4

MARTIN LUIS GUZMAN

MARTIN LUIS GUZMAN

Before Revolution ·

Walter M. Langford expressed about Guzman's talent:

"Few people came to know Pancho Villa better than Martin

Luis Guzman. Honoured now as the grand old man of Mexican

letters and always respected as one of the finest minds to

espouse the revolutionary cause, Guzman also was endowed

with more writing talent than many other novelist·s of the

Revolution. 111 Guzman had wanted the Mexican life with

untinted flavour in its original colours and expressed it

through his historic literary writings. As the Revc-lution

spread across the country, every strata of the Mexican

society was not merely affected but either got involved or

forced to forge a new Mexican society that would, at least,

manage its own affairs. It is without saying that the

Revolution did provide enough intellectual stimulation and

writer like Martin Luis Guzman's profound literary merit

owes much to it. It was in the workshop of the Revolution

that Martin Luis Guzman gave shape to his feelings and ideas

to awaken a national conscience in his compatriots to steer

their way successfully against all odds.

This literary genius was born on 6 October 1887 as the

second son of general Martin Luis Guzman Rendon and dofia

1 Walter M. Langford, The Mexican Novel comes of Age (University of Notre Dame Press, 1972), p. 40.

125

Carmen Franco de Guzman. He had two brothers and two

sisters. After the birth of Martin Luis Guzman, his father

was offered the post of 'Maestro de Caballeria' at the

Military College in mexico city. Martin Luis Guzman was five

years old when he was admitted to a school in Mexico City.

In 1894, he was admitted to another school called Escuela

Primaria Cat6lica Gratuita de Tacubaya. On 7 January 1897,

he goes to .the Escuela Primaria Superior de Tacubaya. After

spending his first eleven years in Mexico City, in 1899, his

father was transferred to the port-city of Vera Cruz as the

director of the naval school. Martin Luis Guzman was then

admitted to the Escuela Contonal Francisco Javier Clavijero.

As a child, he was fascinated by "the two magical words :

P f · · 0' n2 or 1r1o 1az •... His childhood foundation was laid on

anti-religious family ~tmosphere. Guzman recalls that " ... he

was never taken to Mass nor he ever went near to a confessor

for strict and final paternal orders."3

It was in Veracruz that young Martin Luis Guzman learnt

at the school the political philosophy of liberalism. He

then not only showed his literary interest by studying

Victor Hugo, Rousseau and Benito Perez Gald6s, but also

realized the need of an elected form of civilian government.

Benito Juarez's liberal ideas had started agitating the

young mind. His father's anti-Church education to child

2 Martin Luis Guzman, Academia : Tradici6n, independencia, Libertad (Mexico City, Compafiia General de Ediciones, S.A., 1959), p. 22.

3 Ibid., p. 24.

126

Guzman had made him a strong opponent of any kind of

religious interference in the political life of the nation.

With his classmate, Feliciano Prado, he founded and

published a bi-monthly literary magazine named La Juventud.

The magazine could not last more than six months, but it had

clearly indicated Martin Luis Guzman's future course of

action. In 1904, Guzman got admission in the Escuela

Nacional Preparatoria in the capital city. In fact, Guzman

enrolled himself there because his father never wanted him

to join military service. Cometian and Spencerian positivism

had greatly influenced the Mexican academic world. But that

philosophy was being mis-interpreted by the cientificos to

the convenience of Diaz's dictatorial regime. In order to

counter cientificos' positivism, a group of young

intellectuals had founded the 'Ateneo de la Juventud'. It

was here that young Guzman had the opportunity to know many

great Mexican intellectuals like "Alfonso Reyes, Mexico's

great essayist, literary critic, poet and thinker; Jose

Vasconcelos, the Mexican author who would later reappear as

a comrade in the Revolution; Diego Rivera, one of Mexico's

leading muralists who would later acquire universal acclaim

in the art-world; Antonio Caso, the young philosopher who

instigated the group to launch itself against the official

philosophy of the Diaz regime and Pedro Henriquez Urena,

literary critic, essayist and poet11 •4

4 Larry M. Grimes, The Revolutionary Cycle in the Literary Production of Martin Luis Guzman (Cuernavaca, Mexico, Centro Intercultural de Documentaci6n, CIDCO cuaderno, no. 26, 1969}, pp.3-4.

127

This group Ateneo de la Juventud was representing

almost the whole new generation of Mexican intellectuals

that could no more rely on the older generation of

intellectuals which was either openly supporting the

dictatorial regime of Porfirio Diaz or was giving its silent

approval to whatever wrong was being done to the Mexican

people. An extraordinary liberal intellectual like Justo

Sierra had worked as Secretary of Education in the Diaz

Government. It was under these circumstances that Guzman's

childhood image of Diaz had been dismantled and he had

become conscious of the fact that "the dictator and the

class which supported him were the cause of the- widespread

'dolor popular"'· 5

Guzman started his journalistic career in 1908 when he

took up a job with a Mexican daily newspaper El Imparcial.

But he was not ready to surrender his principles for a job

in that newspaper when he found that it suddenly started

condemning the opposition forces as the staff was suitably

bribed by Porfirio Diaz to do so. Therefore, in 1909, he

resigned from the newspaper-job and took admission to study

law in the Escuela Nacional de Jurisprudencia. The same

year, on 24 July, he was married to Anita West Villalobos

who later gave birth to Martin Luis Guzman's three sons.

Subsequently, in August, Guzman was nominated as consular of

the Mexican Chancellery in Phoenix, Arizona (U.S.A.}.

5 Ibid., p. 4.

128

Incidentally, in 1908, Francisco I. Madero's book 'La

sucesion presidencial de 1910' was published.

