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Best regards, Andrew Stewart - - - Subscribe to the Washington Babylon newsletter via https://washingtonbabylon.com/newsletter/ Begin forwarded message: > From: H-Net Staff via H-REVIEW <h-rev...@lists.h-net.org> > Date: November 7, 2019 at 11:53:02 AM EST > To: h-rev...@lists.h-net.org > Cc: H-Net Staff <revh...@mail.h-net.org> > Subject: H-Net Review [H-LatAm]: Mentanko on Castro, 'Apostle of Progress: > Modesto C. Rolland, Global Progressivism, and the Engineering of > Revolutionary Mexico' > Reply-To: h-rev...@lists.h-net.org > > J. Justin Castro. Apostle of Progress: Modesto C. Rolland, Global > Progressivism, and the Engineering of Revolutionary Mexico. The > Mexican Experience Series. Lincoln University of Nebraska Press, > 2019. Illustrations. 366 pp. $30.00 (e-book), ISBN > 978-1-4962-1249-8; $50.00 (cloth), ISBN 978-1-4962-1173-6; $30.00 > (paper), ISBN 978-1-4962-1174-3. > > Reviewed by Joshua Mentanko (Yale University) > Published on H-LatAm (November, 2019) > Commissioned by Casey M. Lurtz > > For historians of twentieth-century Mexico, biography has long been > an important method for understanding major historical events and > processes. John Womack's _Zapata and the Mexican Revolution_ (1968) > and Friedrich Katz's _Life and Times of Pancho Villa_ (1998) are > foundational to understanding land reform, foreign intervention, and > the play of personality in internecine conflicts during the Mexican > Revolution. In his second book, _Apostle of Progress: Modesto C. > Rolland, Global Progressivism, and the Engineering of Revolutionary > Mexico_, historian J. Justin Castro uses the biography of a > relatively unknown man to shed light on themes of interest for > historians of twentieth-century Mexico contemplating the long-term > implications of the revolution. He makes the case for Modesto > Rolland's story for explaining the rise of a "technocratic" > perspective toward economic development, the shaping of agrarian > reform, and the integration of economic and political "peripheries" > into a politically centralized nation. > > Rolland--"child of the Porfiriato, child of the periphery" (p. > 1)--was born in 1881 in the town of La Paz in the territory of Baja > California. Not unlike the Yucatán Peninsula, the Baja California > Peninsula had a long history of engaging in international trade. > Although Castro gives short attention to the indigenous history of > the region, he focuses on the cosmopolitanism of a region of Mexico > that was, from the view of the center, still underdeveloped and not > quite integrated. Rolland's father was a French migrant who had come > to pan for gold in the 1850s, and his mother was a member of a local > family. Together, they had eleven children. > > Castro moves quickly through Rolland's early life. Modesto was the > youngest child. Educated in Culiacán in Sinaloa and Mexico City, he > studied at the National School of Engineering, and, taking advantage > of a growing demand for engineering education in the last decade of > the Porfiriato, he began teaching engineering at the National > Agriculture and Veterinary School in 1905. Castro explains Rolland's > growing political involvement as an outgrowth of his education in > Mexico City. While interacting with people from the humanities and > other intellectual backgrounds, "Rolland and his engineering peers > held more firmly to science-driven descriptions for making > improvements in society." They accepted positions in the government > out of a desire to improve Mexican infrastructure, but this group of > engineering intellectuals also "acquired a hubristic notion that they > were the only ones truly capable of bringing about an improved and > modern society" (p. 11). This hubris or assumption of the superiority > of his expertise, as Castro later shows, caused Rolland to overlook > local perspectives on various infrastructure development projects he > worked on from the 1920s to 1950s. > > While Rolland was building a career as a professor and business owner > in the first decade of the twentieth century, he was also advancing > socially within Mexico City's elite. He was aided enormously in this > by his marriage to the seventeen-year-old Virginia de la Garza > Meléndez in 1908. Their marriage, according to Castro, was never a > happy one. Castro attributes discord in Rolland's first marriage to a > personality characterized by a "fierce desire to direct the forces of > nature, society, and politics" (pp. 14-15). Castro does not dwell on > Rolland's intimate life. Yet, as the above quote makes clear, Castro > draws connections between Rolland's public and private personalities. > Given that the book is almost exclusively concerned with Rolland's > public life, the reader might have welcomed Castro's thoughts about > the methodological issues of biography and about where to draw the > line as a historian, particularly if it is a matter of sources. > > Castro offers a subtle take on Rolland's involvement with "politics" > both during the revolution and in the first decades of the > revolutionary state. Rolland nested his politics within the > "apolitical" framing of his technical expertise and concern. In 1908, > he founded the Engineer's Club in Mexico City. Clubs based around > professions or political interests were one acceptable way in which > to participate in a political discourse about improving Mexico > without stepping too hard on the toes of the "elected dictatorship" > of Porfirio Díaz. Nevertheless, through the venue of a professional > club, Rolland lobbied strongly for political issues. At its birth, > the primary issue of the Engineer's