The orthodox view of Mexican history asserts that the political
stability and rapid economic growth of the post-war period were due
inter alia to state control over the labour movement. On the evidence of
his extensive research in Mexico between 1977 and 1982, Ian Roxborough
challenges this conventional wisdom, arguing that control over Mexican
unions has been more fragile and problematic than appears at first
sight. Taking the car industry as a case study, he discusses the upsurge
of industrial militancy in the 1970s and explores its possible
implications for continued political stability. Focusing on variations
in the factory-level organisations of the working class, the account in
this book de-emphasises theories which stress class consciousness or
which focus on the aristocracy of labour, in favour of a theory that
places political and organisational power at the centre of analysis.
This study of the grass roots of industrial militancy will have
relevance not only for the study of contemporary Mexico but also for
general explanations of the politics of labour in the Third World.