During Revolution

On 27 September 1910, as was expected, the Chamber of

Deputies declared Profirio Diaz as re-elected president of

the Mexican Republic. On 5 October, in the Plan of San Luis

Potosi, Madero proclaimed the presidential e·lections null

and void. A call for a national uprising with a slogan of

"no re-election" was given on 25 November 1910. On the same

day, Martin Luis Guzman's father, General Martin Luis

Guzman Rendon, was seriously wounded in the battle of

Malpaso and died four days later on 29 November 1910.

However, before he died, he had opined about the Revolution:

" .•• I don't think that is the bad weed." 6 Martin Luis

Guzman, who had returned to Mexico, rejoins the Escuela

Nacional de Jurisprudencia in January 1911. This year was of

special significance in Guzman's life. He became part of

the literary group EL Ateneo de la Juventud. On 24-25 May

1911, Guzman also took active part in the demonstration and

blockade of the central plaza of the Mexico City that forced

the dictator to resign and flee the country. That victory of

the Revolution led Madero to become the president of the

nation on 1 November 1911. The same year, Guzman was

nominated as professor of Spanish in the Escuela Superior de

Comercio and librarian in Escuela Nacional de Altos

6 G ~ uzman, n. 2, p. 37.

129

Estudios. Guzman was also nominated a delegate to the

national convention of the Partido Liberal Progresista.

Madero could remain in the office only upto February 1913

when his Chief of Staff, Victoriano Huerta, trecherously

murdered both Maedro and his vice-president, Pino Suarez and

proclaimed himself the president of the nation.

These events forqed Guzman to resign from his post and

flee to the United States. After less than a week's stay in

New York with a writer, Alberto J. Pani, he came back to

Mexico city and started circulating political pamphlets

against Huerta's regime. In September 1913, he again left

Mexico city and through Vera Cruz went to Habana, New

Orleans, San Antonio,Texas and back to Mexico. The same year

in November, he worked with the forces of General Ramon F.

Iturbe in Culiacan, state of Sinaloa. Then, in February

1914, he worked in the capacity of civilian advisor with

Alvaro Obregon's forces in Sonora. In March 1914, on

Venustiano Carranza's order, he went to Ciudad Juarez,

Chihuahua to join the staff of the Primer Jefe. But the very

same month, he was disillusioned with Carranza's politics

and his style of functioning and left him to join as Pancho

Villa's personal secretary. On the orders of Pancho Villa,

Guzman reached Mexico City in Augustt 1914 as his

representative before the Primer Jefe and helped in

organizing the stay of the Division del Norte in the capital

city. Soon news reached the capital that General Alvaro

Obregon had been arrested by Pancho Villa. As a retaliation

130

to that event, Guzman was also

confined in the Penitenciaria

arrested by Carranza and

in the Mexico City in

September. Through the intervention of the Convention. of

Aguascalientes, Martin Luis Guzman along with other

supporters of Pancho Villa was set free in October 1914.

Next month in November, Pancho Villa appointed Guzman as

advisor to the General Jose Isabel Robles in the capital

whom the Convention had nominated as secretary of war.

Guzman was also nominated secretary of the National

University, director of the National Library and colonel-of

the Ejercito Revolucionario. The Convention had elected

Eulalia Gutierrez as the president of Mexico, but he was not

accepted by Venustiano Carranza. Therfore, Eulalia Gutierrez

had to take military help of the Division del Norte. All

efforts of reconciliation were proving futile. Carrancistas,

Zapatistas and Villistas had created a situation of utter

chaos. The situation became so much volatile that president

Eulalia Gutierrez ran for his life and fled the capital with

all his ministers and advisors on 16 January 1915. Guzman

was left with no choice but to follow the suit and,

therefore, fled the Mexico City to save his life. Passing

through the .united States, he went to Spain and lived in

Madrid with his family for a little more than a year.

It was in Madrid that Guzman's book La querella de

Mexico was published in 1915 by the Imprenta Clasica

Espanola. He was fully involved in his literary activities

and found Gregorio Silvestre's poems that he got published

131

in La Revue Hispanique in 1916 with an introduction. Under

his pen-name 'Fosforo' he collaborated with famous licerary

critic Enrique Diaz-canedo in a weekly called Espana that

was also published from Madrid. In February 1916, he left

Spain with his family and reached New York. In October that

year, he was offered a post of professor of Spanish language

and literature at the University of Minnesota. In 1918, he

started editing the Spanish-language magazine El Grafico

published from New York. At the same time, he contributed to

another Spanish language magazine Revista Univers3l also

published from New York. In May 1920, he returned to Mexico

after Venustiano Carranza was overthrown and assassinated.

In June, he met Adolfo de la Huerta and General Alvaro

Obregon and convinced them to recognize duly General Ramon

F. Iturbe. He resumed to head the editorial section of the

Mexican newspaper El Heraldo. In 1920, his another book A

orillas del Hudson was published by the Editorial Andres

Botas e Hijos: In December, he was made personal secretary

to Alberto J. Pani, Foreign Affairs Secretary in the

President Alvaro Obregon's government. on 18 March 1922, the

first issue of El Mundo was published by Guzman. This became

one of -the most important political daily newspapers until

the close of 1924 when it was confiscated by the General

Alvaro Obregon. In September 1922, he was also elected

member of the thirtieth Legislature Congress of the Union.

In 1923, he campaigned in favour of the opposition

presidential candidate, Adolfo de la Huerta, and went to New

York as special representative of Huerta. De la Huerta fled

132

Mexico and left the field absolutely free for the official

candidate, General Plutarco Elias Calles. Guzman was

destined to live in exile. In February 1925, he went to

Spain and lived there with his family until March 1936,

except a period. of fiteen months (Aughst 1926 to October

1927) when he lived in Paris.

