The Underdogs (Los De Abajo) by Mariano Azuela

Revolutionary Peasants

Any examination of the history of oppression faced by the Mexican and Mexican American people is likely to give some attention to the Mexican Revolution and how that long war changed the spirit of the common Mexican from silently tolerant of their “fate,” to revolutionarily interested in seeking better prospect for their future (Brenner, 1993, p.4-5). According to Glade (1996), inequality was what the Mexican Revolution was about and it was the common “peasants,” working class and marginalized people of Mexico, that struggled to free themselves from the tyranny of a dictatorship that served itself and the interests of foreign businessmen at the expense of the majority of the population (Brenner, 1993).

It is within this context of the Mexican Revolution of 1910 that Mariano Azuela’s famous book Los De Abajo (The Underdogs) was written—a novel by a man who had served as a doctor in the front lines of the struggle (Brenner, 1929). The book tells the story of twenty five revolutionary fighters under the command of Demetrio Macias, an illiterate Mexican native from Limón who joined the fight because of a local dispute with one of the country’s many local jefe políticos (Brenner, 1993, p. 12). This small band of fighters gains themselves riches and reputation when they participate with Poncho Villa in the famous capture of Zacatecas (Tuck, 2000).

While Azuela’s novel is neutral regarding the question of whether or not Macias’ men are glorious fighters for the Mexican people or bandits, the fictional character that represents the author is a true believer in the prospect of ¡Qué viva la revolución! proclaiming, “The revolution is for the benefit of the poor, the ignorant, those who have been slaves all their lives, the miserable ones who don’t even know that they are miserable because the rich turn the tears, sweat, and blood of the poor into gold” (Azuela, 2006, p. 15, 24-26; Brenner, 1993, p. 43). It is this idealism expressed by the Macias’s curro (“city slicker”), Luis Cervantes, “a middle-class medical student,” that is the revolutionary hope that only the educated understand in the novel (Azuela, 2006, p. 114; Tuck, 2000). For the peasant-fighters of the Revolution depicted in the novel the more accurate statement of sentiment is given by Demetrio Macias, "I love the revolution like a volcano in eruption. I love the volcano because it's a volcano and the revolution because it's a revolution” (Took, 2000).

The People’s Epic Struggle
In whichever way the Mexican and Mexican American people have envisioned their epic struggle over oppression the history of their subjugation is staggering. The oppressive system that brought on the start of the Mexican Revolution was what can be called the culmination of systematic, racist oppression which began with the Spanish conquest of Mexico in the 1520s (Handbook of Texas Online, 2007; Sweet, 1997). According to Sweet (1997), “early modern Europeans conflated what we now call ‘culture’ with what we now call ‘race.’ Thus, for the early modern period, race and culture cannot be easily separated. A people’s inferior culture implied a biologically inferior people” (p. 144).

This was certainly the view held by the ruling elite of Porfirio Diáz’s regime concerning the indigenous Mexican people (Brenner, 1993, p. 10). Therefore, by the beginning of the Mexican Revolution in 1910, the great majority of the land in Mexico had been taken by a small minority of men called hacienderos with the consequence that the 3/5 majority native population of Mexico were ninety-seven percent landless and reduced to the status of peón, serf, and in some cases, essentially slaves (Brenner, 1993; Cordova, 1997). It is very little wonder, then, that Azuela describes revolutionary fighters, poor and desperate, as both victorious revolutionaries and looting bandits (Azuela, 2006, p. 48-49).

An enduring glimpse into how Europeans have disparaged the indigenous and mixed race Mexican people is presented in a subtle passage concerning a young Mexican girl of Spanish descent brought to a party and protected by the idealistic Louis Cervantes. In the passage, “a girl of rare beauty,” desired by all the revolutionary peasants in attendance, is blond haired and blue eyed (Azuela, 2006, p. 50). This points to the reality, then and now, of a general and pervasive preference for light skinned people of European descent in Mexico (Gross, 2003, p. 205) The ruling elites were light skinned, their preferred business partners in the world (mostly US Americans) were light skinned, and the approximately one thousand land owners of Mexico were also mostly light skinned (Brenner, 1993). As a matter of fact, during the days of Diáz’s rule in Mexico, Americans of European descent were treated with special extraterritorial consideration which made them exempt from Mexican law (Brenner, 1993, p. 11).

