Frank Tannenbaum and the Mexican Revolution

2010 ◽  
Vol 77 (1) ◽  
pp. 134-153
Author(s):  
Alan Knight
Keyword(s):  
Cultural History ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Mexican Revolution ◽  
Social Program ◽  
Organized Labor ◽  
Psychological Consequences ◽  
The Social ◽  
Politics And Education ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Revolution

AbstractThis article examines Frank Tannenbaum's engagement with Mexico in the crucial years following the Revolution of 1910–1920 and his first visit to the country in 1922. Invited—and feted—by the government and its powerful labor allies, Tannenbaum soon expanded his initial interest in organized labor and produced a stream of work dealing with trade unions, peasants, Indians, politics, and education—work that described and often justified the social program of the Revolution, and that, rather surprisingly, continued long after the Revolution had lost its radical credentials in the 1940s. Tannenbaum's vision of Mexico was culturalist, even essentialist; more Veblenian than Marxist; at times downright folkloric. But he also captured important aspects of the process he witnessed: local and regional variations, the unquantifiable socio-psychological consequences of revolution, and the prevailing concern for order and stability. In sum, Tannenbaum helped establish the orthodox—agrarian, patriotic, and populist—vision of the Revolution for which he has been roundly, if sometimes excessively, criticized by recent “revisionist” historians; yet his culturalist approach, with its lapses into essentialism, oddly prefigures the “new cultural history” that many of these same historians espouse.

scholarly journals The Politicization of Labor in 1905: The Case of Odessa Salesclerks

Slavic Review ◽  
1990 ◽  
Vol 49 (3) ◽  
pp. 427-445
Author(s):  
Robert Weinberg
Keyword(s):  
Trade Unions ◽  
Political Action ◽  
Organized Labor ◽  
Russian Revolution ◽  
The Political ◽  
Remarkable Feature ◽  
Collective Rights ◽  
Urban Workers ◽  
The Government ◽  
Opposition Movement

One remarkable feature of the 1905 Russian Revolution was the efflorescence of labor organizations that occurred throughout the urban regions of the empire. Many workers throughout the empire demonstrated their resolve to promote and defend their interests in an organized and rational manner, with the mass labor movement often cutting across craft and occupational divisions to bring all kinds of workers into joint economic and political action against both employer and autocracy. As 1905 progressed the political radicalization of urban workers inspired much of the opposition movement that nearly brought the government to its knees. As several United States historians have recently shown, in 1905 organized labor, particularly trade unions, entered the political arena as a potent force, with workers simultaneously demanding individual rights of citizenship and collective rights of association.

Photography and Cinema in 20th-Century Mexico

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Mraz
Keyword(s):  
Golden Age ◽  
Mexican Revolution ◽  
Great Majority ◽  
Documentary Films ◽  
Feature Films ◽  
Mexican Society ◽  
International Audience ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Revolution

Photography, film, and other forms of technical imagery were incorporated quickly into Mexican society upon their respective arrivals, joining other visual expressions such as murals and folk art, demonstrating the primacy of the ocular in this culture. Photojournalism began around 1900, and has formed a pillar of Mexican photography, appearing in illustrated magazines and the numerous picture histories that have been produced. A central bifurcation in the photography of Mexico (by both Mexicans and foreigners) has been that of the picturesque and the anti-picturesque. Followers of the former tendency, such as Hugo Brehme, depict Mexicans as a product of nature, an expression of the vestiges left by pre-Columbian civilizations, the colony, and underdevelopment; for them, Mexico is an essence that has been made once and for all time. Those that are opposed to such essentialism, such as Manuel Álvarez Bravo, choose instead to posit that Mexicans are a product of historical experiences. The Mexican Revolution has been a central figure in both photography and cinema. The revolution was much photographed and filmed when it occurred, and that material has formed the base of many picture histories, often formed with the archive of Agustín Víctor Casasola, as well as with documentary films. Moreover, the revolution has been the subject of feature films. With the institutionalization of the revolution, governments became increasingly conservative, and the celebrity stars of “Golden Age” cinema provided models for citizenship; these films circulated widely throughout the Spanish speaking world. Although the great majority of photojournalists followed the line of the party dictatorship, there were several critical photographers who questioned the government, among them Nacho López, Héctor García, and the Hermanos Mayo. The Tlaltelolco massacre of 1968 was a watershed, from which was born a different journalism that offered space for the critical imagery of daily life by the New Photojounalists. Moreover, the representation of the massacre in cinema offered sharply contrasting viewpoints. Mexican cineastes have received much recognition in recent years, although they do not appear to be making Mexican films. Television in Mexico is controlled by a duopoly, but some programs have reached an international audience comparable to that of the Golden Age cinema.

