The Laboratory of the Revolution
Tabasco under Tomas Garrido Canabal, 1922-1935
Published on 9. October 2025
Book
Hardback
348 pages
978-90-04-73715-0 (ISBN)
Description
Laboratory of the Revolution is the first-ever professional study of Tomas Garrido Canabal, revolutionary strongman of Tabasco state between 1922 and 1935. He dreamed of turning Tabasco-an isolated backwater and the quintessential "banana republic"-into a beacon of progress. Garrido's recipe for that progress consisted of ridding the state of religion, prohibiting alcohol and other vices, championing science, and boosting agriculture and ranching. He only fell from power when a shoot-out in Tabasco furnished the pretext for subordinating the state to President Lazaro Cardenas's centrally governed political machine, the forerunner of Mexico's long-lived one-party system.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Leiden
Netherlands
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
Dimensions
Height: 235 mm
Width: 155 mm
Thickness: 21 mm
Weight
662 gr
ISBN-13
978-90-04-73715-0 (9789004737150)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Carlos Martinez Assad is Professor Emeritus of the Universidad Autonoma Nacional de Mexico. In addition to his classic El laboratorio de la Revolucion: El Tabasco garridista, he has published extensively on matters of regional and national history. A recognized authority on the Mexican Revolution as well as Mexico's extensive Lebanese community, he has garnered many awards in his career, including a John Simon Guggrenheim grant and the Universidad Nacional's award for the promotion of research.
Terry Rugeley, now retired as Professor of Mexican and Latin American History, is founder and CEO of Fountain Pen Translations LLC. His many book-length publications include The River People in Flood Time: The Civil Wars in Tabasco, Spoiler of Empires (Stanford, 2014) and Epic Mexico: A History from Earliest Times (Oklahoma, 2020).
Terry Rugeley, now retired as Professor of Mexican and Latin American History, is founder and CEO of Fountain Pen Translations LLC. His many book-length publications include The River People in Flood Time: The Civil Wars in Tabasco, Spoiler of Empires (Stanford, 2014) and Epic Mexico: A History from Earliest Times (Oklahoma, 2020).
Content
List of Illustrations and Tables
Translator's Preface
Chronology
Principal Organizations by Acronym
??Introduction
1 Anticlerical Radicalism
?1?Jacobinism and Bolshevism
?2?Influence
?3?The ICAM in Tabasco
?4?The Tip of the Spear
?5?The Fiercest Enemy
?6?The Land without God
?7?Variations on the Same Theme
?8?Combating Fanaticism
?9?Anecdotes
?10?Repercussions
?11?Garrido's Path
2 Education without Dogma
?1?The Modern School in Tabasco
?2?Objectives of the New Education
?3?The Rationalist School in Operation
?4?Against Centralized Education
?5?In the Time of Revolutionary Psychology
?6?The Students Take Sides
3 The Enclave Economy
?1?Green Gold
?2?A Unique Sort of Agrarian Reform
4 The Puritan Modernizer
?1?The Cooperative Republic
?2?The Anti-vice Campaign
?3?Socialism without Marx
5 Politics, Tabasco-Style
?1?Garrido's Power
?2?An Impregnable Bastion
?3?The Ligas de Resistencia
?4?The Emissary of Revolutionary Thought
?5?Regional versus Central Government
?6?Anatomy of the Camisas Rojas
?7?Women as the Foundation of Garridista Society
6 In the Eyes of His Enemies
?1?Protect Our Traditions!
?2?Dimas, the Good Thief
?3?Anticlericalism
?4?Rationalist Teaching
?5?Ligas de Resistencia
?6?The Camisas Rosas
?7?The Black Legend
?8?And Even the Victor Is More Honored
?9?An Eye for an Eye
?10?The Crusades
7 The Confrontation
?1?Bloody Sunday in Coyoacan
?2?The Field of Battle Is Chosen
?3?The Leader's Fall
8 Tabasco Must Be Mexicanized
?1?In the Shadow of Don Tomas
?2?"And the Gates of Hell Will Not Prevail ..."
?3?National Integration
9 The Voluntary Exile of Garrido Canabal
?1?The Leader of the Southeast
?2?Another Life
?3?In Garrido's Absence
?4?Before and After
?5?The New World
?6?Internal Politics
?7?National Politics: Petroleum
?8?The Rebellion of Saturnino Cedillo
?9?Quarrel with the Catholic Church
?10?The Presidential Succession of 1940
?11?Economy and Agrarian Reform
?12?The Return
?13?Death Comes for the Man of Action
?14?El Vencedor
Glossary of Spanish Terms
Bibliography
Index
Translator's Preface
Chronology
Principal Organizations by Acronym
??Introduction
1 Anticlerical Radicalism
?1?Jacobinism and Bolshevism
?2?Influence
?3?The ICAM in Tabasco
?4?The Tip of the Spear
?5?The Fiercest Enemy
?6?The Land without God
?7?Variations on the Same Theme
?8?Combating Fanaticism
?9?Anecdotes
?10?Repercussions
?11?Garrido's Path
2 Education without Dogma
?1?The Modern School in Tabasco
?2?Objectives of the New Education
?3?The Rationalist School in Operation
?4?Against Centralized Education
?5?In the Time of Revolutionary Psychology
?6?The Students Take Sides
3 The Enclave Economy
?1?Green Gold
?2?A Unique Sort of Agrarian Reform
4 The Puritan Modernizer
?1?The Cooperative Republic
?2?The Anti-vice Campaign
?3?Socialism without Marx
5 Politics, Tabasco-Style
?1?Garrido's Power
?2?An Impregnable Bastion
?3?The Ligas de Resistencia
?4?The Emissary of Revolutionary Thought
?5?Regional versus Central Government
?6?Anatomy of the Camisas Rojas
?7?Women as the Foundation of Garridista Society
6 In the Eyes of His Enemies
?1?Protect Our Traditions!
?2?Dimas, the Good Thief
?3?Anticlericalism
?4?Rationalist Teaching
?5?Ligas de Resistencia
?6?The Camisas Rosas
?7?The Black Legend
?8?And Even the Victor Is More Honored
?9?An Eye for an Eye
?10?The Crusades
7 The Confrontation
?1?Bloody Sunday in Coyoacan
?2?The Field of Battle Is Chosen
?3?The Leader's Fall
8 Tabasco Must Be Mexicanized
?1?In the Shadow of Don Tomas
?2?"And the Gates of Hell Will Not Prevail ..."
?3?National Integration
9 The Voluntary Exile of Garrido Canabal
?1?The Leader of the Southeast
?2?Another Life
?3?In Garrido's Absence
?4?Before and After
?5?The New World
?6?Internal Politics
?7?National Politics: Petroleum
?8?The Rebellion of Saturnino Cedillo
?9?Quarrel with the Catholic Church
?10?The Presidential Succession of 1940
?11?Economy and Agrarian Reform
?12?The Return
?13?Death Comes for the Man of Action
?14?El Vencedor
Glossary of Spanish Terms
Bibliography
Index