Ideas and Society in Don Porfirio`s Mexico

Ideas and Society in Don Porfirio's Mexico
Author(s): William D. Raat
Reviewed work(s):
Source: The Americas, Vol. 30, No. 1 (Jul., 1973), pp. 32-53
Published by: Academy of American Franciscan History
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IDEAS AND SOCIETYIN DON PORFIRIO'SMEXICO
N opinion often expressed by historians of Mexico and Latin
America is that the age of Don Porfirio'sMexico was one
in which the philosophy of positivism, wherther Comtean or
Spencerian, was the dominant and official ideology of the day.- In
contrast to this viewpoint, an important supposition of this essay is
that the intellectual history of the Porfiriato can only become intelligible
if and when other ideas, concepts, and philosophies are distinguished
from positivism. In addition, an accurate description of the role of
ideas necessitates that some attention be focused upon the function of
ideas in society. Thus a concern of this essay, apart from differentiating
ideas, is that of suggesting the interrelationship of ideas to certain
political and socio-economic groups during the Porfiriato.2 To do this
properly will first require a statement about the social structure of
Mexico between 1876 and 1911.
Although various criteria, ranging from dietary habits to sexual
practices, have been used by scholars of social structure in Mexico, a
classanalysisappearsto be one of the more fruitful approaches. The term
"class" can be defined as a group or groups of people considered as a
unit according to economic function, occupation, life style, and social
status. A conscious identity of interests may or may not characterize
the members of such a group.
With this admittedly general criteria, Mexico between 1895 and
1900 can be grouped into a rural and urban sector, with upper, middle,
and popular classes within each sector. Of a total population of around
1Examples of this position are too numerous to cite. It should suffice to note that
they range from the early studies of Leopoldo Zea such as El positivismo en Mixico
(M6xico: El Colegio de Mexico, 1943), and Apogeo y decadencia del positivismo en
Mexico (M6xico: El Colegio de Mexico, 1944) to the recent collection of essays
edited by Ralph Lee Woodward, Jr., entitled Positivism in Latin America, 1850-1900
(Lexington, Mass: D. C. Heath and Company, 1971). For a definition of positivism
and an analysis of Zea's works see William D. Raat, "Leopoldo Zea and Mexican
Positivism: A Reappraisal,"Hispanic American Historical Review 48 (February 1968):
1-18. See also Charles A. Hale, "Sustancia y m6todo en el pensamiento de Leopoldo
Zea," Historia Mexicana 20 (Oct.-Dec. 1970): 285-304.
2The philosophical debate about the nature of ideas and whether or not ideas are
or can be functional cannot be entertained in this context. In an earlier essay I have
concerned myself with the philosophical and methodological problems of intellectual
history and the history of ideas. See William D. Raat, "Ideas e historia en M6xico:
Un ensayo sobre metodologia," Latino America 3 (1970): 175-188.
32
WILLIAM D. RAAT
33
13 1/2 million, approximately 91% can be classified as popular, 8% as
middle, and 1% as upper. The upper class consised of hacendados,
plantation owners, investors (foreign and domestic), industrialists,and
high ranking members of the church and the army. The middle sectors
included amongst others professional and managerialgroups, politicians,
officeworkers, artisans, tradesmen, skilled workers, rancheros, and
proprietor farmers. Finally, the popular class included types like
soldiers, industrial workers, vendors, peones, sharecroppers, beggars,
and other unemployed urban and rural poor. A rough ethnic or cultural
correlation can be made between the creole and mestizo elites and middle
groups (la gente decente) and the mestizo and indigenous poor (pelados
and los tontos).It is understood that these are less than precise categories. Obviously
rural and urban groupings overlapped. Many hacendados,while owning
vast agricultural and pastoral estates with a casa grande situated upon
them, were engaged in urban-oriented industrial, banking, and manufacturing pursuits, owned a town house, and had a social and political
base in the city. Often these provincial elites would consist of extended
family units with a few families controlling the political and economic
affairs of a region or province. Some examples of these elites would
include the Arriaga, Hernandez, and Cabrerafamilies of San Luis Potosi;
the Terrazas, Trias, Casavantes, and Gonzailez families of Chihuahua;
and the Madero family of Coahuila. Other examples would include
the Torres-Corral group of Sonora and the hacendado supporters of
Bernardo Reyes in Nuevo Le6n.4
The statistics come from Arturo Gonzilez Cosio, "Clases y estratos sociales," in
Mexico, cincuenta aiios de revolucidn: La vida social (M6xico: Fondo de Cultura
Econ6mica, 1961): 55. See also Moises Gonzilez Navarro, El Porfiriato: La vida social
in Historia moderna de Mexico, ed. by Daniel Cosio Villegas (M6xico: Editorial
Hermes, 1970): 383-399; Andr6s Molina Enriquez, Los grandes problemas nacionales
in Problemas Agricolas e Industriales de Mexico 5 (January-March 1953): 26-34 &
122-24; James W. Wilkie, The Mexican Revolution: Federal Expenditure and Social
Change Since 1910 (Berkeley & Los Angeles: University of California, 1967), p. 203.
4 The urban-rural characteristics of the traditional hacienda are treated by James
Lockhart in his essay "Encomienda and Hacienda: The Evolution of the Great Estate
in the Spanish Indies,"Hispanic American Historical Review 49 (August 1969): 411-429.
For examples of regional studies see the following: For San Luis Potosi see James D.
Cockcroft, Intellectual Precursors of the Mexican Revolution (Austin: University of
Texas, 1968), pp. 13-34. For Chihuahua, Michael C. Meyer, Mexican Rebel (Lincoln:
University of Nebraska, 1967), pp. 9-15; Harold D. Sims, "Espejo de caciques: Los
Terrazas de Chihuahua,"Historia Mexicana 18 (January-March1969): 379-399;William
Beezley, "Opportunity in Porfirian Mexico," North Dakota Quarterly 40 (Spring
1972): 30-40. For the Reyistas of Nuevo Le6n and Coahuila see Anthony T. Bryan,
"Mexican Politics in Transition, 1900-1913: The Role of General Bernardo Reyes"
(Ph.D. dissertation, University of Nebraska, 1970), pp. 21-270.
34
DON PoRFnIRIO'S
MEXIco
On the other end of the social spectrum the members of the communal
village distinguished amongst themselves between the peon farmers
(los indios) and the village elites (known as los correctos). The latter
were considered "citified peoples" because of their contact with
outsiders and urban centers, and consisted of village leaders, priests,
lawyers, and teachers.5
Throughout Mexico's society there were also emerging or transitional
groups which were the result of the increasing mobility which came
from modernization and urbanization. A most important development
during the Porfiriato was the rise of what Mois6s Gonzilez Navarro calls
a new class of Mexican bourgeosie." These were the new elites of an
industrialized state included businessmen, financiers, bankers, industrialists, lawyers, engineers, educators, and commercial farmers. Of
these new elites the Mexico City groups were favored because of
their nearnessto the centers of government, education, and international
finance. One of these groups formed a governmental clique around
Minister of Finance Jose Ives Limantour and was unkindly known
by their enemies as the partido cientifico-the party of Scientists. Of
the influential members of the cientifico clique, at least six were
directly involved in finance, banking, and government. In addition
to Limantour, they included Pablo and Miguel Macedo, Francisco
Bulnes, Enrique Creel, and Joaquin Casasis.7
One other instance is worth noting, that of the transitional role of
upper and middle class intellectuals. During the last part of the
Porfiriato, intellectuals, voicing the interests of both middle and
popular class groups, defended and criticized the existing regime.
