Has War Stymied the Mexican Revolution?
Inman, Samuel Guy
Has War Stymied the Mexican Revolution? By Samuel Guy Inman Worithvor Pratt Corrttpamdtnt PRESIDENT MANUEL A VILA CAMACHO's gov-crnmenl, now half-way through ita six-year period, with the...
...The fear sf all these elements, however, ia net ** great as one ether—tho 'ear that all thia power "ill be, la being, thrown an the aide of conaerva-tasax...
...Everywhere one hears of the great admiration of Mexico for the United .States...
...In such n deadlock, however, the "autonomous" institution had to appeal to the Chief Executve...
...In My Opinion ThK whole political rrawd, from Stalin down to my newsman, are making one big mistake...
...During all this time the government had kept out of the controversy...
...On July 26, 1944, rioting broke out in the university as a result of the efforts of protesting students to drive out Rector Brito...
...The term of the most recant occupant, Rodulfo Brito Foucher, has been full of controversy...
...during the meeting of the Inter-American Bar Association in Mexico City last August The need cf an international government following the w«r wsi ¦tressed, and several plan* were suggested...
...It openly oppose...
...Latin universities, like those In Paris, Bologna and Salamanca, have for a thousand years been controlled, not by an independent Board of, Trustees, but by students and faculty...
...None but fanatic* and professional propagandiata thought of equating Russian industry, jurisprudence, or culture with ours...
...Smfre(..lce Al..9 fhe lerder A FAR more serious question is thst of racial dis-(xbnination againat Mexicans in Texas...
...The Governor of Texas has publicly recognised the prob-han by appointing a commission to study the subject aad outline constructive solutions, while the university, th* colleges and the churches of the state are doing useful work...
...He insisted that the primary buaineaa of the student is to study and the first Job of professors is to teach...
...War unite* all men in a common aim...
...As s result of the attack, one student was shot and killed and many were maimed...
...and more United States dollars are crowding vaults than the banks know what to <*» with...
...But at leaat it shows there I, hi ia the yoath of Mexico...
...In no country in the world is there more debate, open and often violent, concerning the need of change in the present social order.* • • • fermenf ia fducatJoe M ORE politics seem to play around the Department of Education than any other section of the Mexican government The Avila Camacho Administration started out to appease the Church by appointing a conservative Minister of Education, Octavio Vejar Vaaquex...
...Cautious in politics, President Camacho knew the power of Latin American atudents to make and unmake governments...
...Since then, with a government subsidy of some 20,000,000 pesos annually (about $4,140,000), the Ualversity Council, composed of faculty and) student*, ha* ejected the rector and run th* affairs of th* iaChans** la the office of rector have baaa numerous...
...Chaos ruled...
...Collectivism will atand the teat of peace no better than It did before...
...The open way in which Mexico discusses her social questions challenges the admiration of those who believe in democracy...
...War creates the special and sole condition in which a state-owned economy can flourish...
...But the naming of this scholar was generally regarded as an effort of the new President to take the schools out of politics, -which had come near wrecking one of the finest products cf the Revolution...
...In spite of all the appreciation of the Good Neighbor Policy, this feeling of fear of the great northern neighbor still lingers on...
...Certainly the violent adjuatment of abuses which brought loss of life, of time, of prestige in the autonomous University of Mexico during the summer of 1944 i. to be condemned...
...They think that Raaaia'a Mate-owned economy, "having stood the teat of war," i* goiag to louriah prodigiously in peace...
...It atartat out a* an unofficial organisation of Roman Catanlt layraen somewhat along the lines of Father CeoghkY, movement in the United States...
...A group of rebellious students assaulted and captured the Faculty of Law Building on July 26...
...Liberals con tended that the United Stalea Embassy in Mexico *»i friendly to the movement...
...hould accept the award of the territory m Mexico maae by arbitration commission 33 years ptrn, th* United State* delegate* succeeded in having aat question squelched...
...The enemies at deaaecracy are atill well represented in Mexico by maay organisations and by sheet* like the daHy Omega, which blase* forth in screaming heasuaea it* attack* ea the United Nationa and ita praise sf Germany and Argentina...
...The •Jwaetien waa often a*ked: Will the greateat democracy in the world ao alow down oar social revolution that yeara from now we will have to fight it •R ever again...
...Whed a delegate from.Ecuador called for the return ,1 <h«misal (sail originally Mexican but "put" in the If, 8. by • shift of the Rio Grande) and insisted that ah* U.S.A...
...Yet it is a strong point for the en***!** of the Good Neighbor Policy...
...A recognized scientist the world around, a friend of the common man, Dr...
...The Rector was swept out of office overnight...
