Spanish-American Revolutions

...The dissatisfied investors differ...

...Strictly speaking, a revolution connotes a prior intellectual preparation, an ideological ferment working through the minds of the masses until it reaches the top and brings about a radical change in the social and political structure...

...Last there were apparently no sweeping revolutionary changes, no radical reorganization (or disorganization) of society...

...Moreover, it is a case of holding the wolf by the ears for Caesar has created a relativistic planetary system with himself as the sun...

...King Log is also King Stork...

...Their competitors have been given special concessions and privileges, possibly because out of their generosity they have enriched the great empire-builder in office, or perhaps because the satrap-president thought that by pleasing them he could win over the friendship of the American people, as he puts it...

...A new broom sweeps clean...

...At last matters come to a head...

...Happily this apathy acted as a social sedative, for an active public opinion under these conditions would have been worse than disturbing...

...Caesar's minions have hoarded the wealth of the poor nation and are living in pagan luxury and irresponsibility while the people starve...

...He who is not with me is against me...

...The English word used to describe them is a misnomer evidencing the failure of the American mind to understand Latin America...

...A few of them may be found who will offer the right army man the necessary advance to finance a change, or else the outs will take the initiative...

...Almost diametrically opposed to the Creole, he is unemotional, frugal, docile and passive, often a veritable Scot for thrift...

...As the administration, they care less for policy than for absolute respect and obedience to the exalted authorities, who, as such, are never wrong and can never admit error...

...First an uprising broke out in Bolivia...

...The Creole and the halfbreed prey on the Indian, who usually has no special protection...

...In national life these conditions are translated into retarded economic development, insufficient agricultural production, lack of communications resulting in isolation and petty regionalism, on which revolutions thrive...

...A faction would come into office it if had the power to do so, and would leave when it lost it...

...Hence friction and discontent which may flare up in political life...

...First of all, the geographic environment of most Latin-American countries is unfavorable...

...The weaker his government is, the more unpopular he becomes, the more anxious he will be to get support from abroad...

...Our sense of directness and absolute justice, leaping over constitutional barriers, demands vengeance...

...Rotten politics drives out men of good families...

...Accordingly, when our countries became independent they had had no democratic tradition, while the leaders, Creoles for the most part, lacked both preparation for, and experience in, public life...

...Peru somehow caught the fever next, then Argentina—stable, progressive Argentine, of all countries—was visited by the epidemic, and next came troubles in Cuba and Brazil...

...The body politic, a strange idol with feet of clay, body of marble and head of bronze, falls to the ground and great is the fall thereof...

...That which is Caesar's— his enormous wealth, his farms, his pomp—will be rendered unto the people or unto God...

...His stupidity and his vanity assert themselves...

...Caesar's vaingloriousness prevents him from resigning...

...The army, therefore, is the only public organization we have...

...Because of their dominating character, their generosity and quixotic quality, their conduct has little connection with reality...

...What attitude shall the American people take toward our revolutions ? The State Department should seek guidance from Gilbert and Sullivan: The House of Lords throughout the war Did nothing in particular And did it very well...

...If there is a revolution, he will probably join it...

...The colonial government in Spanish America was a highly centralized, appointive system...

...they float a loan privately in the United States—an actual case came to my notice in New York a few years ago—on the inducement of high usury with consequent poor security...

...The historical tradition constitutes at once a disturbing and a stabilizing force...

...Yesterday's butcher is today's mutton led to the shambles...

...Before passing judgment on Latin-American revolutions it would be well to devote some thoughtful consideration to the matter...

...He is usually of smaller stature, of lighter build and more delicate features, with a swarthy complexion, sallow rather than reddish...

...Nature abhors a vacuum...

...It is the Mexican revolution, which, although very much like the general rule in the beginning, thanks to the vacillating policy of the Wilson administration, through a series of revolts and counterrevolts evolved into a revolution in earnest...

...It means that European immigration has at last swamped the Indian, thus settling the racial and agrarian problems at the same time, or else that outside influences—international pressure, gambler-investors—are stifling what under the circumstances is normal growth...

...There the climate is milder, while her large plains have made agricultural development possible...

...The support of the incoming ruler is rather the passive acquiescence of the many...

...There are always large portions of the population who have little to lose and everything to gain, being thus ready to espouse any revolution, which is to them what Wall Street is to many Americans—a short and easy avenue to wealth...

...Because of their tropical or subtropical location, the climate is hot, enervating, unhealthy...

...Detractors are exiled or imprisoned despite all the guarantees of the constitution...

...It may be too that, there being already a predisposition toward revolution in all these countries, the example of one appealed to the quick, imitative temperament of Latins, with the consequent results...

...Because of our retarded economic development, there is always poverty, unemployment, a flood of office-seekers that must be engaged...

...The Spanish counterpart, revolution, on the other hand, points accusingly to our lack of political education...

...Argentina, to be sure, is an exception...

...He must protect himself (and his family) against the time when he shall have to go into exile on leaving office...

...But the people in general dislike the United States, and as he strengthens his position abroad he alienates the masses at home...

