The

Socialist Review
EDITED BY - JOHN STRACHEY \.
ASSISTANT EDITOR C. R. DE GRUCHY
The Outlook, by J. Ramsay Mac The Mexic'an Revolution, by Haya
Donald, 1\1. P. Delatorre.
Socialism or Potterism? by Godfrey The Rcform of the Universities, by
Elton. C. R. de Gruchy. .
Why Abolish the Guardians ? by Edgar The Truth About Socialist Sunday
Lansbury. Schools, by F. Glasier Foster.
The Count'ryman 's Polities, by Books of the Month.
Montngue Fordham. LCllers.
Tbe Editor wiJ! be glad to consider MSS. They cannot, however, be
returned if unsuitable for publ ication unless accompanied by a stamped
and addrcssed envelope. The Socialis t Re'View ai ms at providing an
open forum for discussion and debate. All si gned a rti cl es must be
undcrst ood to represent the opinions of t heir w ri ters, and not necessarly
those of the Socialist Re'IJiew.
THE OUTLOOK
)' J. RAMSAY
DURING- an earIy pre-breakfast walk one morning, an old
phi1osopher. whom 1 generally meet taking the Hampstead air,
with)he collar oE rus overcoat turned up and his hands encased
gloves, paused in hi s enjoyment of the sunrise through
the mist and remarked : " Had you been in office, what a wild
hullabaloo would have been raised by the T ories over your
surrender' at Hankow, the trampling on the U nion Jack,
anc:Lso on." It is true. 1 hear the "deep-mouthed blood
bound's bay" oE the pack, and the \yild "Tally-ho" of the
the 'osses. 1 agreed with my philosopher Eriend
in his chuckle of satisfaction, but 1 joined trembling
mirth, for we are by no means out oE the wood yet,
are signs that the nature of the Tory is coming out.
js against his grain, and he may be irritated into
becoming his natural self. Then there will be a row. If Canton
its cards with good sense, and if it is concerned solely with
recognition of Chinese nationality, the T ory natural man
have no Ercedom to stretch himself and kick. At this
THE
a
MEXICAN REVOLUTION
t
. N 7) 1 T S rp 'l( O 13 L E (M s.
t
by HAYA DELATORRE
SE NOR HAYA DELATORRE is the leader of the Socialist student
movement in Latn America. In this article he deals with the present
situation in Mexico, the problems of which are persistently misrepre
sented and misunderstood in Europe. A review of the recently
published life of Lui z N. Morones, the great leader of Mexican Labour,
appears in this issue of the S ocialist Re'View.
LIKE R USSIA or China, Mexico suffers from an implacable
blockade on the part of the capitalist Press of the U nited
States. This has produced in the rest of the world a complete
ignorance of the grave and complicated problems of that
country.
1t has even created a favourabl e atmosphere for the repeated
threats and aets of bostility which the U nited States Govern
ment has carried out against Mexico for sorne years, under
the I?retext of "safeguarding tbe interests of her citizens in
Mexlcan territory." These interests are, in faet, none other
than the enormous interests of the Standard Oil Company.
A great p ~ r t of the sufferngs of Mexico can be easily
explaned by her riches. In her vast area of 785,991 square
miles, Mexico "contains all the materials which Nature pro
duces for the food, the clothing and the dweHings of men, and
all wrucb industry transforms and places at the service of the
common need," I and "Mexico stands first in the world's
production of silver, benequen (sisal) and chicle; second in the
world's output of petroleum, lead, antrnony, onyx, dyewoods
and chickpeas ; third in the production of zinc, Indian corn
and coffee ; four tb in tbe production of gold ; and fifth in the
production of copper."
From the beginning of the independent life of Mexico, since
tbe revolution against the dominion of S pain (1 810-21), we
see the intervention of three great historical factors in the
course of its agitated century as a r epublic: the great land
awning class, tbe Government of the United States of America,
and the Roman Cathalic Church.
I Rabasa. La E'Voludon Historica de Mexico.
Address by lhe Mexican Minister to the London Chamber of Commerce
(March. 1926). ~ .
L_ ' ./
24
,
'
lalist student
1 the present
tly rnisrepre_
the recently
,ican Labour,
, implacable
the- United
a complete
ms of that
he repeated
:es Govern
ears, under
. citizens in
none otber
lmpany. ' .