Guzman was not new to the intellectual circles of

Spain. After revisiting Madrid, he started working as a

contributor, columnist and sub-editor in periodicals like El

Debate, Ahora, Luz, etc. published from Madrid. He also

held the position of an editor in El Sol and La Voz. He was

also writing for El Universal of Mexico, La Prensa of San

Antonio (Texas) and La Opinion of Los Angeles (California).

In fact, it was in 1926 that he started serializing his

experiences of the Mexican Revolution in Mexico's leading

newspaper El Universal and which were later, in 1928,

published entitled El aguila y la serpiente by Aguilar

Editores of Madrid. However, Guzman's this work could not be

published in a book-form in Mexico· before 1941. In 1929,

Guzman's another book La sombra del caudillo was published

by Madrid's publisher Espasa Calpe. In 1931, another

publisher of the same city, La Compafiia Iberoamericana de

Publicaciones published Guzman's Aventuras · democraticas

whose original title was Axkana Gonzalez en las elecciones.

In 1932, again Espasa Calpe published Martin Luis Guzman's

Mina el mozo; heroe de Navarra which was again pubished in

1955 but under the changed title--Javier Mina, heroe de

133

Espana y de Mexico. In 1933, Guzman contributed his writings

in various Spanish and American magazines which were later

published in a book form entitled Filadelfia, paraiso de

conspiradores y otras historias noveladas.

After Calles was exiled to the United States and Lazaro

Cardenas was firm in his position as the president of

Mexico, Martin Luis Guzman returned to Mexico in April 1936.

A few months later, he started writing the Memorias de

Pancho Villa which was completed in five parts in a span of

about four years. All the five parts were published by

Andres Botas· e Hijos--El hombre y sus armas (1938), campos

de batalla (1939), Panoramas politicos (1939), La causa del

pobre (1940), and Adversidades del bien (1940). In October

1940, Guzman also assumed the editorship of the literary

magazine Romance. In May 1942, he founded the weekly

magazine Tiempo. In November 1946, Kinchil was published in

Colecci6n Lunes that was part of Guzman's novel Maestros

rurales.

In May 1951, Guzman gave a stimulating talk on the

"Verdadero concepto de la hispanidad". On 5 June 1951, he

lost his mother dona Carmen Franco Vda. de Guzman. On 16

June the same year, he was honoured with the ambassadorial

assignment at the United Naions. In the month of June only,

his all five parts of the Memorias de Pancho Villa were

published in one volume by the Compafiia General de Ediciones

in Maxico City. In April 1952, he assisted in organizing the

134

Conference on Culture and Education in the University of

Rutgers (New Jersey, U.S.A.) and delivered a talk "The

Eyes and Ears of Latin America". on the occasion of his

formal recognition by the Academia Mexicana de Lengua, on 19

February 1954, Guzman delivered a talk : "Apuntes sobre una

personalidad". In October 1954, Guzman was honoured as the

correspondent of the Real Academia Espanola.

In August 19 58, Guzman's Muertes hist6ricas _was

published by the Compafiia General de Ediciones. On 2 0

November 1958, Martin Luis Guzman was honoured with the

National Award for Literature by the Mexican president,

Adolfo Ruiz Cortines. In December, as a second edition, La

querella de Mexico y A Orillas de Hudson--Otras paginas also

appeared in the market. In August 1959, Islas Marias was

published again by the Compafiia General de Ediciones. In

October 1959, the same publisher published Guzman's Academia

tradici6n, independencia, libertad. This work was a

collection of his speeches that he had given in series

before the Academia Mexicana de Lengua. In February 1960,

Guzman became the president of the Instituto Cultural.

Mexicano Israeli. In July 1961, the Compafiia General de

Ediciones published Guzman's Obras completas. In September

1963, Guzman's collection of articles and speeches,

Necesidad de cumplir las Leyes de Reforma, was published by

the Empresas Editoriales. The same publisher also published

his Febrero de 1913 in November 1963.

135

La querella de Mexico was the book in which Martin Luis

Guzman took a historical and political perspective of the

events that changed Mexico's face from colonial past to an

independent, soveriegn nation. He, therefore, overviewed the

periods of the independence movement (1810-21), the liberal

reforms (1856-67), and the Revolution (1910-17). Guzman

tried to find out the effects of these historic events on

the sociology of the nation. What he found was that the

creole oligarchy, the champion of the cause of liberty, was

interested only in snatching power from the gachupines, the

native born Spaniards. The oppressed, if at all participated

in the struggle, was not conscious of the grand designs of

that power struggle. To Guzman, both the creoles and the

gachupines were the same in selfishness, brutality and

immorality. There was "the same absence of sentiment and the

idea about the motherland. 117 This ·resulted into an

independence movement which was basically the dream of one

social class to rise to a position of absolute power.

'La querella de Mexico' is thus an attempt to analyse

the principal causes of the Revolution. " ... The book

presents an unimpassioned analysis of the political factions

which while fighting in Mexico for control of the government

were aware all the time that from outside the boundaries of

their country the United States threatened to, and at times,

7 Guzman, La querella de Mexico y A orillas del Hudson Otras pagina (Mexico City, compafiia General de

Ediciones, S.A., 1958), pp. 11-12.

136

did impose its will upon its weaker neighbour."8 Martin Luis

Guzman was of the opinion that the solution of the

democratic government· "must come by itself out of our own

perverted souls" and "that Mexico's interest is to solve the

problem of its normal existence as an organized people that

is raising barriers of moral incapacity."9 He does not agree

with the past interpretations of Mexican culture and history

in totality. He did not think either that the principal

cause of Mexico's armed uprisings was its shattered economy.

For him it was the nation's " ..• lack of spiritnlO that was

responsible for the prevailing disasterous conditions. It

was the directionless rule of the oppressors that ·was

responsible for the absence of a national consciousness.

