Page:Margaret Shipman - Mexico's Struggle Towards Democracy (1927).pdf/24

 During the years of constitutional rule, there was a decided advance in the political and social status of the middle and working classes. The constitutional party, representing the middle class, increased from a minority before the war, to a strong majority, which controlled the government for ten years, and materially improved administration, finances and economic conditions.

Among the wage workers, beginnings of working-class organization were made, but they were probably social and educational rather than industrial. Says Cubas in 1876, speaking of the mestizos, "Desire of improvement in their social condition and education has developed itself amongst them in most remarkable manner. The idea of forming associations (which in Mexico do not have as their object the interruption of public order, but fraternity and mutual benevolence) has been already carried into effect by some societies of the working classes, as evidenced in their late strikes. Not only in the larger cities but in some of the second and third order, well-regulated organizations are being formed, at which the citizens congregate, in places chosen for the purpose, at times to attend lectures and to promote discussion upon some interesting subjects."

Even the Indian peons, whose economic condition was least improved, were to some extent aroused from the state of dejection and apathy, which centuries of extreme poverty and suppression had imposed upon them. The success of the Indian leaders, the loosening of the church bonds, the temporary possession of the land and encouragement in education, all hastened the process which had been going on since 1810.