Summary of the Río Blanco Strike
The Rio Blanco Strike It was a labor movement whose peak moment was on January 7, 1907 in Río Blanco, Veracruz.. That day, around two thousand workers rioted outside their workplace: the Río Blanco textile factory in Orizaba, Veracruz.
The reason was due to the workers’ fatigue due to the mistreatment and overexploitation they received from their employers. Their work days were 14 hours or more in unhealthy conditions and their wages were minimum; Furthermore, when women and children were forced to work, their salary was worse than that of an average worker.
The situation became even more precarious because as a result of the market crash in 1906, the bosses had increased the workload and decreased the salary. In addition to this, fines and punishments were intensified for starting any revolt or organization that threatened the interests of the bosses.
Far from supporting the workers, then-president Porfirio Díaz demanded that they return to work to continue benefiting businessmen.
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It should be noted that the workers had been on strike since December 14, 1906. Among the main leaders were Rafael Moreno and Manuel Juárez. For their part, the workers Lucrecia Toriz, Mariana Martínez and Filomena Pliego They became key to cheering up their teammates.
On January 7, 1907, the strike was repressed with such violence that it became an essential precursor to the outbreak of the Mexican Revolution.
A tragic outcome
What was requested in the Río Blanco Strike was the improvement of working conditions such as obtaining a decent minimum wage and limiting working hours per day. since the workers were in terrible conditions of exploitation. Likewise, the protection of boys and girls was demanded to combat child labor abuse.
However, as was customary in the Porfiriato, those demands were not heard, much less attended to. The workers suffered unprecedented repression by the federal army. Dozens of workers were murdered right there, others were taken to be shot and four hundred were imprisoned..
The news of this massacre, like that of Cananea, spread throughout the country despite efforts to keep it secret. As a consequence, the uprisings spread to states such as Mexico City, Tlaxcala and Puebla.
The fatigue of the lower classes with the abuses of the powerful became increasingly difficult to hide and contain; culminating, years later, with the outbreak of the Mexican Revolution.
Consequences of the Río Blanco Strike
- The official death toll was 200 workers and 25 soldiers; 40 workers were injured; 400 workers were arrested and more than 1,500 lost their jobs.
- The rebellion spread to other states such as Puebla, Tlaxcala and Mexico City.
- Along with the Cananea Strike, the Rio Blanco Strike It became one of the main antecedents of the outbreak of the Mexican Revolution.
- He influenced the drafting of article 123 of the 1917 Constitution, which refers to the fact that all people have the right to decent and socially useful work. This would be guaranteed through the controlled social organization of work and the creation of jobs.
Main characters
- Rafael Moreno and Manuel Juárez They became the leaders of the protest against the prohibition of politicization and militancy of the workers. However, days after the repression of January 7, they were shot.
- The workers Lucrecia Toriz, Mariana Martínez and Filomena Pliego They were key to encouraging workers to fight for their rights.
Stephanie Cisneros Lover of literature, photography and discovering the treasures of Mexico.