My Life with the Wave Historical Context

My Life with the Wave Historical Context

The Mexican Revolution

Paz grew up during the period of the Mexican Revolution in a family that sympathized with the revolutionary forces. The Mexican Revolution began in 1910 in protest against the reelection of President Porfirio Díaz, who had ruled the country since 1876. Díaz officially resigned in 1911, and the revolutionary leader Francisco Madero assumed the presidency. However, the war continued until 1917 as various coups and counter-revolutions were carried out between factions of the revolutionary movement. In 1913, Madero was deposed and assassinated, and Victoriano Huerta assumed the Presidency. In 1914, Huerta was deposed and Venustiano Carranza declared himself president. Anarchy and violence ensued as revolutionary leaders battled over control of the presidency. With the support of the United States, Carranza was once again put in office and oversaw the writing of the Constitution of 1917, which was an attempt to incorporate the demands of many factions that had fought in the Revolution. In 1919, Carranza had the revolutionary leader Emiliano Zapata assassinated; in 1920, Carranza himself was deposed and killed while fleeing the country. While the Mexican Revolution had officially ended, armed conflict between government and rebel forces continued off and on until 1934.

Paz visited Spain in 1937 during the Spanish Civil War, which lasted from 1936-1939. The Spanish Civil War was fought between the right wing Nationalist rebels, supported by Nazi Germany and fascist Italy, and the left wing Republican government, supported by the Soviet Union. Paz, at that time an ardent socialist, sympathized with the Republican cause, which was comprised of the urban working class, the rural agrarian workers, and much of the educated middle class of Spain. The Nationalist rebels were comprised of the military, the Roman Catholic Church, the landowners, and the business owners. The Nationalists won the war in 1939, and the military leader Francisco Franco was made dictator of Spain from that time until his death in 1975.

"My Life with the Wave" was first published in 1951 during the Post-World War II era. Mexico had engaged in World War II on the side of the Allies from 1942-1945. While Mexican troops were sent to fight in the war, Mexico's primary contribution was in raw materials to the United States to be used in war production. After World War II, Mexico enjoyed a period of economic growth and prosperity, as well as a population boom. Many reforms were initiated by the Mexican government during this period, including granting women the right to vote in 1958.

The 1968 Summer Olympic games were held in Mexico City. A student demonstration took place ten days before the start of the games to protest the expenditure of government resources on the Olympics, rather than for social welfare. The Mexican army, however, surrounded the protestors and fired shots into the crowd, killing 250 people and wounding and arresting thousands of others. Paz, who was serving as Mexican ambassador to India during this time, immediately resigned his post in protest against the government's treatment of the student demonstrators. For years afterward, he remained a heroic figure in the eyes of student activists in Mexico.