UC San Diego

This thesis focuses on anarchist movements in the Mexican port city of Tampico from 1910 to 1945. Contrary to the objectives of the Mexican government, Tampico's anarchist communities resisted the institutionalization of revolutionary dissent. They utilized a variety of radical ideologies specific to the Huasteca region's social and cultural conditions to develop worker solidarity throughout the petroleum industry. By analyzing this specific geographical space, a counter-narrative of the Mexican Revolution and its precedence is formed by assessing the significance of working class community interests in contrast to those of the post-revolutionary nation-state. The purpose of this thesis is to explain the historical context in which anarchism formed in Tampico before and during the revolution. Secondly, it assesses the impact of anarchist consciousness amongst the region's petroleum workers throughout the 1920s. The thesis concludes with an examination of the institutionalization of labor conflict and its ramifications on radical movements in Tampico and throughout Mexico. My purpose is to provide insight into the port city's social, cultural, and political developments during the post-revolutionary period to problematize both the notion of the Mexican nation-state as well as worker's resistance to such manifestations