For example, Antonio Caso, although a member of the anti-positivist
Ateneo, was a director of the Club Reeleccionista of Mexico City
which had as its purpose the reelection of Diaz and Corral in 1910.
Another member of the Ateneo, Alfonso Reyes, was active after 1900
in promoting the political interests of his father, the Porfirian General,
Bernardo Reyes. Many intellectuals were moderate reformers like the
Maderista Jos6 Vasconcelos, who was secretary of the Centro
5As Oscar Lewis notes, this does not mean that there were two distinct social classes
within the village, only that there were rich and poor and a general awareness of
differences in economic and political status. See Lewis, Life in a Mexican Village
(Urbana: University of Illinois, 1970), pp. 54-55 & 430-431.
6 GonzailezNavarro, pp. 387-393.
7Biographical data taken from Diccionario Porrnia (M6xico: Editorial Porrf'a, S. A.,
1964).
WILLImD. RAAT
35
Antireeleccionista,and the Reyista thinker,Andr6s Molina Enriquez.8
The latter'scritiqueof Diaz society, Los grandesproblemasnacionales,
was an attack upon corporatepropertiesand a plea for the creation
of a rural middle class at the expense of the large hacendados. As
such his ideology, like those of the Ateneo, could not properly be
describedas revolutionary.9
There were radicalintellectualswho actedas precursorsof revolution.
Many intellectualswere alienatedby a social system controlled by
elites which blocked the advances and hindered the aspirationsof
membersof the middle class. Foremostamong the alienatedwas the
high-statusintellectualfrom San Luis Potosi, CamiloArriaga. While
many of his peers at the National PreparatorySchool were pondering
the doctrines of positivism,he directed his efforts to the study of
Proudhon,Marx,Engels,andBakunin. Arriagalaterjoinedforceswith
Antonio Diaz Soto y Gama and Ricardo Flores Mag6n to transform
the Mexicanliberalparty movementfrom reformismto the radicalism
of socialismand anarchism. Their ideologies of protest affected the
directionof both the urbanand agrarianlaborrevolts.10
Social theoristssuch as James Davies and Neil Smelserargue that
revolutions,as violent social disturbances,are more likely to occur
when a prolonged period of economic and social development is
followed by a short period of sharp reversal. An important idea
contained within this theory is the concept of awvareness;
that is, a
consciousfear that materialgains made over a period of time will be
quickly lost and a perceptionof discrepancybetween aspirationsand
objective conditions. In this situationideologies are either created or
borrowed in order to rationalizeand guide revolutionary behavior
which is intended to erase the gap between aspirationsand conditions."
8 Fernando Salmer6n, "Los fil6sofos mexicanos del
siglo xx," in Estudios de historia
de la filosofia en Mexico (M6xico: Universidad Nacional Aut6noma de Mixico, 1963):
281.
9 Mois6s Gonzilez Navarro, "La ideologia de la revoluci6n mexicana," Historia
Mexicana 10 (April-June 1961): 631-634.
10Cockcroft, pp. 55-88.
11James C. Davies, "Toward a Theory of Revolution," American Sociological Review
27 (February 1962): 5-19 and Neil Smelser, Theory of Collective Behavior (New York:
Free Press of Glencoe, 1963), pp. 18-19. Both Davies and Smelser have been subject
to criticism from their peers in the profession. Davis' so-called J-curve of rising expectations has been tested by Raymond Tanter and Manus Midlarsky with results which
run counter to his propositions. Some theorists argue that after a country reaches a
certain economic base, political instability decreases with continuing economic development. In any case the crucial idea of economic reversal, so basic to Davies' position,
36
DON PORFIRIO'S MEXICO
An ideology may have been elborated at an earlier stage, but until
the social conditions are conducive and the structure is strained no
one will make use of it. This was the case with the doctrine of
anarchismwhich was introduced into Mexico as early as 1861 with the
publication of the Cartilla socialista by Plotino Rhodakanaty. During
the 1870's the disciples of Rhodakanaty began to advocate the more
radical cooperrative and communist-anarchistideas of Kropotkin. Yet
the movement declined in the 1880's and was not revived until after
1900 when the Flores Mag6n brothers gave new life to the movement
and the ideology. It was also after 1900 that the first structural
strains of Diaz' Mexico started to become apparent.12
In general terms at least, it would appear that Mexico's revolutionary
situation fits the sociological model described by Davies 4nd Smelser.
The Porfirian years were years of rapid economic development, at
least until 1902. Foreign investment, attracted to Mexico by government concessions and promises of peace, developed Mexico's railroads
and export industries. The creation of an internal transport system
fostered the growth of manufacturing and commercial agriculture.
Mexico even saw the beginnings of a modern indigenous industrial
base. This was especially the case with those elite families of Sonora
and Nuevo Le6n, who, taking advantage of the arrival of the railroads,
formed alliances with foreign investors in order to convert their estates
into cotton plantations. Many others, like the cientificos, tended to
invest in banking and trade adventures.13
was not consideredin these analyses.Smelserhas been criticizedfor having an antidemocraticbias which considerscollective behavior,especiallyrevolution,irrational.
For the critiqueof Davis see D. P. Bwy, "PoliticalInstabilityin LatinAmerica: The
Test of a CausalModel,"Latin AmericanResearchReview 3 (Spring
Cross-Cultural
1968): 17-66. For a critiqueof Smelsersee Elliott Currieand JeromeH. Skolnick,
"A CriticalNote on Conceptionsof CollectiveBehavior,"The Annalsof the American
Academyof Politicaland SocialScience 391 (September1970): 34-45. That sameissue
featuresa rebuttalby Smelserentitled"Two Criticsin Searchof a Bias": 46-55. For
a generalsurvey of the historicalliteratureof the MexicanRevolution,which treats
both underlyingand immediatecauses,see Cole Blasier,"Studiesof SocialRevolution:
Originsin Mexico,Bolivia,and Cuba,"Latin AmericanResearchReview 2 (Summer
1967):28-64.
'12Plotino C. Rhodakanaty,Cartillasocialista(M6xico: Imprentade V. G. Torres,
see eitherJos6C. Valades,"Noticia sobre
1861),16 pp. For an analysisof Rhodakanaty
el Socialismoen Mexico duranteel siglo XIX," in CartillaSocialista(Mixico: 1968),
pp. 5-35 or John Hart, "AnarchistThoughtin NineteenthCenturyMexico" (Ph.D.
diss.,Universityof California,1970),pp. 31-49.
I For a general descriptionof economic developmentduring the Porfiriato,see
Raymond Vernon, The Dilemma of Mexico's Development (Cambridge: Harvard University, 1963), pp. 38-58.
WILLIAM
D. RAAT
37
Until 1902, manufacturing, commercial farming, mining, and the
livestock industry all tended to expand. In 1902 agriculture and
manufacturing experienced a decline. There was a similar reduction
of productivity in cattle ranching and mining between the years of
1904 and 1905. Staple food crops like corn, wheat, and beans, while
increasing in total production throughout the Diaz years, barely
exceeded the growth of the population. Finally in 1907 a depression
in world henequen prices and a shrinking of foreign markets hurt
producers of henequen, cotton, and industrial minerals. With a shortage
of funds, banks curtailed credit and thereby hurt landowners and other
potential investors.14
Rapid economic development tended to disrupt Mexican society.