...They are interested in absolute justice and nothing short of it, a quality which makes them, as the opposition, non-cooperating and irreconcilable...

...The source of authority now is our philosophy of force and the economic dependence of the people, for the president-emperor, even if individualistic and sybaritic, is a Marxist at heart...

...Uncompromising and individualistic, they find it difficult to get together and hence are unable to organize political parties...

...The new revolution has triumphed...

...Education, far from being encouraged, is stifled by a narrow personal philosophy or rather by the absence of one and by the cult of the emperor...

...and the halfbreeds or mestizos who are the product of the intermarriage or, rather the union, of both races...

...October 22, 1930 THE COMMONWEAL 629 SPANISH-AMERICAN REVOLUTIONS By E. R. PINEDA WITHIN a few weeks recently the American public was startled, perhaps puzzled too, by a number of revolutions sweeping through South America like a forest fire...

...To this day, it is the students who are most active in politics...

...The jails become crowded, tyranny is revived, all constitutional guarantees to the contrary notwithstanding...

...The president will hypothecate the resources of the country to any foreign investors, for these LatinAmerican dictators, unlike the European, are not nationalistic, but individualistic primarily...

...The president-soldier realizes that his tenure of office is precarious...

...The alternative, enlightened interference by the State Department, would be a contradiction in terms...

...Moreover, the highest colonial functionaries were Spanish born, being thus supposed to be more loyal to Spain than the Creoles and consequently less likely to rise against the home government...

...The large investments of American capital in Spanish America are always directly or indirectly affected by the revolutions...

...As time wears on, the president's rule becomes unbearable...

...Regiments which were thought to be loyal have deflected through being too loyal: they are blindly obeying their officers...

...A hands-off policy is clearly indicated...

...but investments made regardless of sociological conditions are gambles...

...Partly, too, they are the creatures of the moment...

...The question is important, nor is it purely academic, as the Graces, the Guggenheims and others would bear me out...

...The mountainous nature of the land for the most part leaves few large plains suitable for tilling...

...He will bid eagerly for the friendship of the American people—he means the backing of the State Department of the United States and the financial support of the bankers...

...As the wheels of government function with increasing friction, they must be greased more and more with the proper lubricant— "palm oil," as General Diaz called it in Mexico...

...With the exception of Argentina and one or two other countries which are now inhabited almost wholly by Europeans, there are practically three castes, sociologically, if not anthropologically, speaking: the Creoles, of pure or nearly pure Spanish blood...

...Doubtless many an American has wondered what these revolutions really are...

...Recognize each successful revolt...

...The cycle is completed and begun...

...In the case of Argentina, let me state in fairness, the revolution, to judge from the press dispatches, was an exception for it was a reaction against reaction, a retrogression to progress...

...These men come into power through their shrewdness partly, since our want of organization makes it possible for a daring minority leader to get the upper hand...

...Whether this strange occurrence was a mere coincidence, or whether the explanation is to be sought in the present economic depression throughout the world, it is difficult to tell at present...

...The favored investors would have the president continue indefinitely in office for the good of the country...

...When the people tire of the previous tyrant, they are ready to acclaim anyone who steps into the breach...

...One is reminded of the story told of Cardinal Newman...

...At the beginning of his regime, investors flocked—attracted by the new era of prosperity about to dawn on the country—and sank fortunes in oil wells, mines and so forth...

...The halfbreeds occupy a middle position in society...

...Dazzled or dazed by the French Revolution and the example of the United States, they devised for us institutions patterned after models for which we had no social or psychological foundations...

...Loans must be negotiated, in the United States, of course, it being nearer than any other money market...

...Our rulers for the most part are halfbreeds who have little to lose and the world to win, and a remarkable race of men they are in a way...

...Thanks to their connections and their superior mentality, the Creoles have maintained a position of leadership in society, which, however, has always been threatened on account of their qualities and defects...

...They have the intelligence and knowledge to grasp something of what is going on, the idealism of youth at the same time and very little else to lose...

...In the case instant there is nothing of the kind to all seeming...

...The result was a series of kaleidoscopic revolts and counter-revolts...

...They think a change is advisable for the good, of the country and the better development of the national resources...

...The students stage a hostile demonstration despite all opposition...

...Some dry enthusiast had sent him a tract full of statistics about the saloons of Edinburgh...

...Surface water and inland navigation are scarce...

...Upon taking office, they correct the glaring abuses of their predecessors, but they reform little else, for first of all their narrow outlook and limited intelligence prevent them from understanding the fundamental problems of the country, which, by the way, would tax the ingenuity of the greatest statesman...

...Even from a cursory reading of the press reports, one could have found something of what the three revolts or revolutions had in common...

...There is another Spanish-American revolution that is the exception too, par excellence, being the essence of a paradox...

...The army comes in to supply our want of political organization, acting as a sort of party which gives its candidate the desired majority or splits, forming a militant minority that holds the casting vote...

...Some investors perhaps have been discriminated against...

...If this becomes extinct, eternal night will set upon his universe...

