Plutarco Elias Calles Biography
Plutarco Elias Calles (1877-1945) was a Mexican revolutionary leader and president whose constitutional and key economic reforms provided a solid foundation for Mexico’s subsequent governmental stability.
He was born in Guaymas, Sonora, on September 25, 1877, and was orphaned four years later.
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Stocky and iron-jawed, he briefly taught school and bartended before joining the ranks of the revolution supporting Francisco Madero against Porfirio Diaz and helping venustian carranza against Victorian Orchard and Francis «Pancho Villa.
the beginning
He began his career as a primary school teacher, but joined Francisco Madero’s fight against the dictatorship of Porfirio Díaz in 1910.
Calles was an extremely talented organizer and leader and was a general in battles, first against Victoriano Huerta and then against Pancho Villa and his rebel forces.
In 1917 Calles became governor of Sonora. In 1919 Calles was appointed Secretary of Commerce, Industry and Labor by President Venustiano Carranza.
Unfortunately for Carranza, Calles returned it by siding with General Alvaro Obregon, who overthrew Carranza the next year.
Obregón thanked Calles for his support by naming him head of the Interior Ministry, the agency whose responsibilities included internal security and intelligence gathering.
Calles used his position to secure organized labor support for the government, and to that end he allied himself with the Labor Party. In 1924 Calles ran for president and won.
The Bank of Mexico
As president, he established several banks whose sole purpose was to help the poorest farmers and peasants in the country. He also founded the Bank of Mexico, which eventually became the largest bank in the country.
A trip to Europe exposed him to the policies of the «social democracy» movement, and when Calles returned to Mexico, one of his first acts was to push for land reform.
It was a fact of life in Mexico that almost all of its land was owned by a small number of extremely wealthy and powerful families.
The Terrazas family, for example, owned more than a million acres in the state of Chihuahua alone, resulting in a virtually feudal system of sharecropping and near-slavery for most other people.
The Calles government managed to get foreign banks and countries to forgive some of Mexico’s crushing debt.
He also reformed the country’s civil and criminal codes. Calles served as Secretary of Foreign Relations in the provisional government of Adolfo de la Huerta (1920) and then as Secretary of the Interior under President Obregón (1920-24).
black water
A key driver of the Agua Prieta rebellion that toppled Carranza, Calles served as secretary of war in the interim De la Barra government and as secretary of the interior during the Obregón presidency (1920-1924).
Obregón successfully endorsed Calles as his successor against the political and military challenge of Adolfo de la Huerta, which attracted conservative and dissident revolutionary support.
Calles began a decade of domination of Mexican political life: 4 years as president and 6 years as the «power behind the throne.»
His policy was foreshadowed by his registration in Sonora. He pushed for land reform, with the goal of finally establishing a nation of individual proprietors.
Labor was favored, Luis Morones and his Regional Confederation of Mexican Labor dominating the scene.
The educational experimentation of the Obregón period now became national policy. Calles moved to implement and enforce constitutional provisions on religious matters and foreign ownership of oil resources.
Article 27
The Calles administration came into conflict with the US government on a number of issues, one involving large holdings of US oil companies.
Mexican law established that all minerals and other valuable substances under the ground belonged to the state, which meant that the underground oil reserves were under the control of the Mexican government.
This instead of the oil companies; They didn’t like it one bit, as it could possibly give the government justification for nationalizing the country’s oil reserves.
Calles announced that he intended to enforce that part of the Mexican legal code, which other Mexican governments had failed to do, and the reaction from US government officials was immediate.
The US ambassador branded him a communist and the Secretary of State threatened an invasion of Mexico if the law, known as Article 27, was enforced.
In 1927 the Calles government canceled the operating licenses of oil companies that refused to comply with Article 27, and there was talk of war in Washington circles.
the rebellion
One result was conflict between church and state in the form of an economic boycott, the suspension of religious services, and the armed rebellion of the Cristeros.
Through the mediation of the American ambassador Dwight Morrow, an agreement was established with the Church that came into force in 1929.
Important for the future development of Mexico was the establishment by Calles of the Central Bank of Mexico and the Banco Nacional de Crédito Agrícola and the initiation of programs for the construction of highways, dams, and irrigation projects.
Calles effected a constitutional change that made Obregón’s return to the presidency possible. However, after the elections and before the inauguration, Obregón was assassinated by a religious fanatic.
Calles publicly proclaimed the end of the era of the caudillos, or military strongmen. Although he did not return to the presidency, he was the top boss, or the most powerful boss, behind three successive executives between 1928 and 1934.
The Depression
These were years of transition, with rule by a moneyed cabal, slowing revolutionary reform, and cynicism, corruption, and depression.
A major military challenge was suppressed in 1929, the official party was established as a means of ensuring peaceful transfers of power, and the Federal Labor Code was enacted.
The need for a reaffirmation of revolutionary commitment resulted in the drafting of an official six-year plan in 1934 and the election of Lázaro Cárdenas as president.
abandonment
When Calles criticized the new executive’s handling of the labor unrest, Cárdenas forced him to leave the country.
President-elect Obregón was assassinated in 1928, and for the next six years, Calles was the real power behind three puppet presidents.
His base was the PNR, which he had organized in 1929; his support for a candidate was tantamount to election. In those six years, the most radical aspects of the revolution were methodically controlled.
In 1934, however, when leftist groups began to control the PNR, Calles was forced to support their presidential candidate, Lázaro Cárdenas.
This disalliance deteriorated into an open rupture, and Calles was forced into exile. He lived in California until 1941, when he was allowed to return to Mexico.
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