NAFTA was part of the corporate transformation of the Mexican economy_ a process that began long before it took effect in 1994.That process moved Mexico away from nationalist ideas about development policy,which had been advocated from the end of the Mexican Revolution in 1920 through the 1970's. Nationalist development became part of Mexico's official ideology in the 1930s.They wanted to sever their ties with the United States corporations who owned oil fields,cooper mines,railroads the telephone system,great tracts of land and other key economic resources. To be truly independent,the nationalists believed(and I agree), that Mexico had to establish an economic system in which resources were controlled by Mexicans and used for their benefit.Nationalization served two purposes,according to David Bacon(Illegal People),--to stop the transfer of wealth out of the country and to use state ownership to set up an internal market,in which what was produced in Mexico would be sold there as well.In theory, the government had a stake in maintaining stable jobs and income,so workers and farmers could buy back what they produced(sounds good to me)
Lazaro Cardenas was president of Mexico from 1935 to 1940 and established a corporatist system in which one elected party controlled the main sectors of Mexican society.He nationalized the oil industry,the rail system and redistributed haciendas in 1938.Land was considered the property of the whole country and thousands of farming communities were created.Most foreign ownership of land was prohibited.After his presidency,the reorganized PRI(Institutional Revolutionary Party) administered a network of social services.State owned CONASSUPO grocery stores brought subsidized products at low prices to the citizens throughout the country.The social security system(IMSS),established in 1943, provided health care,while the government housing corporation,INFONAVIT, set up in 1972 built homes.
After WWII,Mexico officially adopted a policy of industrialization.Enterprises were created or supported that produced products for the domestic market while imports of those products were restricted.The purpose was to develop a national base,provide jobs, and increase the domestic market.Under that policy,hundreds of thousands of Mexican industrial workers in mines,mills,transportation were employed. This Mexican economy wasn't completely socialist and many large capitalist enterprises existed and thrived(as they should). This mixed economy provided economic security to many workers and farmers.Foreign investment was limited,although after Cardenas much Mexican capital operated in increasingly close partnership with U.S. and Canadian corporations.More and more,nationalism started to lose its grip on the economy and political capitalists waged a war of privatization against the state properties . A gulf started to widen between the political and economic elite and the workers and farmers that continues to this day.
More from "Illegal People" down the road.
Lazaro Cardenas was president of Mexico from 1935 to 1940 and established a corporatist system in which one elected party controlled the main sectors of Mexican society.He nationalized the oil industry,the rail system and redistributed haciendas in 1938.Land was considered the property of the whole country and thousands of farming communities were created.Most foreign ownership of land was prohibited.After his presidency,the reorganized PRI(Institutional Revolutionary Party) administered a network of social services.State owned CONASSUPO grocery stores brought subsidized products at low prices to the citizens throughout the country.The social security system(IMSS),established in 1943, provided health care,while the government housing corporation,INFONAVIT, set up in 1972 built homes.
After WWII,Mexico officially adopted a policy of industrialization.Enterprises were created or supported that produced products for the domestic market while imports of those products were restricted.The purpose was to develop a national base,provide jobs, and increase the domestic market.Under that policy,hundreds of thousands of Mexican industrial workers in mines,mills,transportation were employed. This Mexican economy wasn't completely socialist and many large capitalist enterprises existed and thrived(as they should). This mixed economy provided economic security to many workers and farmers.Foreign investment was limited,although after Cardenas much Mexican capital operated in increasingly close partnership with U.S. and Canadian corporations.More and more,nationalism started to lose its grip on the economy and political capitalists waged a war of privatization against the state properties . A gulf started to widen between the political and economic elite and the workers and farmers that continues to this day.
More from "Illegal People" down the road.
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