Civilization and Beyond: Learning from HistoryNearing, Scott
History
Civilization and Beyond: Learning from History
Nearing, Scott
Civilization -- History
World revolution is not confined to the Old World of
Africa--Asia--Europe. It is widely prevalent in the Americas where it
can claim a certain priority. Outstanding among colonial uprisings of
modern times was the rebellion of the British colonies of North America,
from 1776 to 1783. Even more widespread was the rebellion of the
Spanish, Portuguese and French colonies of Central and South America
which spanned most of the nineteenth century and extended on into the
twentieth. Russian Bolsheviks held the headlines on revolutionary
activity from 1917 to 1943 but it should not be forgotten that one of
the most prolonged and thorough-going revolutions of the present century
gripped Mexico from 1910 to 1917. At the beginning of this period Mexico
was a political semi-dependency of the United States. It was
semi-feudal, with a large population of Amerindians and a pre-industrial
economy. Foreign capitalists and entrepreneurs, including those from the
United States, played a leading role in the country.
Mexico's 1910-1917 revolution was prolonged. It was also radical,
up-rooting many aspects of its old social pattern, speeding up the
bourgeois revolution, and preparing the way for a Mexican form of
populism and a Mexican foretaste of a proletarian revolution, initiated,
led and manned by Mexicans.
Mexico's revolution resulted in two important developments that have
played a major role in socialist construction. Both contributions
appeared in the Mexican Constitution of 1917, adopted eight months
before the Russian Bolsheviks seized power in November.
The first contribution was a chapter on the rights of labor. Bourgeois
constitutions had emphasized "civil" rights: the right to vote, trial by
jury; freedom of speech, press, assembly; the right to go and come; the
right to compensation when private property is taken for public
purposes; the right to modify or replace the existing constitution. The
Mexican Constitution of 1917 contained a detailed specification of the
rights of labor, including proper working conditions, adequate
compensation, education, health, social security. The Constitution also
contained a crucial property provision: the natural resources of Mexico
are the property of the Mexican people and cannot be alienated.
This second provision was inserted in the Mexican Constitution at a time
when extensive concessions to develop Mexican resources had been handed
out to North American and European capitalists. It was inserted in part
because the social ownership and sharing of land and other
natural resources has been one of the basic demands of the
Socialist--Communist--Anarchist movements from their inception.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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