WASHMUN IX...Background The Mexican Revolution of 1910 was Mexico’s second revolution. It ushered in changes to politics, social structure, and culture. This revolution, which started

WASHMUN IX Mexican Revolution of 1910

Joint Crisis Committee: Rebels

Chaired by:

Peter Jacob and Gabriel Sessions

Hello Delegates,

My name is Peter Jacob and I will be one of your co-chairs for the 2018 WASHMUN

conference Mexican Rebel Crisis Committee. First, a little bit about myself; I am a senior here at

Washington-Lee and I have been doing Model UN for two years now. I also play lacrosse here at

Washington-Lee and I plan on attending Saint Louis University next fall to study aviation. Crisis

has always been my favorite type of committee and I am very excited for this year’s crisis on the

Mexican Revolution. I can be contacted about any questions about the committee via my email

down below. I look forward to meeting you all and I hope we can have a fun and exciting

committee.

Peter Jacob

[email protected]

Dear Delegates,

My name is Gabriel Sessions and I am pleased to be one of you co-chairs for the rebel

committee of the Mexican Revolution joint crisis committee. I am currently a freshman attending

Washington-Lee and this is my third year of doing Model UN and I plan to continue throughout

my years in high school. In addition to being a part of the Model UN club, I enjoy extremely

complex board games such as Twilight Struggle. In the past, I have attended many crisis

committees and hope to provide an enjoyable experience for you all. I’m looking forward to

intriguing debate as the Mexican Revolution completely changed Mexican politics. If you have

any questions about the committee, feel free to contact me at my email posted below. I look

forward to hearing your discussions this May!

Gabriel Sessions

[email protected]

Committee Overview

The Mexican Revolution committee is a joint crisis committee. There will be three

committees that play a role in this simulation: the Díaz committee, the Rebels committee, and the

United States committee. As this joint crisis committee is also a historical committee, the

conference will pick up in October 1910 and go forth from there.

There are three types of directives that may be submitted: committee, personal, and joint

directives. Committee directives can be created by one or more delegates and should be

presented to the entire committee. These directives must be passed by a simple majority of the

committee. Personal directives are created by one delegate and joint directives are created by two

or more delegates. Both personal and joint directives do not have to be presented to the

committee. All directives are submitted to the crisis staff and must be approved by them in order

to pass.

Position papers are required for this committee. Your paper should include a very brief

summary of the issue (do not include events after 1910), your position’s view on the topic, and

your suggested solutions. Positions papers do not have to exceed 1-2 pages and should be written

in a readable font. By WASHMUN policy, any paper without a bibliography will be considered

plagiarized.

Background

The Mexican Revolution of 1910 was Mexico’s second revolution. It ushered in changes

to politics, social structure, and culture. This revolution, which started on November 20th, 1910

(after this committee officially begins), was aimed at ousting the Díaz government from power

and replacing it with a democratic republic. 1

Before the revolution actually started, President Porfirio Díaz ran a very effective

political machine. He prosecuted anyone who was even remotely a threat to his power: mainly

peasants, natives, and people in lower classes. He exiled or imprisoned his political opponents,

and therefore had no competition for the presidency. In addition, he tightly controlled the media

to censor articles that appealed to the opposition. Furthermore, his government was extremely

corrupt, which allowed landowning elites (also known as hacendados) to gain even more power

under his political system. Many of these hacendados were rewarded for supporting Díaz,

receiving land and political favors as gifts for their loyalty. This widened the gap between the

wealthy and poor by making the prosperous hacendados richer and eliminating opportunities for

poorer Mexicans. Government corruption and patronage meant that only 2% of the population

owned their own land and only 10% of the land was owned by natives. In addition, working 2

conditions were terrible: there were long work days and low wages.