What interested the creole oligarchy was to make use of the

Mexican masses in the garb of new European doctrine of

liberty to oust its arch-enemies--the gachupines. Augustin

de Iturbide was nothing but a symbol of fraudelent political

compromise and military immorality of the creole oligarchy

that was simply followed by the majority of the Mexican

leaders of subsequent years.11

Instead of looking into the reality that "is sad, that

is ugly, that is miserable"l2 and analysing its causes,

8 Ernest R. Moore, "Novelists of the Revolution", Mexican Life, vol. 16, no. 9, 1940, p. 24.

9 Guzman, n. 7, pp. 27-28.

10 Guzman, n.7, p.12.

11 Ibid. , p. 23.

12 Ibid., p. 16

137

Mexican September

Mexicans straight away jump to resolve their national

problems through the experiences of other nations. The

author feels that this reluctance to acknowledge one's own

reality also got reflected into Mexican educational system.

The untiring efforts that are required to gain scientific

knowledge which is necessary to avoid superficiality and

pedantry in resolving the nation's problems are absent. "A

pot is made stronger and more durable if clay is shaped as

clay rather than shaping it as gold. 1113 The society that was

"inhuman and cannibalistic, whose religion is cooked up with

superstitions and terrors and that did not know the weakest

moral gleam" 14 cann·ot deliver any good just by glorifying

its past. The priests who used to worship the plumed serpent

and propagated the rituals of human sacrifice n~ither

deserve tribute nor glorification. Guzman considers the

mythological exile of Quetzal-Coat! as the beginning of a

spiritual decline in the pre-Cortesan civilization. Complete

unquestionable loyalty to his religion and an unending

subjugation of the Indian could only make him devoid of

national conscience and without any political understanding

of 'patria'. What is known as his hisotry is nothing ·but a

sad story of his sufferings at the hands of priests,

caciques, conquistadores, creoles and friars. He neither

provoked nor asked for anything and happened to be a mere

geographic accident and a stumbling block to his own

nation's progress. Guzman takes the Indian as a negative

13 Ibid.

14 Ibid., p. 18.

138

factor in the context of the Mexican society's progress, but

he still recognizes him as a potential citizen. 15 There is a

belief that all constituents of the Mexican society are

capable of implementing the purest of democratic principles.

Also exists a group that holds that only the creoles can

rule the nation with democratic principles and not the

Indians. Thus formed democratic set up would not have more

than cosmetic touch to the real problem. Guzman considers

neither the Indian nor the creole capable of practising

democratic principles as neither possesses the civic virtue,

moderation, patience, respect, loyalty and justic, necessary

qualities required to put to practise the democratic rule in

its real sense. 16

Martin Luis Guzman stresses that the only social

movement in Mexico's history was ignited by Benito Juarez in

1856. That movement was able to perceive that " ... weakness

of the creole spirit demoralized and brutalized by the

Catholic Church1117 was the social reality of Mexico. But

before Benito Juarez's Reform Movement could bear some

fruits, it met with its premature death under the

dictatorial regime of Porfirio Diaz. Creoles were mainly

responsible for this state of affairs who not only supported

'Porfiriato' but also collaborated with it. The social

consciousness was such that "there is no politics, but pure

15 . Ib1d., pp. 19-20.

16 . Ib1d., p. 29

17 . Ib1d., p. 33.

139

and simple obedience. 1118 Guzman, first of all, wanted to

continue Revolution against those who intended to solve the

nation's serious economic crisis through "peace at the cost

of corruption and systematic crime.n 19 Had it been the right

way, Mexico's serious economic problems would have been

solved by Porfirio Diaz and the Revolution would not have

culminated into violence and the society would not have

plunged into moral perversion. This heavy price that Mexico

had to pay to save its democratic values was in no way a

success story of Diaz regime. The peace of his regime was a

lull before the storm. It utterly failed to achieve the

objectives of the Reform Movement for it never aspired for

them.

Martin Luis Guzman's several articles appeared in the

New York based Revista Universal and El Grafico from 1916 to

1918 which further elaborated on his ideas that were already

expressed in the La querella de Mexico. They were later

compiled and published entitled A orillas del Hudson. He

firmly believed that Mexico's pathetic political crisis

produced the most ignorant and violent leadership of the

immoral and selfish creoles and mestizos. A host of

illiterate self-proclaimed generals and immoral politicians

used the Revolution as stepping stone for reaching the seat

of power and remain there by all means. It had " resulted

into deirecting the run of the motherland with one's own

18 Ibid., p. 34.

19 Ibid., p. 36.

140

arms. n2 ° Guzman thinks that there were two principal

characteristics of this whole political drama.Firstly,

violence was the order of the day if one was thrown out of

power or defeated in the battle. Secondly, the one that

grabbed power was perpetually under threat and, therefore,

resorted to eliminate his opponents.2 1 The radical departure

was noticed with the emergence of Francisco I. Madero who

symbolized the real spirit of the Mexican Revolution. For

him " ... to be a citizen is the only way that is not to be

slave. n22 For Guzman, it was· Madero who made Mexico realize

its real political responsibility to steer the country away

from the Porfirian dictatorship. He was exceptional simply

because he did not resort to violence and elimination of his

political opponents. The majority of his contemporaries

thought of him incapable of running the country without

violent methods. "Madero means, within our public life, a

reaction of noble and generous spirit against the Porfirian

brutality", 23 Guzman states. Although he was well accepted

by the people, he was not understood by the Mexican

politicians and generals for motives best known to them. He

laid his life for the cause of his nation fighting against

immorality, violence and decadent values. His refusal to

accept violence as order of the day, met with his violent

20 Ibid. I p. 50.

21 Ibid.

22 Ibid. I p.196

23 Ibid. I p.62.

141

death. However, Guzman underlines the fact that Madero had

left an indelible impact on Mexican political system. 24

El aguila y la serpiente which was published in 1928

from Madrid combined the qualities of a history, a biography

and a novel. "It was essentially an autobiographical sketch

of Guzman's active participation in the Mexican Revolution

from the date of Medero's assassination (22 February 1913)

to the year the author went into his first political

exile. " 25 The way Guzman lived the Revolution and found

others participating in that historic event, he narrated

everything chronologically in the first person. However, he

does not emphasize his role in the upheaval. All sorts of

characters appear and disappear but the one whose presence

is felt throughout the novel is the author himself. The

author is "discreetly hidden in the multitude of the persons

he evokes, like those painters who have left their faces

almost on the border of the painting, mingled with other

figures", 26 says Antonio Castro Leal.

