- Chinatown: 809 Yale St., Los Angeles 90012 (at Alpine St.)
- Downtown: 519 1/2 E. 4th St., Los Angeles 90013 (at Towne Ave.)
Ricardo and Enrique Flores Magón were brothers and anarchists who played an instrumental role in the Mexican Revolution. Born in Oaxaca in 1874, Ricardo dedicated his life to overthrowing dictator Porfirio Díaz and replacing Díaz’s regime with an anarchist politics based on worker control and collective ownership. Although Mexico has always suffered from severe economic and political inequalities, things came to a head with Díaz. Under his leadership the national estate was largely sold off to foreigners, with scant consideration for the millions of displaced and impoverished Mexicans.
In response, revolutionaries throughout Mexico fought for a radically democratic reconstruction of the country (embodied in the slogan “Tierra y Libertad,” meaning “Land and Liberty.”). Among their efforts was the formation of the Partido Liberal Mexicano (PLM). Ricardo Magón established the newspaper Regeneración in 1900, with the assistance of his brother, Enrique, and was promptly imprisoned. Upon his release, the two brothers then sought refuge in Texas, but were persecuted by both Mexican and U.S. officials and forced to flee from city to city. In 1910, the Díaz dictatorship was overthrown and the Magón brothers settled in Los Angeles. They continued producing Regeneración at the Fourth Street address, but eventually the PLM headquarters moved to Yale Street, where it also operated La Casa del Obrero Internacional (the International Workers House), which offered lodging and cultural activities. According to historian Emma Pérez, the house was divided into 13 small apartments and also housed La Escuela Racionalista. The Magón brothers were imprisoned under the Espionage Act in 1918 and sent to Leavenworth Penitentiary in Kansas. Ricardo died in his cell in 1922. Although the Mexican Revolution was the first major revolution of the twentieth century, its significance—and in particular its transnational dimensions—is often underappreciated.