Taking the Struggle to the United States
It was in reaction to this oppressive system that the common Mexican people revolted and, with the help of their now legendary leaders, created the chaos that lead to what one scholar calls the “The Immigrant Era” in the United States (Garcia, 1985, p. 196; Wood, 2001). Between the years 1900 and 1930, intensified by the social chaos endemic to the Mexican Revolution, about one million Mexicans crossed the border into the United States (Garcia, 1985, p. 197). Even the author of The Underdogs joined the joined the throng of masses seeking a better life north of the border (Tuck, 2000).

Mexican immigrants of this period brought with them their cultural identity and formed an extension of Mexico in the southwestern part of the United States (Garcia, 1985, p. 198). The people also brought with them the aspect of the Revolutión noted by Azuela’s idealistic curro (“city slicker” Luis Cervantes) as “…the sublime triumph of Justice; …the realization of …dreams for the redemption of [a] …noble suffering people, …the same men who have watered the land with their blood [should] be the ones who reap the fruits that are legitimately theirs”— and it was their hope to “soon return to la patria once they had saved enough money and once political stability was restored” (Azuela, 2006, p. 37; Garcia, 1985, p. 199).
This spirit of “struggle” for Mexico remained a part of the Mexican psyche despite the fact the Mexican people would continue to face grave issues of discrimination and oppression in the southwestern US, similar to what they had experienced in Mexico before, during and after the Revolutión (Hart, 1998, p. 142-144). Partly because of their tendency to resist Americanization and mostly because of the extreme racism of the United States at the time, Mexicans faced three main issues of struggle in the United States, similar to their plight in Mexico: land (housing), labor (low wage jobs), and a future (education), the hope of the Revolutión, described in The Underdogs as “the triumph of Justice” (Garcia, 1985, p. 202; Azuela, 2006, p. 37).

The Mexican people’s struggle for land, labor, and a future continues to this day, but turn of the century immigrants responded to the oppression of North America by unifying their communities in organizations called mutualistas (mutual aid societies) (McKay, 1993; Rothenberg, DATE, p. 000; AIF; La Raza ). The mutualistas were the communities where the labor and welfare organizations that became the foundation of the Mexican-American civil rights movement were formed (McKay, 1993; Wells, 1995).

Without Regard to Citizenship
It is important to note that there was essentially no distinction made between Mexican-American citizens and Mexican immigrants at the turn of the century and that this tradition of treating all Mexican people with equal disrespect continues, to some degree, to the present generation (Gross, 2003). Azuela sums up the feeling of the privileged class with regard to the masses of peasant revolutionaries in the words of the Federal Soldiers: “Die, you corn grinding thieves!” … “Die, you cattle rustlers!” – all the same, all reprehensible (Azuela, 2006, p. 6). It is equally interesting to note that the Mexican people themselves have tended to not understand themselves as Mexican-American or Mexican immigrant but as part of one La Raza, part of Mexico and part of the United States (Garcia, 1985).

Transcending art though, is the reality of how all Mexican people were treated with a universal disrespect in Texas from the turn of the century , through the civil rights era and to present day as “not the white man’s equal” (de Leon, 1983, p. 103; Gross, 2003; ). In response to the universal discrimination faced under the oppressive system of segregation in the United States, the Mexican people took their struggle to Texas courts in an attempt to “make” themselves “white” and receive the full benefit of that status (Gross, 2003). Gross (2003) examined litigation of this kind and found that Texas courts, up until the end of segregation and Jim Crow Laws, upheld the oppression of the Mexican people, without regard to citizenship, based on the unsubstantiated stereotypes which were part and partial of the racist state (p. 205).

Perhaps it is out of recognition that hopes for change can be futile, that the peasant revolutionaries often looted the prestigious houses of the wealthy and middle class. This can be viewed in the art as both an act of “struggle,” in the physical act of taking what had been denied them, and also as an act of futility, as a “grasping” in the face of the realization that the hope of the Revolutión will be denied them, despite their struggle (Azuela, 2006, p. 50, 87; Took, 2000). To some degree, because of the reality of racist segregation in the United States during this immigrant period, the story of the Mexican people’s struggle north of the border, until at least the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, can be likened to the disillusionment felt by Demetrio Macias’ men, who struggled— perhaps for the sake of struggling— gaining and losing at the same time (Azuela, 2006, p. 114; Took, 2000).

Historic Oppression, Historic Struggle
Systemic American apartheid, called “Segregation,” based on skin color and physical appearance, is the major historical contributor to the Mexican people’s social inequity in the United States with regard to the three main areas of struggle identified earlier in this paper: land, labor, and a future (Sweet, 1997, p. 144-145).

