Date Created

2008

Abstract

This article examines the insertion of Basque immigrants from the Baztan Valley, in the province of Navarre, into the wheat-flour-bread complex of late-nineteenth century Mexico City. Additionally, it describes labor conditions in the bakeries they owned and analyzes the place of workers in the Mexico of Porfi rio Díaz. In contrast to the historiographical tendency to present immigrant entrepreneurs, and the Porfirian state, as forces of capitalist modernization, the article shows that, with important exceptions, bakeries remained archaic and pre-capitalist in order to permit the integration of the constant stream of nephews that linked Mexico City and the Baztán Valley. It also argues that the bakery workers, who suffered terrible conditions in the bakery workshops, pushed for a labor regime more in line with capitalism, which, according to popular notions of liberalism, would acknowledge their basic rights as citizens.

Publication Title

Revista de Estudios Sociales

Document Type

Article

ISSN

0123-885X

Volume

29

First Page

70

Last Page

85

Keywords

Bakeries; Basque immigrants; Workers' movement; Porfiriato

Place of Publication

Colombia

Digital Origin

Born digital

Language

Spanish

Publisher

Universidad de los Andes

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