The Social Background of Contemporary Mexican Literature

PMLA ◽  
1940 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
pp. 875-880
Author(s):  
Maurice Halperin
Keyword(s):  
Social Order ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Mexican Revolution ◽  
Social Background ◽  
Mexican Literature ◽  
Oil Companies ◽  
The Social ◽  
Contemporary Mexican Literature ◽  
Rapid Transition ◽  
Historic Significance

No one would deny that contemporary Mexico, the Mexico of Lázaro Cárdenas, the Mexico of widespread agrarian reform, of militant trade unions, of advanced social legislation, of expanding popular education and expropriation of foreign oil companies, has entered an era of great historic significance. We who are close to the scene are acutely aware of the swift tempo which this peaceful phase of the thirty year old Mexican Revolution has assumed. However we may evaluate the direction in which Mexico's social order is moving, we are especially conscious of the fact that for the past half-decade, Mexico has been a nation in rapid transition.

Social Concertation in Democratic and Market Transitions

1997 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 387-419 ◽  
Author(s):  
OMAR G. ENCARNACIÓN
Keyword(s):  
Labor Movement ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Economic Liberalization ◽  
Organized Labor ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
State Institutions ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Government ◽  
Institutional Legacies ◽  
Market Transitions

This essay employs a state-structuralist approach to explain the emergence of social concertation as a policy mechanism to facilitate democratization and economic liberalization in post-Franco Spain. Concertation emphasizes the institutionalization of consultation and cooperation on macroeconomic policy involving peak representation from the state, employers' associations, and the organized labor movement. The author demonstrates how state structures and institutional legacies played the critical role in fashioning a favorable strategic environment for the adoption of concertation during the restoration and consolidation of democracy in Spain. In doing so, this research departs from conventional approaches to the study of the making of concertation that emphasize either the strength of the bargaining agents from capital and labor or the social democratic composition of the government. Moreover, it reveals a significant role for state institutions in charting a successful path to democracy and the market economy.

Developments in Worker Participation in New Zealand

1979 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
David F. Smith
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Collective Bargaining ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Marked Effect ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Industrial Democracy ◽  
International Debate ◽  
Worker Participation ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Government

Industrial democracy and worker participation have become important topics for international debate, with developments taking place in many countries. Despite its former reputation for advances in the social field, little has been heard about developments in worker participation in New Zealand. The aim of the present paper is to report and assess such developments whilst placing these within the context of developments in industrial relations in that country. The strong reliance upon legal arrangements and government intervention in industrial relations matters have had a marked effect upon the development of the industrial relations system in New Zealand. Yet, despite this tradition of legalism, successive governments remain singularly reluctant to legislate in the field of worker participation. Recent initiatives by employers have been strongly unitary in nature, whilst the trade unions appear to be concentrating their efforts upon extending the scope of collective bargaining, an opportunity afforded to them due to recent changes in the law. The present Government's wish that voluntary arrangements between employers and trade unions will eventuate to cover worker participation seems less than pragmatic, since employers, unions and the Government itself differ so fundamentally upon what constitutes worker participation, and the forms it might take.

scholarly journals Union struggle and the crisis of industrial relations in Italy

2003 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valeria Pulignano
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Social Policy ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Policy Decision ◽  
Union Power ◽  
Social Dialogue ◽  
The Social ◽  
Policy Decision Making ◽  
The Government

This paper argues that the Berlusconi government is seeking to replace the ‘social concertation’ arrangement between government and trade unions with ‘social dialogue’ in an effort to undermine trade union ‘power’. This endeavour by the government to impose a policy of ‘social dialogue’ would severely limit trade unions' influence in economic and social policy decision-making and leave Berlusconi free to introduce reforms favouring his friends in employer organisations. One likely outcome would be the deregulation of the Italian labour market strongly damaging workers' rights.

scholarly journals Socio Cultural Reactions Before the Nationalitation of Dutch Railroad in Indonesia 1945-1958

2020 ◽  
Vol 202 ◽  
pp. 07049
Author(s):  
Waskito Widi Wardojo ◽  
Singgih Tri Sulistiyono ◽  
Endang Susilowati ◽  
Yety Rochwulaningsih
Keyword(s):  
Trade Unions ◽  
Social Process ◽  
Political Process ◽  
Round Table ◽  
Political Elite ◽  
Primary Sources ◽  
Cultural Aspects ◽  
Political Criticism ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Government

The issue of the nationalization of Dutch companies (railroad), which strengthened in the early 1950s, had caused some concern among Dutch companies. The issue was rolled by leftists who were disappointed with some of the results of the Round Table Conference (RTC) in December 1949. There was a phenomenon of xenophobia among natives of something that smelled of foreign (Western) so that the government policies that emerged were rooted in this matter, starting from the Benteng program and the nationalization of the company foreign. This paper aims to parse the anti-foreign phenomenon before nationalization by emphasizing the socio-cultural aspects. If the political process is carried out by the state political elite, then the social process is carried out by other elements of society such as trade unions in the form of boycotts, strikes and demonstrations. While cultural action is carried out by elements of society such as artists and humanists who carry out a variety of artistic actions such as murals, propaganda graffiti, advertisements in the mass media or images that burn the spirit of warriors on the walls in the city area. Particularly among railways, various socio-cultural activities were carried out by the Djawatan Kereta Api (DKA) in the 1950s. This research uses historical research methods based on primary sources traced from archival institutions and libraries. Research results show that the phenomenon of xenophobia that occurred in the decade of the 50s is part of the national socio-political criticism expressed through various forms of social culture.