Porfirio Díaz was a dictator and violated many portions of the Mexican Constitution. By

violating the two-term limit and faking election results to continue running, Porfirio Diaz was

able to run able to remain the dictator of Mexico from 1876 to 1911. This made him unpopular

among the peasants and lower classes of Mexico. So, to reinstate a representative government,

rebel Francisco Madero drafted the Plan de San Luis Potosí to encourage a rebellion. This

committee begins just after this was published, in October 1910. A year later (after committee

starts), the Plan de Ayala was written by Emiliano Zapata to spur revolts in the southern state of

1 National Endowment for the Humanities 2 Stearns, Peter N

Morelos. These two declarations were important to the initiation of a nationwide revolution 3

which would change the course of Mexican history. 4

5

At the time, foreign powers exercised a great deal of influence in Mexico, especially the

United States. By the 20th century, 20% of all land in Mexico was owned by American

businesses and wealthy Americans who used the land for their own financial gain and hardly

paid any Mexican taxes. The poor economic conditions led to the development of new national

opposition groups that planned to overthrow the government which included people who

supported the three main opposition leaders: Madero, Huerta, and Zapata. Even though many of

these groups formed, they were put down during the early 1900s before gaining enough support.

But, in 1910, there started to be a growing opportunity to bring down the infamous autocracy as

Díaz was growing older and the people questioned his ability to govern effectively. In a 1908

interview by US journalist James Creelman, Díaz stated that he was not planning on running

again for president. The Anti-Reelectionist party selected Francisco Madero as their candidate,

3 Library of Congress 4 The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica 5 Lizard Point Map of the Provinces of Mexico

and he proved popular with the people. When Díaz went against his word by running again, he

manipulated election results to secure the presidency over Francisco Madero. This spurred

Madero to write the Plan de San Luis Potosi, which became a rally cry for all Mexicans to rise

up against the corrupt government.

6

Topic 1: Replacing the Díaz Regime

How do we plan on toppling/reforming the Government?

All the rebels have gathered so that change can be made within Mexico in October 1910. In the

past, elections have been corrupt and unfair, so legitimate government reforms have become

impossible to make. There are many rebel groups with different objectives (democratic

government, improved working conditions, land redistribution, political rights, etc.). The rebel

groups are fragmented and are found in different parts of the country, so we must come up with a

coherent strategy with clear end goals that we will seek to accomplish. In addition, Mexico City

6 Sue Bell Picture of rebels fighting in the revolution

will be difficult to occupy because Díaz’s military control is strongest there. But if Mexico City

is captured, there is a huge payoff as Díaz’s government would most likely crumble after that.

Topic 2: Rebuilding the Mexican Government

How will we run the country if we gain control?

A rebellion needs to begin because we need to reform the current Mexican Government. Once

we gain control, we need to have a plan on how to set up the new government, keep corruption to

a minimum, reduce infighting, and make attainable goals about economic and political policies

to help us focus on the important issues. Will we have a democracy? Will we put a monarch of

our own in power? Or will we have another form of government?

Questions to Consider

1) What are the main goals of different revolutionary groups? How can we all unite despite

our differences?

2) How will we coordinate our forces and arm them without financial support? What is the

best military plan of action?

3) If we are able to take power, what is our plan to establish a stable democratic

government? Who will lead us? What measures should be taken to prevent another

dictatorship?

4) Should we write a constitution? What are the key ideals we are fighting for? What are

some specific ways we can implement these ideals in government?

Position List 7

Francisco Indalecio Madero Madero was an extremely important figure in this revolution as he challenged the elderly Díaz in the elections of 1910. As a result, he was arrested and put in jail by Díaz, causing him to call for a revolution in November 1910.

Pancho Villa Pancho Villa was a bandit by the time the revolution started and became a revolutionary with his fellow outlaws. He was an extremely powerful figure but had no interest in politics and did not wish to be president.

Emiliano Zapata Zapata was a peasant before the revolution that took up arms after the revolution started. He imagined a Mexico where the poor had rights and owned their own land, and supported the idea of breaking up hacendados’ land to give to the poor. Based on his perspective, he was against the ideas of Díaz, Madero, Obregon, and Carranza.

Venustiano Carranza Carranza was a rich political star in revolutionary Mexico and saw this revolution as a power grab opportunity. Before the war, he was a member in the Coahuila Senate and started looking to the presidency as a means to gain additional power.

Álvaro Obregón Obregón was a businessman throughout the revolution and was a farmer before the war. Overall, he became a decorated war hero as he fought with Madero against Orozco. Towards the end of the war, after the fall of Huerta, he supported Carranza’s bid to become president.

Lázaro Cárdenas Cárdenas was a general during the revolution and was later elected president in 1934. During his lifetime he supported policies that

7 Minster, Christopher

involved redistribution of land to peasants and reforms that give social and economic benefits to the Indian and Mexican working class.

