Mexican Revolution - End of The Revolution

End of The Revolution

Historians debate the exact end of the "revolutionary period". The most tumultuous phase of it ended with the death of the Constitutional Army's primer jefe (First Chief) Venustiano Carranza in 1920, and the election and inauguration of Gen. Álvaro Obregón as President. Coup attempts and sporadic uprisings continued.

One major uprising occurred in 1923, when former interim President Adolfo de la Huerta led a revolt against President Álvaro Obregón, whom he denounced as corrupt- after Obregon endorsed Plutarco Calles as his successor. Catholics, conservatives and a considerable number of army officers, who felt Obregon had reversed Carranza's policy of favoring the army at the expense of the farmer-labor sector, supported de la Huerta. With his superb organizing ability and popular support, Obregon crushed the rebellion, forced De La Huerta into exile and executed every rebel officer who had a rank higher than major.

The 1924 Calles presidential campaign was the first populist presidential campaign in the nation's history, as he called for land redistribution and promised equal justice, more education, additional labor rights, and democratic governance. Calles indeed tried to fulfill his promises during his populist phase (1924–26), but entered a repressive anti-Catholic phase (1926–28). The Cristero Wars of 1926–1929, erupted in reaction to the official anti-Catholism.

Effective implementation of the social provisions of the 1917 Constitution of Mexico and the near cession of revolutionary activity did not occur until the administration of Lázaro Cárdenas (1934–1940). According to Robert McCaa, the total "demographic cost" during the Mexican Revolution 1910–1920 was approximately 2.1 million people—some were killed, others died of famine; disruption lowered the birth rate. Only two major figures in the rebellion, Alvaro Obregon and Pancho Villa, lived past 1920. Venustiano Carranza, Francisco Madero and Emiliano Zapata each died violently during the revolution. In the middle of the revolution, Pascual Orozco, who was living in exile in Texas, was killed while attempting to steal cattle from a ranch. During the course of the revolution, however, counter-revolutionaries Victoriano Huerta and Porfirio Díaz died comfortably in their beds.

Villa, who had ambitions to run for President of Mexico, was assassinated in 1923; While different people were reported to have been connected to his murder, it has been long believed that Plutarco Calles, who saw Villa as a potential challenge in the upcoming presidential election, was the main person who organized it. During the course of the Cristero War, Obregon—who was re-elected President after his supporters amended the Mexican Constitution to allow former presidents to seek a non-consecutive term-- was also assassinated, in 1928 by a Catholic fanatic named Jose de Leon Toral.

With Obregon dead, Calles was now the most powerful figure in Mexico. As a result of the social crisis caused by Obregon's death, Calles formed the National Revolutionary Party (PNR). The party would be regarded as the world's most durable political entity. Between 1928 and 1934, a period known as Maximato, three front men for Calles served as President of Mexico. By 1934 Calles, who had become increasingly conservative and rich, had lost influence among the large number of liberals and progressives in the PNR and agreed to let leftist Lazaro Cardenas run for President. Calles, however, could not control Cardenas. In 1936 Cardenas had Calles and 20 of his top henchmen arrested and deported to the United States.

Cárdenas was regarded as the most radical president in Mexican history but also as the most honest. His vision for Mexico was based on three principles: the ejidos (common lands) restored through a strong agrarian program to combat the domination of the large haciendas, a socialist education system to oppose the "fanaticism" of the Church and workers' cooperatives to check the excesses of industrial capitalism. To achieve this goal, he pleaded with workers, peasants and students to form a united front. Cárdenas also abolished capital punishment, better known in Mexico as fusilamiento, death by firing squad, in 1938. He also nationalized Mexico's oil industry, which was controlled by American and European oil companies, and renamed the PNR the Party of Mexico's Revolution (PRM). Cárdenas and the PRM's ability to control the republic without summary executions showed the revolutionary period was at its end.

Another major step occurred in 1940, when Cárdenas voluntarily relinquished all power to his successor Manuel Ávila Camacho, a legal transition that was unprecedented in Mexican history. In 1942 Ávila Camacho and all living ex-Presidents appeared on stage in Mexico City Zócalo, in front of the Palacio Nacional, to encourage the Mexican people to support the Americans and British in World War II. This demonstration of political solidarity among diverse elements signaled the true end of the Revolution. Given its importance in national history, Mexican politicians and political parties refer frequently to the Revolution in their political rhetoric.