The Mexican Revolution

by Adolfo Gilly, Howard Zinn (Editor), Friedrich Katz (Foreword by)

First published in Spanish in 1971, The Mexican Revolution has been praised by Mexico's Nobel Prize–winning author Octavio Paz as a "notable contribution" to history and is widely recognized as a seminal account of the Mexican Revolution. Written during the author's time as a political prisoner in the famous penitentiary of Lecumberri in Mexico, it sold thousands of copies in its first edition, becoming widely accepted as the official textbook by history faculties in Mexico despite Gilly's continued incarceration. It has gone through more than thirty editions in Mexico and been translated into French and Greek. This comprehensively revised and updated edition of the original text is now available with a foreword by Latin American history scholar Friedrich Katz and a new preface by the author. A true "people's history," The Mexican Revolution is a stirring, bottom-up account of an event whose reverberations are still felt throughout Latin America and the rest of the world.

Genres: History, Politics, Nonfiction, War, World History, Spanish Literature, School

416 pages, Paperback

First published April 10, 1971

About the author

Adolfo Atilio Gilly Malvagni was an Argentine-born Mexican historian and author of various books on the history of and politics of Mexico and Latin America.

Reviews

[Sasha Seliutina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Props to Adolfo Gilly for having the will-power and the tenacity to write a 400-page book about one of the most unheard of revolutions in American high schools. Although personally I would never write anything longer than a HOTA FRQ essay about the Mexican Revolution, I can respect such a hardcore dedication. Literally iconic. Thank you, Adolfo Gilly, for getting me intrigued about drama in the Mexican Revolution - to the point where I was gasping with shock as I was reading. Thank you, Adolfo Gilly, for being a constant assignment written in my homework planner. Thank you, Gilly, for teaching me how to view 26 Kami pages as an "easy" night of reading. I will never forget reading this book during my junior year of high school, for better or for worse.

On a more interesting topic, Angeles and Villa were literally the stars of this book. I don't care if history says they weren't in a relationship; those monologues from Chapter 9 tell a different story. They were kind of giving Patroclus and Achilles but in the middle of the Mexican Revolution rather than the Trojan War. They are literally my favorite OTP.

Favorite Quotes:

"As a result of the social, political, and economic contradictions peculiar to the capitalist development in Mexico, the Mexican people underwent a hitherto unprecedented experience. Feeling themselves to be the subject, not the mere object of history, they stored up a wealth of experience and consciousness that altered the whole country as it is lived by its inhabitants."

From Angeles - "'History will not have a single word to say about me,' he insisted, 'because I do not deserve one. I am a mere speck of dust which tomorrow's wind will blow away. But General Villa does not have the right to the words of history."
^ saddest quote of the year; somebody give him a hug
<3

[Sal · Rating 4 out of 5]

What ultimately made me give this book four stars rather than three (I debated between the two) is looking back on it in retrospect, how passionate it is. The author wrote this book as a political prisoner in a Mexico City jail during the 1960s, and the passion in which he described and analyzed the first great Revolution of the twentieth century sears through nearly every page. The excellent introduction to the book by Friedrich Katz points to the fact that this book gave a generation that was disillusioned with the idea of the Mexican Revolution of 1910-1920 (thanks to the oppressive, corrupt P.R.I political party that was running Mexico at the time this book was authored) a reintroduction to the true principles of the Revolution, and re-ignited their hopes in restoring what was seemingly lost in the decades the Revolution ended.

That said, this is a very academic book. It contains lots facts and analysis, and therefore, can be a bit dry at times. However, the author does a great job of breaking down the complicated political scene that was going on alongside the armed struggles of the peasants against the ruling pro-capitalist bourgeoisie. Also, its a Marxist analysis, so those looking for a more well rounded approach may want to look elsewhere. However, I feel like this book gave me a very strong foundation in my understanding of this Movement, whose echoes reverberated throughout Latin America and the World in the 20th century, and continue to do so today. Its passionate history. Definitely not for everyone, but does more than serve its purpose.

[sylvie brekke · Rating 4 out of 5]

the end of an era

[Durakov · Rating 5 out of 5]

Riveting. I haven't read a revolutionary history like this (with the mixture of erudite political-economic analysis, passionate rhetoric, and explicit partisanship) since James' Black Jacobins. I got lost once or twice in the quick introductions and deaths of some figures, but only very rarely, which is really another mark of excellence for a book covering so much ground. Can't recommend highly enough.

