The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1926-09-04
CHAPTER III.

AOI week MADE IL clear Jnat the
IL catholic church in Mexico has al
ways been political institution. In
the present chapter we shall SEQ what
the political role of the church has
been in the historic forward move
ments of the Mexican people.
Revolutionary Fathers" Exeommunl-
Gated.
The struggle for national independ-
ence from Spain may be said to date
from the year 1910. On midnight of
September 10, 1910, Miguel Hidalgo,
everywhere known as the father of
Mexican independence, issued the ia
nous "grito de Dolores" from the little
church where he was parish priest.
Hidalgo gathered a fervent band of
revolutionists about him and led pro-
longed struggle for independence. The
revolt was finally put down. Hidalgo
was executed. The catholic church,
which was tied hand and glove to the
forces of Spanish privilege in Mexico,
co-operated with Spain by excommuni-
eating this great leader. who is today
revered by the entire Mexican people.
Hidalgo was not the only revolu-
tiOnary leader accommodated by the
church Another of the fathers O.
Mexican liberty who met the same
fate was the warrior priest, Jose Maria
Morelos.
Thus we see in the very beginning
of Mexico's struggles what afterwards
became. a charact e,;c. ...,.,- feature Of
them: the lower clergy-poor priests,
exploited by the upper strata of the
catholic hierarchy-aligned with the
people against the church, revealing
deep divisions within catholicism
which must assist the process of
eventual decentralization and destruc-
ton of the entire hierarchical organi-
cation.
Mexico finally achieved its independ-
ence in 1921. An important factor in
the success of the revolution was the
detection of Iturbide, commander of
the Spanish forces, who had his own
Interior motives for going over to the
Mexican side. One must understand
this to appreciate the role of the
chrrch r. that period and in the pc
- 20
A tremendous upheaval had taken
Pc IA SPAIN. KING Ferdinand had
pseno pushed aside by the triumphant
liberal congress, whSch Immediately
put thru a series of reforms in Spanish
law.
Immediately the reactionary forces
in Mexico, and in other Spanish colo
MES, began to look with considerable
favor on the idea of separation from
Spain. The new movement in Mexico
gathered great momentum, now as
sisted with particular zeal by religions
orders whose suppression had been de-
creed thruout the Spanish empire by
the liberal congress Of Spain. In Mex
leo City the very backbone of the revo-
lutionary conspiracy was the Order
of Jesuits; while in Vera Cruz Father
Fra Jose de San Ignacio exhibited
extraordinary activity in organizing
all the influential people in his dis
trict under the banner Of the revolu- |
ton, in obtaining supplies of money,
and in landing Iturbide as the Savior
Of religion and liberator Of the father
land"
"Red, Green and White"
The church Joined the revolution
belatedly in order to win a new strong
hold. No thought of republicanism
entered its mind 1t proceeded with
a definite conscious program aimed
to strangle the new republic at its
very birth.
On February "a. 1921, Iturbide, with
the sanction OF his clerical sycophants,
issued manifesto, known in Mexican
history as the "Plan de Iguala,' which
proclaimed the following principles:
I. Establishment Of the Roman
eatholie anostolic relation as the ma