Lazaro Cárdenas: Su pensamiento económico, social y político

The central point of the political, social, and economic thought of Lázaro Cárdenas, apparently the cornerstone of his public life from the beginning of his diary in 1913 to the last entries of 1970, is summed up as follows: “The fundamental force which blocks the development of Latin America is North American imperialism” (quoted from the book’s outside back cover). Cárdenas concern for agricultural and industrial workers everywhere is illustrated here and in his policies. Jesús Silva Herzog, prominent Mexican political economist and member of the team of advisors to tire Cárdenas presidency (1934-1940), is eminently qualified to discuss the social philosophy of this brilliant statesman who led Mexico to the culmination of her twentieth-century social revolution, serving as inspiration to peoples of other less-developed countries. This 137-page book is in two parts: the first, excerpts from Cárdenas’ four-volume Obras; the second is an interpretative commentary on his presidency. Unfortunately, the author presents only a sketchy survey of thought from Cárdenas’ notes and of certain essential movements of nationalization, better discussed by other Mexican, U.S., and British scholars of the Cárdenas era.