Casi Nada

In this book, John Gledhill recounts for us the surprising history of a social revolution carried out "from above." In the enormous hacienda of Guaracha, situated in the northwest of the State of Michoacaacute;n, only a small group of rebels sympathized with the agrarian ideals of the Mexican Revolution. Faced with the indifference of the majority of the peasants and workers, the owner of the hacienda extrerminated the rebels. Later, the revoutionary government, perceived as abusive, anti-clerical and jacobean, aroused the mistrust and hostility of the people of Guaracha. Thus the redistribution of land promoted and effectuated by Laacute;zaro Caacute;rdenas--the great craftsman of Mexican agrarianism--served to achieve greater political control over these discontent peasants. But, as Gledhill demonstrates exhaustively, it did not serve to liberate them from poverty, nor to convert them into effective supporters of the regime. Casi Nada is the result of the many months that the author shared the lives of the ejidatarios of Guaracha and of his patient reconstruction of the collective memory concerning a half century of violence and hope. WIthout a doubt, it will become obligatory reading for those interested in the themes of agrarian reform, peasant reproudction and political control at the local level. The book will also serve to remind us that, if it is true that Mexican peasants never have supported populist inefficiencies, neither will they become enthusiastic supporters of a neoliberal agenda which condemns them to disappear.