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A Two Front Collaboration

The Mexican Revolution and the decline of labor unions in the United States serve as backdrops to the Magonista Rebellion of 1911. After Porfirio Diaz announced he would step down from Mexican presidency in 1908, the debate for who would succeed him began. Once it became clear that Diaz would not follow through with his promise, different political factions in Mexico rose to contest Diaz decision to remain in power. Challenges to the Porfirian System were spearheaded by Francisco I. Madero and his campaign of Anti-Reelectionism and Ricardo Flores Magón and his advocacy on anarchism via Regeneración. In Mexico, the Mexican Liberal Party (PLM) served to discredit the Porfirio Diaz regime thus convincing Mexican citizens to accept his removal from presidency.

Meanwhile in the U.S., in 1906 Mexicans protested against Anaconda Mining and other U.S. multinational corporations due to unfair working conditions and racist treatment. These conditions brought together the Industrial Workers of the World  (Wobblies), Mexican workers and revolutionaries in the U.S. In July 1907, Los Angeles became headquarters to the PLM. Los Angeles provided Magón the needed ties to "Anglo trade unionist, moderate Socialists, and left-wing intellectuals, including Job Harriman ," many of whom would become leaders or active participants in the Rebellion of 1911. Before the rebellion however, IWW members would cross into Mexico and help distribute Regeneracion to the masses despite it being a banned publication.

The Socialist Party in Los Angeles too played an important role. The most significant contribution by the Socialist Party perhaps, is the effort to liberate Ricardo Flores Magón and his brother Enrique Magón from jail for the invasion of Baja California, a violation of U.S. neutrality laws. Job Harriman, the Magóns' defense lawyer, John Murray, Kenneth Turner, and his wife Ethel Duffy Turner organized the Mexican Revolutionists Defense League to liberate the Magón brothers and other PLM key members from jail. Prior to the invasion of Baja California, Kenneth Turner and John Murray used their skills as journalists to legitimize calls for anarchism in Mexico to the American public. More specifically, Turner explained the debt peonage and contract labor of the working class in a myriad of magazines including American Magazine, the Socialist Party's Appeal to Reason, International Socialist Review and ''Pacific Monthly. Turner also exposed to Americans the interest of the US government and US corporations such as Morgan-Guggenhiem copper merger, the American Sugar Trust, the Standard Oil Company, Wells Fargo Express company, the Southern Pacific Railroad, the Continental Rubber Company and E.N. Brown National Railways of Mexico in supporting the Diaz government and condemning anarchist like Ricardo and Enrique Magón.

The Los Angeles Times felt much more different about the Magonista presence in Los Angeles, many times referring to American supporters of Mexican revolutionaries as "greasers" and "wild anarchists with smoking bombs ". Months after the Rebellion of 1911 began, articles in the LA Times emphasized the difference between Mexican patriots and anarchists, essentially discrediting PLM efforts for legitimacy, "they [Mexican patriots] are ashamed that the enthusiasm and noise of a handful traitors should misrepresent hundreds of loyal citizens, and they are willing to back their patriotism with rifles if their county needs them ."

Failure of the Rebellion

The invasion of Baja California lasted approximately six months beginning in January and ending in June, 1911. Key members of the PLM, José Maria Leyva and Simon Berthelod were under orders of Ricardo Flores Magón to invade Baja California. On January 28, 1911 Leyva and a company of 30 men, majority of them Mexicans, attacked and captured Mexicali. Arms and ammunition used during the invasion were provided by John Kenneth Turner, who bought and shipped the weaponry from Los Angeles to Mexicali. Support and number of volunteers in the invasion tripled within a few weeks. The rise of participants, however did not strengthen the rebellion. When the number of volunteers reached 150 men, half of them Anglo-American and and members of the IWW, tensions within the groups leadership began to ensue. In March Leyva resigned as General of the PLM and joined forces with Madero in Texas. After Leyva's departure, General Vasquez Salinas and Lieutenant Caryl Ap Ryhs Pryce took duo command of PLM forces. The partnership would not last long and in April, Pryce left to join another PLM force under John Mosby in Tecate. On May 9, 1911, Mosby and Pryce captured Tijuana. Unfortunately for Magonistas, the battle of Tijuana was overshadowed by the assault on Cuidad Juarez in Chihuahua by Madero's forces.