, many have been always present to feel with us in days of trial. (Paragraph 30/38) Mr. Carranza himself, in the city of San Luis Potosi on December 26th last year, expressed his desire that this revolution would serve as an example to all nations on Earth, and such an example will not be possible by exempting women from her share of political rights, which they can conquer by her own means, inasmuch as women’s political action is considered a need for world progress in the present day, and this is why our participation in the liberating movement has been viewed with sympathy by intellectuals in the most advanced nations, and they have considered this participation as systematic for a new era in which all classes that have been pushed back into the most unfair and overwhelming passivity shall be elevated. (Paragraph 31/38) The two previous paragraphs show free direct speech in which the speaker yields her vision and voice to those of the enunciator for a moment (Jiménez, 2009:4), looking to demonstrate to legislators themselves that the First Chief of the Constitutionalist Army recognizes the pertinence of giving women the right to exercise their political rights.

Considerations 1. The context in which Hermila Galindo drafted her speech disrupted the predominant structures of her time. As is explicitly indicated in the speech, the suffragette’s demand never lost sight of the large percentage of illiterate women in the country (figures range from 73% to 80%); therefore, her demand was framed as a demand for restricted suffrage for women. Nonetheless, the essential element to achieve persuasion, the “link”, could not be established (Woizinski, 2013). It was not possible to stir the attitudes, beliefs, and values of the members of the Constituent Congress of 1917, the recipients of the speech. A possible explanation may be associated with the context of the speech, in which the image of the military commander as an expression of force was still predominant. It is also possible—and this opens a new vein of research—that the Congress had a strong component of sympathy or adhesion to the most renowned generals of that time, among them Álvaro Obregón, who is directly disqualified by Hermila as a presidential candidate. 2. There are explicit fragments in which Hermila Galindo defends the supremacy of ideas over the strength of weapons, and this reiteration could have overshadowed the main purpose of the speech: to demand restricted suffrage for women. 3. The use of polyphony in Hermila Galindo’s speech is of such magnitude that it allows for further analysis using Ducrot’s approach. According to Felipe Jiménez Berrio (2009: 10), polyphony is a fundamental element in constructing and interpreting the sense of myriad texts. The "abstract voices" as Ducrot would describe them (Jiménez, 2009: 11) corroborate in the analysis of Hermla Galindo's discourse that plurality "can not be reduced to the uniqueness of the speaking subject". 4. Further research can also take a closer look at the stylistic aspect, which was only outlined in this article.

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[5] VAN DIJK , T. (1990), La noticia como discurso. Comprensión, estructura y producción de la información, España, Paidós.

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[6] MUJER MODERNA , “Petición HECHA por nuestra directora al H. Constituyente sobre el derecho al voto de la mujer”, number 61, 21 January, 1917, pp. 2-7.

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[7] BERMEOSOLO , J (s/a). “Las funciones del lenguaje según Roman Jakobson”. Psicología del lenguaje; Capítulo III: Funciones del lenguaje. Available at https://teoriacomunicacion1.wordpress.com/lecturas/las-funciones-del-lenguaje-segun-roman- jakobson/ (Retrieved August 3, 2017). [8] D’A TRI , A. (2017). “Rosario: Las mujeres de y en la Revolución Rusa”. Available at https://www.laizquierdadiario.mx/Rosario-Las-mujeres-de-y-en-la-Revolucion-rusa (Retrieved October 16, 2017). [9] Galeana, P. (2014). “Un recorrido histórico por la Revolucion de las mujeres mexicanas” en La Revolución de las mujeres en México, México, INEHRM. Available at www.inehrm.gob.mx/work/models/inehrm/Resource/492/1/images/Mujeres.pdf (Retrieved October 9, 2017). [10] JIMÉNEZ , F (2009). “Acercamiento a los textos polifónicos.” Revista electrónica Razón y Palabra, vol. 14, núm. 70, noviembre-enero 2009, pp. 1-10) [11] SILVA , O. (2002). “El análisis del discurso según Van Dijk y los estudios sobre la Comunicación” en Revista Razón y Palabra , número 26, Primera Revista Electrónica en América Latina especializada en Comunicación. Available at http://www.razonypalabra.org.mx/anteriores/n26/osilva.html. (Retrieved July 27, 2017). [12] Valles, R.M. y A. Castelli (2016). “Prensa y feminismo en América Latina en las primeras décadas del siglo XX” en Revista Archipièlago. Revista cultural de nuestra América , volumen 2, número 91, pp. 18-22. Available at www.revistas.unam.mx/index.php/archipielago/article/view/55165/48954 (Retrieved August 3, 2017). [13] WOIZINSKI , A. (2013). “Un nuevo enfoque de la persuasión, desde una perspectiva psicoanalítica.” Subjetividad y Procesos cognitivos, volumen 17, número 2, pp. 174-188, Universidad de Ciencias Empresariales y Sociales, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Available at redalyc.org (Retrieved August 3, 2017).

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