National League for the Defense of Religious Liberty

National League for the Defense of Religious Liberty (Liga Nacional Defensora de la Libertad Religiosa - LNDLR) or National League for the Defense of Religious Freedom was a religious civil rights organization formed in March 1925 in Mexico which played a crucial role in the Cristero War of 1926-1929.^[1] The Mexico City based organization^[2] had by June of its founding year about 36,000 members and chapters in almost every state of the country.^[3] The organization arose after the anti-clerical provisions of the 1917 Mexican Constitution were strictly enforced by the fiercely anti-Catholic President Plutarco Calles and after he enacted further draconian provisions in the Calles Law.^[4]

The LNDLR, along with the Catholic hierarchy, initially advocated peaceful resistance to the Calles Laws including a boycott of tax payment and nonessential goods and a petition drive to rescind the offending constitutional provisions. When the Vatican failed to obtain a compromise from Calles, the Mexican hierarchy ordered the priests to go on strike beginning July 31, 1926, the day the Calles Law was to go into effect.^[5]

After the clerical strike, sporadic popular uprisings began and beginning in September 1926 the LNDLR began to discuss revolt, but they maintained the policy of boycott.^[6] As the popular uprisings continued, especially in Jalisco and Colima, despite the lack of formal support from the bishops, the group finally advocated on January 1, 1927, open rebellion to overthrow the regime and institute a new constitution with guarantees of religious freedom.^[7]

While, the LNDLR served the purpose of giving the rebelling peasants organizational structure and military guidance, the onset, development and character of the war were more rooted in grass roots circumstance and groups.^[8] At first the rebellion was only able to sustain suppression in a half dozen western states where there was intense popular support and the organizational aid of local groups, the Popular Union (UP), initially spearheaded by Anacleto González Flores and the covert U, with cells dispersed throughout Jalisco and Michoacan.^[9]

In 1927, the LNDLR reorganized the rebellion in the west and, in August 1928, gave the rebellion its first military leader, the well experienced but anticlerical and mercenary, General Enrique Gorostieta, who happened to be a 33rd degree Mason.^[10][11] The Cristeros began to engage in successful large scale military assaults.^[12] After much wrangling by the American ambassador Dwight W. Morrow, a peace accord acceptable to both Calles and the Catholic hierarchy was reached and the bishops orders the LNDRL to cease military and political activities and the Cristeros to lay down their weapons.^[13]

References

1. ^ Werner, Michael S., Concise encyclopedia of Mexico p. 147, Taylor & Francis, 2001
2. ^ Tuck, Jim, The Anti-clerical Who Led a Catholic Rebellion, Latin American Studies
3. ^ Werner, Michael S., Concise encyclopedia of Mexico p. 147, Taylor & Francis, 2001
4. ^ Werner, Michael S., Concise encyclopedia of Mexico p. 147, Taylor & Francis, 2001
5. ^ Werner, Michael S., Concise encyclopedia of Mexico p. 147, Taylor & Francis, 2001
6. ^ Werner, Michael S., Concise encyclopedia of Mexico p. 147, Taylor & Francis, 2001
7. ^ Werner, Michael S., Concise encyclopedia of Mexico p. 14, Taylor & Francis, 2001
8. ^ Werner, Michael S., Concise encyclopedia of Mexico p. 148, Taylor & Francis, 2001
9. ^ Werner, Michael S., Concise encyclopedia of Mexico p. 148, Taylor & Francis, 2001
10. ^ Tuck, Jim, The Anti-clerical Who Led a Catholic Rebellion, Latin American Studies
11. ^ Werner, Michael S., Concise encyclopedia of Mexico p. 148, Taylor & Francis, 2001
12. ^ Werner, Michael S., Concise encyclopedia of Mexico p. 148, Taylor & Francis, 2001
13. ^ Werner, Michael S., Concise encyclopedia of Mexico p. 149, Taylor & Francis, 2001