The True Crisis, by Ricardo Flores Magón (1911)
Article from ‘Regeneración’, English Section, June 10, 1911, Los Angeles, edited by William C. Owen
We begin our manifesto by saying that the Revolution has reached a point at which it must either degenerate into a mere political movement, from which the Mexican workers will profit nothing, or realize itself as a true economic revolution, which will place the Mexican people in possession of their lands and of the machinery of production, thus securing the well-being of all.
I may add that no one who keeps track of the hitherto victorious course of the Revolution, as we record it from week to week in “Regeneracion,” can doubt that if the Mexican people continue as they have been acting during the past few months they can bring about a true and most beneficial economic revolution. Surely it is not to the interest of any sincere worker to discourage them at this most critical moment! Surely we can leave that to plutocracy, which will spare no pains to dampen their enthusiasm!
Following this our manifesto calls attention to certain facts which I beg to impress on you. It says, and says truthfully: “Madero and Diaz have entered into a pact whereby the forces of Madero transform themselves into federal forces, that they may crush the heroic Liberal comrades who do not lay down their arms. It is said that Orozco or Villa are to be sent to smother the Liberal movement in Sonora. It is said that other Maderist leaders, joining hands with the federals, are to crush the Liberals of Central Mexico. It is said that other Maderist leaders, combined with the federals, are to crush the revolutionists of Veracruz and of Tobasco, of Campeche and of Yucatan, of Chiapas and of Oaxaca, of Guerrero and of Moreles, of Durango, of Sinaloa, of Tepic, of Jalisco, of Guanajuato, of the entire country. Is not that a tremendous treason to the revolutionary movement?”
Upholding Wall Street
I ask you if that last short sentence is not literally true. It is treason to the people’s cause that we are now engaged in fighting, and little would it become us at this crisis to waste our time and energy in discussing what the ballot might accomplish in times of peace and under conditions the very opposite of those now prevailing in Mexico.
To do so would be to play directly into the hands of the tyranny in Mexico and the American tyranny in Wall Street; and both would pay millions to whoever could assure them that the robbed and outraged proletariat of Mexico, whose cause we uphold, had lost courage and given up the fight. I am sure that both you and your organization will understand that we must speak plainly; that we cannot equivocate; that we must tell the truth, no matter whom it may offend; that we must fight on.
Most fraternally,
RICARDO FLORES MAGON