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Benita
Mexican political activist Benita Galeana rose from an obscure birth in a small village to become an outspoken advocate for workers' rights. With humor, insight, and dignity, she recounts how she became a revolutionary, describing life in a peasant hovel, in urban cabarets, and in Mexican jails.
176 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 1994
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January 30, 2022
This is not as much a review as it is a massive summary of what happens.
INFANCIA
In her young adulthood she was desired by many men, rich and poor. Although she felt she had to keep her virginity, as it was her only 'capital', and if she lost it she would no longer be desirable. She lived in various family homes as an orphan, and in her sister Camila's home she is taken advantage of as a housemaid and the breadwinner.
Eventually she runs away with another sister to a new town and goes works in her home. She likes a man in this new town, but he loses interest in her because she cannot read. Following this event, she has a strong desire to learn to be literate. Ultimately, she decides she hates the rich and opts to give herself to a poor man to be his wife - she is convinced they should marry during a single dinner by the man's mother (she is often easily convinced). The two never actually get married but she ends up pregnant with his child. Like I said, this man is poor and all the town think she is crazy for giving him a chance when rich men were in love with her. She ends up leaving this man, because she doesn't love him and his mother is insane. As such, she tries to provide for her daughter on her own. She doesn't manage this very well, and ends up living in a hut on the outskirts of town without any electricity or candles (in other words, they live in complete darkness). Then she gets involved in illegal businesses like selling beer and mezcal.
Eventually she gets into debt with a Mezcal seller and offers herself as payment. He feels that she shouldn't pay him back with her body, although she believes this is what he will want because all men view her body as a 'mercancía'. The Mezcal seller helps her with the girl and eventually falls in love (or lust) for Benita, taking her around to work with him. Benita has to leave her daughter with a family member because the work is dangerous and they come across lots of troubles on the road. Benita, nonetheless, is able to defend herself and is very street-wise. Throughout all of her infancia, she expresses a strong desire to go to 'Mexico', despite always having had been there. I think she is referring to Mexico city. Eventually she decides to leave her Mezcal selling partner and arrives in Mexico. This is where her infancia ends.
LA LUCHA
After arriving in Mexico, she goes to work in the home of another sister. She still wants to learn to read, but her sister dissuades her. She ends up meeting a taxi driver called Manuel who she marries and he helps her financially to return for her daughter. Unfortunately, Manuel gets into trouble and has to flee the city for a while. In the meantime, Benita goes to work in a cabaret and makes good money. She gets to know the ins-and-outs of the business and is sought after by many of the men - including important people like governors. Manuel returns and she listens when he tells her to stop working there, but eventually goes back when he leaves her for another woman. She stops working there again once her husband tells her to. They are to start a new life, according to Manuel.
This new life entails moving to a new neighbourhood and Manuel gets involved in the communist party. Benita gets involved by proxy, and when Manuel eventually leaves her she is still heavily involved. She goes to jail multiple times and becomes a known figure of the communist party amongst police. She even starts a mini-revolution in the jail; hunger strikes, work strikes, informing others. She ends up being threatened to be kicked out of her home when she’s freed because she can’t pay rent. To prevent losing her home, she starts working for a man who owns a restaurant and exploits soldiers. He is in love with her and because she refuses his advances he fires her. The soldiers boycott the restaurant for this reason and she is brought back to the business. She is proud of the soildiers, who she also believes to be oppressed, and brings them together to talk about organising and fighting for their rights. She starts to organise a lot of things, like advising the press about some communists that went to jail. She ends up having contact with famous people, like Diego Rivera (painter).
Manuel and her get back together and he is accused of being a Trotskyist, so they want to kick him out of the party. She says she doesn’t even know what that is and what’s the problem if we’re all fighting for the same thing. She Is asked to watch Manuel’s movement, but she leaves him again. She continues her work with the communist party, fighting for workers rights and against Portes Gil’s regime. She even takes in some poor men, who end up denouncing her to the police, leading to her arrest for a few days. Also, she is entrusted, and is very proud, to sell the newspaper produced by the party, El Machete, despite being illiterate. She sees the value of the written word in divulging information.
She critiques the party’s upper members for not making the effort to educate her politically. She had fallen in jail 58 times for the cause, but they allowed her to be ignorant. Furthermore, her inability to read prevented her, in a way, from being an example for other comrades. Benita, however, had an excellent relationship with the ‘pueblo’, because she looked like them and spoke in a way they could understand. Even considering this valuable relationship, the party never took the time to educate her and make her more capable in her militance. Eventually she gets fed up with the party and can’t find a job because she’s a known communist, and so returns to the cabaret (which she hates for its exploitative nature). There she finds a foreign rich partner who takes her to make her a madame. However, she eventually returns to fight alongside her compañeros, ends up in jail AGAIN, and organises a hunger strike with the other female communists. In this strike, the soldiers are in solidarity with them as they are also workers being paid a misery salary. When they are released, Benita is very weak and ends up messing up her vision. She starts to wear glasses.