As far as the question of classifying this literary

work is concerned, it is not without controversy. Many

critics call it just a chronicle of the Mexican Revolution.

But the majority finds El aguila y la serpiente as an

autobiographical novel. Whatever type of novel it may be

24 Ibid., pp. 195-6.

25 Grimes, n. 4, p. 33.

26 Antonio Castro Leal, La novela de la revoluci6n mexicana (Mexico City, Aguilar, 1962), vol. 2, p. 16.

142

called, for the purpose of this study, the fact remains that

it is a novel concerned with the Mexican Revolution and

written by an author who himself was involved in the actual

process of history and know very intimately the protagonists

of the Revolution.

Guzman had the opportunity to work under Venustiano

Carranza, the Primer Jefe, who continued to follow the

legacy of Porfirio Diaz and like him was another symbol of

corruption and degeneration. Guzman categorically states

that "with Carranza the country and the Revolution are

heading to a steep rock, to a personalized fight in the

guise of the revolutionary postulates." 27 Carranza indulged

in corrupting the entire political set up in such a

systematic way that the MeY.ican masses could not be stopped

from coining an appropriate Spanish word 'carrancear' as a

synonym for 'robar' (to steal). Guzman identifies him as a

symbol of the Creole decadence and calls him as "the most

sincere ... enemy of the human rights". 28

Carranza's general, Alvaro Obregon, who later became

his successor as Mexico's president, was another typical

character. Guzman initially thought of him a sincere person

as he had reguested Carranza to issue a decree debaring all

military leaders from holding any public office. Obregon

suggested that Mexico's crisis could be overcome if "the wild

27 Guzman, El agnila y la serpiente (Mexico City, compafiia General de Ediciones, S.A., 1862), p. 273.

28 Ibid., p. 298.

143

ambitions of the military leaders" 29 could be contained. But

Guzman soon realized that Obregon was a very good actor and

what he normally said for the benefit of the country and its

people, he did not seriously mean. He was a fraud and

deceived the nation for his selfish motives. Knowing fully

well that, Obregon was a clever, unscrupulous caudillo,

Guzman recognized the fact that he was a very capable

military leader and a good strategist.

The leader of the peasant army of the southern Mexico,

Emiliano Zapata, was somehow not liked by Guzman. He viewed

Zapata with contempt. When his first encounter with his

group took place, in the Convention of the Aguascalientes,

Guzman observed : "The cultural and moral poverty of the

Convention-atmosphere grew with the arrival of Zapata's

delegates and their deputies." 30 After Venustiano Carranza,

if any other leader was hated most by Guzman, it was

Emiliano Zapata. He called him "the apostle of the perfect

idea of barbarism". 31 Historians like Henry Bamford Parkes

and Jesus Silva herzog do not agree with Guzman's analysis

of Zapata. Zapata is still a legendary figure in Mexico. The

famous Mexican historian, Herzog, comments that "we must

recognize in plain language, the force of the Zapata­

movement, its good faith and the integrity of its

29 Ibid. I p. 80.

30 Ibid. I p. 315.

31 Ibid. I p. 390.

144

caudillos. n 32 Guzman ridiculed the peasant leaders of the

Zapata movement by portraying them as backward, uncivilized

characters who, by capturing· one wing of the national

palace, had destroyed the elegance and splendor of the

edifice with their presence. They are shown as organizing

drinking orgies and the place littered with broken

bottles. 33

Although P~ncho Villa had fascinated Guzman and he even

travelled and worked with him_, the chasm between them

remained uncovered. Guzman was never fully comfortable with

him. He was suspicious of Villa's abnormal behaviour and

that element of suspicion and fear made him comment that

"Pancho Villa's soul was more of a jaguar than of a man ... ,

jaguar whom caressing, we pass our hand on his back,

trembling that he may hurl a blow on us with the paw." 34 He

was not different from other bandit leaders as he also

wanted " ... to accumulate power at all cost; to eliminate,

without any sentimentality, the obstacles to his avenging

and free action". 35 Perhaps that is why Guzman personifies

him in the form of the pistol that was part of Villa's life:

32 Jesus silva Herzog, Breve historia de la revoluci6n mexicana (Mexico, fondo de Cultura Econ6mica, 1960), vo 1 . 2 ' p . 6 5 .

33 Guzman, n. 27, p. 387.

34 Ibid. , p. 54.

35 Ibid., p. 249.

145

It is his basic instrument, the centre of his work and of his game, the constant expression of his innermost personality.... While shooting, it will not be the pistol that fires, but he himself •.. He and his pistol are only one thing... From his pistol havl been born and will be born his friends and his foes. 3

Despite the fact that Guzman deals with Pancho Villa's

character extensively, he is not his hero. He could not make

him one because he would never accept Pancho Villa's immoral

acts for reaching the seat of ·power. A man for whom all

principles were either "non-existent or incomprehensible" 37

and who always ·relied on "his blind instinct" 3 8 could

neither impress Guzman nor become his ideal.

Don Delfino Valenzuela was the man who earned Guzman's

praise and respect since the time he taught him in Veracruz

and when Guzman was in his youth. He was "an illustrious

Veracruzano who was neither a general nor hoped to salvage

the motherland from the presidency, but who ... had done for

the country much more than many generals and presidents

together, because he was a great pedagogue, a true

educator", 39 says Guzman about don Delfino Valenzuela.