...He wa* soon oat In his place was appointed a middle-of-the-road official from the Department of Foreign Affaire who was also a first-class literary figure — Jaime Torres Bodet The official organ, of the Sinarquistas attacked the appointment a* a betrayal, of all that waa sacred to the Mexican people...
...Alfonso Caso...
...But soon the President was asked to address the labor organisations and to state bis program...
...So one i* everywhere told...
...The university reform, which started in Argentina in 1918 and extended all over Latin America, emphasized the right of student* to protest against faculty abuses...
...In war, however, Rasaia waa, once she got going, surprisingly effective...
...Fifty thousand citisens met at the foot of the Monument to the Revolution in Mexico City one Sunday morning to protest against the fascist press, the Sinar-quiata organisation, the movement to return education to church dominance, and other trends which seemed to threaten the ideal* of the social revolution...
...A similar crisis in the University of Mexico has not been so simply passed...
...The U. S. Embassy alone ha* more than 1*00 empsxyees, without counting those from several other Washington agencies...
...The state-owned economy will limp along, but it will not flourish...
...The President called on the six former living rectors (omitting Brito) to select a rector and suggest plsns for the reorganization of the institution...
...Tht Mexican Social Revolution it not dead...
...That ia what make* Stalin'* demand* so insolent, and democracy's diplomacy ao weak...
...The official paper of tit organisation in Mexico continuallly carried violent attack* on the Mexican government As a demositn...
...Caso was given full authority to reorganise the university...
...For year* Stalin'* "aoclaliam" failed to atand the teat of peace...
...The conservative forces responded in kind...
...fen Mexican Revolution, democracy, the United Stain, Protestantism and Communism...
...As the struggle continued, the Rector told the metropolitan press: 'If blood flows, it will be th* students' fault...
...Th* Cultural Attach* of th* American Embassy, however, reported him to be the "beat rector th* university had had during it* nearly four centuries of history...
...The critka of United State* imperialism aeised the opportunity to attack this country, however, and the overwhelms* delegation from the North—numbering about as many as the member* of all other delegations put together-showed itself entirely larking in wisdom by defendisf the indefensible...
...Roosevelt, more than Churchill or Stalin, is the world's greatest leader...
...It alto taut* tht auttiin „ te wkttkar **W *«** violent piotettationt art „ cvndueiv* te prepress a* art tko grav* cUtk,, en snanrf a ****** taker* ancttnt eastern* at, * ? ? Aafi-Dcmecrefic Forces The moat debated organization in Mexico at*m, recent yean baa been thai of Sinarquiam...
...When a representsan...
...Similar meetings were held lo many renters...
...and they outplayed the United States lawyers in discussing it in aha convention...
...He began by approaching all problems from the educational rather than the political angle...
...Moat of- them hnd left office under aimilar demands of striking students...
...A wide discussion of international affairs was stage...
...Two rectors were elected - one by the old University Council, still dominsted by Brito's friends, the other by a new University Council dominated by liberals...
...The radical bloc in Congreaa, the liberals in the school system, and the peasant organisations in rural districts began to ask embarrassing questions...
...Mexico m»y be as far from democracy and its education may be as backward aa ita critics declare them to be...
...Here was a fine chance for the United States delegation to win applause for their country by condemning auch discrimination before the Mexican people...
...Instead, they bitterly opposed a resolution against race discrimination in a heated session, finally, when the motion passed by acclamation, letting it go through—though one English-speaking Texan, to his credit, is reported to hsve spoken in fsvor...
...Peace, not war, ia the teat of collectivism...
...Max Eastman...
...It is net yet clear whether thia aseana the eliasiaatiea •f the movement or whether it will continue aaesr another name or go underground...
...fist down beneath «ll fat* t* tho haunting fear cf Antra* American power...
...Th* aatherltiea then took action, arrested the traders and closed down their publications...
...Tourists from the North are on every corner...
...The first student protests against Brito were made in 1942, whea ha had succeeded in naming his friends aa directors of all th* IS faculties of the university...
...It already overwhelms the country...
...Everyone kaews that here is an issue that must be solved if (stations with Mexico are not to go on the rocks...
...Hut the union of will* which nature create* in war ha* to be created by eavage aad fantastic artifice in peace...
...of the a»Oft piomiuent United, State* deletr let H b* known that, should tha aat* be taken, k* would withdraw, After some maneuvering, tht rt^aauon was defeated, with the U. S. delegate* gjaasat unitedly against it, while only a vague approval «f general self -deter mination was adopted...
...The new Minister had, within six months after his appointment, succeeded in restoring much of the lost morale of the teachers and is gradually bringing back some of the enthusiasm which made the Mexican system, especially in the rural schools, famous the world over for its accomplishments...
...The new Minister started to abolish co-education, returned a number of school properties to the Church and eliminated much of the socialized program in the schools...
