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The Mexican Revolution as Reflected in the Novel

Beatrice Berler

Hispania, Vol. 47, No. 1. (Mar., 1964), pp. 41-46.

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THE MEXICAN REVOLUTION AS REFLECTED I N THE NOVEL

San Antonio, Texas

Accounts of the course of social and

political developments of society even at

their best reflect attitudes and points of

view of those who formulate them. Moved

by human emotions, influenced by limited

experience and by basic assumptions, his-

torians face an almost unsurmountable

task in reviving the past in order to see

it in perspective. One of the most contro

versial periods in the civilization of Mexico

was the Revolution beginning in 1910.

There were few who recorded the swift

and complex course of events and much

of the available material is polemic in

character. Historians of the time were

chiefly of one or the other of the changing

rdgimes.

For thirty-one years the iron rule of

General Porfirio Diaz had ~rovidedMexico

with a dramatic, colorful, heartbreaking

dictatorship. Himself a mestizo, before hisrule ended Diaz became a ruler who was

"white" instead of %ronze9'-not "white"

because of the cream rubbed into his skin,

but because he shut his eyes to the Indians'

needs.l His intense desire to be dressed as

a European aristocrat in high-hat and cut-

away coat obliged him to shed his vesticlo

del pueblo.

Four groups or oligarchs who supported

Diaz throughout the dictatorship enjoyed

an almost unrestricted license in the ex-

ploitation of the national wealth and the

subjugation of the people: army, clergy,

foreign speculator, and hacendado were the

very Sanhedrin of the Mexican people.

By selling concessions to foreigners, the

ambitious Diaz filled his treasury with

funds necessary for his rCgime, thus freeing

himself from dependence upon the masses

of the Mexican people and giving him the

opportunity to grant fueros to the Church

and the other privileged groups. Don Por-

firio allowed foreign-owned oil companies

to operate in Mexico and to obtain titles

to the subsurface wealth in a reversal of

ancient legal practice.

H e questioned the registered titles of

ejidos in order to make more land available

for the landed gentry. A peasant in Gre-

gorio L6pez y Fuentes' novel, Tierra, sadlyobserved, "-Yo he oido algo de las tierras,

que fueron de nosotros y que nos han

quitado 10s abogados. Tengo la idea, per0

no sC discursear. iQu6 desgracia la de no

conocer las letra~!"~y 1910 almost half

of Mexico belonged to fewer than three

thousand families. Pockets of the cieqzti-

ficos, who awarded contracts for public

works, bulged with the gratuities received

for these concessions. Favored owners of

iron works, smelters, meat packing plants,paper mills, gold mines, silver mines, tex-

tile mills, breweries all prospered so that,

it seemed to one of the characters in

Jod Rubkn Romero's Apuntes de un lu-

garefio, "-Nuestra tierra es una res des-

barrancada, rica en despoios para 10s cuer-

vos de otras nacionalidades. Y graznan si

no obtienen lugar en el festin."S

The philosophy of positivism that the

cientificos embraced influenced the litera-

ture of the era. They condoned the prin-

ciple that the strong have the right to

exploit and govern the humble. The hier-

archy of the Roman Catholic Church in

Mexico, which worked hand in hand with

Diaz, preached to the poor the precept

"que Dios prerniarfi despuCs de la muerte. . . Dios hizo a 10s ricos y a 10s pobres,

y que Cstos debian resignarse-y alegrarse

-con su hambre y su dolor porque ambos



eran pasaportes seguros para ganar el cielo.

(Mientras tanto esa misma iglesia ganaba

la tierra y se apropiaba inmensas rique-

zas) jP 4

In Tiewa, Gregorio Upez y Fuentes

gave evidence from the period of about

one hundred years ago of the exploitation

of the peon by the hacendudo and the cz4ra.

-[Ah, curita, trag6n de pollos! Ya vino otrav a a explotar rnis pobre indios!

-<Pobres? <Y por quiCn e& ad? iHacen-dado negrero!

Se den con carcajadas sordas. El cura sacauna botella.