1 be easily
991 square
'{ature pro
lf men; and
'vice of the
he world's
cond in the
dyewoods
ndian corn
fifth in the
since
JO-2J), we
:ors in the
great Iand
lf America, '
of Commerce
erHE M EX I CAN 7{E TlOL UTION
These three factors, moved by strong economic interests,
are the three great enemies against whom the Mexican people
llave had to struggle, are still struggling, and will perhaps have
to struggle for a long time.
5ince tbe Spanish Conquest , which destroyed the native
agrarian organisation of the Aztec Empi re, the great land
owners, or hacendado , have represented the institution of the
latifundia (the feudal ownersrup of land). T hey have oppressed
the Indians in the most goominious manner, dispossessed them
of their ejidos, and reduced them to tbe most brutal servitude.
They reached the summit of their power as a ruling cIass during
the long dictatorship of General Diaz (I876-19JO) . It is
calcuJated that at the end of bis rule only 834 landowners
possessed all the productive Iand of Mexico, employing about
10,000,000 peones (dispossessed native slaves).
Y ankee 1 mperialisrn.
The U nited States began their aggressions against Mexico
by the unequal and cruel war of 1846-48. Nearly half the rich
Mexican territory was snatched away by an unjustifiable act of
nquest. "The treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (after the war
een U.5. and Mexico) had given us the vast territory
known as New Mexico and California, but coveriog not
on1y the California and New Mexico of the present map, but
atso Nevada, Utah, Arizona and portions of Colorado and
Yr
oming
." says Mr. Woodrow Wilson: " Mexico gave up
al claim to Texas."
In later years, the United States did not have recourse to
arms too conquer Mexico, but used their great capital to assume
possesslon ?f the country' s .sources of weal th. The imperialism
of the Uruted States, whlch threatened the whole of Latin
m,enea, f?und in one of its fi rst fields of action.
. The of petroleum" was disputed during the
.torshlp of Dlaz by .foreign capitalists , especially by the
ntish and North Amencans. Diaz reinforced his dictatorial
er by opening the gates to imperialism aod dispensing his
alternately to the Americans of the North and to the
ntJsh.. At the of Diaz' s dictatorship, the foreign holdings
10. were as foUows :-United tates, $I, oS8
BntalO, $ 321 millions ; France, $ I43 miIJions;
W I e MeXJco had $793 millions and others $II9 millions.'
: lJ!t Mexican Revol,tion and t ll e U.S . 1910-H}26, p. 14
0
.
lbid pO"; I en-EPoc/ s oi Americall Ristory, Vol. IrI., p. 15
6
.
Nea . 5t. - ong-mans Green & Co. Ed. N.Y. , 1900.
PI'e$S, N.V: & ' reeman Doll ar Dif>lomacy , p. 8.0; . B. W. Huebsch & Viking
'[HE SOCIALIST 7{EVleW
T he ChUTCh in Mexican History.
dep;
T he Roman Catholic Church is another great factor in the
it 0 1
hi storie life of Mexico. 1 t was united to the State in the time
JI
of Spanish rule and became the owner of great wealth. The
Re,
Mexican Liberal Governrnent, by the Constitutin of 1857 and
and
the laws of La Reforme of 1859, declared, however, that the
Am
Church hould be separated from the State, and decreed the
the
nationalsation of the property of the Church, the dissolution
hOll
' ,- of the religious orders, the suppression of fueTos or ecclesiastical pay
privileges, and the secularisation of education. Pope Pius IX. the
fulminated against these dec sions, declaring therri "nuIl, void afte
ancl without any value, " and the clergy, in conjunction with Re
1
1
Napoleon I Il., decided, on the invasion of Mexico by the
IrnI
French army. to crown Maxi milian of Habsburg as emperor
and to re-establish al1 the privileges of the clergy.
j
President Juarez headed the insur rection of the Mexican
ha\.'
people against the invasion, defeating the French and taking
tior
prisoner the Catholic Emperor, who was executed (May,
lanl
1867). T he long dictatorshp of Diaz, formerly an officer in
by
1
the Liberal Anny, favoured the Church in the end, and practic
ngl
ail y all its power was restored. .
me!
