Mexico's 1956 Student Protest

The 1956 student protest at the Instituto Politécnico Nacional (IPN) is a defining moment in the history of Mexican student politics. More than any other student protest, this event signaled the end of an era in student activism and the beginning of a new one. On the one hand, the 1956 protest was the last in a series of student demonstrations demanding a return to ‘popular politics.’ On the other hand, this important episode represents the first direct challenge to the state during the Cold War within the framework of an organized structure (Frente Nacional de Estudiantes Técnicos—FNET).  Furthermore, it was the first massive student strike to challenge notions of power and authority in public by bringing a broader concept of democracy and new strategies of struggle into the streets. In so doing, young students came to be seen as a ‘subversive threat to the nation,’ so that the governing elite had an ‘obligation’ to subdue them.

To examine how the governing elite responded to this emerging ‘student problem’ of the Cold War—and to highlight additional characteristics that further define the importance of this otherwise overlooked event—I have divided this paper into two sections. In section I, I describe the origins and evolution of this first massive student protest and argue that the negative public reaction towards youth was formed primarily by the disproportionately biased coverage by the media. In section II, I look at the legal and extralegal mechanisms employed by the government and school authorities to suppress the ‘emergent problem.’ These included: (1) the financial support of systematic student violence and provocation; (2) the replacement of ‘radical’ student leaders by corrupt representatives; (3) the imprisonment of student leaders under the Law of Social Dissolution; and (4) the occupation of the IPN by the Army.