scholarly journals The Committee of Members of the Constituent Assembly as a Left-Democratic Alternative to the Communists and the Whites in the Civil War

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Shubin
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
World War I ◽  
Private Property ◽  
State Regulation ◽  
Social Rights ◽  
Constituent Assembly ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Military ◽  
The Revolution

The Committee of Members of the Constituent Assembly (Komuch) was an option in the Civil War that was essentially distinct from both the Soviet and the White alternatives. Komuch differed from the Soviet and the White authorities, as it was characterised by a combination of advanced socioeconomic policy and a dogmatically principled commitment to parliamentary democracy. In the event of the military victory of such a power, the success of the social democratic model was not guaranteed (as the history of Europe during the interwar period demonstrated), but Russia’s chances of moving along a path that combined a social state and democratic institutions would have increased markedly. While criticising, and in many respects rightly so, the military policy of the Bolsheviks, the Social Revolutionaries and Mensheviks had to partially restore market capitalist relations. Their successful development was possible with the cooperation of the government and the bourgeoisie. The bourgeoisie demanded the dismantlement of “socialist conquests”, which Komuch was not going to do – both for ideological reasons and because the capitalist economy had begun to disintegrate during World War I and the Revolution. Komuch’s path involved the combination of a market economy (not necessarily just capitalist), state regulation, and broad social rights. After the Bolshevik promises, the workers and peasants took it quite calmly, fearing the possible cancellation of the social gains of the Revolution and expressing dissatisfaction with violations of promised civil rights. But the bourgeoisie, convinced of the “inconsistency” of dismantling institutions that infringed on the right of private property, stood in sharp opposition to Komuch, betting on its opponents in the anti-Soviet camp. At the same time, Komuch did not have time to build a state system for monitoring compliance with social rights and had to rely on the activity of trade unions, which, due to their social function, were critical of the government – in this case, Komuch. Komuch followed the law regulating the socialisation of land adopted by the Constituent Assembly and proposed a relatively successful version of regulating the food supply for the cities. Initially, the people’s army created by Komuch was also successful (enjoying support from the Czechoslovak Corps). However, Komuch faced a blockade by the Provisional Siberian Government. It was the opposition of more right-wing forces in the rear that predetermined the defeat of the Komuch alternative.

scholarly journals The impacts of COVID-19 on the world of work in Turkey

SEER ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-38
Author(s):  
Arzu Çerkezoğlu
Keyword(s):  
Social Order ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Economic Stability ◽  
Credit Lines ◽  
The Social ◽  
Poor Families ◽  
The World ◽  
Working People ◽  
The Government ◽  
Short Time

This article explores the reaction to the pandemic in Turkey, specifically as regards its impact on workers’ health, livelihoods and employment. It is clear that the pandemic, which has hit Turkey very hard, has had a disproportionate impact on working people and members of the union. The government has shortened the service record required to qualify for short-time working allowance, and also imposed a ban on lay-offs, but these are far from complete solutions. Meanwhile, its relief package - the ‘Economic Stability Shield’ - predominantly consists of credit lines and debt relief and is also the second lowest in the G20. Times are uncertain for all workers, particularly unregistered ones, as well as for poor families in terms of meeting basic needs now and during the next period of the pandemic, on top of the employment and unemployment crisis which has already been going on since August 2018. The government has decided not to take the advice of trade unions and professional organisations, but DİSK continues to raise its voice as regards maintaining the social order both now and in the crucial post-pandemic period.

scholarly journals Coronavirus disease 2019 and slums in the Global South: lessons from Medellín (Colombia)

2020 ◽  
pp. 175797592096279
Author(s):  
Juan Camilo Molina-Betancur ◽  
Eliana Martínez-Herrera ◽  
Juan M. Pericàs ◽  
Joan Benach
Keyword(s):  
Community Participation ◽  
Global South ◽  
Social Response ◽  
Psychological Consequences ◽  
Class Differences ◽  
The Social ◽  
High Prevalence ◽  
Vulnerable People ◽  
The Government ◽  
Structural Inequities

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is hitting the world’s most vulnerable people hardest, primarily the communities living in slums in the Global South. Lockdown, handwashing and social distancing are impossible privileges for many urban dwellers – measures which make structural inequities more visible, exacerbating racial, gender and class differences. There are many social determinants of health to explain these inequalities that trigger a high prevalence of infectious and chronic diseases. In Medellín (Colombia), it is a challenge to cope with this crisis, especially when the resources and aid provided by the government and institutions are limited. Yet, an organized social response is happening in some communes and slums, with high community participation, as a potentially effective key to control the pandemic. Once the emergency is over, communities in slums will have to face the social and economic reactivation, and effectively react to the multiple social and psychological consequences, new waves of COVID-19 or other pandemics.

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