Supporters of the regime started to question their loyalities to the
government when they found themselves in economic trouble. Many
hacendados and foreign investors were uncertain of their future under
the Diaz regime. When largescale irrigated cotton farms appeared in
northern Mexico, wage rates increased. The new sugar plantations did
the same thing in order to attract labor. Modernization was hurting
the hacendado who was unwilling or unable to change his traditional
methods of land utilization. The credit squeeze of 1907 only aggravated
conditions. Likewise, foreign investors in Mexico's railways were
increasingly unhappy over the government's new policy of nationalization begun by Limantour after 1908. A weakening of ties between
some foreign and domestic elites, as well as between foreigners and the
government, was a natural result.'5
As labor and industry sought each other, internal migration and
the growth of urbanization produced added social dislocations.
Migrants moved from states like Guanajuato and Jalisco to other areas
such as Veracruz and Yucatin. Municipalities under 3000 in population
declined while the larger cities of Toluca, Orizaba, Monterrey, Jalapa,
San Luis Potosi, and Mexico City increased. Some indications of
urban unrest during the period include labor strikes, a rampant
alcoholism among Mexican workers (this was also a direct result of
14This data measures productivity in terms of millions of
pesos and is based on 1950
prices. See Enrique Perez L6pez, "El producto nacional," in Mexico, cincuenta aios
de revolucidn: La economia (Mexico: Fondo de Cultura Econ6mica, 1960), p. 587.
For a critique of Perez L6pez, especially "upward bias," and a general discussion of
the problems and limitations of statistical data see Donald B. Keesing, "Structural
Change Early in Development: Mexico's Changing Industrial and Occupational Structure from 1895-1950,"Journal of Economic History 29 (Dec. 1969): 716-737.
15Vernon, pp. 52-55.
38
DoN PORFIRIO'S
MEXICO
economic developmentin that the railroadsuddenly linked the rich
market of Mexico City with the pulque producers of Apizaco), and
increasing suicide and crime rates."'
Concerning labor it should be noted that industrial unrest was
more the rule than the exception during the Porfiriato,especiallyin
the textile and railwayindustries. Mois6sGonzalezNavarroestimates
that there were at least 250 strikes during the Porfiriato and that
labor strikes and agitation were especially widespread between the
years of 1905 and 1907. It was of course those years which witnessed
the Cananeastrike in Sonora (1906), and the textile strikesin Puebla
(1907) and Veracruz (the Rio Brancostrike of 1907). These strikes
were suppressedby federal troops, and in the case of the Cananea
strike Arizona Rangers conveniently crossed the border to aid law
and order in Mexico.17
The relationship between hacendado and peon was also one of
increasedstrain. In the state of Morelos modernizationmeant the
conversionof agriculturallands into sugarplantations. Profit minded
hacendadossought to increasetheir landholdings,often at the expense
of the surroundingIndianvillages. Diaz' land policiesonly accentuated
this exploitation. In addition,an increasingawarenesson the part of
the peon of the betterwages and living conditionsof both the Mexican
urban worker and the agriculturalworker in the United States increased his restlessnessmaking him more receptive to ideologies of
protestand politicalaction.'
Mention has alreadybeen made of the alienatedintellectualof the
upper and middle class. Politicalsuppression,dishonestelections,and
governmentcensorshipencouragedmany upperandmiddlesector elites
like Madero and Arriaga to question the legitimacy of the regime.
Economic developmenthad produced an indigenouscommericaland
industrial group. Some of these people, young and active, found
themselvesexcludedfrom Diaz's expandingbureaucracyand unableto
realizetheir ambitions. By 1910 Diaz and many of his advisorswere
literally weak with old age. Thus a quarrelof generationsadded to
the generaldiscord."'
16
Moises Gonzilez Navarro, La vida social, pp. 19-35; 72-82; 415-434.
17Ibid.,
pp. 298-300.
18Robert A. White, "Mexico: The Zapata Movement and the Revolution," in Latin
American Peasant Movements, ed. by Henry A. Landsberger (Ithaca and London:
Cornell University, 1969), pp. 103-104. See also John Womack's Zapata and the Mexican
Revolution (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1969).
19Octavio Paz, The Labyrinth of Solitude (New York: Grove Press, 1961),
p. 137.
WILLIAM
D. RAAT
39
As can be seen then, the dislocationsof rapideconomicdevelopment
produceda conflictsituationwhich was both internaland external,a
conflictwhicheventuallyled to a breakdown
of the old regime. The
internalconflictwas the politicalstrugglewithin the regimeitself.
The externalstrugglewas betweenthe regimeand thosemiddleand
popularsectorswhichhadbeendeniedaccessto politicalandeconomic
power. Withinthisconflictstructureseveralgroupsevolvedideasand
whichmadethe changingworldof Diaz'sMexicointelliidea-systems
gibleto themselves.
Someof the dimensions
of the internalstruggleincludedgenerational
strife, a weakening of ties between some hacendadosand foreign
interestswith the regime, the alienationof intellectualsand students,
an increasinglycriticalvoice from someclericson the issueof positivism
and education,and an in-depth strugglewithin the upper ranksof the
governmental hierarchy between cliques of cabinet members and
advisors. The encounterbetween Ministerof FinanceJos6Ives Limantour and Ministerof War BernardoReyes is an exampleof the latter.
This clash between Limantour and Reyes not only revealed the
political ambitionsof the two vice-presidentialcontenders,but symbolizedthe largerstrugglebetween the interestsof the Army and those
of the emergingMexico City bourgeoisiewho fearedthe rising power
of a provincialcaudillo. The contest began in the early 1900'swhen
Limantouropposed the renovationof the army and the creationof a
SecondReserve. It continuedinto 1909 when the Reyistasled an anticientifico campaignwhich broughtabout a temporaryforced exile for
GeneralReyes. It is tempting to speculatewhat the condition of the
Federal Army would have been in 1910 if Reyes would have been
allowed his reforms. In any case this was not the situation. The army
of 1910, as is well known, was so weak and decrepit that it was
incapableof defendingthe interestsof the regime.20
Internalstrugglesinvolvingthe use or threatof violence can lead to
coups d' etat in which one ruling group replacesanother. Although
a change in the composition of government occurs, this does not
necessitatea majorreorientationof policiesor a restructuringof society
20 For a general description of the
Limantour-Reyes conflict which analyzes Reyes'
motivation see again Anthony Bryan, "Mexican Politics in Transition," pp. 96-100 and
218-270. For a "cientifico" view see Jos6 Yves Limantour, Apuntes sobre mi vida
ptiblica (M6xico: Editorial Porrua, S. A., 1965), pp. 105-152. For the poor condition
of the military during the Porfiriato see Edwin Lieuwen, Mexican Militarism (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1968), pp. 1-12.
40
DON PORFIRIO'S MEXICO
and government.2 Madero's movement seemingly fits this description,
since he, like many civilian caudillos before him, took the place of the
head of state and continued to govern through the apparatus of the
old regime's state and army.
