UC San Diego UC San Diego Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Las Anarquistas : the history of two women of the Partido Liberal Mexicano in early 20th Century Los Angeles Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/30m022qm Author Ellstrand, Nathan Kahn Publication Date 2011 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO Las Anarquistas: The History of Two Women of the Partido Liberal Mexicano in Early 20th Century Los Angeles A Thesis submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Master of Arts in Latin American Studies by Nathan Kahn Ellstrand Committee in Charge: Professor Everard Meade, Chair Professor Luis Alvarez Professor Shelley Streeby 2011 Copyright Nathan Kahn Ellstrand, 2011 All rights reserved. The Thesis of Nathan Kahn Ellstrand is approved and it is acceptable in quality and form for publication and electronically: Chair University of California, San Diego 2011 iii DEDICATION To my parents, thank you. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Signature Page……………………………………………………………………………iii Dedication………………………………………………………………………………...iv Table of Contents……………………………………………………………………….....v Acknowledgements………………………………………………………………….……vi Abstract of the Thesis …………….…………………………………………………….viii Introduction………………………………………………………………………………..1 Chapter 1: Emergence and Development of Talavera and Norman within the PLM in Los Angeles, 1906-1914………………………...………….…………………...12 Chapter 2: The Intensification of Crises and the Ever-Growing Importance of the Women in the PLM, 1915-1922…..………………..………………………………..39 Chapter 3: Reframing the PLM through Gender………………………………………...68 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………….88 Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………..94 v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This work deserves the appreciation of many people who have aided me in this process through writing this Master‟s thesis. Without their help and guidance, this would not have been possible. First, I would like to thank all of the members of my committee. My chair and Professor Ev Meade, thank you very much for guiding me in the process of putting together a thesis from brainstorming, to research, and finally onto paper. Your ideas and suggestions have helped me the entire way and have consistently pushed me to think critically. I also would like to thank Professor Luis Alvarez for your comments on my writing, but most of all, for listening and taking interest in my project. Lastly, thanks go to Professor Shelley Streeby for your insights and expertise regarding the PLM. Other professors at UCSD assisted me, particularly in regards to focusing on how to approach my subject, where to research, and in some cases just providing me with valuable feedback. Thank you to Professors Eric Van Young, Michael Monteón, Christine Hunefeldt, Misha Kokotovic, Rosaura Sanchez, Natalia Molina, Pamela Radcliff, Richard Biernacki, David Gutierrez, Yen Le Espiritu, and Dr. Beatrice Pita. Were it not for my undergraduate UC Santa Cruz Professors Matt O‟Hara and Kent Eaton, I would probably not have as much interest in Latin America as I do today. In regards to research, I am extremely grateful to the Tinker Foundation for funding my research to the Archivo Histórico “Genaro Estrada” at the Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores as well as the Archivo General de la Nación, both in Mexico City. I am also very grateful to the Institute for International, Comparative, and Area Studies (IICAS) Graduate Student Research Travel Grant for supporting my research in vi Sacramento at the California State Archives and the California State Library, in Berkeley at the UC Berkeley Bancroft Library, in Riverside at the National Archives, and in Los Angeles at the Los Angeles Public Library and at the UCLA Charles E. Young Research Library. I would also like to give thanks to these institutions themselves and the people who work there for helping me find the documents that I needed (and especially to the archives in Mexico for dealing with my decent, but not great Spanish). Many UCSD students and staff provided support and encouragement along the way. Particular thanks must also go to fellow Teaching Assistants in Dimensions of Culture (DOC): Genevieve Okada, Edward Avila, Nathan Weaver Olson, Jed Mularski, Megan Strom, Reece Peck, Gloria Kim, Jess Novak, Satoko Kakihara, Niall Twohig, Lester O‟Connor, Joo Ok Kim, and Chris Perreira, as well as DOC staff Sue Hawkinson and Amber Carini, DOC administration Dr. Bob Cancel, Dr. Robert Horwitz, and Dr. Pam Wright for fostering an outlet beyond my thesis and supporting me along the way. Without my fellow CILASer@s and hours of studying, supporting and complaining, I couldn‟t have done this. Thanks especially to: Daniella Aviles, Brenda Nicolas, Katherine Griesbach, Cris Metz, Brie Iatarola, Margaret Copeland, Hannah Gibson, Emily Puhl, Erika Ramirez, Liz Bartz, Erin Raisner, Nancy Madrid, and Patrick Kearney. Also, thank you to Julia Schneider and Isela Brijandez for making the process as a MA student easier. Thanks also to UCSD friends Levi Lewis, Elodie Nunes, Luis Sanchez- Lopez, Ricardo Fagoaga, Alina Méndez, Marybel Robledo, Raquel Pacheco, and Kyle McCormick. Lastly, and most importantly, this could not have been done without the love and support from my family, and my parents Norman Ellstrand and Tracy Kahn, thank you. vii ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS Las Anarquistas: The History of Two Women of the Partido Liberal Mexicano in Early 20th Century Los Angeles by Nathan Kahn Ellstrand Master of Arts in Latin American Studies University of California, San Diego, 2011 Professor Everard Meade, Chair This thesis covers the history of the radical liberal and later anarchist Partido Liberal Mexicano (PLM) by concentrating on two women within the organization, María Talavera and Lucía Norman. By doing so, it disrupts the traditional narrative of the organization as centered on Ricardo Flores Magón and showing the women as much more than simply having a role in the party, but as placed in a gendered group where they viii slowly gained autonomy over time. The paper follows the two women through two periods in Los Angeles, first noting their emergence in the PLM, and considering their place in the party as compared to the rhetoric established by male party leaders. The second period shows how through each successive arrest, trial, and imprisonment of the men, the women gained power and leadership. Lastly, the paper ends examining where it falls in and how it diverges from the literature on gender in the Progressive Era, Mexican Revolution, and PLM, emphasizing these two women as independent and politically conscious individuals in the midst of the persecution of the party. ix