Porfiriato Flashcards
(43 cards)
Alan Knight
A. “Unprecedented peace and stability”
B. “a flawed peace, based on recurrent repression as well as popular consensus”
C. “nevertheless, the continuity of government, local and national, and the absence of serious civil war, contrasted with the endemic political conflict of the fifty years after independence”
Freidrich Katz: three basic policies of Porfirian rule
(1) concessions to foreign (esp US) interests, granted concessions of every kind on extremely generous terms
(2) rapprochement with Eu, attempt to balance out US influence
(3) maintenance of internal stability at any price
Freidrich Katz
application of harsh policies strengthened the Mexican state until 1900, however also laid the basis for one of the most profound social upheavals to take place in 20th century L Am
Paolo Riguzzi
emphasises great contradictions of Mexican modernity during Porfiriato: industries but no industrialisation, banking system but little long-term credit, salaried labour that coexisted with coercive labour
Jeannie Purnell
peasants in Michoacán responded with a complex mixture of resistance, negotiation, and accommodation in the face of increasing state pressure to carry out privatisation of communal lands (implementation of Ley Lerdo)
When was Creelman interview published? In which magazine?
February 1908
Pearson’s Magazine
Translation published in El Imparcial (most influential pro-government newspaper in Mexico)
impact of Creelman interview
A. Díaz announcement that he was stepping dow
B. Failure to actually step down
C. Confused the regular workings of the Mexican political system
D. Led to the emergence of independent movements during 1909 (previously no independent groups of national importance)
Creelman: “the master…
…and hero of Modern Mexico”
Creelman: “the dramatic and impressive contrast…
…between his stern, autocratic government, and his stirring tribute to the democratic idea”
Creelman: “iron rule has converted the warring, ignorant, superstitious, and impoverished masses…
…of Mexico…into a strong , steady, peaceful, debt-paying and progressive nation”
Díaz in Creelman: “I shall…
…not serve again”
Díaz in Creelman: “This nation is
…ready for her ultimate life of freedom”
Díaz in Creelman: opposition
“I welcome an opposition party in the Mexican Republic”
Creelman’s description of “Mexican Indians”
“care little for politics”
“They are accustomed to look to those in authority for leadership instead of thinking for themselves”
Bio of John Kenneth Turner
A. member of LA Socialist Party
B. travelled to Mexico with leaders of anarchist Mexican Liberal Party
Editors of The American Magazine…
“A great Mexico-Díaz myth has been built by skilfully applied influence upon journalism”
Turner’s description of Creelman’s article
“famous laudatory article”
Turner: “he built up a system all his own a system in which he personally was…
…the central and all-controlling figure, in which his individual caprice was the constitution and the law”
Turner: “he created a machine and…
oiled the machine with the flesh and blood of a people”
Turner on the Yaquis
“The Yaquis are being exterminated and exterminated fast”
Turner on Yucatan slaves
comparison to southern slaves prior to Civil War, “always the result has been in the favour of the black man”
When was Manuel Gonzalez Mexican leader?
1880-4
Katz on Gonzales
considered the most corrupt and least able of Díaz’s proteges, and therefore a weak rival
Díaz as liberal dictator?
A. necessary corrective to political indulgence and social anarchy carried out by constitutionalist liberals of early republic for over 50 years
B. political stability created necessary conditions for economic development