Yet an important effect of the Madero seizure of power must be
noted. That is, the Maderista coup was a precipitating factor of social
revolution. Madero, in order to move successfully against Diaz, had to
enlist the support of military leaders, urban intellectuals, angry peasants,
and industrial workers. By so doing he conceded to them a kind of
political power and legitimacy.22 In this process a middle class program
of liberalism, "Indianism, " and anticlericalism was wedded to more
radical doctrines of protest, and the external struggle, that is, a broadly
based social revolution, took place.
Because the revolution in its beginnings was chaotic and spontaneous,
with many blocs competing for power, the leadership of the Mexican
revolution is usually described by historians as lacking a carefully
articulated doctrine or ideology. In Frank Tannenbaum's words, it
.was unadorned by any philosophy of politics, meager in its
"....
social program, and opportunistic in its immediate objectives. " 2Yet
was this necessarily the case?
It could be argued that Mexico's revolution, instead of not having
an ideology, had instead too many competing ideologies, doctrines,
plans, and programsto give the revolution a narrow purposive direction.
The chaos of the intial stage from 1911 to 1916 can be described as
an era of suspended revolution; that is, the co-existence of several
antagonistic centers or blocs (e. g. Reyistas, Maderistas, Magonistas,
Zapatistas,Villistas, etc.) which were unable or unwilling to eliminate
each other. A prolonged breakdown of the state's monopoly of power
occurred with each bloc adopting its own ideology and programs." The
force of nationalismwas evidently too weak to provide adequate social
and political cohesiveness, as evidenced by the lack of a national
ideology. In any case it is appropriateto distinguish and delimit some
of these competing ideas and programs.
21See Carl Leiden and Karl M. Schmitt, The Politics of Violence: Revolution in the
Modern World (Englewood Cliffs, N. J.: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1968), pp. 19-35.
22Robert White, "Mexico: The Zapata Movement," p. 104.
23Frank Tannenbaum, Mexico, The Struggle for Peace and Bread (New York:
Alfred A. Knopf, 1964), p. 49. See also Cole Blasier, "Studies of Social Revolution,"
p. 39.
24 This interpretation follows the definition and model of revolution outlined
by
Peter Amman in his essay "Revolution: A Redefinition," Political Science Quarterly
77 (March 1962): 36-53.
WILLIAM D.
RAAT
41
Of the various types of ideas of interest to the historian of ideas, the
concept of ideology remainsone of the more ambiguous and perplexing of
terms. The end-of-ideology debate, so current amongst United States
historians and sociologists of the twentieth century, is partly the result
of a lack of a common definition rather than to disagreement over
issues. Without entering that debate a limited consensus concerning
the meaning of ideology can be distinguished.
Daniel Bell, Talcott Parsons, and Edward Shils, all students of
ideology, agree that ideology implies a set of beliefs which have been
mobilized by a group for purposes of social or political action. An
ideology arises out of a situation in which the leadership of a primary
group sees reality in terms of a divergence between the ideal and the
existent. The function of the ideology is to rationalize and direct group
behavior towards the realization of a utopian order more akin to the
ideal. Bell and Shils would agree further that, when compared to
other beliefs, ideologies are highly systematized around a few
pre-eminent values such as, for example, national destiny, eternal
salvation, social equality, or even ethnic purity. By relating human
activity to a transcendent realm or higher purpose, ideologues are
stiving, sometimes passionately, to infuse their movements with discipline and an uncompromising rightness which will aid their political
effectiveness.25
Other kinds of ideas can be distinguished from ideologies. Similar
to ideologies, but lacking the scope and systematic elaboration of the
former, are creeds. While creeds may be coherent and explicit, and
even have the intellectual core of an ideology, they generally do not
have the concerted intellectual power of ideologies nor the influence
upon those who espouse them as do ideologies.26
Distinct from creeds are outlooks, which usually contain within
themselves a variety of ideas, beliefs, and creeds. Outlooks are not
systematic and have only a loose relationship with conduct. Unlike
ideologies, outlooks generally affirm or accept the existing order of
society.
25See Chaim I. Waxman, The End of Ideology Debate (New York: Simon and
Schuster, 1968), esp. pp. 3-4. See also Edward Shils, "The Concept and Function of
Ideology," in the International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, ed. by David Sills,
7 (New York: Macmillan Co. and The Free Press, 1968): 66-76; and Talcott Parsons,
The Social System (Glencoe, Illinois: The Free Press, 1951), pp. 326-383.
26 For a discussion of types of ideas see Shils, "The
Concept and Function of
Ideology," pp. 66-73.
42
DoN PORFIRIo'sMExIco
When the focus of interest that is implicit in an outlook is narrowed
and made more explicit it is called a program. Programs can be creeds,
idea-systems, or other types of ideas that, when mobilized, are converted
into a set of beliefs critical or at least in disagreement with dominant
attitudes and outlooks. Although ideologies are usually accompained
by programs, the opposite is not necessarily the case; that is, programs
can exist independent of ideologies and ideologues.
A system of thought having an elaborate pattern and which is
logically integrated can be called an idea-system. Unlike ideologies,
they do not have to be mobilized for political action nor do they
require a consensus among adherents. Systematic philosophies like
Hegelian idealism or pragmatismare examples of idea-systems.
It is obvious that these categories of ideas are not either inclusive or
mutually exclusive. Many beliefs and opinions do not fit these definitions. For example, a concept, that is, generalized idea of a class
of objects, may lack the comprehensive pattern and level of cognitive
awareness that an ideology, idea-system, or outlook suggests. At the
same time a concept, although narrow in scope, may not be as explicit
or goal-oriented as ideologies and programs. Thus, for the purposes
of this essay, specific ideas that do not fit the categories described above
will be referred to only as beliefs, opinions, or concepts.
Following the scheme introduced, it is now possible to delimit several
types of ideas from the intellectual milieu of the Porfiriato. Protesting
the status quo were a group of ideologies, both European and indigenous
in their origins, which were used in the revolt against the old order.
Taken together they formed the intellectual core of the Mexican
revolution. Some of the more obvious ideologies were anarchism (in
both its mutualist and radical forms), anarcho-syndicalism, socialism,
and nationalistic populism. Accompanying these ideologies were
programs, such as liberal indigenism and anticlericalism.
Ideas reflecting the interests of the regime included creeds, outlooks,
and idea-systems. The creeds most manifest of the era were the religious
beliefs and confessions of faith of the Catholic Church, including its
lay members, supporters, and hierarchy. Another creed less well
known consisted of the articles of faith of a group of secular religionists
who worshipped and practiced the Religion of Humanity (an orthodox
positivist movement). Some examples of outlooks would be the eclectic
views of many members of the regime consisting of a complex of ideas
and beliefs such as materialism, elitism, racism, scientism, environmen-
WILLIAM
D. RAAT
43
talism, and political and economic liberalism. Final~y, from the
academiesthere developedelaborateand integratedphilosophieswhich
reflectedthe impact of Europeantraditionsupon Mexico. The more
importantincluded French Positivism (i. e., the doctrinesof Auguste
Comte and his disciples), Idealism (especially the variant known as
Krausism),Social Darwinism,and Utilitarianism.
An exampleof a generalizedconcept which does not fit any category
of thought is anti-positivism. This idea could best be describedas
an impressionor notion, not always developed and only vaguely
understoodby those who were affected by it. Anti-positivismas a
political movementcut across class lines and group interestsand was
an ingredientof both the internaland externalstruggleof the Porfiriato.
