Cárdenas Compromised is a political and institutional history of Mexico's urban and rural labour in the Yucatán region during the regime of Lazaro Cárdenas, 1934-1940. Drawing on archival materials, both official and popular, Fallaw combines narrative, individual case studies, and focused political analysis to re-examine and dispel long-cherished beliefs about the Cardenista era.
For historical, geographical, and ethnic reasons, Yucatán was the centre of large-scale land reform after the Mexican Revolution. A longstanding revolutionary tradition, combined with a harsh division between a powerful white minority and a poor, Maya-speaking majority, made the region the perfect site for Cárdenas to experiment by launching an ambitious top-down project to mobilise the rural poor along ethnic and class lines. The regime encouraged rural peasants to form collectives, hacienda workers to unionise, and urban labourers to strike. It also attempted to mobilize young people and women, to challenge Yucatán's traditional, patriarchal social structure, to reach out to Mayan communities, and to democratise the political process. Although the project ultimately failed, political dialogue over Cárdenas's efforts continues. Rejecting both revisionist (anti-Cárdenas) and neo-populist (pro-Cárdenas) interpretations, Fallaw overturns the notion that the state allowed no room for the agency of local actors. By focusing on historical connections across class, political, and regional lines, Fallaw transforms ideas on Cardenismo that have long been accepted not only in Yucatán but throughout Mexico.
This book will appeal to scholars of Mexican history and of Latin American state formation, as well as to sociologists and political scientists interested in modern Mexico.