-<&pa, tan temprano?-Es vino de consagar, del bueno, del que

raspa el gaznate: coiiac cinco letras.6

The peasants, according to Romero, felt

themselves, "desterrados . . . de todo deleite,

de toda diversi6n y hasta de la casa de

Dios, porque no queremos que a1 hincamos

a rezar, se vean las suelas rotas de nuestros

zapa to^!"^

In the midst of the prosperity which the

minority enjoyed, the masses lived in

squalor. "El jomalero se nutre de maiz

y frijol. Donde un bracero gana treintay siete centavos diarios, el maiz vale siete

pesos hectolitro y el frijol cat~rce."~he

peon on the hacienda, however, did not

receive the privilege of holding those few

centavos in his hand in exchange for his

sweat. Forced to obtain merchandise at

the "payroll store," his debts chained him

to the hacienda. When the stricture against

debt peonage in the Constitution of 1857was pointed out to the President, he mere-

ly shrugged his shoulders. Romero revealed

the thoughts of the peon when he wrote:

"-Somos un pueblo de inocentes . . . Nos

roban, y besamos la mano que nos quita

lo nuestro; nos escamecen, y alin encon-

tramos medios de que se glorifique a1 es-

camecedor; nos humillan, y sonreimos

cobardemente; nos hieren, y olvidamos el

golpe aunque la cicatriz perd~re."~

When Mexico celebrated the centennial

of her independence from Spain, Septem-ber 1910, thousands came for the happy

event for which "el Gobiemo gastarh mhs

de veinte millones en la construcci6n del

Teatro Nacional, veinte millones en el

embellecimiento de la metr6poli, veinte

millones en agasajar a 10s delegados ex-

tranjeros, invitados a1 festejo de esta pri-

mera centuria de nuestra independencia

nac i~nal. "~he guests had an opportunity

to see how well-dressed and well-fed the

Mexican people were-the city's riffraff and

barefooted Indians were barred from the

central paved streets.

Don Porfirio's lavish expenditures did

not extend to education. now i in^ that an

educated populace is not easily subjugated,Diaz allocated a mere 8,000,000 pesos a

year for education. H e closed the schools

in the small communities and villages and

allowed them only in the larger cities for

the exclusive use of the wealthy class.

General Diaz, accustomed to power,

reluctant to recognize that his advancing

years made it desirable for him to think

about his successor, decided to seek re-

election. A rebellion led by Francisco I.

Madero eventually became the Revolutionspelled with a capital R. However, its be-

ginnings were somewhat inauspicious. Al-

though friends in Mexico promised armed

assistance, when Madero crossed the bor-

der, only twenty-five awaited his arrival.

There were a few uprisings but they were

easily suppressed. Don Francisco, in de-

spair, went to New Orleans.

While he was planning to sail for

Europe, the news came that something

serious was happening in Chihuahua. T he

anti-reelectionist leader Abraham GonzAlez

had found it easy to recruit men for the

revolutionary army. H e discovered able

guerrilla leaders, among them a boy who

had escaped from peonage on an hacienda

in Durango and had become acquainted

with every detail of the Chihuahua coun-

tryside, Pancho Villa. Madero, abandoning

his proposed voyage, crossed the border for

the second time to unite with the rebels

in Chihuahua. As the news spread that



the rebellion had begun, it gathered mo-mentum in many states. The whole coun-try was beginning to catch on fire. InMorelos, a peasant leader, Emiliano Zapata,began to recruit Indian campesinos fromthe sugar plantations and to make war onthe hacendados. On May 25, 1911, Diazresigned, secretly slipped away to board atrain for Veracruz from which he sailedto Europe to live in exile until his death.

When Don Francisco I. Madero enteredMexico City on June 7, 1911, the be-wildered people felt that their prayers wereanswered. The sick hoped that by touching

the garments of this political Messiah theywould be healed. A country held down byDiaz' vise-like grip awaited a liberator.Those who blamed the caciques, the localbosses, for the ills of Mexico's masses,hoped "como a 10s frailes se les Ileg6 sudia con don Benito Judrez, a 10s caciquesles ha llegado el suyo con Francisco I.Madero . . . Los caciques son la plaga quenos esth chupando la sangre"1°

Don Francisco was an idealist, a dreamer,

not a man of action. He soon found outthat the simple political reforms wouldnot provide a cure-all for Mexico's overdueredemption. The slogan, "sufragio efec-tivo, no re-elecci6n," was inscribed on everyofficial document, but elections continuedto be as farcical as ever. The impatientpeasants, weary of the impositions of thearistocracy, needed something else; theyhoped for immediate change. When it didnot come, they used the machetes andguns placed in their hands by the ambi-tious leaders. The Revolution, which be-gan with a few idealists, also produced anew ruling class which sought wealth andpower by the traditional methods of Mexi-can politicos. "Las improvisaciones de for-tuna asaltando 10s caminos reales pasarona1 dominio de la leyenda; per0 si PorfirioDiaz no dej6 caminos reales, dej6 el cuartely la oficina pfiblica; y no hubo adepto de

Villa, de Zapata o de Carranza que nosupiera para lo que 'aquello' servia."ll

Mexico had made no perceptible advancetowards democracy. Gloom and disillusion-ment was the lot of the Revolution's intel-lectuals. Azuela, who experienced that lossof hope, had one of his characters say,"-La revoluci6n de Madero ha sido unfracaso. Los paises gobernados por bandidosnecesitan revoluciones realizadas por ban-didos. Es triste, per0 inconcl~so!"~~