"Precisely what was meanwhile going to follow would be

the ruin of the original enthusiasm : its dissolution shaped

like few persona 1 ambitions" 40 commented , the author. In

36 Ibid. I pp. 2 50-1.

37 Ibid., p. 241.

38 Ibid.

39 Ibid., p. 242.

40 . Ib1d., p. 417.

146

addition to describing the main characters of the

Revolution, Guzman was concerned with the decaying moral

values during the movement which he particularly saw when

violence broke against Huerta and warring factions were face

to face in the field. Whether it was 'convencionista',

'Villista', Carrancista' or 'Zapatista' everybody had an eye

on the seat of power in the capital city. National

aspirations of almost all warring factions were overtaken by

personal egos and ambitions. The principles of fighting for

safeguarding national interests and upholding social, moral

and cultural values were nowhere to be seen. The principal

reasons for this pathetic situation in which caudillos were

in absolute possession of power and politics in Mexico were

lack of national consciousness among the people and the

apathy of the large segment of Mexican society towards

nation-building. Guzman condemns this inactive segment and

says, "Those who clamour for searching a motherland and

avoid risks and discomforts in doing or attempting to do so

do not deserve it". 41 Guzman comes to the conclusion that

Mexico lacked a national political conscience and that

foresight that temporary setbacks might follw the period of

national progress and often cast the . nation's bright

future. 42 Guzman's rejection or acceptance of his historical

characters is basically based on the liberalism of Benito

Juarez and Francisco I. Madero. Martin Luis Guzman,

41 Ibid. I p. 391.

42 Ibid., pp. 418-9.

147

therefore, analyzes his characters in the light of his own

political ideology that took shape in La guerella de Mexico.

After Revolution

La sombra de caudillo is essentially based on the

political corruption in Mexico and is a novel of post

revolutionary era that was published in Madrid in 1929. The

events described pertain to the period of 1923-24 and its

characters partially reflect the real persons of the time.

The Arnulfo G6mez-Francisco Serrano rebellion of 1923 is

described against the background of Huerta's presidential

campaign in 1923-24.

The novel begins with the desire of some disgruntled

people that Mexico's secretary of war, general Ignacio

Aguirre, should become their presidential candidate in the

1928 election. Aguirre is a close friend of the president

who is referred to as the caudillo in the novel. The

caudillo believes that Aguirre is going to be the

presidential candidate of his enemies. Since the nominee of

the Caudillo for the presidential post was Hilario Jimenez,

he, therefore, started a slanderous campaign against his

opponent Aguirre. When that did not have desired effect,

Jimenez along with his stooges planned to assassinate

Aguirre and his men. They did not succeed in their attempt.

Aguirre tried to convince the caudillo that he had no desire

to contest presidential election, but his persecution

continued. When he came to know about another assassination

148

plan, in order to save his life, he fled from the Mexico

City and went to a nearby state which was being controlled

by a friendly military leader. Aguirre did not agree to his

supporters' suggestion that he should lead a rebellion

against the caudillo as he believed that that kind of

movement should be led by the opposition parties unitedly.

In the mean time, his military protector friend is suitably

bribed by the caudillo and while ~guirre and his confidents

were heading for Mexico city, they are mercilessly

assassinated by the caudillo. Badly wounded, Axkana Gonzalez

survived and fled from the scene.

Guzman creates his characters out of Obregon's

secretary of war, Francisco Serrano and the military

general, Arnulfo Gomez who had rebelled. Guzman portrays

Aguirre as a typical military general produced by the

Revolution who was confined to his post to make fortune out

of bribes. Aguirre had throughout his military career during

the Revolution followed faithfully his caudillo. He was,

therefore, pained to learn that the caudillo did not trust

him any more. He was so much faithful that knowing fully

well that the caudillo was after his life, he did not agree

to rebel against him. he failed to understand the existing

situation in Mexico in which "if you do not forestall your

enemy, your enemy will forestall you". 43 That is what

exactly happened in the case of Aguirre.

43 Guzman, La sombra del candillo (Mexico City, Compafiia General de Ediciones, S.A. 1962), p. 212.

149

Prieto Laurens, the chairman of the Partido Nacional

Cooperatista, whose member once Guzman had been, was

partially portrayed by Olivier Fernandez. He symbolizes the

institutionalised corruption and immoral practices prevalent

in the Mexican society. Olivier Fernandez's philosophy was

to be victorious and earn absolute power at any cost. He did

not believe the kind of faithfulness or gratefulness Aguirre

believed. For him "Gratefulness ! In politics nobody is

grateful because nothing is given. The favours or the

service offered are always those that are convenient to

one. 1144 It was Olivier who forced Aguirre to enter politics.

But when circumstances changed and Aguirre was no more in

the. caudillo's good book, Olivier also left Aguirre and

switched over to the caudillo's side unhesitatingly without

wasting any time.