The dictatorship of Diaz thus represented the three great
Un
enemies of the Mexican people : the landowners, the United
saf
.States (imperialism) , and the Roman Church. The people of
Se(
Mexico rose against trus dictatorship in 1910, and since then
tO!
they have been struggli ng against the three great forces of
of
oppression which it represented.
ane
In the Mexican Revolution, which began with a democratic
or
movement (1910) directed by rvladero (a man of the new bour
the
geois or business cIass which had created industrialism and
In
introduced foreign capi tal) , it is necessary to distinguisb
ene
between various aspects : the peasant or agrarianmovement,
re\
whose first great leader was Zapata, and which represented
Al1
. the direct revolutionary action of the oppressed rural workers
re
against the lanclowners ; the industrial aspect, or that of the
workers, in a revolution inti mately connected with imperialism ;
oc
and the poltical action. cf the leaders and groupswho headed
pr
tbe Revoluton.
1m)
Peasants and Work ers.
T ~
The peasant movement is the most advanced social and
19:
economic feature o the Mexican Revolution. The country
$
workers have striven to prevan , not only against the land
M
owners, but even against the leaders each time that the latter
$1
(Madero, Carranza and de la Huerta, for instance) have
' Elias. The Mexican People and The ChUTCh, N.Y., p. 22.
"2 6
'1HE M EXICAN '1{E JlOLUTION
departed from. the agra.rian. programme, or have contravened
it or wavered m upholdmg It.
In the industrial or workers' movement the advance of the
Revolution is less, for lack of an advaneed Soeialist programme
and of suffi cient strength to oppose the menaees of North
American Imperialism. The Revolution has given to Mexico
the Constitution of 1917, recognising tbe right to strike, eight
hours ' daily work and seven hours' night work, three months'
pay to the worker unfairly dismissed, obligatory arbitration by
the 5tate, a period of rest from work for women before and
after childbirth, and so On ; but the industrial aspect of the
Revolution has been kept back by N orth American
Imperialism.
The 1917 Constituton and the Gil Interests.
AH the difficulties between Mexico and the United States
have their root jn the of Article 7 of the Revolu
tionary Constitution, deer es the nationalisation of .the
land and aU below it, and the condition that " only Mexicans
by birth or naturalisation and Mexican eompanies have the
rigbt to acquire ownership in lands, waters , etc." T he funda
mental question which confronts the Government of the
United States in considering its relations with Mexico is tbe
safeguarding of property rights against eonfi carian," said
Secretary H ughes (June 7th, 1921). After the disembarka
tion .of N orth American traops in Veracruz and the massacre
of more than two hundred men, women and eruldren (1914),
and the "punitive expedi tion" of General Pershing in 1916,
ordered by President Wilson, the Constitution of 1917 was
the subject of 10nO" debate between the Secretaries of State
in 'Washington and Mexico. Each time that the Government
endeavoured to apply Article 27 oE the Constitution to its full
extent large sums of money were spent by the
AmenC?-n (or British) oi! kings to produce d1sorders or counter
revolutlOOS .
Arter a prolonged exchange of di plomatie notes and the
occurrence of many incidents , the Mexican Government inter
preted this arti le as "Ilot retro-active" in March, 1926.' This
Importan.t decision was well received by the great oi! owners.
Tlie capItal invested in the petroleum industry from I 90r to
J 9
2
4 has been officiaUy estimated as folJows :- U ni ted States ,
English, $356,776,199; Dutch, $ 75,758, 960;
M$ eXlcan, $11 ,582,405 ; others, $9,943, 238, givi ng a total of
1,
06
5,54
8
, 1 lO (Mexican pesos).'
'dSecretarl a de RR.EE. M xico. Dpto. de Publicidad. Serie A. Anno 2 0 .23 ,
an.
C
orres ponden cia Oficial (1926), pp. 76 a nd foll o\Vs.
Informaciones oficiales MM.SS.
'[H E SOCIALIST 1{EVlfW
W hy Mexic o Broke with the Church.
