DOCUMENT RESUME ED 194 243 EC 012 291 AUTHOR Esteva, Gustavo; And Others TITLE The Struggle of Rural Mexico. PUB LATE 80 NOTE 219p.; Prepared for the World Congress on Rural Sociology (5th, Mexicc City, August 7-12, 1980). Best copy available. EDES PRICE MF01/PC09 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS *Agricultural Production; *Conflict; Cultural Pluralism: *Farmers: *Government (Administrative Body) :History; Human Resources; Illiteracy; Land Settlement: *Land Use: Natural Resources; Poverty Areas: *Rural Development: Rural Environment; Social Action: Social Class: Sociocultural Patterns: Socioeconomic Status IDENTIFIERS Campesinos: *Mexico ABSTRACT Diverse aspects of rural problems and the social organization of Mexican labor are explored in this summary of Mexican rural history. Achnowledging Mexico's rich, unexhausted, and unexplored natural resources, Mexico is described as a poverty-stricken, hungry nation, with high degrees of malnutrition, deprivation, and illiteracy heavily concentrated in rural areas. Present forms of land tenure (which result from social and technological struggles and developments of the past four decades) are explained. Influence of the government onrural evolution and resultant social attitudes is detailed. Emphasizing the precarious condition of approximately 30 million rural " campesinos" (the peasant class), the narrative discusses the developing conflict between capitalistic expansion initiated by the Mexican government and the desires of the campesinos for their economic liberty. Advantages and disadvantages are weighed for potential options afforded the two groups in settling this dilemma of land ownership and development.It is noted that some resolution of this conflict is deemed necessaryif Mexico is to provide solutions to present rural problems. (JD) *********************************************************************** * Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made * ii from the original document. * *********************************************************************** I BEST COPY AVAILABLE 5 TO. 5 IEME. 5 TH. COMMIS° CONGIRES WORLD MUNDIAL MONDIAL CONGRESS "'- DE DE FOR SOCIOSOGIA SOCIOLOOIE RURAL RURAL. RURALF socioLoor U S DEPARTMENT OF MEALTM "PERMISSION TO REPRODUCETHIS EDUCATION A WELFARE MATERIAL HAS BEEN NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF GRANTED BY EDUCATION THIS DOCUMENT HAS BEEN REPRO DUCE() EXACTLY AS RECEIVED FROM THE PERSON OR ORGANIZATION ORIGIN- ATING IT POINTS OF VIEW OR OPINIONS STATED DO NOT NECESSARILY REPRE- SENT OFFICIAL NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION POSITION OR POLICY TO THE EDUCATIONALRESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER(ERIC) O The following members of the Universidad Aut6noma Metropolitana, Unidad Xochimilco were responsible for this translation: Guillermo Alcalg Maggie Best Victor Diaz Rodolfo Klien Abdiel Ofiate Carlos Rozo (Project Coordinator) Typing: Ma. Elena Martinez (text) Guadalupe Canto (Appendixes) Delia Gamas (Appendix and Glossary) 'Don't beg scot anything. Demand what'A /tightliutty ou/t6. Vhat he Ahoutd have given me but never. did... Make him pay tealtty, my eon, sot having tioltgotten u6. the 'Load ctimbed up and Atoped down: it ctimb6 up on. Atope6 town accoltding to whethe-t you alt.e alutiving teaving. Uhen you teave, it ctimb6 up; when you alutive, it Atope6 town." Juan Rut6o, PEDRO PARAMO ti(j 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE INTRODUCTION 1 PART ONE "THE BATTLEFIELD" 7 CHAPTER ONE "RURAL PRODUCTION AND RURAL DWELLERS" 9 Production and where it goes 9 Crops 11 Resources 14 The rural population and the protagonists of production. 15 CHAPTER TWO "THE MEXICAN AGRARIAN REFORM: AN UNFULFILLED DREAM, A CONTINUING NIGHTW,RE, AN INCIPIENT PROJECT" . 19 The Past 20 The revolution erupts 22 ... and stagnates 24 The revolution moves into action again 27 ... and flounders once more 28 The '70s: the more things change, the more they remain the same 34 Did the anarchist-liberal reform wither away? 38 CHAPTER THREE "MEXICO: BIRTHPLACE AND BURIALGROUND OF THE GREEN REVOLUTION" 45 An unexpected move foreward 45 Details of this achievement 47 The chicken and the egg 51 The ups and downs of a reaction 52 CHAPTER FOUR "THE STATE ANI". THE RURAL SECTOR: THE STORY OF AN IMPOSSIBLE LOVE" 57 A stormy romance - 57 A marriage of convenience 63 Divorce on grounds of impotence 69 PART TWO 73 CHAPTER ONE "THE ECONOMIC CONTEXT: THE GLOBAL LOGIC OF THE AGENTS FUNCTION" 75 The general framework 76 a) The agrocommercial operation 78 b) Agrarian developmentalism 78 c) Agroindustrial multinationalization 79 Models of production organization 80 a) The "commercial agriculture" model 81 b) The "industrial agriculture" model 82 c) The "public captalist agriculture" model 83 d) The "extensive clttle raising" model 