Ricardo Flores Magón Magón was a political activist before and during the war. In 1892, he was imprisoned because he protested against Díaz’s re-election and and he created Regeneracíon, a liberal magazine. Throughout the revolution his ideas were suppressed by the government and he was sent to jail three times.

Pascual Orozco Before fighting in the revolution, Orozco was a mule driver in the lower class. But in 1910, he became a leader as he organized a small army to fight in the revolution. He was opposed to Madero’s ideas and eventually supported a military coup against him by Victoriano Huerta.

Felipe Ángeles Ángles was a main ally to Madero and when Madero came to power, he was appointed to the position of Brigadier General. Like Madero, he was arrested when Huerta took control next but was not executed. After coming back to Mexico illegally after his exile to France, he supported Carranza as he overthrew Huerta’s government.

José Vasconcelos José Vasconcelos was a an educator, politician, and philosopher who was a major campaigner for Madero. Since he was a political activist, he was exiled at certain points during his life. Some main points about his philosophy are that he promoted the idea of “cosmic unity” and was in favor of the expression of indigenous culture.

Gildardo Magaña Magaña was another political activist for Madero and a new government. He was put in jail along with Pancho Villa for political reasons as he was a supporter of the Plan of Tacubaya.

Luis Cabrera Lobato Lobato was a very educated intellectual that specialized in law. He served in government for about a decade where he was Carranza’s treasury secretary. A few decades after the revolution, he declined the option run for president.

Otilio E. Montaño Montaño’s main contribution to the revolution was that he drafted the Plan de Ayala with Zapata. In addition, he contributed to the war militarily by joining the Liberation Army of the South and becoming a general.

Genovevo de la O De la O was a important figure in the early stages of the Mexican Revolution as he supported Zapata’s ideas and led a rebellion in Morelos. One of his specialties as a general was destroying enemy trains.

Amador Salazar Jiménez Before becoming a figure in the Mexican revolution, Jiménez worked on an hacienda, so he understood the terrible working conditions. He fought during the revolution and was a signatory for the Plan of Ayala.

Works Cited

Bell, Sue. “Diaz and the Porfiriato 1876-1910.” Mexicanhistory.org, Mexicanhistory.org, 10 Feb.

2016, mexicanhistory.org/Diaz.htm.

Gale. “Cabrera Lobato, Luis (1876–1954).” Encyclopedia of Latin American History and

Culture, Encyclopedia.com, 2018,

www.encyclopedia.com/humanities/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/cabrer

a-lobato-luis-1876-1954.

Kent, Emerson. “Felipe Ángeles 1869-1919 (Felipe Angeles).” History for the Relaxed

Historian, 2016, www.emersonkent.com/history_notes/felipe_angeles.htm.

Library of Congress. “The Mexican Revolution and the United States in the Collections of the

Library of CongressTimeline.” Timeline - The Mexican Revolution and the United States

| Exhibitions - Library of Congress, Library of Congress,

www.loc.gov/exhibits/mexican-revolution-and-the-united-states/timeline.html.

Minster, Christopher. “8 Important People of the Mexican Revolution.” ThoughtCo, ThoughtCo,

18 June 2017,

www.thoughtco.com/important-people-of-the-mexican-revolution-2136695.

National Endowment for the Humanities. “The Mexican Revolution: November 20th, 1910 |

EDSITEment.” EDSITEment! The Best of the Humanities on the Web, National

Endowment for the Humanities,

edsitement.neh.gov/feature/mexican-revolution-november-20th-1910.

Quizzes, Lizard Point. “Test Your Geography Knowledge: Mexico: Federal States Quiz.”Lizard

Point Quizzes, Lizard Point, lizardpoint.com/geography/mexico-quiz.php.

The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica. “Mexican Revolution.” Encyclopædia Britannica,

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 2 Jan. 2018,

www.britannica.com/event/Mexican-Revolution.

Stearns, Peter N. World Civilizations: the Global Experience. Pearson Education, Inc.,

Publishing as Prentice Hall, 2015.

Other Helpful Sources to Start Your Research

● https://www.thoughtco.com/the-mexican-revolution-2136650

● https://www.historytoday.com/alan-knight/mexican-revolution

● http://www.mexonline.com/revolution.htm