We are continuing our ongoing virtual night school during social distancing with a special short lecture and discussion this week on Ricardo Flores Magón, a Mexican Revolutionary in St. Louis.

"Forward, comrades! Soon you will hear the first shots; soon the shout of rebellion will thunder from the throats of the oppressed ...Land and Liberty!"

These were the words of Mexican revolutionary Ricardo Flores Magón printed in Regeneración, the bilingual anarchist newspaper published by the Magón brothers and their compañeros (commonly known as magonistas), on November 19th,1910, just one day before the Mexican Revolution began to radically transform world history. Magón, one of the political precursors to the Mexican Revolution, made this declaration not in Mexico, but in the U.S., where he had been living with other magonistas, in exile due to their radical activities. They originally fled to the Southwest U.S. and in 1904 propelled the group further away from the border, to St. Louis, Missouri.

While in St. Louis, the Magón brothers founded the Partido Liberal Mexicano (PLM, Mexican Liberal Party), which despite its name was a radical political organization rather than a party. Magón and his compañeros continued their agitation against the Mexican dictator Porfirio Díaz and projected their anarchist vision of a world without bosses or borders.

Their organizing and bonds created during their time in St. Louis would lay the foundation for long-term relationships among the radical left in both Mexico and the United States.

Readings: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1DbwNOWIzU8j3TuMQBJxE_qW_nPKCFxpS?usp=sharing

Hope to see you on the 23rd!