The First Post-Revolutionary Era

I. Obregon Administration
a. Nature of his Politics
i. Seeks to consolidate his personal power to put an end to civil war and
foreign intervention
ii. Will seek to put an end to violent rivalry among the surviving chieftains
1. dicey because he represents the Northern revolutionaries
2. therefore there will be a tendency for the administration to favor
the north
iii.
b. Morones & Labor
i. Responsible for the consolidation of a National Labor Group
1. Confederation of Organized Labor
ii. Morones was put in charge
iii. Morones begins a process of corruption
iv. Morones acquires gifts and favors but does not pass them down
v.
c. Cultural Trends
i. Renaissance in Mexican Culture
ii. Literature, and classic arts
iii. New generation of artists
iv. Work speaks to the struggle of the revolution and its ideals
v. Diego Rivera – artist – muralism
1. murals to reach out to the public
2. didactic
3. public buildings
4. seen as a way to convey the revolution’s meaning to the masses
vi. Jose Vasconcellos – intellectual - cosmic race
1. instead of the euro-centric movement; local people and local
culture
2. mestiso (mixed race) represented the race of the future –
strengthened by the mixing of genes
vii. Embrace the revolution in order to convey it to the public
viii. Challenge the role of the church
ix. Reach out to the common rural man that they are part of the revolution
1. church is against this and starts a propaganda
II. Calles’s Regime (1924-34)
a. Tendencies of Contradiction
i. Calles
1. man of the north and struck a deal with Obregon to end conflict
2. decided they would take turns being president
ii. Calles is caught in a bind trying to consolidate political power and help
the economy
iii. Wants to industrialize the economy
iv. Tried to get industry and urban construction by the use of tame urban
labor
v. Used extraordinarily revolutionary rhetoric but did the opposite
1. support art and everything else
2. while increasing capitalism
vi. started stoking the fires of anti-clericalism
1. positive/okay thing for the president to do at the time
 2. antagonized the church so much that the church decided to shit
down in mexico
a. attempt to get the revolutionary gov’t to back off
vii. All the show was to hide his capital movements to help the economy
viii.
b. The Cristero Rebellion (1926-29)
i. Rural workers supported by local priests (in many cases) begin irregular
warfare with the state (guerilla warfare)
ii. Put to an end partly through the American ambassador
c. Rapprochement with the United States
i. As Calles tried to build up Mexico, he made political ties with the US
ii. Rather than take US holdings, they were going to tax it
iii. American Ambassador at the time, Dwight Morrow
1. stereotype – banker/financier
iv. Calles made it his mission to make good relations with Morrow
v. They both wanted to end hostility
vi. Ambassador agreed to be an ambassador to the Vatican to end the
Cristero Rebellion which he did
vii. Calles makes peace with the US and the Church
viii. Has control of labor
ix. And ties up a lot of loose ends
x. Calles set up the party (PNR) that would become the PLI which is the
dominant party today
xi. 1928 Obregon is Assassinated by a Cristero
1. ends taking turns
2. how can I run things without running things?
3. created the political party to do that
a. club for the revolutionaries
b. be a part or I will crush you
i. they all joined
c. no matter who was president their interests were
protected
xii. Calles set up elections so that someone he wanted would be in power,
and if he needed to he could take over
1. clear who ran the party and who ran mexico
2. Put an end to the potentially divisive possibilities of succession