[Daniel Polansky]

The thing about Communism is that it lost—which, counter to both Marxist theory itself and later self-serving capitalist critiques, doesn’t prove anything, because there’s no inevitable march of history, no absolute law to anything, sometimes dice just roll a certain way—but it does make reading communist histories feel like picking through the sacred texts of some decayed and largely forgotten religious order. Maybe it always kind of felt like that. Certainly, a great deal of the intellectual force of Communism (apart from just generally being right about a lot of things) was that it relied upon a vocabulary and a general framework which only true believers would bother to learn, the use of which served (and still serves) to off-foot an opponent. This, naturally, led to the development of a style of leftist writing which is academic at its worst – verbose, needlessly dry and dogmatic. Is there such a thing as a first rate communist historian? That’s a serious question, please answer in the comments.
Anyway that rant aside it’s been so long since I read anything about the Mexican Revolution that I was basically coming in blind, and it is a pretty fascinating bit of human history, and so I didn’t mind this, but even when I found myself in intellectual sympathy with Gilly I was also somewhat bored. Like, ‘yes, of course, the exploitation of the rural peasantry by the Conventionist Bourgeois forces was an inevitable consequence of the Morales’ commune’s failure to extend their anarcho-rural template to the urban masses,’ but also this is pedantic and duller than it should be.

[Meg · Rating 4 out of 5]

This guy actually wrote this book while in prison for his political activities, which I think is a neat little fact. A marxist analysis, so of course there are some dubious conjectures which turn all peasant struggles into communist resistance movements...But there were indeed a lot anarchists and socialists involved in the Revolution, and leftist ideas definitely permeated the rhetoric of revolutionaries. I really enjoyed this analysis.

[Q.P. Moreno · Rating 5 out of 5]

El mejor libro de historia mexicana que he leído. Los protagonistas no son personajes volubles y pasionales (aunque estos existen y repercuten en lo particular) sino clases sociales que intentan plasmar sus intereses en programas revolucionarios y reaccionarios. También es una crítica y deconstrucción de la historia oficial, evidentemente escrita por el ala dominante del pacto social que ganó la guerra.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

A marxist look at the Mexican revolution. Good on so mayn levels. For one, it helped me understand how capitalism is formed out of an agrarian/feudal society. Also, it is a good look at he competing forces, interests, parties, and individuals of the Mexican Revolution. Can be dry at times and took me a few years to finish.

[Matty Norris · Rating 3 out of 5]

While Gilly does take a refreshingly materialist (somewhat Marxist) approach to reanalyzing the Mexican Revolution, a lot of the book ends up getting caught in small details and dramas. Definitely worth a read if you're taking good notes along the way, but not for those with casual personal interest.

[Ron Harris · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pretty straightforward telling of the Mexican revolution by an author on the far left of center. The facts are laid out in a very readable manner, and he does a pretty good job of not letting his politics skew his writing.

[Sal Valdez · Rating 4 out of 5]

i am really enjoying this book. appears to be a classic on the history of the mexican revolution. as i had family members involved in that rebellion i am personally hooked.

[Isaac RIO · Rating 4 out of 5]

El libro que todo Mexicano, amante de la historia o curioso de las revoluciones debería de leer.

En este libro podrás ver cómo el movimiento de la Revolución: nace, toma su incontrolable fuerza, asciende al poder, tambalea en la cima y al final se estanca; o se interrumpe según las palabras del autor.

A pesar de ser un libro de historia, que tal vez muchos consideren aburrido, Adolfo se las arregla para sumergirte en la época de la Revolución Mexicana de una forma única. Combinando la incorporación de citas/datos históricos de otros libros, e interpretando las intenciones y trasfondos de los actores protagonistas del movimiento; Adolfo narra la heroica lucha del pueblo de México en un movimiento que va cambiar su rumbo.

También hay que agregar que el libro esta escrito desde una perspectiva socialista, y enaltece mucho a los personajes afines al socialismo. Pero eso NO interfiere con la narrativa del autor y su acertada crítica a todos los personajes de la Revolución; ya que Adolfo juzga el carácter de cada uno de ellos, no con la balanza del Bien y Mal, sí no los concibe como fuerzas de la naturaleza humana (o de la sociedad mexicana de entonces) que no puede cambiar su actuar e inevitablemente chocan en una tormenta de: balas, tierra e ideales...

Para los mexicanos que lean esta reseña, les super recomiendo este libro para que tengan más trasfondo de nuestra situación actual como país. Al igual te podrás desencantar o enamorar de las figuras de la Revolución de la que nos enseñan desde primaria. Dale una oportunidad, no es un libro pesado a pesar de lo que parezca, Gilly se encarga de ello.

Las dos grandes lecciones que me dejo este libro es:
"El ingenio y los ideales pueden provenir de cualquier persona/lugar" aunque tus enemigos te quieran hacer menos
"Ejerce el poder cuando lo poseas, sí es que quieres imponer tu voluntad"

PS: ¡Adolfo escribió este libro desde la prisión! ¡¡¡La prisión!!!!

