1971_05 The Daily Collegian May 1971

              D£ AZTLAN
Daily
Collegian
LXXVI/128 MONDAY, MAY 3, 1971
La Semana De La Raza
Ricardo Flores Magon:  fighter,
dreamer; true revolutionary
The significance of the
Cinco de Mayo celebration
By Jim Gallardo and Frank Ar
(San Jose, California)
CPA Special
r Raza's struggle fc
he land, t
». The tea
il system here almost never
tell us about them, but today we are beginning to
win back our history and our heroes.
One of the most neglected names ln that history
Is Ricardo Flores Magon — a true revolutionary
of Mexico - who Inspired Emtliano ZapaU; who
moved many campeslnos to action with his newspaper *La Regeneraclon-.* who lived for sometime
ln Los Angeles-and was treated by the police there
Just as mexlcanos are treated today' who died at
the age of 50 ln Leavenworth Prison, U.S.A. Here
Is the story of his life.-El Grlto.)
Ricardo Flores Magon was born In the sUte of
Oaxaca, Mexico, on the blrthdate of Mexican Independence — 16 d& septlembre — In the year
1873. Oaxaca lies ln the southern part of the country and the population Is mainly Mlxtec and Za-
potec Indian. Rlcardo's father was Indian and his
mother MesUza. The boy had the opportunity to
observe firsthand the communal living of the Indians. He was never to forget this lesson.
The family moved to Mexico City ln the 1890's
and Ricardo and his two brothers attended the
University. Many people were already protesting
the dictatorship of Porflrlo Diaz, a man of the
upper class who cared nothing for Indians and encouraged foreigners to buy up Mexico's land, oil,
and mines, and who kept himself ln power as President for 30 years by so-called "re-election."
Ricardo was arrested for the first time ln his life
formed the "Organizing Junta of the Liberal Party*
with Magon as president. The, Junta's two main
purposes were to undermine the power of the Diaz
regime by the power of the written word, and to
make the Liberal Party Into a revolutionary force.
"La Regeneraclon" was circulated throughout
Mexico, underground. Its Influence Is considered
to be the major factor ln building upworklng-class
opposition to Diaz. Magon was becoming one of
the world's great radical Journalists,
In 1906, the Liberal Party Issued a manifesto
calling for land reform, guaranteed minimum
wages, breaking the power of the Catholic Church
and other reforms. It strongly attacked capitalism
and urged the Mexlcauos to get rid of their Imperialist oppressors. The party organized uprisings and strikes all over Mexico. Although lt was
called 'Liberal,' the party was much more radical
than the word 'liberal' means today.
In the U.S., the FBI and Plnkerton detectives
working for the Mexican government continually
» Junta. In August,~1907, Magon
n by
e Los
during   a
tudent-worker  de
■nonstratlon  against
Diaz.
Shortly a
ter that, Ricardo
s father died and he
to abandon polltl
al struggle to help
sick mother. But t
he oppression of the
Diaz reglm
hat Magon could not
five. In 1900 he Joined the Liberal Party,
founded  by
Camllo Arrlaga.
Ie also founded the
newspaper
La Regeneraclon,
which strongly crl-
Diaz government.
began   reading  the  works  of Marx,
Imprisoned for his writings
In 1903, Ricardo was
released the next year and fled to the United States.
He was sot
n Joined by other Mexlcanos and they
Angeles police. From) then to 1910, Magon
held In Jails ln Los Angeles, St. Louis, Yuma and
Florence, Arizona on charges of 'violation of
neutrality laws." But the real reason for the arrests was that the U.S. government saw the possibility of meaklng a deal with the other major
opponent to Diaz - Francisco Madero. His group,
the Anti-Reelectionist Party, wasn't demanding land
reform or an. end to capitalism but Just 'free '
elections and no re-election.' The U.S. knew It
could never make a deal with Magon.
In 1910, 'La Regeneraclon" began to publish
again. The Junta opened an office at 519-1/2 East
4th Street In Los Angeles, with the aid of a $400
grant from the labor movement. Magon began to
attack Madero again, pointing out that an upper-
class politician like Madero could never lead a real
revolution In Mexico. The Liberal Party slogan was
changed from "Reforma, Llbertad, Justlcia" to the
revolutionary 'Tlerray Llbertad!' EmlUano Zapata
spread many of Magon's Ideas and fought under
that slogan, although he did not call himself an
'anarqulsta* as Magon did.