Its major assumptionwas that the cientificos were adherents of
positivismand as such were directing Mexico's destiniesalong a path
which was alien to Mexico's traditionsof liberalism (including the
liberalarmy for the Reyistas) and/or Catholicism. Outsideof politics
its academic expressionwas the anti-materialistand idealistic philosophiesof the men of the Ateneo, such as Antonio Caso'sChristian
Dualismor the Aesthetic Monismof Jose Vasconcelos.
For ideas to have socal importance,they must be communicated.
Meansmust be availablenot only for the productionof ideas, but for
their consumptionas well. Another by-product of economic and
social developmentof the Porfiriatowas an increasein the quality and
quantity of educationalcenters, academicsocieties, and mass media.
All of these were importantas meansof intellectualdiffusionin an age
of increasedliteracy. The NationalPreparatorySchool, as a center of
culture and learning,educated many of Mexico'selites.27 Some, like
Limantour and Arriaga, later became politically active although as
advocatesof far differentcauses. Fromthe NationalPreparatorySchool
andthe provincialschoolstheredevelopedacademiccirclesand societies
which often held public meetings espousing various points of view.2
27For a general discussion of the National
Preparatory School see again Moises
Gonzilez Navarro, La vida social, pp. 607-632. See also Alfonso Noriega, Vida y obra
del doctor Gabino Barreda (Mexico: Libreria de Manual Porrua, S.A., 1969), pp. 93124 and Ezequiel A. Chivez, "La reorganizaci6n de la Escuela Nacional Preparatoria"
in Mexico, su evolucidn social, ed. by Justo Sierra, 1, pt. 2 (Mexico: J. Ballescai
y
Compania, 1902): 572-576. For education in general during the Porfiriato see Josefina
V~izquez de Knauth, Nacionalismo y educacidn en Mexico (Mexico: El Colegio de
Mexico, 1970), pp. 44-126.
28Two examples of academic groups, both of which
published annals and journals,
would be Sociedad Metoddfila Gabino Barreda for the early Porfiriato and the Sociedad
Positivista for the period after 1900. For a description of the activities of the first group
44
DoN PORFIRIO'S MEXICO
As for the mass media, newspaper circulation quadrupled between
1893 and 1907 and included a wide range of political opinions from the
conservative voice of La Voz de Mexico to the radical Magonista
publications.~ In an increasingly mobile society ideas were exchanged
wherever intellectuals came into contact with each other, whether
in the classroom, the coffee shop, or the prison workshop.
In attempting to correlate ideas to social and political groups, it
becomes apparent that some attitudes and outlooks were shared by
more than one group, class, or sector. Such was the case for both
Mexican nationalism,which can be defined as a set of attitudes held by
a national community, and liberalism.
The developments of the Porfiriato gave a new impetus to the growth
of cohesiveness and nationalism. Don Porfirio's Mexico saw the rise of
a transportation system which tended to break down the traditional
regions and unite them with Mexico City. With the growth of
markets and internal transportation, the Spanish language spread as
a medium for economic transactions. Educators like Justo Sierra,
Porfirio Parra, Enrique R6bsamen, and Joaquin Baranda were active
in promoting a unified, national system of education. Even the history
of Mexico was being rewritten along nationalistic lines with the publication of two monumental works, Me'xico a Traves de los Siglos and
Mexico, su evoluci6n social. Both of these studies attempted to resolve
see Manuel Flores,
Gabino Barreda, apuntes biogrificos," La Tribuna
"Aplndice:
(Mexico), Nov. 19, 1880. For the Sociedad Positivista see Agustin Arag6n, "La conmemoraci6n en Mexico del 49 aniversario de la muerta de Augusto Comte," Revista
Positiva 6 (Sept. 1906): 546-547 and Arag6n, "La vida y la obra de Augusto Comte,"
Revista Positiva 7 (Sept. 1907): 575-603.
29 The enterprising scholar can have a field
day in Mexico's national collection of
newspapers located in Mexico City and known as the Hemeroteca Nacional. For the
Porfiriato one can find newspapers representing several political and ideological views.
Note the following examples: For labor views see El Diablito Bromista, El Diablito
Rojo, and La Palanca. For radical labor ideas, including both anarchism and socialism,
see for the early Porfiriato El Socialista (until 1886) and El Hijo del Trabajo (also
until 1886). For the later Porfiriato see El Hijo del Ahuizote edited by Daniel Cabrera,
El Ahuizote Jacobino, Camilo Arriaga'sRenacimiento, and Flores Mag6n's Regeneracion.
For reform liberalism see El Diario del Hogar, El Partido Democrdtico, El Antirreeleccionista, and La Repzublica.For scientism during the early Porfiriato see La Libertad.
For the conservative Catholic voice see either La Voz de Mexico or El Pais. Finally
the government press consisted in El Mundo, El Mundo Ilustrado, El Imparcial, and
El Universal. Many newspapers supported the regime including El Debate, El Diario,
and La Reeleccidn. For a general survey of newspapers in Diaz's Mexico see both
Henry Lepidus, The History of Mexican Journalism in the University of Missouri
Bulletin 29 (1928): 54-69, and Mario Rojas Avendaijo, "El Periodismo," in Mexico,
cincuenta acos de revolucidn: La cultura (M6xico: Fondo de CulturaEcon6mica, 1962):
604-621.
WILLIAM D. RAAT
45
the traditional conflict between Hispanist and Indianist authors by
speaking of the Mexican as a national man who was the product of
both Spanish and indigenous pasts. The increasing presence of the
foreign investor angered cientificos and anarchists alike. As has
already been noted, Limantour's anti-foreigner policies after 1908
reflected a kind of xenophobia that was not unlike the nationalistic
fears of the reformers and revolutionaries of the later Porfiriato.
Nationalismwas sharedby both friendsand enemiesof the regime.so
It hasbeenarguedthatthe Diaz regimeabandoned
the traditionsof
Mexicanliberalismby developinga centralistsystemof government
whichtendedto supportcorporateinterests(suchas the Church)and
to ignoreconstitutional
guaranteesof politicalfreedom.,- Although
this propositioncontainssometruth,the statementis too partialand
limitedto be anadequatedescription
of liberalism
duringthe Porfiriato.
There are at least three problemswith this description. First,the
statementfailsto note the severaldimensions
of traditional
liberalism
some
inherentinconsistencies
containedwithin the liberal
including
position. Secondly,this propositiondoes not take into consideration
the interrelationship
of formalphilosophies
like utilitarianism,
Comtean
and
to
And
liberalism.
no
positivism, Spencerianism,
finally, noticeis
madeof the possibletransformation
of liberalismand the similarities
betweenliberalism
andconservatism.
Duringits formationby Moraduringthe earlynineteenthcentury,
as a politicalandeconomicdoctrine,inheritedcertainconliberalism,
tradictions
fromitsphilosophical
utilitarianism.
counterpart,
Philosophers
of utilitarianism
between
an
"artifical"
and "natural"
distinguished
identification
of interestsbetweenthe individualand society. In the
realmof politicalandjuridicalaffairsthe utilitarians
arguedthat state
actionwasneededin orderto guarantee
individual
liberty. By so doing
the state createdan artificialidentificationof interestsbetweenthe
individualand the politicalorder. On the other hand,in economic
affairsthere was alreadya spontaneousor naturalidentificationof
interestbetweenunfetteredindividualism
and the economic order.