85 The overall dynamics 86 CHAPTER TWO "FARMERS, CATTLE RAISERS, AND AGRICULTURAL AND CATTLE RAISING ENTERPRISES" 87 Phantoms 87 The farmers (Small private landholders) 88 Cooperatives 92 Rentiers 93 Ectoplasms 8e Caciques 8, Rancheros 98 Neolatifundistas 100 101 Rural entrepreneurs 102 Plasma CHAPTER THREE "CAMPESINOS, AGRICULTURAL WORKERS AND OTHER RURAL WORKERS" 105 Managers and employees: the m&ster's voice 114 'Golondrinas' 115 Farm workers 116 Ca7pesinos 117 Community organizations 123 Ejidos and Indian communities 124 Agricultural and cattle raisins colonias 126 Villages 127 Ways of insertion into the logic of capital 129 Agricultural jornaleros 129 'Independent' producers 132 Cclectivados 132 CHAPTER FOUR "CROPS AND REGIONS" 135 Corn 135 Wheat and other gra,f,s 139 Oilseed cross 141 Fruits and vegetables 141 Coffee, tobacco, sugar and henequer 142 Cattle raising 144 145 Silviculture Regions 146 151 PART THREE "DENOUEMENT AND PROSPECTS" 153 CHA:-"I'ER ONE "THE ACADEMIC AND POLITICAL DEBATE" The nature of the Mexican State 154 Thc origin of the rural crisis 156 rture of the campesino economy 158 CHAPTER TWO "THE DISPUTE OVER RESOURCES" 165 Self-sufficiency and comparative advantages 168 The organization of the producers 169 173 r-PL:,0(.74UE APPENDIX I Data on the Mexican rural sector 185 APPENDIX II Suggested Bibliography 197 APPENDIX III Institutions or Academic Centres relatedto rural issues 204 GLOSSARY 206 INTRODUCTION The homeland of the Mexican people is rich, but hostile. Vast resources lie in the subsoil. Frequently these have been exploited with more voracity than judgement but they still remain, even today, unexhausted and unexplored. A much larger population than the present one could find sustenan: and room for development under such a variety of soils and climates. However Mexico has been, and still is, a poverty-striken, hungry nation. Nature, generous in the distribution of its wealth throughout this land, has shown herself unwilling to relinquish it. Reaching the wealth of the land has challenged the strength and imagination of its inhabitants. A difficult orography obstructs communication and integration of the country, emphasizing all the more the imbalance of natural conditions. Of Mexico's few rivers, some tend to over- flow their banks, and others are full only from time to time. Deserts and arid or semiarid areas occupy two thirds of the land. An erratic climate characterizes most of the arable land. Thus, the Mexican people lave had to surmount great difficulties in order to conquer their natural wealth and transform it into something capable of satisfying their needs. The very magnitude of such wealth in the soil and subsoil has awoken the greed of Mexicans or foreigners who have disputed the right of the people to use it for their own benefit. The history of rural Mexico is one of constant violence. It has been described as an eternal battle to overcome a hostile environ- ment by adapting it to the needs of its inhabitants. And it has become an intense and permanent battle between those making this effort and those who dominate them. Many Indiar societies of prehispanic Mexico had reached the stage which analysts of human evolution call "high culture". As a result of the agricultural surplus already being produced, they developed 1 j more advanced political structures and many different crafts. In this type of society, as is well known, man is not thought of as an island. Man is family,clan, tribe. The idea of loneliness as presently conceived of and felt in the Western World, would perhaps have been abhorrent and strange to the Aztecs, themost developed state of prehispanic Mexico. Agriculture was virtually the only basis for development in these societies. The Aztecs were basically campe6ino-soldiers until their migration stopped in 1325. During the following two centuries they became citizen soldiers capable of exerting an aggressive despotism toward other tribes and even towards themselves. But they never ceased to be campe6inoz: their lives were inescapably related to agriculture. At the beginning of the XVI century, during the first two decades of the Spanish Conquest, the conquerors were determined to destroy the close-knit social community of the Indians. Although this resulted in their losing some of their customs and traditions it also meant that they acquired a common objective: to fight for the survival of their own communities. The Spaniards, concerned only with their own immediate interests or the demands of colonial government, took not only the agricultural surplus and available wealth, but they also took over the forces of production, without providing for their reproduction. Historical research has convincingly shown the predatory nature of colonization. Estimates of the size of the Indian population at the time of the Spanish