During those very months in 1911 whenhe already foresaw the tragic turn that therevolution of the idealist Madero was soonto take, Mariano Azuela noted in Andre'sPe'rez, maderista, "Un enjambre de negros

y pestilentes moscones escapades de ese

antro donde nunca pudieron ser sinoabyectos y despreciables moscones, ahoraviene hambrienta a echarse sobre las pri-micias de la revoluci6n en triunfo . . . Yson ellos 10s residuos exc~emenciosde ladictadura, la piara de lacayos sin dignidadni conciencia."13 Azuela prophetically de-clared, "Los pensadores preparan las revo-luciones; 10s bandidos las realizan."14 Hisadmiration for Madero is revealed in an

epigram in Los caciques: "Cristo, Redentordel mundo; Hidalgo, redentor de la raza;Jdrez, redentor de las conciencias; Madero,redentor de 10s pobres, de 10s humildes."15

The fall of the Madero government wasa disaster; the brutal murder of Don Fran-cisco and Josk Maria Pino SuArez solvedlittle and proved less. Governmental illscontinued through the Victoriano Huertarule and many more were added. Evaluat-ing Madero's importance to the development of the Mexican Revolution in thefifteen months after he assumed office isnot easy, for with little material progress,the gains were intangible.

Revolution against Huerta spread fromstate to state. The federal army had thesuperior weapons, keeping Huerta safe aslong as it remained loyal. In Chihuahuathe fighting was led by Francisco Villa.Although he was born in poverty of the

most humble parents, in his prime he wasconsidered one of Mexico's mightiest cau-



dilbs. Living ou tside of th e law for mostof his life, following his own personalcode of behavior, he had, as a youthfulRobin Hood, taken what he pleasedwh ether i t was a herd of cattle, a hum anlife, or a beautiful woman. Fanaticallyloyal to his friends, he was a dangerousenemy to those who deceived him. H e wasall that Venustiano Carranza was not: m u ymacho, earthy, passionate, and emotional.H e inspired love and loyalty, fear andloathing. Villa was peon Mexico as Ca-rranza was petit bourgeois. Each came todistrust, to have contempt for, and to hate

the other.Although Villa acknowledged his alle-

giance to Carranza an d the Plan of G uada-lupe, he preferred to rule alone in Chi-huahua; it was not large enough for twocaudillos. Villa did not trust the civiliansaround Carranza. M any of them were menof property and education, untrustworthy,and not genuine military revolutionaries.16Villa's own account of th e first meetingwith Carranza, related many years later

to Ram bn Puen te, has the tone of authen -ticity: "-I embraced him energe tically,bu t w ith the first words we spoke my bloodturned to ice. I saw that I could not openmy heart to him-I was a rival, not afriend. H e never looked me in th e eyeand during our entire conversation ernpha-sized our difference in origin, pointing outto me that he had been everything frommunicipal president, jefe politico, gover-nor, senator and First Chief."17 In spite ofthis Villa indicated loyalty to Carranzaand addressed him as "mi jefe."

Many peasant forces were finally ableto defeat the federal army. The circum-stances that led to the creation of an effec-tive rebel army reveals th e spirit of th eRevolution. They came from the fourcom ers of M exico. Metho ds of recruitin gwere most unusual. He who felt thedrive and initiative to be a leader in

the Revolution would ride to an haciendaor a small village and from his horse

would shoot several times into the air.W he n the men gathered around h e wouldshout, "-El qu e sea hombre, que m e siga.M4s que una orden era aquello una invi-tacibn, no muy precisa, para exponer elpellejo, con sus ribetes manifiestos de ata-que a1 amor propio de cada quiCn."18 Se-vero, a soldier in Cartucho, said , "-La vozde Villa sabia unir a 10s pueblos. Un sologrito era bastante para formar su caba-lleria."19 There were no regiments norsquadrons; only groups following leaders.If one met a stray soldier, he was neverasked to which regiment he belonged but

rather, "-(De quC gente ere~ ?"~ OW h e nthe peasants began to gather around aleader, many called him "mi General.""General le llam aban ya, y 61 aceptaba estegrado, satisfecho y sonriente, dispuesto aprobar, en cualquier circunstancia que lom e r e ~ i a . " ~ ~owever, "el generalato ha sidoun lastre . . . Es algo ad como el Doncuand o lo lleva u n p ~ b r e . " ~ ~