Thislatterpositioncomplemented
the notionof laissez-faire
economics
30 See
Frederick C. Turner, The Dynamic of Mexican Nationalism (Chapel Hill:
University of North Carolina Press, 1968), pp. 53-100. For historical literature of the
Porfiriato see both Edmundo O'Gorman, "La historiografla," in Mexico, cincuenta
afios de revolucidn: La cultura, pp. 197-203and Josefina Vizquez de Knauth, Nacionalismo y educaci6n en Mexico, pp. 97-125.
31 See, for
example, Daniel Cosio Villegas, "El porfiriato, era de consolidacion,"
Historia Mexicana 13 (July-Sept. 1963): 76-87.
46
DoN Pornuo's
MEXIcO
in which government was not to interfere with the economy. Mexico's
liberals reflected these same contradictions by emphasizing the need
for a strong state to curtail corporate privileges, while, at the same time,
adhering to a laissez-faire position in economics.2
The doctrine of liberalism was also undergoing a transformation
during the Porfiriato, a transformation from an atomistic to an organic
philosophy. This new organic definition of liberalism can be seen in
the early 1880's in the publications of La Libertad, as well as in the later
articles written for the Revista Positiva after 1900.1 Undoubtedly
the philosophies of Comtean positivism and Spencerianism influenced
many of these Porfirian intellectuals. Organic liberalism, which placed
society and social needs above those of the individual, was an extension
of laissez-faire liberalism. Economic liberty and individualism was
"natural" and in harmony with Mexico's needs for development and
growth. Strong state action was only needed to create an artificial
identification of interests between individual political action and the
public's need for social order and peace.
Finally the similaritiesbetween traditional liberalismand conservatism
should be noted. It is true that the liberal emphasized laissez-faire
economics, federalism, and republican principles, while the conservative
argued for a kind of neomercantilism, centralism, and veneration of the
Spanish tradition of monarchy. Yet there were also many similarities.
Liberalism and conservatism in their early development were ideologies
of the same sector of Mexican society, i. e., the emerging creole
bourgeoisie. Both agreed with the doctrine of the sanctity of private
property. While the conservative emphasized state action to promote
mercantile interests (e. g., shipping, industry, banking), the liberal
argued for state action to curtail corporate property-action which would
aid in the creation of a rural landholding middle class. Both liberals
and conservatives shared the habit of social conservativeness and apathy
when it came to questions about the welfare of the Indian. Because of
this both groups were incapable of revolutionary action in 1910 since
genuine agrarian reform, i. e., the destruction of the hacienda and
32 See both of the
following by Charles Hale: "Jos6 Maria Luis Mora and the Structure of Mexican Liberalism,"Hispanic American Historical Review 45 (May 1965):
196-220 and Mexican Liberalism in the Age of Mora (New Haven and London: Yale
University Press, 1968), pp. 39-107.
3 Several
examples can be found in various issues of La Libertad and the Revista
Positiva. See especially Jorge Hammeken y Mexia, "La politica positiva y la politica
metafisica," La Libertad, August 12 and 20, 1880; and Horacio Barreda, "La Escuela
Nacional Preparatoria,"Revista Positiva 8 (April, May, June & July 1908): 232-286:
305-381; 385-437; 449-506.
WILLIAMD. RAAT
47
the restorationof the communalvillage, would violate their ideals of
privateproperty,elitism,and economicprogress."34
Thus by the time of the Porfiriatothe traditionaldistinctionsbetween
liberalismand conservatismwere meaningless. The idea of liberalism
was more a vague outlook than a defined ideology. Porfirio Diaz,
a liberalin the traditionof Benito Juirez and the wars of La Reforma,
blurredthe distinctionsfurtherby refusingto war againstthe Church.
With the declineof anticlericalism,a majorcharacteristicof the liberal
movementwas dissolved. Organicliberalismaddedto this processby
identifying liberalismwith the idea of the positive state. It is no
wonder that hacendados,bankers,Reyistas,Maderistas,and cienti'ficos
all claimedthe title of liberals. Before the resurgenceof anticlericalism
after 1900, liberalismwas a doctrine with a traditionand a form, but
with very little content. Only when Arriagaand others rekindleda
new liberalpartymovementbasedon the programof anticlericalismdid
liberalismonce again have political content and meaning. The new
liberalism,this time finding its philosophicalcounterpartsin anarchism
and socialism,would be a far more radicaldoctrinethan the old.35
A survey of the intellectual history of the Porfiriatowould be
incompletewithout a brief descriptionof the outlook of the cientificos.
Amongst others,some of the "key" membersof this clique included
Limantour,Justo Sierra, Francisco Bulnes, Manuel Flores, Joaquin
Ram6nCorral,Pablo and Miguel Macedo,and EnriqueCreel.
Casaskis,
They were all well educated,six of'the nine havingbeen educatedor
directly associatedwith the center of positivistdiffusionin Mexico, the
NationalPerparatorySchool. As a clique centeringaroundLimantour
they representedone of the many politicalfactions within the system
of Diaz politics. The factions that they often opposed were those
groups led by BernardoReyes and JoaquinBaranda. At the time of
their inceptionin 1892,when many of them cametogetherto form the
Liberal Union, they could be consideredliberal reformerswho were
attemptingto realizemany traditionalliberalgoals such as freedom of
the press, an independentjudiciary, a new method of presidential
succession,the developmentof public lay education,and freedom of
commerce from internalrestrictions. As such, they were originally
criticsof the Diaz regime.86 In due time, however,they resolvedtheir
4 Hale, "Jos6 Maria Luis Mora,"
pp. 208-220.
s This is the importance of the union of a liberal like Arriaga with an anarchist like
Flores Mag6n, a union which lasted until 1906.
3 Walter N.
Breymann, "The Cientificos: Critics of the Diaz Regime, 1892-1903,"
Proceedings of the Arkansas Academy of Sciences 7 (1954): 91-97.
48
DoN PoRFIRIO's
MEXICO
differences with Diaz and became very influential in directing the
financial and economic affairs of Mexico.
Although some of the individualmembersof the clique differed greatly
in their thinking from each other (e. g., compare Sierra with Bulnes),
a kind of general cientifico outlook can be noted. Those who were
signatories to the Liberal Union manifesto of 1892 could be considered
members of the liberal tradition. Many, like Limantour and Bulnes,
adhered to ideas of environmentalism and social evolution. Their
thinking was a kind of reforming Darwinism in which natural elites,
employing the techniques of science and sociology, could shape the
evolutionary development of Mexico's history. Most of them were
anticlerical, especially the vocal Bulnes. They were not necessarily
racist, or "racialist, " in their attitudes concerning the Indian; they
only shared the prevailing social conservativeness of the liberals and
conservatives of the day. And finally, they cannot accurately be called
Comtean positivists or orthodox positivists. If one word were to
describe their eclectic outlook and mood, it would be scientism, not
positivism.3
Apart from the cientificos there was a group of orthodox positivists
in Mexico. The leading member of this group was Agustin Arag6n.