Club was the nationalization of > Mexican railways. On the eve of the revolution, Rolland attached > great importance to state ownership of communication and > infrastructure systems, identifying Mexican ownership of key > resources with national sovereignty. > > The election year of 1909-10 showcased the first significant > challenge to Díaz's rule in decades. A liberal-minded _hacendado_ > from Coahuila, Francisco Madero, won the nomination of the Partido > Antirreeleccionista party in 1908. Risking the security of his own > social advancement under Porfirian rule in Mexico City, Rolland, > along with other government functionaries and prominent > intellectuals, also joined the Anti-Reelectionist Party. By > corruption and force, Díaz won the 1910 election, but he was forced > to flee Mexico after Madero successfully staged a rebellion from > Texas. By June 1911 Madero's moderate liberal and nationalist ticket > controlled the presidency and Mexico. > > When General Victoriano Huerta ousted Madero in a coup in February > 1913, Rolland found himself in a tricky position. Rolland had openly > supported Madero during the Ten Tragic Days leading to his fall from > power and execution. When he returned to deliver classes at the > Military College afterward, he told his students that under Huerta > "they would be the instrument of a traitor to shed the blood of > Mexicans" (p. 38). Fired almost immediately from his job, he was > placed in solitary confinement by Huerta's forces for one month. > Rolland emerged shaken from his experience; his security under Huerta > was only assured through the intercession of powerful friends. But > his business suffered, and he fled Mexico for the United States, > leaving behind his wife and four children. > > From his base in New York City, Rolland directed the Mexican Bureau > of Information. The bureau essentially functioned as a propaganda > outlet for the Constitutionalist faction opposing Huerta's usurpation > of power. Undermining the push to invade Mexico made by William > Randolph Hearst in his newspapers, Rolland and another colleague sent > reports about Mexico to over five hundred newspapers across the US, > seeking to shape coverage of Mexico and influence popular opinion and > political will against US intervention. After the > Constitutionalist-Conventionalist split at the Convention of > Aguascalientes on November 9, 1914, Rolland allied himself firmly > with the Constitutionalists and Venustiano Carranza. Castro sees > Rolland's work for Carranza in the US as a kind of "technocratic > diplomacy" that usefully complements our understanding of global > progressivism as well as deepens our understanding of US and Mexican > relations during this period (p. 84). In this way, Rolland's > biography adds to recent work by Tore Olsson (_Agrarian Crossings: > Reformers and the Remaking of the US and Mexican Countryside_ > [2017]), and Amy Offner (_Sorting O__ut the Mixed Economy: The Rise > and Fall of Welfare and Developmental States in the Americas_ [2019]) > about the transnational pathways and mixed public and private careers > of the experts who shaped policies related to economic development in > the Americas from the beginning until the middle of the twentieth > century. > > Castro carefully builds the case for Rolland's growing importance in > the revolutionary state, showing how Rolland sought to shape policy > in areas as far apart as foreign policy to municipal reform. > Rolland's intervention in political debates continued to be inflected > by economic nationalism. While in the US, Rolland sought to influence > the direction of land reform, which had become the dominant issue at > this stage of the Mexican Revolution. He published _Distribución de > las tierras: Estudio sobre Nueva Zelandia, utilidad de la lección > para México _in September 1914. Drawing on New Zealand's > nationalization and establishment of an equitable rent system in the > late nineteenth century, Rolland did not reflect on the implications > of this policy for the Maori in New Zealand, nor did the sovereign > rights of indigenous peoples in Mexico preoccupy him. Influenced by > the Progressive thinker Henry George's idea of a "single land-value > tax," Rolland combined his engagement with global progressivism with > a strong desire for nationalization of key Mexican resources, > including arable land. > > Except for a stint working for Governor Salvador Alvarado of Yucatán > during his brief administration between 1915 and 1917, Rolland never > really had a chance to influence the nature of agrarian reform. > Alvarado placed Rolland in charge of land redistribution and > reevaluation. Rolland "hoped this was the first step toward turning > poor Maya peasants into a prosperous, small-propertied class based on > a single land-value tax" (p. 66). The commission headed by Rolland > claimed by October 1916 to have distributed land to about forty > thousand people. Castro notes that historians from Frank Tannenbaum > onward have heralded the radicalness of Alvarado's rule in Yucatán. > Castro argues that Rolland's role in land redistribution as part of a > broader push to overhaul Yucatecan society shows the influence of > Progressivist ideas, alongside the more commonly credited ideas of > Andrés Molina Enríquez, in shaping the nature of agrarian reform. > At the same time, Rolland's brief practical work, as well as his > intellectual contributions, represent more of a foreclosed > possibility to the kind of agrarian reform that eventually took shape > during the revolutionary state, which emphasized communal _ejidos_ > and a centralized state adjudication process rather than state > ownership. > > After returning to Mexico City following the end of Alvarado's > governorship, Rolland continued to assume a role in politics, both as > a state functionary and as a member of the press. Castro states that > during this period, Rolland's career became "chock full of examples > of how engineering projects and politics are intertwined." Part of > the reason for Rolland's longevity working for successive Mexican > presidents--who did not always agree with each other--was his uncanny > ability to "find ways to navigate hazardous political waters and to > keep himself relevant in top political circles while not appearing > overtly political" (p. 105). In one amusing incident, Rolland was > made to take the fall for President Lázaro Cárdenas in 1938 for > ordering Juan O'Gorman to change his mural for the Mexico City > Airport. Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, and Salvador Novo denounced the > "modest engineer" Rolland for censorship, but Castro uses this case > to show how functionaries like Rolland could be valuable for > pragmatist presidents like Cárdenas (p. 177). > > In 1920, Rolland was appointed to the Free Ports Commission and the > National Agrarian Commission. The idea of establishing free > ports--essentially a custom- and tax-free zone--in Mexico dated to > the Porfiriato. Rolland's goal was to use the ports of Puerto México > and Salina Cruz to connect Atlantic and Pacific trade. For such a > committed nationalist in economic affairs, establishing free ports > might seem like a strange goal, especially given the importance the > US had long attached to finding a way to more efficiently connect the > Atlantic and Pacific. But, for Rolland, free ports also offered the > possibility of enhancing trade and general development in the > Tehuantepec Peninsula, another "periphery" in need of deeper > integration into the nation. The free ports dream expressed a > powerful motive regarding development in the first decades of the > revolutionary state: "If Mexico did not develop the region for itself > and for those foreign capitalists, under Mexican terms, powerful > foreigners might attempt to take control of the isthmus" (p. 125). > The free ports plan failed to connect Tehuantepec in the way Rolland > had hoped, although it took until the 1950s for the project to > completely peter out. But already by the 1940s, Rolland had ceased to > reject US involvement in the free ports, coming around to the > idea--much like the post-Cárdenas presidents--that the role of the > Mexican state may not always come down to state ownership, but rather > a formula that weighed "Mexican development and sovereignty against > the desires of its powerful neighbor" (p. 195). In this balance of > interests, the state emerged as a broker between foreign and national > capital. > > Notably absent in this balance of interest between the Mexican and US > states are "locals." Instead, the rise of technocratic expertise > within Mexican state-led development from the 1920s to the 1950s, as > told through the story of Rolland, exposes the contradictions of > capitalist integration and political centralization in this period. > In Salina Cruz, expensive dredging machines dreamed up by Rolland > turned into symbols of corruption, not the triumph of expertise and > scientific state-making. Nicknamed the "white elephant" by locals and > "the mansion of Salina Cruz," the "strange, massive structure" drew > rumors of corruption. Although Castro places doubt on some of the > accusations of corruption by local union leaders, he notes that > accusations leveled by union leaders and residents "appear to have > come from frustration about being excluded and forced to deal with > changes they had not desired" (p. 226). The state and the idea of > national sovereignty was not always on the same side as locals in > these development projects. The state was emerging, as it did in the > Porfiriato, as a broker with foreign investors. > > Castro's biography of Rolland amply demonstrates the utility of > biography for charting shifts in the role of science in state-making > during and after the Mexican Revolution. Rolland's actions on behalf > of Mexican sovereignty over railroads in the waning years of the > Porfiriato comes full circle when he invited US investment in the > free ports in the 1940s. The hubristic notion that imported science > provided all the answers for integrating and modernizing peripheries > that Rolland acquired as a burgeoning _científico_ during the same > period also marks the way he steamrolled over local opinion in the > free ports project. This may be one of Castro's most useful > contributions: to link the role of science in Porfirian and > revolutionary state-making projects. But rather than suggesting a > neat story of increasing importance of science, Rolland's life shows > how technical expertise and intellectual thought were molded both by > raw ambition and the imperatives of capitalist integration. Castro's > biography of Rolland not only satisfies the questions it sets out to > answer but also leaves on the table many questions about the links > between expertise and capitalism in state-led development in the > twentieth century. > > Citation: Joshua Mentanko. Review of Castro, J. Justin, _Apostle of > Progress: Modesto C. Rolland, Global Progressivism, and the > Engineering of Revolutionary Mexico_. H-LatAm, H-Net Reviews. > November, 2019. > URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=54481 > > This work is licensed under a Creative Commons > Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States > License. > > _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
