Riding with the Revolution

Dan La Botz, Ph.D (1998), is a retired historian who last taught at the School of Labor and Urban Studies of the City University of New Yok. He is the author of several books on Mexico and Nicaragua, including The Nicaraguan Revolution: What Went Wrong? (Brill, 2016).

• PrefaceAcknowledgementsAbbreviationsPseudonymsIntroduction: The American Left and the Mexican Revolution – A Testing of Political Theories and StrategiesPart 1 The American Left Supports the Mexican Revolution1 American Protestantism, Progressivism, and the Mexican Revolution2 The Mexican Anarchists of the PLM and the American Left3 Eugene Debs, the Socialist Party, and the Mexican Revolution4 American Anarchists and the Mexican Revolution5 Riding with Pancho Villa: The Radical Socialism of John Reed6 Lincoln Steffens: An American Progressive in Mexico7 American Labour Imperialism: Samuel Gompers and the American Federation of LaborPart 2 Americans Organise on the Ground in MexicoIntroduction to Part 28 Conscription, Repression and Flight: America’s First Revolutionaries in Exile9 ‘Socialist and Internationalist’: Four American War Resisters Who Chose Mexico10 Political Refugees in Revolutionary Mexico: Socialists and Spies11 American Slackers and the Organisation of the Mexican Communist Party12 American Slackers and the Industrial Workers of the World13 The Slackers, the Feminist Council, and the Revolutionary Peasant Leagues14 The Expulsion of the ‘Pernicious Foreigners’15 American Communists as International Agents in Mexico: Louis Fraina and Sen Katayama16 Bertram Wolfe, the Communists, and a Right Turn in Mexico17 Joseph ‘José’ W. Kelley: The Farmer Labor Party in Mexico18 Failed Movements and Varied Fates: Slackers and Communists after the World WarEpilogueBibliography and Works CitedIndex

“This is a splendidly written and researched study of the left-wing actors who expressed their solidarity with the Mexican Revolution during its first decade and a half. Entertainingly written, this book is both a history of the Revolution itself and an exploration of what attracted the attention of US activists who crossed the US-Mexican border to engage with the goals of Latin America’s first social revolution. An entertaining read for scholars interested in cross-border-solidarity and US-Mexican relations.”——Barry Carr, Emeritus Professor Latin American Studies and History, La Trobe University and Fellow, Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia“In a detailed, rich and scholarly but always interesting fashion, Dan La Botz looks at a wide range of U.S. political forces ranging from the conservative labor AFL leadership to antiwar activists opposed to World War I, Communists, the IWW and anarchists who supported major Mexican revolutionary leaders such as Francisco Madero, Francisco ‘Pancho’ Villa, Emiliano Zapata, Ricardo Flores Magón and their followers. A must read for those interested in Mexican and U.S. labor and left history.”——Samuel Farber is a Cuban-born and -raised social scientist who has written numerous books and articles about that country. His most recent book is The Politics of Che Guevara. Theory and Practice published by Haymarket Books. “When the transnational and international history of labour movements have vanished from the bookshops´ shelves, Dan La Botz provides us with a vivacious narrative of the Mexican Revolution to learn about and to enjoy.” ——Daniela Spenser, is a researcher at at CIESAS (Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropología Social) and author of Stumbling its Way through Mexico: The Early Years of the Communist International.“Riding with the Revolution is an unmatched panoramic study of the revolutionary process in Mexico in the first decades of the twentieth century. La Botz leads us through a multidimensional analysis of the politics, movements, participants, and debates that shaped the trajectory and outcomes of one of the great social revolutions of the last century. Approaching history through a transnational and international lens, we learn how US radicals and revolutionaries observed, participated in, and contributed to the events unfolding south of the border; as well as how they opposed the counter-revolutionary machinations and interventionism of their own government. La Botz meticulously documents and describes the proceedings in such precise language and illuminating insight that the reader can almost feel the pounding heartbeat of the period—one fired by the hopes of people trying to create a new world. Riding with the Revolution is a must read for anyone who wants to understand the class character, political complexities, and international significance of the Mexican Revolution. It is also essential reading for those who want to learn from the revolutions and revolutionaries of the past, as we continue to grapple with the question of how to change a world in crisis.”——Justin Akers Chacón is a Professor of Chicana/o Studies in San Diego, CA, and author of Radicals in the Barrio: Magonistas, Socialists, Wobblies, and Communists in the Mexican-American Working Class (Haymarket Books: 2018).