More details of the 'lucha' are described in the next few chapters. For example, when a compañero dies at the hands of the police officers and the communists try to bury him, they end up in some complication with the police. They also get into massive fights with the ‘brown shirts’, who are ‘fascists’ and this leaves Benita, on one occasion, physically damaged - vomiting blood. Another fight (which was totally unbalanced in favour of the opposition) caused the 2 of the communists to die and many to get injured.
Thanks to the party, Benita finally meets the ‘love of her life’ Humberto, who is an engineer. He takes her to live up north and convinces her to leave the party. He doesn't like her being involved in politics and talking to other party members. She distances herself from politics for her love for him and starts to work in the post office. However, she cannot keep away from her revolutionary nature and so goes to a protest, although her husband has forbidden her from such activities. He sees her there and gets very angry. Then she wins the lottery, but is not at all satisfied. She thinks it’s a sign of something bad to come… and Humberto leaves her shortly after. He left her because he cannot love her for her past, represented by her daughter. So she goes back to the fight and begins to right her book. All along her lack of literacy prevented her from doing somethings? Or did it?
INFANCIA
In her young adulthood she was desired by many men, rich and poor. Although she felt she had to keep her virginity, as it was her only 'capital', and if she lost it she would no longer be desirable. She lived in various family homes as an orphan, and in her sister Camila's home she is taken advantage of as a housemaid and the breadwinner.
Eventually she runs away with another sister to a new town and goes works in her home. She likes a man in this new town, but he loses interest in her because she cannot read. Following this event, she has a strong desire to learn to be literate. Ultimately, she decides she hates the rich and opts to give herself to a poor man to be his wife - she is convinced they should marry during a single dinner by the man's mother (she is often easily convinced). The two never actually get married but she ends up pregnant with his child. Like I said, this man is poor and all the town think she is crazy for giving him a chance when rich men were in love with her. She ends up leaving this man, because she doesn't love him and his mother is insane. As such, she tries to provide for her daughter on her own. She doesn't manage this very well, and ends up living in a hut on the outskirts of town without any electricity or candles (in other words, they live in complete darkness). Then she gets involved in illegal businesses like selling beer and mezcal.
Eventually she gets into debt with a Mezcal seller and offers herself as payment. He feels that she shouldn't pay him back with her body, although she believes this is what he will want because all men view her body as a 'mercancía'. The Mezcal seller helps her with the girl and eventually falls in love (or lust) for Benita, taking her around to work with him. Benita has to leave her daughter with a family member because the work is dangerous and they come across lots of troubles on the road. Benita, nonetheless, is able to defend herself and is very street-wise. Throughout all of her infancia, she expresses a strong desire to go to 'Mexico', despite always having had been there. I think she is referring to Mexico city. Eventually she decides to leave her Mezcal selling partner and arrives in Mexico. This is where her infancia ends.
LA LUCHA
After arriving in Mexico, she goes to work in the home of another sister. She still wants to learn to read, but her sister dissuades her. She ends up meeting a taxi driver called Manuel who she marries and he helps her financially to return for her daughter. Unfortunately, Manuel gets into trouble and has to flee the city for a while. In the meantime, Benita goes to work in a cabaret and makes good money. She gets to know the ins-and-outs of the business and is sought after by many of the men - including important people like governors. Manuel returns and she listens when he tells her to stop working there, but eventually goes back when he leaves her for another woman. She stops working there again once her husband tells her to. They are to start a new life, according to Manuel.
This new life entails moving to a new neighbourhood and Manuel gets involved in the communist party. Benita gets involved by proxy, and when Manuel eventually leaves her she is still heavily involved. She goes to jail multiple times and becomes a known figure of the communist party amongst police. She even starts a mini-revolution in the jail; hunger strikes, work strikes, informing others. She ends up being threatened to be kicked out of her home when she’s freed because she can’t pay rent. To prevent losing her home, she starts working for a man who owns a restaurant and exploits soldiers. He is in love with her and because she refuses his advances he fires her. The soldiers boycott the restaurant for this reason and she is brought back to the business. She is proud of the soildiers, who she also believes to be oppressed, and brings them together to talk about organising and fighting for their rights. She starts to organise a lot of things, like advising the press about some communists that went to jail. She ends up having contact with famous people, like Diego Rivera (painter).
Manuel and her get back together and he is accused of being a Trotskyist, so they want to kick him out of the party. She says she doesn’t even know what that is and what’s the problem if we’re all fighting for the same thing. She Is asked to watch Manuel’s movement, but she leaves him again. She continues her work with the communist party, fighting for workers rights and against Portes Gil’s regime. She even takes in some poor men, who end up denouncing her to the police, leading to her arrest for a few days. Also, she is entrusted, and is very proud, to sell the newspaper produced by the party, El Machete, despite being illiterate. She sees the value of the written word in divulging information.