Olivier Fernandez's equivalent is General catarino

Ibanez who is also a by-product of the Revolution. He knew

fully well that military might was a decisive factor in

winning the game. He would carefully weigh the concessions

offered and possibilities to win of both the factions and

then throw his weight behind the supposedly victorious

party. This kind of military politicians produced by the

Revolution were " ... converted as by magic in governors or

ministers illiterates, with licence of uncouthness, in

public offices of high responsibilities. 1145

44 Ibid., p. 42.

45 Ibid., p. 86.

150

The caudillo figures in the entire novel at one place

only, but his shadow is felt everywhere. He was powerful

but, at the same time, insecure and uncomfortable due to the

trechorous atmosphere he helped to create. It was this

insecure feeling that did not let him believe Aguirre's

claim of innocence. He suffered continuously a fear

psychosis that he might be eliminated at any time in the

same way as he eliminated his predecessor. That forced him

to consider all doubtful characters as his enemies and,

therefore, made every possible effort to nip them in the

bud. When he was told that his opponents would be proposing

Aguirre's candidature for the post of the president, the

caudillo took it as direct threat to his power. Since

Aguirre knew the caudillo'~ system too well, it made him all

the more uncomfortable and the caudillo did not leave any

chance to liquidate Aguirre before he could become a real

threat to his power. After Aguirre was assassinated, the

Mexican press did not print a single line against the

caudillo. It rather kept supporting him and his wild rule in

Mexico. Guzman did not hinder in attacking the role of the

Mexican press. He had also condemned it in his previous work

-- La querella q.e Mexico. In fact, the caudillo and his

successor resemble with the characters of Alvaro Obregon and

Plutarco Elias Calles.

Axkana Gonzalez is a character of Guzman's imaginative

mind. It seems that the author invented him to put forward

his own thoughts and ideas. Axkana feels sorry for his

151

political friend Aguirre who met his tragic death and for

which he himself was not less responsible. He had helped in

creating that tragic situation. If Axkana symbolizes the

conscience of the Revolution, that is also shown without

action to correct the wrong. He visualizes clearly his own

and his friend Aguirre's tragic end, but the hostile and

volatile atmosphere makes him also impotent. He survives the

assassination attempt and takes shelter in the American·

ambassador's car and becomes unconscious. Larry M. Grimes

finds a symbolic meaning in this scene and states that it

gives "the only faint note of hope in the entire novel,

Guzman allows the possibility that conscience of the

Revolution might live on. 1146 To say that Axkana exonerates

himself completely of the guilt of his presence in such a

terrible hopeless situation would be erroneous. Those forces

that compel him to participate in the political process and

make him unable to correct the wrong that was an outcome of

a historical process cannot be ignored. Axkana was in that

paradoxical situation in which in spite of his good

intention he could not avoid his participation in the

degeneration of human values. But what he perhaps thought

better was to be in the main stream rather than being a

silent spectator. The creation of Axkana's character in the

novel is in a way Guzman's objective commentary on the

chaotic si tutation that prevailed at that particular

46 ' 6 Gr1mer, n. 4, p. 2.

152

juncture of the Mexican history and which is analysed by

Grimes as follows:

If the author had not wanted to attack the moral degeneration of the Revolution, he would not have bothered to introduce a figure symbolic of a true revolutionary conscience. Guzman does portray post­revolutionary Mexico with objectivity, but most certainly not with sympathy. He is sympathetic to the personal tragedy of Aguirre, the moral tragedy 9f Axkana and the social tragedy of the Mexican masses. 4

Guzman seems to be so disillusioned and bitter in the

course of his political career that he finds, except

Francisco I. Madero, all national leaders corrupt and

degenerated. The· dark side of the Revolution has been in

focus in both of his novels El aguila y la serpiente and

La sombra del caudillo. What the author thinks is that the

corrupt, self-centred and directionless leadership would

never allow re-birth of Mexico. it does not mean that Guzmen

fails to recognize the sincerity and good intentions of the

Revolution. What he is worried_about is the impossibility of

achieving the national objective through the corrupt and

unprincipled political leadership. What Guzman does not

realize is that he has overemphasized the events and has

tried to impose his own ideology in drawing the conclusion.

There was hardly any well thought out ideology to guide the

Revolution that Guzman was looking for while working with

the immoral caudillos. And if at all there was any, that was

overtaken by the whims of power hungry leadership to cater

for its individualistic interest.

47 b" I 1d., p. 63.

153

Mina el . mozo, heroe de Navarro which was published in

1932 in Madrid was entitled as Javier Mina, heroe de Espana

y de Mexico in its sec·ond edition that was published in

1955. In 1938, Filadelfia, paraiso de conspiradores was also

published. Both of these novels were short and dealt with

the Mexican Independence Movement of 1810. It is not

proposed to deal with these novels here as their themes

pertain to a different historical period which is not

intended to be probed in this study. In spite of the fact

that the present thesis is principally concerned with the

period 1900-1930, it would be too mechanical an approach if

Guzman's ambitious five-volume novel Memorias de Pancho

Villa would not have been touched upon. These five volumes

consist of El hombre y sus armas (1938), Campos de batalla

( 1939), Panoramas politicos (1939), La causa del pobre

(1940), and Adversidades del bien (1940).

In El hombre y sus armas Martin Luis Guzman describes

Pancho Villa's early days when he was a bandit in the north

and gained prominence for his military skill in Madero's

army. He fought against Porfirio Diaz' s army~ Victoriano

Huerta got him jailed, but he succeeded in escaping from the

jail with which this first volume comes to an end. The

second volue Campos de batalla narrates Villa's.rise to the

post of a general of the Division of the North and his

efforts to throw the military dictator Victoriano Huerta out

of power who had managed to assassinate Madero. Panoramas

politicos not only describes Villa's military campaigns

154

against Victoriano Huerta's army but also underlines the

political differences between Pancho Villa and the 'Primer

Jefe', Venustiano Carranza. The fourth volume La causa del

pobre deals with the end of fightings between Villa and

Huerta and the beginning of power-struggle between Villistas

and Carrancistas forces. The last volume of this series

Adversidades del bien begins with the victorious entrance of

Villa into the capital city to meet Emiliano Zapata, the

military leader of the armies of the South. But there was

something else in the store as General Alvaro Obregon

defeated the Division of the North in the famous battle near

the city of Celaya. The last part of this novel ends with

the vivid description of Villa returning to the North with

his remaining soldiers.

