La lucha sigue! ('The struggle continues!'): Teacher activism in Guerrero and the continuum of democratic struggle in Mexico

The popular movement in Guerrero at mid-twentieth century was one step in a history of efforts by the popular classes to secure democracy and social justice. Based largely on government documents, normal school records, participant interviews and memoirs, the dissertation contends that teacher-activists' contribution of ideological and strategic leadership was instrumental in shaping and maintaining this project. That undertaking is situated in a continuum of progressive teacher-activism in service to the state, and what distinguishes it is their leadership challenging state legitimacy. These individuals followed in a tradition of teachers introduced to peripheral regions through the educational outreach most closely associated with President Lazaro Cardenas (1936--1940). The movement they helped shape was both influenced by, and had ramifications on, the national struggle for democracy beyond Guerrero's borders.; Events unfolded under the weight of the Cold War. They reflect the confluence of long-standing resistance to economic disparities and political exclusion with the influx of Marxist and socialist thought. These ideological explanations for inequality and injustice made sense in a rural context, particularly in light of the success of the Cuban Revolution of 1959. This ideological juncture was facilitated by militant teachers.; Two generations of teachers are explored: the first underwent their professional and political education in Mexico City, where urban labor actions were challenging the state. They returned home and, joined by teachers from the normal school in Ayotzinapa, led a state-wide movement demanding democratic accountability. After three violent government assaults on protesters, the two most prominent teacher-activists, Genaro Vazquez Rojas and Lucio Cabanas, abandoned public protest and led guerrilla movements in the Sierras. A second generation of teachers went to Guerrero after infamous government assaults in Mexico City (in 1968 and 1971) convinced militants that conditions there were not conducive to radical organizing. They helped sustain popular efforts to secure democratic openings under the weight of Mexico's dirty war, waged more aggressively in Guerrero than anywhere else in Mexico.; The dissertation concludes that despite the initial primacy of their public leadership, these activists secured a legacy of progressive reform through their professional engagement as teachers. Through their students, la lucha sigue.