Magonism[1][2] (Spanish:Magonismo) is ananarcho-communist,[3][4]school of thought precursor of theMexican Revolution of 1910. It is mainly based on the ideas ofRicardo Flores Magón,[5] his brothersEnrique andJesús, and also other collaborators of the Mexican newspaperRegeneración (organ of theMexican Liberal Party), asPráxedis Guerrero,Librado Rivera andAnselmo L. Figueroa.[6][7]
The Mexican government and the press of the early 20th century called asmagonistas people and groups who shared the ideas of the Flores Magón brothers, who inspired the overthrow of the dictatorship ofPorfirio Díaz and performed an economic and political revolution. The fight against tyranny encouraged by the Flores Magón contravened official discourse ofPorfirian Peace by which the protesters were rated as theRevoltosos Magonistas (i.e. "Magonist rioters") to isolate any social basis and preserve the image of peace and progress imposed by force.[8]
Both of Flores Magón's brothers, like other members of theMexican Liberal Party (PLM), used the termmagonista[9] to refer to the libertarian movement that they promoted. As they felt they were fighting for an ideal and not to elevate a particular group to power, they called themselves "liberals", as they were organized in the PLM, and later "anarchists".Ricardo Flores Magón stated: "Liberal Party members are not magonistas, they are anarchists!" In his bookVerdugos y Víctimas ("Executioners and Victims"),[10] one of the characters responds indignantly when he is arrested and judged: "I'm not a magonist, I am an anarchist. An anarchist has no idols.".
Magonist thinking was influenced by anarchist philosophers such asMikhail Bakunin andPierre-Joseph Proudhon, and others such asÉlisée Reclus,Charles Malato,Errico Malatesta,Anselmo Lorenzo,Emma Goldman,Fernando Tarrida del Mármol andMax Stirner. They were also influenced by the works ofMarx,Gorky andIbsen. However, the most influential works were the ones ofPeter KropotkinThe Conquest of Bread andMutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution, at the same time they were influenced by the Mexican liberal tradition of the 19th century and the self-government system of theindigenous people.[11]
Indigenous peoples, since theSpanish conquest of Mexico, sought to preserve the practice ofdirect democracy, decision-making inassembly, rotation of administrative duties, defense of communal property,mutual aid and community use and rational use ofnatural resources. Those principles were anarchist principles also upheld by the magonists.[12]
Indigenous thought influenced magonism through the teachings of Teodoro Flores,[13] amestizoNahua and father of the Flores Magón brothers, as well as the coexistence of other PLM members with indigenous groups during PLM's organizing and insurrection between 1905 and 1910, such as thePopoluca inVeracruz, theYaqui andMayo inSonora, and theCocopah inBaja California.
Fernando Palomares, a Mayo indigenous, was one of the most active members of the Liberal Party who took part in theCananea strike andlibertarian campaign of 1911 inMexicali andTijuana.[14][15]
After the armed phase ofMexican Revolution and the death ofRicardo Flores Magón in 1922, began the rescue of magonist thought, mainly by trade unionists in Mexico and the United States. Mexican governments considered the Flores Magón brothers precursors of the revolution. Both the insurrection of 1910 and the social rights enshrined in theMexican Constitution of 1917 were due largely to themagonistas, which since 1906 took up arms and drafted an economic and social program.[16]
However, although the demands that led to the revolution in theory were resolved in the Constitution and in the speeches of the revolutionary governments, there was no significant change in the lives of the most vulnerable populations. Also themagonistas goal was not to change the state administrators, but to abolish them. For this reason, survivingmagonistas continued to spread anarchist propaganda.Librado Rivera was persecuted and imprisoned during the government ofPlutarco Elías Calles andEnrique Flores Magón, who believed that "the Mexican social revolution is not yet over",[17] were safe until the presidency ofLázaro Cárdenas.
TheMexican Anarchist Federation, founded in 1941 and active for about 40 years, edited the newspaperRegeneración and spread Magonist thought.
In the 1980s, Magonism survived among some youthanarcho-punk groups. TheBiblioteca Social Reconstruir, founded in 1980 by theSpanish anarchist in exile Ricardo Mestre and located inMexico City, was a library where to find anarchist literature and works on Ricardo Flores Magón or copies ofRegeneración.[18]
In 1994, when theZapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) took up arms inChiapas, claimed the ideas of the Flores Magón brothers. In 1997, indigenous organizations, social groups of libertarians and municipal councils of the state ofOaxaca, declared the "Citizen Year of Ricardo Flores Magón" from 21 November (1997) to 16 September 1998.[19]
In August 2000, driven by indigenous organizations in the State of Oaxaca and libertarian groups inMexico City, theMagonistas Days (Jornadas Magonistas) were held to mark 100 years since the founding of the newspaperRegeneración. Some organizations and youth groups taking part in the2006 popular uprising in Oaxaca were influenced by anarchistmagonistas ideals.[20]
