Resumo

TORRES-SEPTIEN, Valentina. State versus Church/Church versus State. Free textbooks: a case of governmental authoritarianism, 1959-1962?. Hist. graf [online]. 2011, n.37, pp.45-77. ISSN 1405-0927.

During the heyday of the institutional Revolutionary Party years, precisely in the years of the Presidency of Adolfo López Mateos, a Government initiative emerged to provide to all Mexican children with free school textbooks. The novelty and necessary initiative was however debated andfought by the Mexican right-wing groups who saw in it an authoritarian decision that fails to take into account social groups of different trends in their elaboration. The issue of its gratuity was not questioned, but not of its obligatory nature and uniqueness, which were considered as a violation of the rights of parents to choose the type of education and school texts for their children. This debate had repercussions throughout the Mexican Republic which led to popular movements to repudiate the texts of such intensity that the Government was forced to allow the use of other complimentary texts, without leaving out the official.

Palavras-chave : authoritarianism; official text books; Mexican right; social uprisings.