Russian and Mexican Industrialization

Industrialization became popular in both Mexico and Russia during the 1800’s. Both countries used tactics of removing outdated institutions, establishing new institutions, and removing the social hierarchy that anchored both countries to industrialize and modernize themselves in order to match the standards set by the western empires. The creation of the Trans-Siberian railroad in Russia and the reforms of Porfirio Diaz in  Mexico are attempts to reach the levels of more modern countries, but may not take them the full way because of problems in Russia and Mexico such as sub-par industrialization speed and a struggle to achieve stable political or economic reform.

Both Mexico and Russia do a fair job at removing the institutions from the colonial era that are holding them back. Mexico successfully attempts to eliminate state monopolies and abolish privileges that were originally set by the Spanish for important members of military and the Church. In Russia, the tsar lightened the taxation on the peasants in order to give them the ability to buy industrialized goods produced by Russia and own property. These examples both portray that industrialization is slowly removing the gaps between the pyramid of social hierarchy and is establishing equal opportunity among all people of the communities. When Porfirio Diaz took power in Latin America, a different approach had been taken. Diaz slowly removed the power of the privatized industries by threatening to abolish them if the institutions were not surrendered. With the surrendering of these old institutions, Diaz was essentially buying them off in order to morph them into new institutions that would benefit the current economy and social structure as well as the new political structure.

Russia’s creation of the Trans-Siberian railroad was intended to make transporting goods and products easier while at the same time allowing peasants to find a simple way to move out into Siberia. Porfirio Diaz industrialized Mexico by investing in new institutions and infrastructure to jump-start Mexico’s economy with its social structure not far behind. Two-thirds of Diaz’s investment was in railways. This investment was intended to pave way for other future institutions that were planned to develop. With the transportation complete, other institutions could more easily form leading to an up to par infrastructure. The other one-third of investment went into agricultural innovation. Russia’s Trans-Siberian railroad was a vital part of Russia’s economy, but was not a major player in the uprising of new industries until some time later. During the 20th century, Russia became a major producer of steel and oil, only topped by The United States and Great Britain. Count Witte pushed Russia into the western scene by implementing banking and heavy manufacturing. Diaz also pushed Mexico in similar ways. Banking was improved, the oil industry improved, but the arrival of mining was different from other industrialized countries. One of the problems with Mexico’s industrialization was that it relied heavily upon U.S. investment. The industrialization of Mexico and Russia was a very good short time investment but began to falter long term.

Mexico and Russia attempted to reform their social structures by removing the hierarchy that separates the people of the community. Russia removed the serfs that were bound to the land and the Trans-Siberian Railroad as well as well as the clutter of new industries gave the former serfs the ability to become wealthy landowners with profitable jobs. The former serfs were slowly given steps to achieve political power and become equal to the landlords from the previous era. Benito Juarez tried a different approach in Mexico. He limited the power of landlords and members of the church while offering new opportunities to the lower classes. At first, Juarez did not threaten to confiscate the land owned by the church or the clergy, but over time as the power of the clergy began to grow out of control, he took up their land and established it as public property. Only places of worship and education stayed in the hands of the powerful clergy. The power and influence of the church declined over time leading to the separation of church and state. Throughout all of these movements to establish equal power amongst all people of the community, Russia and Mexico stayed fairly patriarchal. The rights of women had very slightly changed as this became a problem in the long term effects of the Russian and Mexican industrialization.

With the emergence of political, social, and economic freedom, opposing viewpoints also emerged. In Russia and in Mexico, the political structures started to wobble. They were unstable due to the loose ends that were never tied up during the stage of industrialization. Distrust slowly began to fester in the minds of the people as they started to form their own opinions of where the country should be going. In Mexico the land reforms were failing, while the conservatives of the Catholic Church and original landlords wanted to rebel against the reform. The radicals were the ones who wanted to strengthen the already existing reform. They wanted to find their way to an equal opportunity democracy. A similar event happened in Russia as some of the tsars and landowners wanted Russia to stay the way it was before the industrialization and reform. Liberals and Radicals arose as they sought to push Russia in a new direction. The battle between these groups eventually led to the the fall of these empires and the uprising of the empires of today.