Andres Hijar

Publication Date

2015

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

First Advisor

Feurer, Rosemary A.

Degree Name

Ph.D. (Doctor of Philosophy)

Legacy Department

Department of History

LCSH

History; Latin American studies; Silver miners--Labor unions--Mexico--Hidalgo del Parral; Silver miners--Labor unions--Mexico--Santa Bárbara; Silver mines and mining--Mexico--Hidalgo del Parral; Silver mines and mining--Mexico--Santa Bárbara

Abstract

This dissertation explores the way workers on the border in Ciudad Juarez and in the mining district of Parral-Santa Barbara increased their power during the 1930s. Unionization, collective bargaining, labor tribunals, political alliances, and direct action gave workers control of crucial aspects of the production process for the first time in the nation's history. Furthermore, workers' efforts allowed them to extend their power beyond the workplace and into the community. In some instances, workers were radicalized, especially in the border city. To attenuate workers' rising power, political and economic elites intervened in labor conflicts in different ways depending on the interests of the elites in the location under study.;Political elites' intervention in some cases deradicalized miners, but it also allowed them to increase their power against The American Smelting and Refinement Company (ASARCO). In Ciudad Juarez, workers' rising power and radicalization resulted in a violent response from political and economic elites, which eventually reversed workers' victories during the 1920s and 1930s. The Lazaro Cardenas presidency supported workers in both the border and the mining district, but failed to rein in political and economic elites' actions against workers in Juarez, who guarded their interests above those of workers through violence and illegal means.

Comments

Advisors: Rosemary Feurer.||Committee members: Barbara Posadas; Mark Wasserman.

Extent

209 pages

Language

eng

Publisher

Northern Illinois University

Rights Statement

In Copyright

Rights Statement 2

NIU theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from Huskie Commons for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without the written permission of the authors.

Media Type

Text

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