It was he, along with the logician Porfirio Parra, who organized the
leading positivist societies and provided for the publication of a
positivist journal called the Revista Positiva. The orthodox positivists
were followers of the Laffitte school in France and were active in
developing a secular religion of humanity in Mexico. In propagandizing
and missionizingthe sacred truths of positivism, the group developed and
8 This is an observation derived from an examinationof
many of the writings of the
cientfficos. Some of the more important include the following: Limantour, Correspondencia, 1848-1911 (402 letters, var. sizes). Garcia Collection of the University of
Texas Library; Limantour, "Discurso . .. pronunciado en la ceremonia de Clausura
del Concurso Cientifico Nacional," Revista Positiva 1 (Feb. 1, 1901): 54-63; Limantour,
Apuntes sobre mi vida pziblica, pp. 16-22, 73-152, 229-239; Miguel Macedo, "Discurso . .. " Revista Positiva 1 & 2 (Jan. 1, 1901 & Feb. 1, 1902): 1-20 & 36-42; Bulnes,
El porvenir de las naciones latino-americanas(M6xico: Pensamiento vivo de America,
n. d.); Bulnes, El verdadero Diaz y la revolucidn (M6xico: Eusebio G6mez de la
Puente, 1920), pp. 98-169; Bulnes, The Whole Truth About Mexico (New York:
M. Bulnes Book Co., 1916), esp. pp. 119-120;Bulnes, Los grandes problemas de Mexico
(MWxico:Editorial El Universal, 1926), p. 329; Enrique Creel, "Conferencia del Lago
Mohonk sobre arbitrajeinternacional,"Revista Positiva 7 (Sept. 1907): 565-574;Manuel
Flores, "Ensayos sobre la educaci6n,"La Libertad, April 25, 1879;Flores, "La Libertad,"
El Mundo Ilustrado, March 3, 1907; Justo Sierra, "Las garantias individuales," La
Libertad, January 3, 1879; Sierra, Evolucidn politica del pueblo mexicano (Mexico:
Fondo de Cultura Econ6mica, 1940), pp. 269-276.
WILLIAM D. RAAT
49
followed a humanistic creed in which the great Being of Humanity was
worshipped.38 The movement was important for Mexico's history in
two ways. First, as a humanistic religion it contributed to the secularization of Mexican life so noticeable in the days of Don Porfirio. And
secondly, orthodox positivism, as has been noted, aided in the transformation of liberalism from an atomistic to an organic definition of
society.
Like the cientificos, the positivists were not, as a rule, racist in their
thinking. In fact, most of the intellectuals of the period could more
accurately be described as conservative or European indigenists rather
than as racists. Despite the adherence to Spencerianism and scientism
by government thinkers, the repression of the indigenous masses cannot
be explained through an assertion that these thinkers and educators were
racists. Certainly racism can be found in the Mexico of Don Porfirio,
but it will take additional research to demonstrate where and how. At
this point the evidence only suggests that a kind of creole racism
probably permeated several groups, with individual instances found
among both provincial as well as urban elites. As for the spokesmen
of the regime, Sierra and other educators accepted the idea of the
fusion of the two races as the essence of the Mexican. In addition, these
thinkers constantly argued for the educability of the Indian.8
The dominant idea of the time concerning the Indian can best be
described as conservative or European indigenism. This was a sociopolitical program which promoted rural education as one means for
resolving the poverty and problems of the countryside. Unlike the
Hispanists, the European indigenist did not sucumb to racism. The
Indian was not inferior racially. But unlike the "Indianists " and
liberal indigenists, the Indian past was neither glorified nor praised.
Latin Civilization was the model or archetype for their reforms. The
Indian was to be modernized and incorporated into an occidental
society. He would be taught Spanish, not Nahuatl; his religious values
38 For a
description of the positivist creed and an analysis of their movement see
William D. Raat, "Agustin Arag6n and Mexico's Religion of Humanity," Journal of
Inter-AmericanStudies 11 (July 1969): 441-455.
39This is a thesis which I have demonstrated in another context. This conclusion is
supported by the research efforts of Martin Stabb and T. G. Powell. See the following:
William D. Raat, "Los intelectuales, el positivismo y la cuesti6n indigena," Historia
Mexicana 20 (Jan.-March 1971): 412-427; Martin S. Stabb, "Indigenism and Racism in
Mexican Thought: 1857-1911,"Journal of Inter-American Studies 1 (Oct. 1959): 405423; Martin Stabb, In Quest of Identity (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina
Press, 1967), pp. 44-57; T. G. Powell, "Mexican Intellectuals and the Indian Question,
1876-1911,"Hispanic American Historical Review 48 (Feb. 1968): 19-36.
50
DON PoRFIRIo'sMEXICo
would be Catholic, not pagan. This type of indigenism, so current
among the intellectuals of the Diaz government, was an antecedent to
the conservative Vasconcelos' program of the 1920's.4o
Many of the critics of the cientificos, who formed part of the
internal struggle already described, shared some of the ideas of their
enemies, including liberalism, scientism, and conservative indigenism.
But the one unifying concept which they all held in common was the
notion of anti-positivism. In a series of harangues between 1904 and
1905, the Reyista apologist Juan Pedro Didapp, did not hesitate to
equate the cientificos with positivism, and positivism with corruption,
materialism, and atheism. Didapp's major concern was, of course, the
defense of the military and General Reyes from their political enemies
in the government.4'
In Didapp's charge of cientifico irreligion, his attitudes were complemented by the writings and teachings of many clerics. These
Catholic thinkers, like Didapp, equated cientifico thinking with
positivism, and positivism with a host of social evils from materialism
and atheistic socialism to drunkenness and pornography. The panacea
was obvious-replace the cientificos, rid the educational system of
positivism, and restore the country to Catholic spirituality.42 The
most formal expression of the new spirituality was the intellectual revolt
against positivism by the new idealists of the Ateneo, Jose Vasconcelos
and Antonio Caso.
One other idea, or more correctly, idea-system which characterized
the thinking of some critics of the regime was Spanish Idealism,
better known in Latin circles as Krausism. Karl Christian Friedrich
40See Raat, ibid. For a discussion of the differences between "Indianism,"European
indigenism, and liberal indigenism, see Ram6n Eduardo Rui, Mexico, The Challenge
of Poverty and Illiteracy (San Marino, California: The Huntington Library, 1963),
pp. 123-141.
41See the following works by Juan Pedro Didapp: Partidos politicos de Mexico
(Mexico: Libreria Espafiola, 1903), pp. 183-216, 224-225, 254; Explotadores politicos
de Mixico (M6xico, Tip. de los Sucs. de Francisco Diaz de Le6n, 1904), pp. 669-671;
Gobiernos militares de Mexico (M6xico: 1904).
42For some examples of clerical anti-positivism, see the following: Rafael Cirlos,
"Refutaci6n de los errores dominantes,"La Voz de Mexico, Feb. 5, 1892 and April 27,
1892; Ignacio Gamboa, El positivismo filosdfico y su influencia en el estado actual de
la sociedad humana (Yucatan: Imprenta "Lorede Mola," 1899), pp. 17-68; Francisco
Zavala, El socialismo y la iglesia (Guadalajara: Imp. de "El Regional," 1907), pp.
iii-vii; Zavala, El positivismo (Guadalajara:Tip. de "El Regional," 1909), pp. 3-5 and
36-38; Zavala, "Criticismo," La Voz de Mexico, Dec. 29, 1908; Jose de Jesus Cuevas,
El positivismo en Mexico (Zacatecas: Tip. del Comercio, 1885), pp. 24-42.
