Revolution around the Corner and across the Border

Abstract

This chapter considers the role of Los Angeles investors in creating the social and economic inequities that led to the Mexican Revolution. The economic ties between Los Angeles and Mexico developed prior to the revolution meant that the revolt in Mexico had a profound impact on the city. Mexican revolutionaries identified American investment as one of the causal factors in economic inequalities in Mexico and deliberately targeted American and Los Angeles investors. In fact, leading Mexican revolutionaries Ricardo and Enrique Flores Magón operated from Los Angeles and Mexican revolutionaries organized revolts on Los Angeles-owned properties in Mexico, including the Colorado River Land Company and the Mexican Petroleum Company. White city builders and investors in Los Angeles struggled to keep control over what they considered their Mexican hinterland or periphery.