Helen Phipp Houck in her article 'Las obras novelescas

de Martin Luis Guzman' claims that Guzman's Las memorias de

Pancho Villa is the most original work. 48 As the novel is

written in the first person, Guzman does not seem to impose

his thoughts and ideas on the reader. It is the character

that speaks for himself in an autobiographical style. This

style, on the one hand, saves Guzman from facing unnecessary

explanations and criticism, on the other, enables him to

recreate Pancho Villa from bandit to saviour with great

success. He let his character narrate his life, his actions,

his faith and his emotions freely. There is no camouflaging

48 Helen Phipp Houck, "Las obras novelescas de Martin Luis Guzman", Revista Iberoamericana, vol. 3, no. 5, 15 February 1941, p. 157.

155

of any kind. Pancho Villa himself reveals what made him a

bandit:

... I am a man whom destiny has certainly thrown to this world to suffer. I do not expect any mercy because my enemies do not want me to live. You know from where my sufferings came : from wishing to defend my family's honour. And the truth is that I. prefer to be the world's first bandit before admiting that my family's honour is withered. 49

This is also Guzman's argument in defence of Villa's

banditry. What he implies to say is that the rules and so-

called value based system of the haves are responsible to

drive one to banditry to save one's honour. Villa is not at

all ashamed of his banditry, which he found compelled to

adopt for salvaging his people from unending misery and

atrocities committed on them by those few whom they have

been serving since the dawn of the master and servant game.

So even without having the opportunity of attending any

seminary or school education to develop a formal mental

calibre and arising out of Mexico's vast majority living in

oblivion and anoymity, the objective reality of life imbued

him with those thoughts and courage that were not at all

less important for a social change than the lessons learnt

in sophisticated class-room environment. Therefore, he

fights for that cause with full dedication and nothing

destracts him from following his selfless path:

That is to say that all men of now and all those of future will know that I, Pancho Villa, was a loyal man

49 Guzman, Las memorias de pancho Villa (Mexico City, Compania General de Ediciones, S.A., 1963), p. 17.

156

whom the destiny brought to this world for fighting for the poors' well being, and that I did not ever betray my cause nor I forgot for anything the fulflllment of my duty. 50

In spite of the fact that he was an illiterate military

general, he had clear vision of leading the impoverished

Mexican masses. He was neither athiest nor a dogmatic

religious man. He also wanted his people to understand that

either of the extremes was bad for them:

But I do not consider all that sacred that is covered under the name of religion, because most of the so­called religious people use religion for the benefit of their interests, not for the benefit of the teachings they preach, and that is why there are good and bad priests, that is why we must tolerate sgme and help them, and persecute and annihilate others. 1

He had not even heard of social or political thoughts

that are considered necessary for the forward mobility of a

society. However, he had understood well the reasons for a

vast majority of people living in impoverished conditions

for centuries. The political scientists may call it class

consciousness, but for Villa it was a naked truth written

large on the faces of toiling Mexican masses : " •.. The force

of the rich people is very large until it seems to be

victorious, and they have many ways to block the poor

people's path for which they corrupt and hire with money and

threaten some, and fondle others." 52

50 Ibid. I p. 124.

51 Ibid. I p. 567.

52 Ibid. I p. 229.

157

Pancho Villa did suffer from inferiority complex and

the 'Carrancistas' deliberately infuriated him by reminding

him of his low social backgrou-nd and pointing to him that he

was a leader only of some illiterate and uncivilized people.

But this bandit leader could not be cowed down by such cheap

tactises. He was such a great military strategist that he

masterminded the major battles between Victoriano Huerta's

federal forces and the revolutionary forces and led them to

victory. That is why he was proud of his military skill and

said that he might not be a career militarist, but through

experience he knew that the main thing for a leader was to

conceive the possible development in a battle field and the

capacity of taking timely decisions and execute them

accordingly. 53 If Villa at all accepted anybody's

leadership, it was Francisco I. Madero. In the factionalist

period of Mexican history, when Villa saw no end to their

personality clashes, he proposed that; for giving the

Revolution a logical conclusion and in the larger interest

of the people and the nation, he and Venustiano Carranza

should be executed.

The negative or pessimistic approach that Guzman had

taken in El aguila y la serpiente and La sombra del caudillo

is no more seen in Las memorias. He starts seeing the

unwanted events in the Revolution as necessary outcome of

the historical, socio-political forces and which also played

53 . Ib1d., p. 127.

158

a positive role by raising the level of political

consciousness and nationalistic approach of the Mexican

masses. Further without Las memorias the autrentic portrait

of this legendry revolutionary leader would not have been

complete. Grimes rightly states:

No amount of historical data nor eye-witness accounts could possibly provide the material necessary to treat Villa in the depth achieved by Martin Luis Guzman .... Indeed, the historical and literary aspects of the leader blend together so well in the Memorias that it is ditficult to know where one begins and the other ends. 4

If La querella de Mexico tries to interpret the history

of the Mexican people from Guzman's point of view which was

shaped by the Mexican liberalism, El aguila y la serpiente

shows the author's disillusionment and dismay about the

Revolution. La sombra del caudillo portrays the post-

revolutionary faction-ridden political system of Mexico. The

caudillos who create chaos ultimately become victims of

their misdeeds. In these two novels Guzman finds the re-

birth of Mexico as a day-dream. The Revolution rather gets

terminated into institutionalized corruption and complete

lawlessness. It is Las memorias de Pancho Villa in which the

author seems to have done some introspection and

retrospection that lead him to affirm the Mexican

Revolution. Here the author's pessimism gets converted into

optimism and a positive attitude is found towards the

54 Grimes, n. 4, p. 85.

159

Revolution. Guzman's literary efforts are invaluable as they

represent his generation's serious concern about re-defining

the history of its people and their movements. It is an

attempt to comprehend its own history, evolution of

political systems and degenration and regeneration of

national values. Whether the Revolution succeeded in

transforming the Mexican society or not, the temptation is

to look for Mexico and its Mexican.

160