Week 4: Underdogs

This weeks reading was a novel by Mariano Azuelo published in 1915. The novel tells the story of Demetrio Macías and his humble beginnings as a peaceful farmer, who transforms into a revolutionary general. What must be noted of course is the band of rebels that Macías leads are not in fact ideal revolutionaries. As the book progresses we see that the rebels begin looting and pillaging the villages that they begin to “liberate”. I find it difficult even considering Macías as a revolutionary for this very reason.

Throughout the novel I found myself thinking similar things as Viva Zapata! I had mentioned in class that I thought the Mexican revolution a failure because it never overthrew the bourgeoisie, but rater replaced one rich, corrupt president with another. The failure of the Mexican revolution lies within the fact that agrarian reform is not enough of a platform to transform society. Agrarian reform is a difficult subject for many Marxists, because it can be enacted in a variety of different situations and for different reasons. If we look to the Cuban revolution, we can see that agrarian reform worked in many aspects, notably that large landowners had their land expropriated so as to be distributed back to the peasant population. However, it must also be noted that the Cuban revolution aimed to transform society as a whole, implementing various institutions and nationalizing industry. It is this combination of centralizing the means of production in the hands of the proletariat, which allows a revolution to succeed.

Vladimir Lenin once said “Everything but power is an illusion”, and this basic fact is essential to the revolution. The Mexican revolution is a prime example of how this statement is true. In the novel Underdogs the common theme expresses how at first the revolution is pure, but as time goes on its leaders betray the revolution. The fatal flaw of this revolution is that the Mexican people were coerced into believing that once the revolutionary army overthrew the previous government, all it would take to achieve a lasting political change was a new president and governing body. The revolution is so much more than this however. Linking back to the quote from Lenin, power is what drives change, and this change can only be brought about if those in power are overthrow by those with the means to take power. Ever since the introduction of capitalism, only the proletariat has the ability to take power from the bourgeoisie. Limiting a revolution to a simple change in government is doomed for failure! Without removing the underlying issues of the revolution, in this case the idea of property and land reform we cannot expect to see a successful revolution. It is capitalism itself that must be the enemy of the revolution, and this enemy should always be the focus of the revolution. Without explicitly removing capitalism, a permanent revolution is not possible as exemplified in the Mexican revolution.