...His Eminence thanked the reformer for the pamphlet, but added that, not having given the matter sufficient thought, he was unable to tell from the statistics whether there were in Edinburgh too many saloons or too few...

...they are revolts, or better still, violent elections on purely personal issues, although, of course, the issue of political corruption is always involved...

...On the other hand, the passivity and low intelligence and standards of the Indian make it possible at any time to recruit an army of soldiers like the Light Brigade: Theirs not to reason why, Theirs but to do and die...

...We can best understand these coups by examining briefly the social organization of Latin-American countries with reference to the environment, the ethnic stocks, the historical tradition and what sociologists call the "mores," the outlook on life, limiting, of course, the present inquiry, for want of space, to the direct bearing of these factors upon the political life of the southern republics...

...The "mores" in time reflected this condition and a new system of political theory developed—a ruthless philosophy of force...

...The principle of the Roman absolutists, unchecked by organized institutional life, gradually develops: the pleasure of the emperor is the law...

...So it has been in Latin America, except that now and then our strong egotism prompts some distinguished man to cry, paraphrasing Patrick Henry, "Give me office or give me death...

...Confiscations, imprisonments, exiles, executions follow swiftly...

...Such, briefly, are our revolutions...

...Unlike the Creoles, they are not quixotic or visionary, but practical, matter-of-fact people with that strange astuteness so peculiar to the simple savage, probably derived from the subject race...

...In the country he bears up a little better...

...The revolution as an institution has asserted itself...

...Whatever the particulars of each case, some general conclusions can perhaps be drawn as to the nature of the upheavals, even if we make allowance for the fact that it may be too soon to have a complete and accurate report of what actually took place...

...Discontent grows...

...As unrest becomes articulate, repression begins...

...What has he to lose when he spends more than he earns...

...As likely as not the treasury is depleted...

...If the Indian has the vote, as in Mexico, it becomes the simplest matter to defeat or to forge his ballot and thus he plays the paradoxical role in society of the innocent victim in private life and the equally innocent oppressor in public life...

...It is only by allowing SpanishAmerican revolutions to evolve unhampered that they may develop into something even better than a Chicago election for, rather than a vicious circle, they are a vicious spiral...

...The population of Argentina, more enlightened than that of most of Spanish America, being almost exclusively European, protested against the retrogression to autocratic personal rule under Irigoyen and went into the revolution on the issue: that institutional government may not perish in Argentina...

...If a political 630 THE COMMONWEAL October 22, 1930 issue is brought home to them, they are more likely to decide it directly, dramatically, than with reference to expediency or to economic considerations...

...Not devoid of the attractiveness and wit of the Spaniard, without his tenacity or the Indian's frugality or thrift, the halfbreed is for the most part an inharmonious product from the point of view of sociology at least, if not also from that of biology, with the virtues of neither race and the vices of both...

...Would it be proper then to describe these events as revolutions ? In English we generally mean by "revolution" a social upheaval which changes the general character of the social structure of the country, like the French Revolution or the Russian...

...As politics became a matter of the intrigues and machinations of cliques, the people grew more and more apathetic to politics: the lower classes, through ignorance and lack of touch with the leaders...

...In a broader sense, however, they are very stupid, shallow, unable to understand the interrelation of things, and limited in their vision...

...October 22, 1930 THE COMMONWEAL 631 Soon after the first burst of house-cleaning, the sociological reality asserts itself...

...Our individualism and lack of the herd instinct, as has been pointed out, prevent us from forming political parties strictly speaking...

...The revolution will afford him excitement as well as a chance to see something of the country and to satiate his insatiable baser appetites...

...Enormous outlays are now at stake...

...The interplay of these racial elements, as organized at present, brings about a condition of constant unstable equilibrium...

...His authority is derived from the passivity of the Indians, from the regionalism of the home gang, from our strong family life and the sense of personal loyalty of Spaniards...

...Possibly the economic situation was a contributing factor...

...In the large cities he is the most vicious and thievish of bipeds, but he can be as brave as his Spanish (or Moorish) ancestor and quite as stoic and fatalistic...

...other elements of society because they came to realize that it was all a game of the politicians in which they stood to win little and possibly to lose much...

...Are they bad, are they desirable, are they merely crazy...

...The absence of revolution in Latin America, like the saloons of Edinburgh, is either a hopeful or an alarming sign...

...A strange product indeed...

...At the bottom of the social scale stands the Indian —quite different, by the way, from the American Indian both physically and mentally...

...Hence its decisive influence in political life and the explanation of our military rulers...

...Spanish-American revolutions contain none of these elements...

...Corruption acts and reacts upon discontent as they both grow in geometric proportion...

...The racial composition of the population provides also an element of unrest...

...Secondly, the active participants were comparatively few, mostly the students of the capital city and one or two regiments of troops...

...Nor does the dominant nature of the Creoles act as a soothing syrup in this connection...

...the Indians...

...He brooks no critics...

...His ignorance and superstition pass all understanding...

...First, the number of dead during the fighting was not much larger than during the recent elections in Chicago, and certainly much smaller if we bear in mind that in the case of the turbulent Spanish-American republics the issues seemed to be national, rather than local...