A Social History of Mexico’s Railroads: Peons, Prisoners, and Priests (review)

Teresa Van Hoy’s work begins with a simple question: “How did the residents of Veracruz and Oaxaca fare in the contests for land and labor, the long-armed reach of central government, the market penetration, and the new definitions of citizenship” (p. xiii)? The somewhat surprising answer that emerges to this question is, not so badly.

In six detailed chapters, Van Hoy explores the material and political gains achieved by individuals and communities; formal and informal labor structures; railroad services; and general policies (both governmental and of the railroads). Each chapter provides vivid pictures that challenge traditional notions of railroads as only tools of the elite to gain power. While clearly acknowledging that in many instances there were abuses, Van Hoy illustrates over and over again how ordinary citizens frequently turned the tables on the encroaching industry and manipulated the process to their own advantage. Official and unofficial railroad documents, municipal and district records, personal letters, and foreign diplomatic correspondence provide a strong base for viewing the broad picture of the impact of railroads on average citizens.

The most pronounced theme throughout this work is that average Mexicans used the existing bureaucratic systems to their advantage. Van Hoy convincingly argues that in the initial stages of railroad expansion, local citizens did not necessarily object to the railroads’ expropriation of their property. On the whole, the evidence suggests a general understanding that the railroad would help the community in the long term. Objections emerged when citizens did not feel they were properly compensated for their property. Also, a transportation system originally intended to benefit the elite ended up benefiting all classes of Mexican society. In fact, Van Hoy points out that third class cars were almost always full, and some rail lines did away with second class cars in order to accommodate more third class passengers.

Furthermore, the records indicate that the railroad became a reliable source of income during agricultural off-seasons. The hourly and daily pay rate matched or improved upon other options available to workers. Van Hoy points out that in contrast to workers in other world regions, the Mexican railroad workers maintained control over their own labor. They chose their hours and would freely walk away if they deemed the situation no longer advantageous to them. The one segment of society left out of the wage benefits of the railroad was women. Though there were a few exceptions (such as women who owned property that the railroads needed), as a whole they did not have the opportunity to take advantage of the situation in the same way that male workers did. Women played a role in providing food to the male workers, but there are scarce examples of females participating in any other type of labor associated with the railroad.

One of the strongest sections of the book is that regarding the informal sector. The daunting nature of the source base for this area makes what Van Hoy has compiled even more impressive. She includes analyses of locals as suppliers for the railroads as well as the illegitimate gains of railroad workers. Surprisingly, though workers regularly cheated the railroads, the railroads (with the exception of the Tehuantepec) did not cheat the workers in the same manner. In contrast to working conditions on railroads in other countries, on most Mexican lines workers were not docked wages or forced to pay fines, even if they broke equipment. Sometimes the railroad mistakenly overpaid workers but chose not to demand repayment, a practice that surely goes against most corporate methods even today.

Van Hoy has produced an outstanding work that expands our collective knowledge and challenges our innate assumptions regarding Mexico’s railroads. Most scholarship on railroads provides little more than a glimpse into the lives of these workers. This provides a panoramic view.