Shadowing the Professional Class: Reporting Fictions in Doctors' Strikes

Abstract

This article focuses on the shadowing of Mexican physicians during the 10-month long medical movement of 1964–65. The author highlights how hospital spaces, doctors' routines, medical hierarchies, and the nature of physicians' labour posed particular difficulties for secret service agents. By examining a report from May 1965, mid-way through the movement, it becomes clear how agents sought to better understand a group with little history of state opposition. Physicians had significant symbolic, moral, and real power within Mexican society. For that reason, the intelligence community gave priority to documenting the subtle and growing disillusionment expressed in hundreds of physician meetings. The report examined here shows how doctors begin to question the impartiality of the press and the veracity of the government's promises. This report also illustrates how, as the movement grew, government agents exploited mounting tensions. Finally, these documents inadvertently signal the exceedingly bureaucratic nature of organised rebellion.