Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas Por una democracia progresista book review, Digi Mart USA News: The book Por una democracia progresista. Debatir el presente para un mejor futuro (2021) by engineer Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas is described by the publisher’s author as required reading for citizens concerned with Mexico’s situation.
Following Cárdenas’ passing, the article reviews the last book he wrote, which the author says helps explain the present and supports the struggle for a better future.
Cárdenas offers a critical review of Mexican history, analyzing everything from the first constitution promulgated during the insurgent war to the most recent reforms to the current Constitution. He concludes that the goals of the various stages of the Mexican Revolution have not been fully achieved, namely the effective rule of law and a socially egalitarian democracy.
The book addresses land, natural resources, workers’ rights and women’s emancipation in depth. It traces advances and setbacks in key constitutional articles, including Article 3 on education, where he highlights the 1946 definition of democracy by Jaime Torres Bodet as “a system of life founded on the constant economic, social and cultural improvement of the people.” He identifies the 1992 reform that admitted religious corporations into the education system as a setback, and argues that the 2019 reform remains a dead letter without sufficient funding for education, particularly higher education.
On Article 27, which since 1917 has asserted the nation’s ownership of the subsoil, Cárdenas argues that the 1947 reform allowed the rebuilding of large estates by establishing surface-area equivalences among different land qualities, and let owners seek injunctions. He notes that budgets for rural development declined considerably in the following years, that the 1992 reform enabled privatization of ejido and communal lands, and that the Banca de Fomento al Campo disappeared.
He states that in 2013 the State’s control over subsoil resources was practically annulled through contracts with private parties.
Regarding Article 123, he states that the working class’s wages have remained below their needs, and that the State has failed its social responsibilities, which he calls the main cause of the enormous inequality that now characterizes Mexican society. Since 1978 the Constitution has established that every person has the right to dignified and socially useful work, but no state policy has been implemented to achieve full employment, and no regulatory laws have been adopted to make that right enforceable.
On Article 130, he says the 1992 reform altered the meaning of the original text.
The author also analyzes individual and collective proposals for national development formulated from the Revolution to the present. He begins with Salvador Alvarado’s work La reconstrucción de México, which proposed socializing the State to meet all the Revolution’s demands and achieve economic independence as the basis of all freedoms.
In examining the Caso-Lombardo debate, he considers Caso’s position in favor of academic freedom to be correct.
On the government of Lázaro Cárdenas, the book highlights the acceleration of agrarian land distribution, the conception of the ejido as a social, economic and political unit, and the teaching profession as the organizer of society. It also highlights support for the working class and its national and international unity, as well as the creation of the Banco Ejidal, the Banco Obrero and the Almacenes Nacionales de Depósito.
The book explains the expropriation of foreign oil companies as ending their opposition to complying with the Mexican Constitution and its laws, asserting national sovereignty, preserving the rule of law and promoting industrialization.
In foreign policy, the book recounts the Cárdenas government’s positions in defense of Ethiopia against Italian fascism, China against Japanese invasion, and Austria against Nazi Germany, as well as support for the Spanish Republic and asylum for persecuted Republicans, and opposition to U.S. actions against Cuba and the Dominican Republic.
The author also describes Cárdenas’ later participation in the global peace movement, his call for disarmament and denuclearization, and his membership in the international tribunal on war crimes against the people of Vietnam led by Bertrand Russell. He concludes with the former president’s maxim: “Only social justice guarantees peace and human happiness.”
The book then examines contradictions, compromises, deviations and setbacks in governments that emerged from the Revolution, including repressive actions by the State, the use of the crime of social dissolution from 1947 to 1970, and the military and police occupation of universities. It also notes positive measures such as the creation of the Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social in 1943, the nationalization of electricity in 1960 and of banking, and how banking was later reprivatized and foreignized.
In the neoliberal period, Cárdenas argues, the State lost control of subsoil resources, communications infrastructure was privatized, and development banking disappeared, contributing to rising inequality, economic decline and the weakening of education, health and social security systems. He says these problems became evident during the recent pandemic, with thousands of deaths, job losses and increased poverty.
He also denounces crime, violence, insecurity and corruption as persistent problems.
Cárdenas maintained that the armed forces should not perform police functions to combat crime, which should fall under civilian authority accountable to Congress. He argued that the goal of the Mexican Revolution was and is to establish a political and economic democracy, with socialism as a higher stage of human development.
He called for strengthening municipal freedom, decentralizing power, opposing all forms of reelection, and ensuring that economic power does not set the country’s course. He also advocated a market economy regulated by the State in the public interest, a strengthened development bank, tax and fiscal reform, and a State that guarantees constitutional rights and public security with full separation of powers.
The book emphasizes that democracy means both the right to equality and the right to difference, and that the State has not fulfilled its obligation to make these rights effective, which is why he advocated public policies for different sectors of society. On environmental issues, he said Mexico lags considerably in reducing the effects of climate change, protecting the environment and developing clean energy.
He concludes that “improvisation… and even less whim” no longer have a place in public life.
He noted that national development plans are not carried out by successive executives and that legislators do not verify compliance, and stressed the role of higher education and research institutions in planning solutions to national problems. He also proposed a careful and broad review of the Constitution and emergency measures and countercyclical economic policy in response to the pandemic.
The author writes that none of these proposals were adopted by the government, and that the demands of health systems and medical personnel working conditions have not been addressed.
The author concludes that the task of rebuilding, constructing and redirecting the country will be arduous, and that reading Cárdenas’ work is essential.
