Overview

Despite the Mexican government’s projected image of prosperity and modernity in the years following World War II, workers who felt that Mexico’s progress had come at their expense became increasingly discontented. From 1948 to 1958, unelected and often corrupt officials of STFRM, the railroad workers’ union, collaborated with the ruling Institutionalized Revolutionary Party (PRI) to freeze wages for the rank and file. In response, members of STFRM staged a series of labor strikes in 1958 and 1959 that inspired a nationwide working-class movement. The Mexican army crushed the last strike on March 26, 1959, and union members discovered that in the context of the Cold War, exercising their constitutional right to organize and strike appeared radical, even subversive. Railroad Radicals in Cold War Mexico examines a pivotal moment in post–World War II Mexican history. The railroad movement reflected the contested process of postwar modernization, which began with workers demanding higher wages at the end of World War II and culminated in the railway strikes of the 1950s, a bold challenge to PRI rule. In addition, Robert F. Alegre gives the wives of the railroad workers a narrative place in this history by incorporating issues of gender identity in his analysis.

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Reviews

Alegre's study fills a significant void . . . . An in depth study of labor activism in the context of Mexico's Cold War experience is long overdue in the scholarly literature. --Susan Gauss, associate professor at SUNY, Albany, and author of Made in Mexico: Regions, Nation, and the State in the Rise of Mexican Industrialism, 1920s-1940s --Susan Gauss Susan Gauss (05/28/2013)

Alegre's study fills a significant void . . . . An in depth study of labor activism in the context of Mexico's Cold War experience is long overdue in the scholarly literature. --Susan Gauss, associate professor at SUNY, Albany, and author of Made in Mexico: Regions, Nation, and the State in the Rise of Mexican Industrialism, 1920s-1940s <br><br> --Susan Gauss Susan Gauss (05/28/2013)

Alegre's study fills a significant void. . . . An in-depth study of labor activism in the context of Mexico's Cold War experience is long overdue in the scholarly literature. --Susan Gauss, associate professor at the University at Albany, SUNY, and author of Made in Mexico: Regions, Nation, and the State in the Rise of Mexican Industrialism, 1920s-1940s --Susan Gauss (05/28/2013)

[Railroad Radicals in Cold War Mexico] is a long overdue addition to Mexican labor history that belongs in undergraduate and graduate classrooms everywhere. -Myrna Santiago, American Historical Review -- Myrna Santiago American Historical Review A fascinating book that provides an original, well-documented perspective on modern Mexico. -A. Vergara, CHOICE -- A. Vergara CHOICE Railroad Radicals is highly recommended for both scholars and students. -Andrew Paxman, Mexican Studies -- Andrew Paxman Mexican Studies Alegre's study fills a significant void... An in-depth study of labor activism in the context of Mexico's Cold War experience is long overdue in the scholarly literature. -Susan Gauss, associate professor at the University at Albany, SUNY, and author of Made in Mexico: Regions, Nation, and the State in the Rise of Mexican Industrialism, 1920s-1940s -- Susan Gauss The railroad movement in Mexico has been the subject of many books, but none as passionately written or meticulously documented as this one. -from the foreword by Elena Poniatowska -- Elena Poniatowska

Author Information

Robert F. Alegre is an assistant professor of history and affiliated faculty in the Women’s and Gender Studies Program at the University of New England. His work has been published in the Journal of Women’s History, Labour/Le Travail, and Reviews in History. Elena Poniatowska received a lifetime achievement award from the International Women’s Media Foundation and is the first woman to win Mexico’s National Journalism Prize.

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