Context, nephews:
These types of stores were a business model already used in Europe and the United States since the early 19th century (long before my General, Don Porfirio Díaz, was even born).
In the English-speaking world they were known as company stores and operated in the same way in coal mines in England, plantations in the United States, and European industrial complexes.
In many cases, workers were paid with vouchers or tokens that could only be used at the employer’s store. Legal, profitable, and deeply abusive.
During Don Porfirio’s government, they were not created; rather, they became normalized and expanded throughout Mexico because they fit perfectly within the economic model of the time: production, labor control, and permanent debt.
What were company stores really?
They were stores owned by the employer where workers bought food and basic goods. The problem was not the store itself, but the entire system: low wages, forced credit, inflated prices, and inheritable debt.
Basically, you worked to pay what you owed, and you owed money in order to be able to work.
So, what role did Porfirio play in this?
Porfirio allowed them to expand without restrictions. During the Porfiriato, the State prioritized order, investment, and growth, but not labor rights.
Company stores became widespread because they were not prohibited, they benefited landowners and businessmen, and they tied the workforce to long-term dependency.
When the Revolution broke out, people were not fighting against the neighborhood store itself, but against an entire system of legalized exploitation, until the Constitution of 1917 expressly prohibited payment through vouchers and any mechanism that forced workers to purchase goods from their employer.
Sources:
Friedrich Katz. Agrarian Servitude in Mexico During the Porfirian Era.
John M. Hart. Revolutionary Mexico.
Alan Knight. The Mexican Revolution.
Daniel Cosío Villegas. Modern History of Mexico.
Moisés González Navarro. The Exploitation of the Mexican Worker.
Source: mexicodailypost
