Zapatismo and the Workers Movement in Mexico at the End of the Century

Abstract

Images of Mexico, both positive and negative, rarely include the urban, industrial working class. Mexico is often still seen as a rural country, though 75 percent of the population lives in urban areas and 50 percent of those in rural areas live through the sale of their labor power. Real unemployment is around 20 percent in urban areas and 50 percent in rural areas. Our purpose here is to examine the current conditions of the Mexican working class and the emerging modes of working class resistance and struggle.This article can also be found at the Monthly Review website, where most recent articles are published in full.Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.