University of Calgary PRISM: University of Calgary's Digital Repository Graduate Studies Legacy Theses 1997 Our cause is your cause: the relationship between the industrial workers of the world and the Partido Liberal Mexicano, 1905-1911 Fuller, Troy Robert Fuller, T. R. (1997). Our cause is your cause: the relationship between the industrial workers of the world and the Partido Liberal Mexicano, 1905-1911 (Unpublished master's thesis). University of Calgary, Calgary, AB. doi:10.11575/PRISM/15134 http://hdl.handle.net/1880/26605 master thesis University of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission. Downloaded from PRISM: https://prism.ucalgary.ca THE UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY "Our Cause is Your Cause" : The Relationship Between the Industrial Workers of the World and the Partido Liberal Mexicano, 1905-1911 Troy Robert Fuller A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACUILTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREME-WS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTERS OF ARTS DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY CALGARY, ALBERTA AUGUST, 1997 @ Troy Robert Fuller 1997 National tibrary Bibliothèque nationale 1*1 of Canada du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliographie SeMces services bibliographiques 395 Weltington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON KI A ON4 OüawaON KIAON4 Canada Canada The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive licence aiiowing the exclusive permettant a la National Library of Canada to Bibliothèque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distriiute or seii reproduire, prêter, distriiuer ou copies of this thesis in microform, vendre des copies de cette thèse sous paper or electronic formats. la fome de microfiche/fiim, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format électronique. The author retains ownership of the L'auteur conserve la propriété du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protège cette thèse. thesis nor substantial extracts fkom it Ni la thèse ni des extraits subsîantiels may be printed or otherwise de celle-ci ne doivent être imprimes reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation. Abstract On November 20, 1910, military forces led by Francisco 1. Madero ushered in the opening phase of the Mexican Revolution. Two months later, in January 1911, the Partido Liberal Mexicano (PLM) began military operations in Lower California. Supported by the Arnerican-based Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), the PLM atternpted to engineer the initial phase of a world-wide struggle against capitalism. Dating back to 1905, the IWw furnished the PLM with financial and moral aid, legal assistance, manpower, and politicai influence. In many ways, Mexican workers in the United States were crucial players in initiating and sustaining this relationship between the IhlIJ and the PLM. Many members of the Mexican community combined the anarcho-communism of the PLM with the syndicalism of the IWW, giving rise to institutional connections between the two organizations- iii Acknowledcrements It is with great pleasure that 1 ackmwledge the incalculable persona1 and academic debts accumulated during the writing of this thesis. A special thanks to my best friend and sou1 mate, Tina Block, whose presence and contribution pervades the entirety of this work. Without the unqualified support of Murray and Diana Lowick, this thesis may not have become a reality. Thanks for believing in me and giving me the ability to believe in myself. My sister Iieidi Fuller offered encouragement and patiently listened to my academic rarnblings, while Chris Frazer constructively challenged -y of my ideas, both academically and personally. Thank you. In California, a particular thanks goes to Phyllis Willett, Danny Heap and Carol Schwartz for opening their doors to a stranger. Thanks to Nels and Dorothy Block for their unqualified support, fantastic Sunday dinners, and stimulating conversations. Additionally, 1 must mention Aïex W~M, who listened and faithfully reminded me Ir s ' al1 good1I. I graciously thank Dr. Stephen Randal1 for his numerous and helpful suggestions made during the writing of this thesis. 1 would also like to thank the members of my examining codttee, extending a special thanks to Dr. Silverman and Dr. Dickerson who took leave of their retirement plans to evaluate my work. Finally, 1 would also like to thank the Department of Ristory for their financial assistance and to Olga Leskiw for her helpful advice along the way. 1 remain in great debt to you all. Dedication Dedicated to my mom, Marolyn Vicki Ruhe, whose personal pursuit of knowledge inspired. Thank you. 1943-1991 Table of Contents Approval Page ............................................. ii Abstract .................................................. iii Acknowledgements ..........................................iv Dedication ................................................ v Table of Contents .........................................vi List of Figures ........................................... vii INTRODUCTION: "PRELUDE TO REVOLUTION ll......-............l CHAPTER ONE : "THE SHAPING OF 'ïHî3 MEXICAN AMERICAN WORKING CLASSV'....................................... 28 CHAPTER TWO : "THE STRUGGLE IN MEXICO WAS BECOMING MY STRUGGLE" ......................................... 61 CHAPTER THREE : " THEY ARE DIRECT ACTIONISTS , AND THEY ARE ACTIVE" ...........-*-..............-..-.-............gl CONCLUSION: "THE AFTERMATH lV.~.............TH....TH..........121 BIBLIOGRAPHY ...........-.-...-..........................-.l27 List of Ficrures Figure 1: Map of the Mexican-United States Border ......... 54 Figure 2: Map of the California-Mexico Border region ......102 vii INTRODUCTION Our cause is yours: it is the cause of the silent slave of the soil, of the pariah of the workshop and the factory, of the galley-slave of the sea, of the hard labour convicts of the mines, of al1 those who suffer from the inequity of the capitalist system.' Partido Liberal Mexicano, Manifesto to the Workers of the World, April 8, 1911. Two months before the Mexican Revolution began, on September 3rd, 1910, the radical newspaper Reaeneracion reported on the conditions in Mexico: Itthat rumbling is the revolutionary spirit; the entire Nation is a volcan0 on the verge of spouting forth the f ire within its entrails . lt2 Two months later, on the 20th of November, military forces led by Francisco 1. Madero began an assault on the regime of Mexican President Porfirio Diaz. Operating under the banner 'IEf fective suffrage, No re-electionn, Maderofs Anti-Re- electionist Party advocated conseriative, democratic reforms for Mexico. Largely mobilizing middle-claçs dissent, Maderots forces disposed the aging dictator and his regime after only six months of fighting. Nonetheless, the overthrow of Diaz did not stifle the revolutionary spirit, 'AS cited in David Poole ed., Land and Libertv: Anarchist Influences in the Mexican Revohtion. Ricardo ' Flores Maa6n (Montreal: Black Rose Books, 19771, p. 95- '~eueneracion. September 3, 1910. as some Mexicans envisaged more radical economic changes. In support of their own military campaigns in Mexico, the editors of Recreneracion branded Madero "a traitor to the cause of liberty. "' Above the tom of Mexicali in Baja California, on January 29th, 1911, a group of American unionists and Mexican revolutionaries raised a bright red flag with the words Tierra y Libertadu emblazoned on one side. This aphorism, "Land and Liberty", epitomized the ideological convictions of the Organizing Junta of the Partido Liberal Mexicano (PM). Besides its involvement in the emerging revolutionary struggle in Mexico, the PLM was both a participant and a product of the ideological conflicts and class struggles in Mexico and the United States. The PLM represented many Mexican workers, as they strained to adapt and survive capitalist modernization and industrialization. In the course of these struggles, the PLM established alliances with members of the American radical comrnunity during the period from 1905 to 1911. In particular, the PLM forged a strong relationship with the Arnerican-based Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) or, as they were popularly known, the Wobblies. The IWprovided the PLM with funds, legal help, propaganda, and volunteers for PLM activities. The relationship between the PLM and the IWW culminated with IWW involvement in the Mexican Revolution as an aily of the PLM in Baja California. In effect, the IWW was decisive in both sustaining the PLM in the United States and shaping the latter's anarchist ide~logy.~ The Mexican community in the United States helped to initiate and sustain the association between the PLM and the IWW. Mexican nationals furnished crucial political, financial and ideological support for the PLM. Between 1905 and 1911, Mexican sympathizers in the United States actively recruited and organized discontented Mexicans living both in the United States and Mexico. In addition, Mexican workers contributed substantial financial aid to promote PLM objectives in Mexico and to sustain the PLM in the United States. In doing so, Mexicans in the United States offered ideological backing for the political, economic and social goals of PLM leaders. More irnportantly, however, Mexican workers in America constituted