.In the spring of last year, the Governmeot of Mexico
ini tiated an active anti-rel igious eampaign to put ao eod to
what remai ned of the power of the Catho!ie Chureh. The
agitasion whieh this eampaigo produeed in Mexieo dstraeted the
attention C!f the public at a very opportune moment from the
diplomatic debate with Washi ngton, aod from the important
declaraton oE the Government of Mexieo as to the non
retrospective eff ect of Article 27 of the Constitution. One of
the most ini portant pomts of the anti-religious eampaign was
the new regul ation of private elementary sehools. The Govern
ment declared that religious mstruction must oot be imparted
in any private school. No sehool must have an oratory or
chapel intended for religious services, and no minister of religion
eould be a sehoolmaster.' The Government ordered the dis
solution of the monastic orders and the expulsioo of foreign
clergy, .regulating the number of priests io proportion to the
number of inhabitants. T hese steps called forth great protest
from the conservative elemeots, directed by the old Mexiean
clergy. T he Catholic Church considered it opportune to make
a bold agi tation against the Government-and to use the so
called boyeott or " strike" as a weapon. T he places of worship
were c10sed and public demonstratioos were made by both
sides. One of the most important things aeeomplished during
this campaign was the public debate between representatives
of the C.R.O. M. (Confederaton of Mexiean Workers) and
representatives of the Catholie movement. During this debate,
wruch took place in the Iris T heatre in M. eo on the 4th of
August last, sorne sensational documents were read, whieh
proved that tbere was a poltical conspiracy of the Catholic
clergy in favour of a reactionary political movement.
11
Three
secretaries of tbe Cabinet of Genera! Calles were the repre
sentatives of the workmen in this debate. On the 22nd and 23rd
of September last, the Chamber of Deputies diseussed a
memorial presented to Parliament by the Catholjc Arehbshop
and bishops, requesting the reform of various artides of the
Constitution of 191 7. T hese articles referred to non-religious
instruetion, to the non-celebration of public religious services,
and of the incapacity of churches or religious bodies to acquire,
own or admi nister property, and also to the nationalisation of
all place s of The memoria! )Vas rejected. u
JI Reglamento de Escuelas Particulares Cap. n. arto 6 and Cap. 111. arto
10 B-Sea-etaria de RR. EE. notes informatives, JI . N.39.
h ContTtnJersia sobre el tema: El Movimiento Revolucionaria y el Clerical
ismo Mexicano. lng. Luis Lean, Lic. Manuel Herrera Lasso. Seco edition.
Tacubaya. pp. 18, I9. 29 and 30.
u Diario de los Debates de fa Camara de Diputados del Congreso de los
EE.UU MexicaMs," Vol. 1. nwn. 12 and 13. .
28
The C
the Cath,
meot to
Imperiali
The Me)
oot adm:
Presiden'
Street, ir
supporte
now the
Chureh ,
sary to f
Imperial
The .
magnific
partIy El
poltica!
and con
the fom
Impera
revoluti'
barrier;
spite of
spleodi(
Impera
face the
classes
turn, h
classes
: Mexico
n end to
eh.. The
the
froro the
lmportant
the noh
. One of
)algn was
Govern
, imparted
lratory or
of religion
d the dis
of foreign
ion to the
protest
1 Mexican
le to make
:se the so
of worship
e by both
led during

rkers) ami
lis debate,
tbe 4th of
ad, whieh
Catholic
:." Three.
:he repre
1and 23rd
:;eussed a
rehbishop
les of the
l-religious
serviees,
) acquire,
isation of
p. nI. art.
el Clerical
eco edition.
reso de los
THE MEXICAN 1{E POL UTION
T he Catholie agitaton in Mexico was openly seeonded by
the Catholics of the United States , who asked their Govern
ment to intervene with the Mexican Government. The
Imperialist Press of the United States supported the Catholics.
The Mexican Government declared energetically that it would
not adroit any mtervention and rejeeted the request of the
President of Peru, closely allied to the Vatican and to Wall
Street, in favour of the Catholies. The working c1asses openly
supported the Government against the Catbolic Chureh, and
now the eonAict is praetically over . Tbe overthrow of the
Church was considered bv the Mexiean Socalists to be neces
sary to free the' country troro a dangerous ally of reaetion and
lmperialism. .
The Future o/ the Mexican Republic.
The Mexican Revolution is not complete, in spite of the
magnificent impulse and decision of the revol utionary masses,
partIy for lack of a concrete Soeiallst programme and of a
poltica! disci pline which would co-ordinate a real poltical party
and control the aetion of the leaders ; and partly on aceount of
the formidable resistance and the menace of North American
Imperialism. However , it represents the most advanced
revolutiooary impulse in Latin America and the strongest
barrier against the advance of Imperialism in its territories. In
spite of its errors and deficiencies, the Mexican Revolution is a
splendid experience fo!" Latin America. I ts struggle against
Imperialism is simply a question of strength. Mexico cannot
face the foe and overthrow it without uniting with the working
c1asses of the other countries of Latin America, whicb, in their
turn, have to strive against the landowning and bourgeois
c1asses of the nations whieh are on the side of Imperialism.