WILLIAM
D. RAAT
51
Krause (1781-1832), like Fichte and Schelling, developed an idealist
philosophy in which society was considered a spiritual organism
evolving towards the image of God. The function of the state was to
translate the ethical values of spiritualism and humanism into law so
that materialism could be transcended and spiritual freedom realized.
Krause'sethics was a kind of synthesis in which a semireligious humanism
was interlaced with social consciousness. Krausism was imported
into Spain by JuliainSanz del Rio and from the University of Madrid it
spread to the law schools of Latin American. Because of the predominance of legal studies in the universities of Latin America, Krausism
as a kind of legal philosophy of social action was widely read and
discussed by students, lawyers, and jurists."
In Mexico the leading Krausist thinker of the early Porfiriato was
Jos6 Maria Vigil. It was Vigil who led the struggle against the adoption
of Alexander Bain's textbook of "positivist" logic by the faculty of
the National Preparatory School. Intead, he argued that the school
should adopt the Krausian textbook of the Belgian idealist Tiberghien.
Porfirio Parra and other writers for La Libertad came to the defense of
Bain. In due time the Vigil-Parra debate had widened into a public
quarrel between metaphysicians and positivists, the former leading an
anti-positivist revolt not unlike later Reyistas and clerics."
The most important Krausist and spiritualist of the later period was
Francisco Madero. His conversion to " spiritism" occurred while
travelling in France as a young man. Like the earlier idealists and
anti-positivist, Madero held to a vague kind of ethical humanism in
which materiality as represented by man's ego would have to be
overcome so that the spiritual purposes of life could be realized."
Madero's attitudes had a more systematic expression in the personalism
of Antonio Caso's philosophy of Christian Dualism which was so
important in academic circles after 1910.
Anti-positivism, like liberalism and indigenism, was an intellectual
43For Spanish Krausism see Juan L6pez Morillas, El Krausismo espafiol (Mcxico:
Fondo de Cultura Econ6mica, 1956). Also see Francisco Larroyo and Edmundo
Escobar, Historia de las doctrinas filosdficas en Latinoamerica (Mixico: Editorial Porruia,
1968), pp. 125-127; and Miguel Jorrin and John D. Martz, Latin-American Political
Thought and Ideology (Chapel Hill: Univ. of North CarolinaPress, 1970), pp. 154-156.
44For the Vigil-Parra debate see the following: Jose M. Vigil and Rafael Angel de
la Pefia, Discursos pronunciados en la Escuela Nacional Preparatoria (Mexico: Imprenta
del Gobierno, en Palacio, 1885); Porfirio Para, "La 16gica de Bain y los profesores sus
enemigos," La Libertad, July 16, 1880.
45Charles C. Cumberland, Mexican Revolution: Genesis Under Madero (Austin:
University of Texas Press), pp. 33-35.
52
DoN PORFIRIO'SMEXICO
link connecting the critics from within the old regime to those outside of
it. Thus spokesmen for radical labor, along with the anarchists,
employed the tool of antipositivism in their attempt to discredit the
regime-especially the cientificos of the regime.46
It is outside the scope of this essay to describe in detail the various
ideologies of protest and critical ideas of the men of the external revolt.
It may suffice to note that ideas already mentioned formed the intellectual core of the revolt. Ideologies of protest for both urban and
agrarian labor included socialism, populism, and anarchism, with an
emphasis upon the latter. The ideas of urban thinkers like Antonio
Diaz Soto y Gama, along with the ideas of folk heroes and manhood
contained in the popular ballads (corridos), provided an adequate
rationalization for the use of violence by the Zapatistasin the countryside. Urban labor, in addition, made use of concepts and programs not
readily adopted by the agrarianradicals. Among others these included
"Indianism, " liberal indigenism, anticlericalism, and anti-positivism."
As can be seen then, the intellectual milieu of the Porfiriato was very
pluralistic. When ideas are considered as intellectual devices by means
of which a social group deals with the events it experiences, correlations
between thought and social action can be distinguished.
After 1900 a conflict situation characterized by increasing structural
strain can be noted. The forces leading to the dissolution of the old
regime were both internal and external. From within the regime more
and more elitist voices were questioning the legitimacy of the government while actively moving to improve their own positions. The
emerging radicalism of urban and agrarian labor only aggravated the
situation further. The Madero revolt was an important phase of these
political movements since it linked the moderates within the regime
with the radicals outside of the arenas of power. Throughout, ideas
were used by all groups to rationalize and direct and make intelligible
their behavior.
The Porfirian elites held outlooks which were eclectic, composed of a
4 For
examples of anti-positivismin labor and radical publications see the following:
"Los Cientificos," in El Diablito Bromista, Nov. 27, 1904; "Positivismo y Pesetivismo,"
in El Diablito Rojo, April 6, 1908; "Amor y positivismo,"in El Diablito Rojo, March
11, 1901; and the following issues of El Hijo del Ahuizote, July 6, 1902; Jan. 28, 1894;
March 3, 1889;August 9, 1896; August 16, 1896; August 30, 1896;Jan. 15, 1899; Dec. 14,
1902; Jan. 4, 1903.
47See again Jorrin and Martz, Latin-American Political Thought and Ideology, pp.
191-196; 207-213. Also see again Robert A. White, "Mixico: The Zapata Movement
and the Revolution," pp. 122-129.
WILLIAM
D. RAAT
53
complex of opinions and beliefs. The ideas of secular progress and
material development permeated the era. The cientificos, in particular,
held to a kind of reforming Darwinism and scientism which undoubtedly
aided them in directing the economic and educational forces of the
Porfiriato. The liberal tradition had been transformed in part to a
doctrine of state capitalism. And while many intellectual elites were not
racists, the Indian was still viewed as a kind of second class citizen who,
in order to be saved, had to adopt the European norms of conservative
indigenism. Orthodox positivist and Catholic creeds, along with the
formal philosophies of utilitarianism, Spencerianism, and Comtean
positivism, complemented the elitist views of Mexico's upper and middle
classes.
Throughout the period Krausism, as the philosophical counterpart
of anti-positivism, acted as a "spiritualist" corrective to the secular
doctrines of material progress so evident in the Porfiriato. Its initial
expression came with the anti-positivist debate begun by Jos6 Maria
Vigil. The later version can be seen in the personalistic ethics of both
Francisco Madero and Antonio Caso.
Anti-positivism was a special concept which was used by men
within and outside the regime. The Reyista spokesmen developed the
myth of cientifico positivism in order to promote General Reyes'
political ambitions,or at least the ambitionsof the men who attached
themselves
to Reyes. The clerics,unableto attackDonPorfiriohimself,
could vent theirown frustrationsuponthe cientificosand an educational
systemwhich was evidentlypositivistandthereforeevil. And, as noted
before, anti-positivismwas a convenienttool for the new liberal and
urbancriticsof the regime,from Maderoto DanielCabrera.
andliberalindigenism
Ideologyandthe programsof anticlericalism
were used by the more seriouscritics of Diaz. When it came to the
final days of revolution,ideologiesof socialismand anarchism,
along
with political programs,were used by angry men to transcendwhat
were to them the "not so smilingaspects" of Mexicanlife in the days
of Don Porfirio.
State UniversityCollege
Fredonia,New York
WILLIAM
D. RAAT