Segregation in housing meant that the huge influx of Mexican worker-families who immigrated to places like El Paso were relegated to the most inexpensive and miserable rental properties in the city. These neighborhoods along the border soon became “dangerous places of disease and pathology,” given that the white elites suspected and neglected the growing communities (Wood, 2001, p. 495-495, 502; Hart, 1998, p. 146). Compounding the problem was the issue that even these neglected neighborhoods contained insufficient housing to accommodate the numbers of Mexican immigrants. For instance, between the years of 1900 and 1930 the Mexican population of El Paso grew from 15,906 to 102,421 (Wood, 2001, p. 494).

Nevertheless, these early tenants, poor Mexican workers, were armed with that spirit of Revolutión described by the idealist Luis Cervantes who says, “we must not forget that for a man the most sacred things in the world family and the motherland” (Azuela, 2006, p. 26). And this was precisely what the early Mexican immigrants were struggling for when in 1922 rental tenants in several US and Mexican cities along the border organized the Sindicato Fronterizo de Gallos (Border Syndicate of Tenants). This group demanded lower rental rates, more recent construction and legal rights concerning evictions, achieving some of their goals (Wood, 2001, p. 499).

American segregation also meant that in labor the lowest paying and often the worst, physically demanding jobs were filled by Mexican workers because of racist stereotypes that informed the oppressive system. Mexican workers were thought to be unintelligent, lazy, and undependable (Hart, 1998, p. 144). Of course, this reinforced the racial division of Labor and contributed to the general condition of poverty experienced by the Mexican people (Hart, 1998, p144-145). Additionally, because of their status and the cyclical nature of the agricultural work, with which most Mexican workers were employed, displacement tended to strain traditional family networks (Hart, 1998, p. 216-217).

Born out of the hardship of racism, segregation, and racially assigned working-class status, the mutualistas became the platform from which the spirit of the Revolución struggled (Hart, 1998, p. 217). As Wells (1995) asserts “[the Mexican people used] …a variety of tactics, including withholding labor, community-based organizations, the formation of Mexican trade unions, and sporadic armed conflict, Mexican workers creatively responded to racism and demeaning working conditions by drawing on their cultural identity to forge a sense of community.”

Segregation in education meant that Mexican children went to the worst schools and received a poor education compared to the educational opportunities afforded to the privileged white class (Sutherland, 1952). Additionally, education in Mexican schools reinforced the stereotype that the Mexican people were a working class race because teachers often emphasized vocational training and assumed that children of migrant workers had no academic ability (Ruiz, 2001). Mexican parents struggled to try to bring some equity to education for their children even in a time when as estimated 1/3 of the Mexican population in the United States was being deported or repatriated back to Mexico (Ruiz, 2001). Deportation further compounded disparities concerning the education of immigrant children just as the modern practice of INS raids and deportation is disrupting the lives of this generation of Mexican immigrant children (Ruiz, 2001; Lozano, 2007).

A Letter from Luis Cervantes
At the conclusion of The Underdogs the idealistic curro, Luis Cervantes, has given up on the Revolutión and moved to the United States. From there he writes a letter to the leader of the peasants who were his compadres during the war, encouraging him to bring his loot to the North for a better life, where they can start a Mexican Restaurant (Azuela, 2006). This is the final resignation of the idealist and perhaps it is understandable given the times. A long defeat of struggle would continue for the Mexican people for another 54 years in the United States and the plight of the common person in Mexico is still uncertain, 97 years later.

Modern Oppression, Modern Struggle
Despite the grim outlook for the “hope of the Revolutión” in segregated North America and in Revolutionary Mexico, the Mexican people have advanced their struggle, achieving victories in housing, education, and labor through the organizing spirit of La Revolutión. Starting in the mutualistas and perhaps culminating in the work of the modern Hispanic political, research and social action groups such as The National Council La Raza, The Industrial Areas Foundation (AIF), and the Pew Hispanic Center, the Mexican people have made tremendous strides since the end of Segregation and the enactment of the Civil Rights Act of 1964—gains that Luis Cervantes could not dream of, in fact (pewhispanic.org; www.industrialareasfoundation.org; www.nclr.org).

Nevertheless, the same issues of disparity around land, labor, and education remain the central “struggle” with which the Mexican (Hispanic) people struggle. The contemporary debate on “illegal” immigration harkens back to earlier debates on immigration (Sutherland, 1952). The voter’s guide of the National Council of La Raza includes issues regarding safer communities, quality education, and job opportunities (www.nclr.org). And the median income of Hispanics is almost half as much as that of Anglos, suggesting that many Hispanic families have still not won the struggle for land (Rothenberg, 2007).

