The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 82, July 1978 - April, 1979 Page: 467

Book Reviews

where social banditry was the only weapon against disrupted agrarian
traditions, emergent industrialism, and political tyranny. The incipient
Mexican anarchism was promoted by a foreign proselytizer in the per-
son of Plotino Rhodaknaty. In 1869 Julio Chavez L6pez led an agrarian
uprising in the Puebla area, after which, the author affirms, there was
little doubt that campesino protest would become widespread.
From 1867 to 188o when the older conservatism was on the wane and
Porfirio Diaz had not yet consolidated his power, anarchism gained a
foothold. Mutualist societies were organized, a socialist newspaper was
founded, a successful strike was called, workers' rights were articulated,
and ideologue Jose Maria Gonzalez blasted the socioeconomic order.
The agrarian anarchists wanted the free, autonomous village, the break-
up of landed estates, and collectivism, while the urban anarchists
pushed for standard labor reforms.
Internal weaknesses among the scattered anarchist groups and the
effective Diaz suppression of opposition checked the rise of anarchism
after 188o. However, when the Diaz containment broke down after
19oo, anarchism was restored to the political arena with the Mexican
Liberal party under the leadership of the Flores Mag6n brothers. Dur-
ing the revolution anarchist thought informed the reaction of workers
to the factory system and shaped the programs of the Casa del Obrero
Mundial and the Red Battalions. In the g92os and 193os anarchism was
defused by the larger, more conservative, government-backed labor and
peasant organizations.
The author concludes that anarchists "politicized a working class" in
the years 186o-1931. Operating within a western framework but re-
sponsive to local needs, the Mexican anarchists underscored the conflict
between socialism and capitalism. This book is noteworthy not only as
a pioneering study of a neglected area of Mexican history, but also for
its analysis of the relationship between foreign ideology and national
reform as well as for its exploration of the background of zapatismo.
Texas ArM University HENRY C. SCHMIDT
How Did Davy Die? By Dan Kilgore. (College Station: Texas A8cM
University Press, 1978. Pp. 48. $5.)
How Did Davy Die? is a revised and expanded version of Dan Kil-
gore's 1977 presidential address to the Texas State Historical Associa-
tion. According to legend and some historians, Davy Crockett fought to
his last breath before falling victim to an overwhelming force of Mexi-

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