Revoltosos: Mexico's Rebels in the United States, 1903-1923

By W. Dirk Raat

Book Description:

Revoltosos examines the activities of Mexican rebels in the United States between the Immigration Act of 1903—an attempt to exclude “anarchists”—and the end of the Red Scare in the early 1920s. The revoltosos were insurgents and political refugees, of the right wing as well as the left, who used the United States as a base for their opposition to the dictatorship of Porfirio Díaz and the succeeding governments of Madero, Huerta, and Carranza.

As exiles and rebels, the revolotosos were the objects of suppression by both American and Mexican authorities, who devised a binational police and espionage system that included American private detectives in the pay of Mexico and U.S. immigration, consular, and secret service personnel. Since most revoltoso activity was within the law, the U.S. government’s actions were extreme, even for a time of nativism, antiradicalism, and war hysteria, and the use of illegal means to suppress legal actions was a serious threat to civil liberties.

W. Dirk Raat has made extensive use of archival materials on both sides of the border, including documents only recently made available through the Freedom of Information Act. Thus, he is able to cast new light on a significant era in the history of both countries.

In 1982, a reviewer in The Journal of San Diego History wrote, “This book fills a void which has existed in our knowledge about the interface of American and Mexican politics during the revolution. It should be required reading for State Department officials, multi-national business executives, scholars and anyone interested in U.S./Mexican relations.”

My Opinion:

For those interested in the causes of the Mexican Revolution, Revoltosos is a worthy book to study, The first two-thirds of it examines how the magonista movement, headquartered in the United States, struggled to overthrow the presidency of Porfirio Díaz while being hampered by Mexican and United States laws and government agents. The next three chapters compare how those same resources were used for and against other rebel groups as the Mexican and American presidencies changed hands. The final chapter brings the era to a close with the death of Ricardo Flores Magón in Leavenworth prison. The entire book paints a disconcerting picture of how much U.S. government officials were willing to bend the law in order to achieve their purposes.

Raat included extensive footnotes about his sources and a bibliographic essay at the book's end. Those interested in the magonistas and their political party, the Partido Liberal Mexicano (PLM), will find the primary sources listed in the footnotes on pages 18-19 of particular value.

Revoltosos is also full of details other authors might have glossed over. Because I want my novels to be an accurate reflection of they describe, I particularly appreciated knowing women played an unexpectedly significant role in the magonista movement and that “Pinkerton” was a generic term applied to all detectives. Both pieces of information have a prominent place in the two novels I’m working on now.