She critiques the party’s upper members for not making the effort to educate her politically. She had fallen in jail 58 times for the cause, but they allowed her to be ignorant. Furthermore, her inability to read prevented her, in a way, from being an example for other comrades. Benita, however, had an excellent relationship with the ‘pueblo’, because she looked like them and spoke in a way they could understand. Even considering this valuable relationship, the party never took the time to educate her and make her more capable in her militance. Eventually she gets fed up with the party and can’t find a job because she’s a known communist, and so returns to the cabaret (which she hates for its exploitative nature). There she finds a foreign rich partner who takes her to make her a madame. However, she eventually returns to fight alongside her compañeros, ends up in jail AGAIN, and organises a hunger strike with the other female communists. In this strike, the soldiers are in solidarity with them as they are also workers being paid a misery salary. When they are released, Benita is very weak and ends up messing up her vision. She starts to wear glasses.
More details of the 'lucha' are described in the next few chapters. For example, when a compañero dies at the hands of the police officers and the communists try to bury him, they end up in some complication with the police. They also get into massive fights with the ‘brown shirts’, who are ‘fascists’ and this leaves Benita, on one occasion, physically damaged - vomiting blood. Another fight (which was totally unbalanced in favour of the opposition) caused the 2 of the communists to die and many to get injured.
Thanks to the party, Benita finally meets the ‘love of her life’ Humberto, who is an engineer. He takes her to live up north and convinces her to leave the party. He doesn't like her being involved in politics and talking to other party members. She distances herself from politics for her love for him and starts to work in the post office. However, she cannot keep away from her revolutionary nature and so goes to a protest, although her husband has forbidden her from such activities. He sees her there and gets very angry. Then she wins the lottery, but is not at all satisfied. She thinks it’s a sign of something bad to come… and Humberto leaves her shortly after. He left her because he cannot love her for her past, represented by her daughter. So she goes back to the fight and begins to right her book. All along her lack of literacy prevented her from doing somethings? Or did it?
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 22, 2019
Una historia y una mujer que desconocía totalmente , este libro me acerco mucho a ella y a pesar de vivir en Guerrero se conoce muy poco de ella, me quede con ganas de saber más.
January 26, 2022
Importantísimo leer a mujeres comunistas. Benita Galeana tiene una historia atípica a otras mujeres politizadas de su tiempo. Benita nació en San Gerónimo, Guerrero, fue campesina, analfabeta la primera parte de su vida y aguerrida, no puedo dejar de admirar su vida atribulada por las condiciones de pobreza y de ser mujer, y la valentía y el coraje con el que se defendió y luchó por la causa obrera.
La vida sí es la mejor maestra y sólo a causa de ella tuvo una conciencia revolucionaria única, convencida hasta la médula de su ideología. Me sorprendió mucho esa conciencia de su condición como mujer en el partido y ante los hombres.
A pesar de sus experiencias fuertes con los hombres, Benita también le dedica pasajes de su libro al anhelo por el amor y a lo ingrato que puede ser, en especial cuando sé es una mujer militante.
De la forma puedo decir que es un libro ligero, una transcripción de un relato oral que en boca de la autora debió encarnar una verdadera odisea, muy chistosas sus desventuras y también muy tristes.
P.d amé el pasaje donde Benita cuenta que le dio una golpiza a Revueltas por expulsarla del partido arbitrariamente.
La vida sí es la mejor maestra y sólo a causa de ella tuvo una conciencia revolucionaria única, convencida hasta la médula de su ideología. Me sorprendió mucho esa conciencia de su condición como mujer en el partido y ante los hombres.
A pesar de sus experiencias fuertes con los hombres, Benita también le dedica pasajes de su libro al anhelo por el amor y a lo ingrato que puede ser, en especial cuando sé es una mujer militante.
De la forma puedo decir que es un libro ligero, una transcripción de un relato oral que en boca de la autora debió encarnar una verdadera odisea, muy chistosas sus desventuras y también muy tristes.
P.d amé el pasaje donde Benita cuenta que le dio una golpiza a Revueltas por expulsarla del partido arbitrariamente.
July 7, 2019
"Tenía yo dos años, cuando murió mi madre. Mi padre era un hombre muy rico, tenía muchas tierras. Al morir mi madre se dedicó a la borrachera."
August 21, 2021
Divertida, intrigante, inspiradora. Así la vida de Benita y su autobiografía. La Benita que se nos presenta en los libros de historia es tan sólo una cáscara comparada con la Benita frente al espejo, hablándote cara a cara. El libro se lee espectacular, como hablar con una amiga íntima a las altas horas de la mañana, con unas cervezas encima. Incluso en los relatos más oscuros te saca una sonrisa, por ocurrente. Benita se enorgullece de ser malcriada, y este libro es una antología de todas sus rebeliones. Ojo los que lean la versión en español: es, en ocasiones, algo difícil diferenciar las voces en los diálogos y es fácil perderse.
Como bien dice al inicio del libro refiriéndose a la autora, "un gran escritor no es ningún virtuoso del idioma sino que, sencillamente, “un gran escritor es un gran hombre que escribe”." Definitivamente en lo correcto.
Como bien dice al inicio del libro refiriéndose a la autora, "un gran escritor no es ningún virtuoso del idioma sino que, sencillamente, “un gran escritor es un gran hombre que escribe”." Definitivamente en lo correcto.
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