Forging the Modern Mexican State: The Cardenista Era

The Cardenista Legacy

The Mexican Revolution destroyed the oligarchic state, leading to the birth of a new state that incorporated agricultural and urban masses. The search for a balance between these social forces and the former dominant sectors did not reach equilibrium until the government of General Lázaro Cárdenas del Río. The Cárdenas administration faced challenges arising from the co-existence of power with the 'Jefe Máximo' of the revolution, Plutarco Elías Calles. This confrontation between Cárdenas and Calles manifested in struggles within cabinets and among representatives of both powers in Congress.

Several contradictions existed within the ruling group:

1. Attempts by the political elite to restrict channels for political advancement and limit institutionalization by subordinating institutional power (the President) to de facto power (the leader, Calles).
2. Stagnation in agricultural policy, which undermined the social base of a significant sector of the ruling group. This further weakened the political equilibrium achieved through the demobilization of peasant classes based on the promise of land distribution.
3. A breakdown in communication channels between the state and the organized working class, leading to growing political repression and social unrest.
4. A policy of accommodation with U.S. and foreign companies. Regulation of Article 27 of the Constitution remained deferred, leaving intact the economic and political influence of foreign companies controlling the oil enclave.

In the final stage of the Maximato, a paradox emerged: the entrenchment of the institutionalization process for the new state was accompanied by a loss of its social bases. This led to a policy of alliance with the oligarchy and the interests of the foreign enclave. The sum of these unresolved contradictions, if left unaddressed, could, in the medium term, trigger a new period of political instability or the restoration of a dictatorship, incurring high costs in terms of repression and social conflict.

The PNR (National Revolutionary Party) became a battleground for various political tendencies within the revolutionary coalition:

1. The conservative ruling group tied to Calles.
2. A faction of warlords and political leaders supported by agrarian social bases.
3. A new trend headed by union leaders associated with radical intellectuals. This latter group established new methods for organizing the working and peasant classes and proposed a new political agenda for renewing the Mexican Revolution.

Cárdenas, a leader with an agrarian base, initially came to power as a candidate aiming to reconcile these three tendencies. However, he soon defined himself as a leader identified with a reform program supported by large segments of the population. With the unofficial exile of Calles, the process of institutionalizing executive power reached its conclusion. His removal paradoxically fulfilled the promise Calles himself had made when founding the PNR: that Mexico would transition from the era of warlords to an era of institutions.

The most significant contribution of the Cárdenas administration was the foundation of the Party of the Mexican Revolution (PRM) on March 30, 1938. Contrary to the Maximato period, under Cárdenas, the processes of strengthening the state through its institutions and expanding its social base converged. Legal reforms undertaken during the Cárdenas era gave the state the necessary tools to regulate property and the economy. By implementing Article 27 through decrees of expropriation and nationalization, Cárdenas provided the state with legal instruments to address social demands, particularly agrarian ones, and to control the nation's natural resources.

From the perspective of economic policy, it should be stressed that the oil expropriation and the nationalization of the railroads, and the consequent