RUcore: Rutgers University Community Repository
“Contesting the ‘Mexican miracle’
Descriptive
TypeOfResource
Text
TitleInfo
(ID = T-1)
Title
“Contesting the ‘Mexican miracle’
SubTitle
railway men and women struggle for democracy, 1943-1959
Identifier
ETD_478
Identifier
(type = hdl)
http://hdl.rutgers.edu/1782.1/rucore10001600001.ETD.000054829
Language
LanguageTerm
(authority = ISO639-2);
(type = code)
eng
Genre
(authority = marcgt)
theses
Subject
(ID = SBJ-1)
Name
(authority = LC-NAF)
NamePart
(type = corporate)
Partido Revolucionario Institucional
Subject
(ID = SBJ-2);
(authority = RUETD)
Topic
History
Subject
(ID = SBJ-3);
(authority = ETD-LCSH)
Topic
Railroads--Employees--Labor unions--Mexico--History--20th century
Subject
(ID = SBJ-4);
(authority = ETD-LCSH)
Topic
Working class--Political activity--Mexico
Abstract
(type = abstract)
This dissertation argues that railway men and women led a working class insurrection in response to post-war economic modernization programs implemented by the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), programs which favored business interests over the needs of the working class. In doing so, the railway movement challenged PRI hegemony by proposing a new democratic vision based on workplace democracy and community mobilization. The thesis details how the PRI intervened in the affairs of the most powerful industrial union, the Mexican Railway Workers’ Union (STFRM), forming pacts with union leaders to ensure the acquiescence of the rank and file to the ruling party’s post-war economic program. After enduring declining wages enabled by union corruption throughout the 1950s, dissident railway workers organized in 1958 and 1959 to elect democratic leaders to head the STFRM and to pressure the Mexican National Railways to raise wages and provide housing and medical benefits to railway families. Drawing on oral histories and railway company documents, the thesis proceeds to argue that railway men and women created a collective identity based on workplace and neighborhood experiences, and that they drew on this identity to organize the railway movement of the 1950s. Because a railway identity existed for individuals who did not work for the railways, such as wives, daughters and sons, the railway movement brought together families across regions. Hence, what began as a struggle over workplace concerns took on national significance in 1958 when railway families supported strikes that shut down the economy. The railway movement stood as the most significant challenge to PRI rule up to that moment, serving as an antecedent to the student movement of the 1960s.
PhysicalDescription
Form
(authority = gmd)
electronic resource
Extent
viii, 337 p. : ill.
InternetMediaType
application/pdf
InternetMediaType
text/xml
Note
(type = degree)
Ph.D.
Note
Includes abstract
Note
Vita
Note
(type = bibliography)
Includes bibliographical references
Note
(type = statement of responsibility)
Robert Francis Alegre
Name
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Alegre
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Robert
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author
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Robert Alegre
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(type = family)
Wasserman
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Mark
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chair
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Advisory Committee
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Mark Wasserman
Name
(ID = NAME-3);
(type = personal)
NamePart
(type = family)
Kaplan
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Temma
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internal member
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Advisory Committee
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Temma Kaplan
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(type = family)
Hewitt
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Nancy
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internal member
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Nancy Hewitt
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(ID = NAME-5);
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NamePart
(type = family)
Scott
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Joan W.
Role
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internal member
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Advisory Committee
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Joan W. Scott
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NamePart
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Beezley
NamePart
(type = given)
Willaim H.
Role
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outside member
Affiliation
Advisory Committee
DisplayForm
Willaim H. Beezley
Name
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NamePart
Rutgers University
Role
RoleTerm
(authority = RULIB)
degree grantor
Name
(ID = NAME-2);
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NamePart
Graduate School - New Brunswick
Role
RoleTerm
(authority = RULIB)
school
OriginInfo
DateCreated
(qualifier = exact)
2007
DateOther
(qualifier = exact);
(type = degree)
2007
Place
PlaceTerm
(type = code)
xx
RelatedItem
(type = host)
TitleInfo
Title
Rutgers University Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Identifier
(type = RULIB)
ETD
RelatedItem
(type = host)
TitleInfo
Title
Graduate School - New Brunswick Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Identifier
(type = local)
rucore19991600001
Location
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(displayLabel = Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey)
NjNbRU
Identifier
(type = doi)
doi:10.7282/T3BP02QB
Genre
(authority = ExL-Esploro)
ETD doctoral
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Rights
RightsDeclaration
(AUTHORITY = GS);
(ID = rulibRdec0006)
The author owns the copyright to this work.
Copyright
Status
Copyright protected
Availability
Status
Open
Reason
Permission or license
RightsHolder
(ID = PRH-1);
(type = personal)
Name
FamilyName
Alegre
GivenName
Robert
Role
Copyright Holder
RightsEvent
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Type
Permission or license
DateTime
2007-09-30 15:45:58
AssociatedEntity
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(AUTHORITY = rulib)
Role
Copyright holder
Name
Robert Alegre
Affiliation
Rutgers University. Graduate School - New Brunswick
AssociatedObject
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(AUTHORITY = rulib)
Type
License
Name
Author Agreement License
Detail
I hereby grant to the Rutgers University Libraries and to my school the non-exclusive right to archive, reproduce and distribute my thesis or dissertation, in whole or in part, and/or my abstract, in whole or in part, in and from an electronic format, subject to the release date subsequently stipulated in this submittal form and approved by my school. I represent and stipulate that the thesis or dissertation and its abstract are my original work, that they do not infringe or violate any rights of others, and that I make these grants as the sole owner of the rights to my thesis or dissertation and its abstract. I represent that I have obtained written permissions, when necessary, from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis or dissertation and will supply copies of such upon request by my school. I acknowledge that RU ETD and my school will not distribute my thesis or dissertation or its abstract if, in their reasonable judgment, they believe all such rights have not been secured. I acknowledge that I retain ownership rights to the copyright of my work. I also retain the right to use all or part of this thesis or dissertation in future works, such as articles or books.
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Technical
ContentModel
ETD
MimeType
(TYPE = file)
application/pdf
MimeType
(TYPE = container)
application/x-tar
FileSize
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14469120
Checksum
(METHOD = SHA1)
7f3950d27ce8761309658bb7d0be49ecb6ae2334
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