José Revueltas and the temporalities of the Mexican 1956

Twentieth Century Communism - Print ISSN 1758-6437 - Online ISSN 2978-1329
Volume 2025 Number 29

José Revueltas and the temporalities of the Mexican 1956
William A. Booth pages 68‑91

Abstract

Taking the thought and action of José Revueltas as a heuristic thread and the ‘Global 1956’ as a centre of gravity, this article examines the significant changes which occurred in the configuration of the Mexican Marxist left between the crisis over Trotsky’s exile and assassination (1939-40) and the collapse of the National Liberation Movement in the early 1960s. Between these dates, José Revueltas had (in)famously described a ‘proletariat without a head’, seeing both class and party structures in Mexico as inimical to the feasible achievement of socialism. The reaction of the Mexican Communist Party to the wider upheaval of 1956 supports Revueltas’ claim; the party, already much diminished through external oppression, internal factionalism and strategic ignorance, seemed to put its institutional head in the sand. However, there were signs of change, particularly at grassroots level, where renewed labour militancy encouraged cooperation among militants from across the left. Moreover, a period of self-reflection in the late 1950s set the stage for the emergence of the National Liberation Movement (MLN) in 1961. The Cuban Revolution radically altered the mood too, though did not immediately undermine the faith of left luminaries in the as-yet unfulfilled potential of the Mexican Revolution. It was not until the MLN was managed out of existence by the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) that the Marxist left gave up on the illusion of a Popular Front, a fundamental tenet of faith which defined its strategy for almost thirty years. 

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To cite this article
William A. Booth (2025) José Revueltas and the temporalities of the Mexican 1956, Twentieth Century Communism, 2025(29), 68-91

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