Page:Margaret Shipman - Mexico's Struggle Towards Democracy (1927).pdf/50

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various warring factions, Yucatan did business on a gold basis and General Alvarado is said to have sent 20 million pesos to Carranza from the treasury of the commission[1] and was one of the most powerful factors in his success. In the mean time, under leadership of Felipe Carrillo, native Mayan reformer and labor leader, the workers of Yucatan were organized in the Liga de Resistencia del Partido Socialista, a socialistic labor organization of 100,000 members, male and female. The planters were forced to return plots of land to the peons, co-operative stores were founded, schools were opened on every hacienda, and prohibition and other social reforms instituted. Laborers received as high as 7 or 8 pesos per day and annoyed the planters by taking days off to till their own plots of land and otherwise enjoy their newly acquired privileges.[2]

8. THE ROLE OF ORGANIZED LABOR.

Under Madero, for the first time labor was allowed to organize, and did so rapidly in the chief industrial centers. Organizers came from southern Europe and Latin America, bringing with them syndicalist ideas. The strongest union formed was the Casa del Obrero Mundial (House of the Workers of the World) in Tampico, with a revolutionary program of direct action. Organizations of the same type sprang up in many places. In Vera Cruz, the Camara del Trabajo was organized by a deported Spaniard who had spent years in organizing South American workers. In Yucatan, Carrillo and others organized the railroad workers. When Madero fell, the workers' organizations had


  1. Beals, Op. Cit., p. 55.
  2. Trowbridge, Op. Cit., pp. 230–31. Beals, Op. Cit., p. 62.

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