Each man was dressed in the clotheshe normally wore before he entered the

revolt. In the North it was usually thecharro suit. The only thing all had incommon was the tricolor: green, white, andred pieces of ribbon used as an adornm enton their straw hat or tejano. "Nuestratropa no daba en realidad, un aspect0 muyguerrero. Escalante montado en su yeguaalazana, parecia un empleado de c a m pde cualquier ingenio y yo, en un caballolobo, ovachbn, del administrador del Diez-mo, tenia la vitola del seminarista quevuelve a sus estudios despuCs de vaca-c i o n e ~ . " ~ ~ost of the troops wore religiousmedals and often large embroidered imagesof th e saints across their chests. "Todoello, empero, no era obstAculo para asaltarlas iglesias y fast idiar a 10s c ~ r a s . " ~ ~

In the North the system of providingarms was different from that in the otherparts of the R epublic. Close to the border,great shipments of contrab and cam e insupplying the caudillos and their followers.When this material was insufficient, a



leader would enter a a t v and demandwhat he needed from the people there.Villa would always tell the merchants,

after he took what he wanted for hissoldiers, "-Les doy u n recibo, para qu e

ous lack of food, the danger of attack, an dthe anguish of retreat. Every day theywent to the neighboring farms to get pigs,

fowl-anything they saw that wouldplease their men. When they were nottodo se les pague a1 triunfo de la c a ~ s a . " ~ ~reparing meals, they guarded the am-In the beginning of th e Revolution , peas- munition. T o the men, they were 'lasants often took the swords and the spurs proveedoras de la guamici6n, las cocineras,from the dead federal soldiers. Thev liked las lavanderas, y las que alegran la vida dethe clanging sound that the spurs made 10s soldados, y 10s acompaiian hasta en lasas they walked, but they found the swords canciones, cuando por la noche, la guarni-a little clumsy: "no pocos apreciables ci6n se rehne frente a1 cuartel, alrededorcorreligionarios hubiero n de tropezarse con de una h0guera."2~These brave soldaderasla espada y dar de bruces en el sue10."~~ fought many times at th e sides of their

In the No rth m any of the troops weremounted, charging their enemies like aherd of ferocious bulls.

Zapata's army was unique. H e organizedhis men so that they gave as much timeto cultivating the milpa as they did tomilitary training; consequently, they sel-dom lacked food. Many men who wantedto join Zapata could not take part in com-bat to defend the cause for thev lackedarms. Zapata ingen iously made use of these

people whom he called zopilotes as theymoved at the rear of the troops that ha darms. When the battle against the enemywas over, these %uzzardsWwould go onthe fields and "pick" what they neededfrom the bodies: guns, ammunition,clothes, and the like. Their loyalty to himis the source of an interesting episode inTierra. As five zapatistas were in the fieldsplanting their corn, a federal officer ap-proaching them asking if they knew w hereZapata was hiding. "-iSabri Dios!" theyanswered. T h e officials searched them bu tcould find no arms and the expressions ontheir stone-like faces revealed nothing."Cuando 10s federales se han uerdido devista en la primera vuelta ellos se escurrenpor entre las matas y en el pr6ximo mato-rial recogen sus carabina~."~~

The women soldaderas. who were forthe soldiers com panions, providers of food,

and cooks, were accustomed to the militarycampaign, the long marches, the continu-

men. "Los veian morir o morian conel10~."2~

The Revolution unleashed forces thathad been held in check for over thirtyyears by the iron hand of Porfirio Diaz.Althou gh m en of a ll social classes we reinfected by the barbarity of the Revolu-tion, a certain idealism, often undefinable,persisted. A soldier, portrayed by Muiioz,expresses his notion of th e Revolution :

No podria definirla, no podria explicarla, como

nadie se la habia explicado a 41 completamente.Era como una troje en que hubieran sido re-copiladas las semillas de todas la yerbas silvestres,de las que envenenan, de las que producensangre, pero tam bih de las que a b a n la vida.Era un conjunto de ansias, un d o de anhelosque va a fertilizar la tierra. Y en ella, en laRevoluci6n, AndrCs deposit6 su semilla, verti6su liquid0 caudal. La Revoluci6n lo recibi6 ylo hizo suyo, completamente.30

Another soldier in J o d Rubdn Romero'snovel exclaim ed, "-Deseo que hay a revo-luci6n y que venga hasta nuestro pequeiio

mundo a remover viejas miseria~."~'Afollower of th e peasant leader in Los de

abajo, shouted , "-Amo la Revoluci6n comoamo a1 voldn que irmmpe! A1 volciin por-que es volciin, a la Revoluci6n porque esR e v o l ~ c i 6 n ! " ~ ~

Throughout the country the under-privileged, oppressed peasants had risenspontaneously against the conditions und erwhich they lived an d against their wealthy

and powerful masters. The destructive'%umcane" gave birth to the Mexico of

berler - mex rev and novel

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