Recently scholars have begun to devote attention, long overdue, to the movement of Mexican labor to the United States. This area is valuable for the study of migration patterns and is a fruitful avenue of research in understanding the growth and development of the Mexican-American community.
Professor Craig clearly shows the political processes which allowed so many Mexicans to come to the United States during the 1942-1964 bracero program. He traces the various interest groups which attempted to initiate, modify, or terminate the contracting of Mexican laborers to work in United States agriculture. Groups in Mexico opposing the exodus cited the dangers of contact with an alien culture and looked upon it as an admission that the Revolution had not brought sufficient progress to rural areas. The prevailing view of the government, however, was based on two hard facts: the bracero program provided a safety valve for excess population and earned large amounts of foreign exchange. With full recognition of the labor shortages during wartime, the Mexican government adroitly obtained what it had wanted for so many years: a formal, government-sponsored and guaranteed system of contracting to protect its nationals abroad.
The political mechanics of tapping the pool of labor provided by Mexican rural poverty are the main concern of this book. Professor Craig traces the tactics and impact of pro- and anti-bracero forces through an almost exhaustive research of primary and secondary materials. He concludes that a relatively small group of southwestern growers dominated policy because of their superior organization and tactics and the congruence of their interests with those of the Mexican government. Only in the context of the early 1960s, with increasing concern given to native migratory farm workers, was the program terminated and the majority interest effected. Consisting primarily of labor, religious and reform groups, the anti-bracero forces worked relentlessly to bring the program to an end in 1964.
The present scarcity of documentation for the Mexican processes does not allow as clear a picture as one would like to see. Only after an examination of the materials in the Archivo de la Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores, now closed for the period under discussion, could this understanding be had. This book can, however, be read with profit by all those interested in Mexican-American history, diplomatic relations, and agricultural labor and politics in the United States.