Porflrlo Diaz was finally overthrown and Madero
became President in 1911. But lt was only a political revoluUon, as Magon had predicted - not a
social one. And so the U.S. was supporting Madero.
Meanwhile, Magon and others were still pushing
(Continued on Pago 3, Col. 1)
•Estami
chlngados* '
words of my grandfather. 'Por
que dice eso, abuellto?* I asked
desperately as If my whole life
depended on his answer. He
leaned back In his chair under
the hot Mexican sun to make what
seemed his last and final proclamation to the world. "Porque ml
hijo, WE DARE TO BE MEN.'
Our entire history was summed
up ln these few words «WE DARE
TO BE MEN.' For this reason
alone, our history has been one
of great sacrifice and plight of
debt and a treasury which consisted of very meager funds, and
found It necessary to suspend
payment of the national debt.
Since the American Civil War
was ln progress at this time,
and this, ln effect, negated tne
provisions of the Monroe Doctrine, Mexico's principal creditors, Spain, EngUnd, and France,
attempted  to Uke  advantage of
he true
are not the true hen
heroes have always 1
pie,   OUR   PEOPLE,   LA  RAZA
DE  BRONZE.   We Journey over
that same path today which our
padres  Journeyed, that desolate
tiny, to Its ultimate end -TIERRA Y LIBERTAD.
To continue with determination
bo replenished with renewed
spirit. This is why we seek our
history. In our history is our people, ln our people are our rooU,
and ln our roots Is our soul. Our
past will lead us to our future.
The emperor of France, Napoleon IH, wanted to occupy Mexico. In May, 1862, French General Laurencezstarted his march
from Veracruz to the capital of
Mexico, Mexico City. The French
army consisted of 6,000 well-
armed troops.
The French army's only probable obstacle on the way to Mexico City was the city of Puebla
which was defended by 4,000 ot
our people. Ill-equipped and aroa-
teuristlc, they dared stand up to
the French army which had not
suffered a defeat in half a century against Europe's finest
troops. Led by General Ignaclo
Zaragoza, our army defeated Europe's finest troops on that historic day, May 5, 1862. Ragged
and outnumbered, the determining force which led us to victory
was spirit and courage.
This date, May 5, 1862, Is celebrated by all Mexlcanos wherever
they may be. On this day the battle of Puebla was fought, one of
the great triumphs In our people's
struggle   for   Independence and
In order to undersUnd the fervent feeling toward this national
holiday, lt Is necessary to acquaint ourselves with some of
the  reasons behind this intense
Chicano culture: hear none—see none—speak none
roemorate the heroic efforts of
our people at that time.
In the year 1862, Mexico's
President Benito Juarez was
faced with a tremendous national
tense of collecting a debt sought
to impose a monarch of their own
choice upon a seemingly helpless
Napoleon III of France during
this period was faced with unrest
among his own French people,
and desperately was In need of
a victorious war to order to reassure his position as emperor of
France. He, therefore, made a
demand of a fantastic sum of
money (12 million pesos) upon tho
Mexican government hoping that
Mexico would be unable to pay
and be forced to engage Itself to
a war with aU three countries,
England, Spain and France;
whereupon France would ultimately emerge victorious. However, when England and Spain realized that If they proceeded as
planned lt would surely lead to
dangerous conflict with France,
they decided lt would not be
worthwhile and abandoned the
dangerous venture, leaving
France to continue alone with IU
seWsh plans of conquest. Napoleon in was not only planning
to build himself an empire to
Mexico, but waa actually looking
ahead to then aiding the Southern
States tn their fight against the
North ln order to procure the
South's cotton which was much
needed by France, and possibly
had visions of Uter building a
French Empire ta North America as well.
But Napoleon HI was not destined to see his visions of grandeur materialize. As General
Laurencez arrived froro France
with a large army, Napoleon in
sent one of his emissaries to set
up a provisional government ta
Mexico with himself as emperor,
and proceeded ta commanding the
French army to occupy Mexico
City.
The French General, a veteran
of many great victories had only
contempt for our 'lowly* army
that awaited the French's 'superior' forces ln Puebla. On that
historic day, the French General
gave the order to atUck Puebla,
and to ridicule our ragged resistance, which was mostly
equipped with antiquated guns,
directed his attack to the middle
of our defense, which was General
Zaragoza's strongest position.
After three bloody assaults upon  -
(ConUnued on Page 3, CoL 1)