Nationalism and Class Conflict in Mexico, 1910-1920

Abstract

During the Mexican Revolution, nationalism and class conflict became two of the most pervasive aspects of the social upheaval that swept Mexico. Class conflict became so intense that workers did not respond to the bourgeois leader Francisco Madero after he assumed power in 1911. Emiliano Zapata and Francisco Villa also failed to attract urban workers or unite the nation. Venustiano Carranza eventually articulated a version of nationalism that responded to class conflict by promising to alleviate the grim features of Mexican society that required reform. In Mexico as well as many other countries after the nineteenth century, nationalism prevailed over class conflict during periods of crisis.