Laborist Party (Mexico)
The Mexican Laborist Party (Spanish: Partido Laborista Mexicano, PLM) was a social democratic political party in Mexico that existed from 1919 to 1940.
Mexican Laborist Party Partido Laborista Mexicano | |
---|---|
Presidents | Álvaro Obregón (1919–1924) Plutarco Elías Calles (1924–1929) |
Founder | Luis Napoleón Morones |
Founded | 1919 |
Dissolved | c. 1941 |
Succeeded by | National Revolutionary Party |
Headquarters | Mexico City, Mexico |
Newspaper | El Sol |
Trade Union wing | Regional Confederation of Mexican Workers |
Ideology | Social democracy Democratic socialism |
Political position | Left-wing |
Colours | Red |
The PLM was founded by Luis Napoleón Morones, one of Mexico's main union leaders. The PLM functioned as the political branch of the Regional Confederation of Mexican Workers (CROM), the country's most powerful union.[1] The party gave a platform to a particular portion of Mexico's social base and was in opposition to the Constitutionalist Party.[2] In the 1920s the PLM was the most powerful party in Mexico. Presidents Álvaro Obregón (1920–1924) and Plutarco Elías Calles (1924–1928) were elected on a PL ticket and in 1922 the PL managed to defeat the Liberal Constitutionalist Party (Mexico)|Liberal Constitutionalist Party (PLC) in congressional elections, becoming largest party in the Congress of Mexico. Competition with rival parties, including the PLC, the National Cooperativist Party (PNC), the Mexican Communist Party (PCM), the National Agrarianism Party (PNA), and the National Anti-Reelectionist Party (PNA) was often violent, the government usually supporting the PL.
After the assassination of Obregón, who was recently elected, in 1928 the party's power started to decline. Morones was suspected to benefit from Obregón's death and lost support. In 1929, Calles founded the National Revolutionary Party (PNR), which was to become the 'official' party. The PL last participated in the election in 1940, when it supported the right-wing candidate Juan Andreu.
References
- Leal, Juan Felipe. "Sindicatos y partidos políticos en México." Estudios Políticos 3 (1983), p. 6
- Aguilar García, Javier, "Confederación Regional Obrera Mexicana (CROM)" en Encyclopedia of Mexico, Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn 1997, p. 295