MÉNDEZ, LEOPOLDO. . . . 7 Litografias. En Nombre de Cristo . . . han asesinado mas de 200 maestros. 7 lithographs by Méndez showing the murder of a rural schoolteacher in Mexico by latter-day cristeros, with facing descriptive text. [16] pages. 356x242 mm; 14x9 1/2 inches. Folio, printed stapled wrappers, some light toning and a few tears along outer margins. México: Editorial Gráfica Popular, 1939
In this portfolio, commissioned by the Ministry of Public Education, Mendéz makes a denunciation against the brutal events that marked the constant conflicts between the Church and the State during the government of Lázaro Cárdenas (1934-1940) in the post-Cristero war era.
During the presidency of Lázaro Cárdenas, several radical groups of professors participated in social mobilization to accelerate the distribution of land, strengthen nationalist measures, and organize peasants and workers in unions to reinforce a modern culture, thus breaking with the "old regime" and creating the "new man of the new society." In so doing, educators became an agent of the State and society, were political agitators and social promoters--key instruments in building alliances between society and the group in power. They supported the strikes of railroads and miners, proselytized, and became involved in the agrarian reform to help peasants reclaim land. The great majority of the clergy condemned agrarianism and threatened the farmers with the eternal punishments of hell. The church established alliances with the major land owners, who initiated a series of murders against peasants and communist teachers.