[Owen · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent materialist account of the Revolution. Easy to read (a special achiement given its complexity and scope) and pretty detailed. It is analytically sophisticated and compellingly argued. I was left a little unconvinced by Gilly's arguments about the marginality of the working class to the Revolution - a supremely important question - and dissatisfied by his idealised account especially of Villa's leadership. A related problem (given the record of Villista use of rape as a weapon of war) is the role and place of women in the Revolution and the neglect of issues such as race/indigeneity in the Revolution, eg for Yaquis in the North or Mayas in Yucatán. Nevertheless, this is highly recommended as a starting point for studying the Mexican Revolution.

[César Miguel Vega Magallon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gilly is our Perseus. Here, in the reconstructed social history of the Mexican Revolution is a beating heart and the thread. Rather than chronicles of the defeats, victories, treasons or entreaties of Mexico's last generation of Saintly Generals, here is the people's history of the calamity which cost one-million Mexican lives to establish modernity and a state. Gilly recounts in a vivid manner the tragedy of Mexico's birth as modern state and nation, he holds up a mirror to our nationalism and chastises us with a wagging finger in the most beautiful and thorough way any historian ever has.

Here is the book which taught me to be Mexican and a writer.

[D. Neuser · Rating 4 out of 5]

A passionately biased take on Mexico's revolutionary civil war. This book was originally published in the early 70s, the glory days of the international New Left, under the title "The Interrupted Revolution". It expresses the views of a dissenting leftist intellectual under the PRI's "perfect dictatorship" (whose repressive policies had recently hit an infamous peak in the 1968 student massacre).

Gilly deploys Marxist categories to narrate the revolution in a framework that is sympathetic to popular radicalism. Villa and Zapata are unabashedly presented as the tragic heroes of this story, and Gilly's interpretation treats the rise and fall of their movements as the central crux of the whole revolution.

Definitely not the only book you should read on this topic, but a good one to pique a reader's interest.

[Cal · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book was well written with tons of information. Which was a little bit too dense at times for me as I had no prior knowledge of the revolution. At times got very deep into the political intricacies and was hard to keep up, as I was just reading for leisure. Very impressive story of what Villa and Zapata were able to accomplish considering their origins.

[Kevin Burns · Rating 4 out of 5]

A thorough account of the Mexican Revolution - a 10 year span - and its various factions. The focus here is in the Left tendencies of the revolution, led by Villa and Zapata, and their triumphs and defeats. It's equal parts inspiration and critique, as Gilly grapples with the successes and failures of the revolution. A fascinating read of an overlooked historical moment.

[Noel Urban · Rating 5 out of 5]

Buenísimo

[Tomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, I had no idea how complex the players where. I am looking at all the players in this Civil War in a different way now.

[Sergio Iglesias · Rating 5 out of 5]

Es un libro indispensable para cualquier persona que le interese entender desde una perspectiva estructural y de clase, la revolución mexicana.

[isbael · Rating 4 out of 5]

was bored at first but then i started to get into it. only read ch 8 tho but id say that’s probably the only chapter u really need

[Salvador Ramírez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Este libro es una de las interpretaciones de la revolución mexicana más acabadas utilizando la economía política, como lo hubiera hecho Marx en El dieciocho brumario de Luis Napoleón Bonaparte. Un libro de fácil lectura y sin duda esencial para comprender la revolución mexicana, la cuál como su título sostiene, se trata de una revolución interrumpida, en el sentido de que las masas que la generaron fueron las que al final perdieron la guerra, no sin haber transformado antes por completo a México.

[Rommel Cesena · Rating 5 out of 5]

Most people have at least a vague understanding of the changes that WWI brought to the world order. The same can be said about the French and Russian Revolution. Why is it that no one really knows much about the mexican Revolution? Could it be perhaps that it is outside the Eurocentric realm of our world vision? Could it be perhaps a subject that falls deep into the racial chasms of colonialism and it is easy to get lost?
Having a look at this episode of Mexican history, regardless of where in the world you come from is understanding how capitalism has destroyed noble ideas of justice, fraternity, culture and community. And how these ideas have been hijacked by the economic elites and twisted these truths to dominate the masses.
As a Mexican myself having gone trough the education system in Mexico, with all its whitewashed privileged middle class versions of history, this book clarified not only the events of the revolution but our present.
It’s a heart breaking story that I believe can be relatable in any social justice struggle across the world.

[Lucas Velazquez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Increíble investigación. Adolfo Gilly indaga más allá de la historia oficial mexicana y detalla, a precisión, los movimientos políticos y sociales de la revolución mexicana.

Una obra que requiere, a mi parecer, de un conocimiento previo de la historiografía mexicana, si bien, el autor es muy preciso al momento de dar detalles de los hechos, la obra no está hecha para dar un enfoque general del movimiento, al contrario, su enfoque en muy preciso, queriendo detallar, como dice el título de la obra, la razón por la que se considera es una "revolución interrumpida".

Muy recomendable si te gusta la historia de México.

[Raymond F. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great for history buffs, but not a "pop" read. Helped me with my research though.