...An organisation was formed with the significant name of "Action Against Reaction...
...Our machines, more than Russian soldiers or Britain bravery, have saved Europe and driven Hitler to everlasting defeat...
...In 1934, after several serious riots in the University of Mexico, the Federal government granted autonomy to that Institution...
...It is this country, not Russia or Great Britain, that is winning the war...
...Though this historic refusal amnds * D,cl n,*,h »fc"»>nst the U.S.A., a bundled asare important matters have recently been settled be-taveea the two countries, which today enjoy the best relations since the beginning of the 19th century The Mexican Foreign Office is not pushing a minor question Hat that of Chamisal...
...He told his protesting students: "I will reply to revolutionary actions by revolutionary methods, and I will liquidate them...
...The whole university, with its 20,000 students, became a seething mass of revolt...
...From thia blunder there will be a gradual and, I fear, belated awakening...
...Even more than in the Ministry of Education, if that be possible, has the university been cursed with politics...
...The day the war ends, the impractical, grotesque and crippling traite of Russian life will reappear...
...Without the aid of the United States, Mexico can aslva few of her problems...
...Two thousand North American students crowded the university.summer school this year, with students going an hour early to get a seat ia the classroom...
...Centralized control i* a military expedient Regimentation when mens wills are, united I* almost the definition of military power...
...The cHmax cama when Kl Sinartuuta, oaVial organ, published an article advising the Mexican army to go on atrike againat the government as a pretest against some at it* liberal see sure...
...That Mas changed th* whole climate of opinion about the state-owned economy, but it will have te be changed back...
...After a week's deliberation, they selected one of the few men in Mexico generally accepted both as a scholar and as an ad-minatrator—the distinguished archaeologist Dr...
...Conditions went from bad to worse...
...Not one liberal with whom the writer talked failed te expreaa the feelinga that the United States government ia already throwing its inluence en the alio ef the conservatives, at time* even the fascist, force* ha order to see thst the aprising of tk* common people ia not carried "tee far...
...tion of it* democratic principles, the Avila Ctnaest regime allowed it and other critics to belabor tin government to their hearts' content...
...By Samuel Guy Inman Worithvor Pratt Corrttpamdtnt PRESIDENT MANUEL A VILA CAMACHO's gov-crnmenl, now half-way through ita six-year period, with the constitution forbidding ita reelection, began ita administration by facing right...
...Last January th* movement "Action Against Reaction" began a campaign against the Minister...
...Whea lay went to Boston University in 1942 to receive an honorary degree, the police had to be railed out to protect him from demonstratora, who insisted he waa a dangerous fascist Liberal elements in Mexico continuously attack him on th* same charges...
...f Puarte **»• i»ti «dt»t*d a resolution appr*viag Saatoeitc concerning taw independence *f tht island j|,-'-r th* war, a* waa at flrat dented a hearing...
...Two days later, an armed group of the Rector's friends, under the direction of the secretary of the university, charged the law school ami drove out the rebellious students...
...Many of the 2,500 faculty members resigned in protest against the Rector's strong arm methods...
...Ita literature «u patterned after the totalitarian propaganda of ta* Nasi* and Fascists...
...The war, as all wars do, has slowed down social reform, but the ferment is still there...
...But there are more United States businessmen than tourists...
...North American experts, Vert*) American capital, North American machines arc the hap* of th* people...
...Ha did not, however, assume, as in the United States, that the directing body, the Board of Trustees and th* President, is a closed corporation, with students having nothing to lay as to what or by whom they are taught Rector Caso faces the difficult task of trying to find a balance between the over-democratic system of student control which has brought tod much politics into Latin universities and the over-autocratic North Amercan system, which usually Insists that the student must take without question whatever is considered best for him by an entrenched group at the top...
...Among the points around which debate raged wen independence*for Puerto Rico, return Of Chamizil (today a portion of El Paso, Texas) to Mexico, and the condemnation of race distinrtione...
...Internal dissension develop* It* efforts te organise branchea among the Mexican in the United State* brought strong opposition free liberal sources in thia country and strong support free Bishop Edwin V. O'tiara and other members of the Roman Catholic hierarchy...
...Tktir Jajif^-r •/ ***** f*« e«*( p***iM« cptHtxy ft, (a*** km e**«rf*d faaf I fie Good /V«i# *6or /¦,./„„ mm •»<*• « **«r wl*e**fr...
...Everyone who waa anyone was delighted: those one aaet on the Pullmans, in the hotels, the clubs and other respectable places...
...It la the diversity of men's alma in normal timea that makes such aa economy inefficient, hypocritical, dilatory, rude, cruel and bloody...
...Both groups are represented by an efficient preaa which pulls no punches...
Vol. 27 • December 1944 • No. 49
