Obregon Regime

The Constitutionalists, which included Obregon, had a broader view of what was to become of Mexico, its government, and its people. I believe the Constitutionalists key to victory over the Conventionists was simply policy. The Conventionists cared only for agrarian reform. They wanted the land to be redistributed equally amongst the poor and the soldiers that had fought alongside Villa. This was much easier of an ideology than actually accomplishing it as Villa discovered during his month as Governor Chihuahua. The Constitutionalists wanted to invest in public education and social reform. They wanted establish national banks and help the people of Mexico invest in themselves. Finally, they wanted to capitalize on the vast oil fields by expanding exports, raise taxes on foreign oil companies, and make oil production a cornerstone of the economy. Not a bad idea considering the time and the worlds growing reliance on fuel. Now the people had heard this before from Diaz, but this time the people saying it were from the same class in society as opposed to Porfirian regime who would say all the right things and do none of them.

President Obregon had a hard and long road in front of him. When he came to power, much of the government was fractionalized. He had to console or appease the factions. To the disgruntled generals he threw money at them, to the powerful political forces, he gave them positions of influence in the government. To the agrarian leaders he gave land to do with as they saw fit, well at least to divide as they saw fit. Finally, to the labor unions he gave unprecedented political influence, which would serve him well considering the disaster of strikes Obregon would see during his first year of presidency for non-agricultural workers. The powers that be of the Mexican revolution were very split between agrarian and social reform. Obregon used his political skills to gain allegiance and satisfy all of these factions. He had learned from the mistakes of the Diaz regime, he delivered on his promises and negotiated with those who were against him instead of just sending in the troops.

When Obregon took the presidency, I would argue that the bloodshed was over and governmental policy and politics in general took over. For example, Obregon signed a deal with the labor union CROM and Luis Morone’s. This was a political move that helped everyone. Morone’s influence and CROM’s numbers helped lower the number of strikes between 1922 and 1924. It also increased worker size which increases worker production, which stimulates the economy. Obregon enacted the agrarian law of 1922. This allowed for the expansion of smaller agricultural farms to grow in size and produce more than they once could. The law wasn’t perfect, as it restricted farm workers from ever being farm owners, but the was a viewpoint flaw with Obregon. The law also appeased the influential agrarian leaders who were not going to go away quietly without some sort of land reform. Obregon knew this and in my viewpoint, these are the actions of a president using the government and politics to move a country forward.