WITHOUT ANY MORE LAW THAN THEIR OWN CAPRICE - COTTON TEXTILE WORKERS AND THE CHALLENGE TO FACTORY AUTHORITY DURING THE MEXICAN-REVOLUTION

Much current literature argues that the Mexican revolution was not a r evolution at all, but rather a series of rebellions that did not funda mentally alter the social order. Similarly, many scholars assert the c hanges in the Mexican work world during the Mexican revolution were th e result of a paternalistic state rather than the product of the actio ns of workers. This article examines cotton textile workers' relations hip to authority in the workplace during the most violent phase of Mex ico's revolution, 1910-1921. The results suggest that revolution indee d gripped the country, one that energized the country's still emerging factory proletariat. There is compelling evidence that millhands thro ughout Mexico continuously and successfully challenged the authority o f owners and supervisors, fundamentally altering the social relations of work. It is this ''hidden'' revolution in the factories that explai ns changes in labor law, labor organization, and worker power in the i mmediate post-revolutionary period. The effectiveness of the workers' challenge to authority is what explains: 1) the new regime's need to u nionize; 2) the development of pro-labor labor law after the revolutio n; 3) the power of unions after 1920. In short, workers' challenge to authority during the revolution is what explains the labor outcome of the revolution afterwards.