The Red Battalions were urban workers who were recruited by the Constitutionalist forces of the

Mexican Revolution The Mexican Revolution () was an extended sequence of armed regional conflicts in Mexico from 20 November 1910 to 1 December 1920. It has been called "the defining event of modern Mexican history". It saw the destruction of the Federal Army, its ...

to fight against the

Zapatistas Zapatista(s) may refer to: * Liberation Army of the South, a guerrilla force led by Emiliano Zapata in the Mexican Revolution 1911–1920 ** Zapatismo, the armed movement identified with the ideas of Emiliano Zapata * Zapatista Army of National L ...

and

Pancho Villa Francisco "Pancho" Villa ( , , ; born José Doroteo Arango Arámbula; 5 June 1878 – 20 July 1923) was a Mexican revolutionary and prominent figure in the Mexican Revolution. He was a key figure in the revolutionary movement that forced ...

's army. The Mexican Revolution was a civil war that saw various alliances between different forces who fought for various political reasons. The Red Battalions belonged largely to the ''

Casa del Obrero Mundial The Casa del Obrero Mundial () or COM was a libertarian socialist and anarcho-syndicalist worker's organization located in the popular Tepito Barrio of Mexico City, founded on September 22, 1912. One of its founders was Antonio Díaz Soto y Gama, ...

'' ("house of the world worker"), an

anarcho-syndicalist Anarcho-syndicalism is an anarchist organisational model that centres trade unions as a vehicle for class conflict. Drawing from the theory of libertarian socialism and the practice of syndicalism, anarcho-syndicalism sees trade unions as both ...

workers' organization. The battalions were deployed by

Venustiano Carranza José Venustiano Carranza de la Garza (; 29 December 1859 – 21 May 1920), known as Venustiano Carranza, was a Mexican land owner and politician who served as President of Mexico from 1917 until his assassination in 1920, during the Mexican Re ...

in exchange for various rights for workers, to defeat the "peasant counterrevolutionaries" of Zapata and Villa. They were called the Red Battalions because of their left-wing membership. The battalions were ultimately disbanded after Carranza no longer required their forces to subdue the insurgents of the north and the peasant guerrillas of the south. On 13 January 1916, amidst strikes incited by the ''Casa Obrera Mundial'', Carranza ordered the last of the Red Battalions to dissolve. Thereafter all labor unrest was suppressed, often violently, and the Casa went into decline.

See also

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Further reading