Abstract

ANZZOLIN, Kevin. El Diablito Rojo, the Mexican Centennial and the Working Class at the Crossroad of Discourses. Bibliographica [online]. 2024, vol.7, n.1, pp.169-204.  Epub June 14, 2024. ISSN 2594-178X.  https://doi.org/10.22201/iib.2594178xe.2024.1.438.

Via the detailed analysis of one of the most notable workers’ newspapers of the Porfiriato period -El Diablito Rojo-, this article reveals how the Porfirian plans for the Mexican Centennial celebration were criticized, which had the same “monumental” objectives of the time. Through its editorials and, especially, its front covers, that often included lithographs by José Guadalupe Posada, this periodical promoted a different vision of Mexico. The newspaper ran for a couple of years (1898-1901), made a pause, and then resumed publication for three more years (1908-1910). Although it aimed to represent the working-class perspective, a detailed examination of the issues that criticized the Mexican Centennial shows a clear lack of interest in the working-class social sphere. Hence, this article provides a reading of El Diablito Rojo that stands on the theories of the Italian thinker Antonio Gramsci, who proposed that a society’s in-force cultural norms are imposed in a vertical manner, i. e., by the hegemonic class.

Keywords : Centennial; monuments; press; labor movement; Porfiriato.