The Role of the Social Work Profession in the Mexican People’s Struggle

Bornstein (2004) suggests that innovative organizations practice institutional listening, pay attention to exceptional information, design real solutions for real people, and focus on human qualities rather than credentials. As social workers continue to work with their growing Mexican (now often called “Hispanic”) community it will be important to understand what Bornstein is suggesting since promoting the hope of the Mexican people has historically involved community organizing.

One local expression of this organizing is the work of Austin Interfaith (AIF). While AIF is not specifically a Hispanic organization, Hispanic people have filled the ranks of the local organization since its founding in 1985 (Simon and Gold, 2002). The reason for this likely goes back to the mutualism that has been the context of the Mexican people’s struggle throughout this paper. Since the interfaith organizations in Texas and elsewhere tend to recruit people from local churches and schools in low income neighborhoods, the most responsive in Austin have thus far been the Hispanic population, though the organization is becoming increasingly more diverse (Simon and Gold, 2002).

The work of AIF is primarily in education with the flagship for building social capital being the independent non-profit organization Capital IDEA (CI), for which AIF is the parent (www.capitalidea.org; Simon and Gold, 2002, Appendix C). The mission of Capital IDEA is to help low income adults get a college education and enter the workforce—even if that adult starts without a diploma or even an ability to speak English. In the case of CI, the four practices outlined by Bornstein (2004) regarding innovative organization are institutionalized and lived out with both staff and adult learners.

If social workers choose to reproduce the work of organizations like AIF and CI, they will need to also institutionalize and live out Bornstein’s (2004) observation about innovative social organizations. New organizations around future issues will require savvy people who are able to organize and social workers who can create community groups that give the people a platform from which to continue their struggle. Azuela’s novel gives social workers an example of the power of organizing and struggling for a greater cause— modern sophistication may bring the people victory.

Another group of organizers, this one intentionally Hispanic, is the National Council of La Raza (NCLR). The NCLR is a Latino civil rights organization with local affiliates in every state in the Union (www.nclr.org). The Austin affiliate of NCLR is American Youth Works, an organization dedicated to working with high school dropouts (www.americanyouthworks.org). This particular organization was founded by what Bornstein (2004) calls a social entrepreneur (http://www.americanyouthworks.org/founders_story.htm).

Social workers should consider how cultivating the qualities of a successful social entrepreneur can give them a platform from which to ameliorate some of the social justice issues that the Mexican people struggle against. The qualities of “willingness” described by Bornstein (2004) have been a part of the Mexican people’s historic struggle. Helping professionals can learn something from Azuela’s revolutionaries in this regard as well—the peasants shared their victories, broke free of established structures, corrected each other, and fought for a cause larger than themselves, and in their own way, count as social entrepreneurs (Bornstein, 2004, p. 233-241; Azuela, 2006).

Bornstein’s book, How to Change the World, is a collection of stories about the work of people and organizations that he calls Social Entrepreneurs (2004). In the same way that Bornstein adds value to the struggle for the amelioration of the plight of oppressed people, the Pew Hispanic Center chronicles the lives of “Latinos in changing America” (http://pewhispanic.org/). The mission of this organization is to provide peer reviewed credible research findings on a wide range of issues of concern to Latino people. This work gives the people “facts” with which to arm themselves in the struggle.

Social workers should equally be concerned with arming themselves with the “facts” for the purpose of ameliorating the conditions of oppression, which led to the Mexican Revolution in the first place. Working for “Justice,” the hope of the Revolutión, requires understanding, and understanding requires educating oneself. This must be the concern of every person in the social work profession if its professionals are going to have any chance of changing the world and bringing the hope of the Mexican Revolution to fruition in the world.

Luis Cervantes lost his hope for the future of his homeland in the end of the novel and Demetrio’s men were slaughtered in a final battle (Azuela, 2006). With this in mind, the struggle of the Mexican people can be likened to what Dr. Paul Farmer called “a long defeat” in reference to his work with desperately poor Haitians (Kidder, 2003). While Farmer has made significant strides forward towards the amelioration of the conditions of disease and poverty, the struggle continues, tough and metaphorically violent (Kidder, 2003). Nevertheless, The Underdogs does not altogether despair the outcome of the Revolutión. Instead, the novel is a call to struggle within the context of savage existential realities known by the oppressed in every place in the world. Alberto Solís, who joined Demetrio’s band of revolutionaries long after he had been profoundly disappointed with the struggle, sums up this spirit: “How beautiful the Revolution is, even in its savagery!”

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