When the soda fizzed out, the workers seized the factory—and history.
History is Ours narrates the struggle of the workers of the Refrescos Pascual soft-drink company against its owner, Rafael Jiménez, the official trade unionism of the CTM and the labor authorities of the governments of José López Portillo and Miguel de la Madrid, between 1982 and 1985. It documents the workers' difficult struggle to take over the company, when justice, which had been elusive, finally proved them right, and opened the possibility that these brave, tenacious workers would become collective owners of the company. Today, these soft-drink fighters resist a system that hits Mexican companies in favor of the monopolistic transnationals. The film is an account of one of the most brilliant episodes of the contemporary Mexican labor movement, an example of unity and class consciousness, embodied by men and women who make their struggle a tribute to comrades Concepción Jacobo García and Alvaro Hernández García, tragically fallen at the beginning of this historic event.
Direction
Mendoza lets workers speak, no polish needed.
Production
Archival footage hits like a time-travel gut punch.
Director
Carlos Mendoza
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The Pascual workers' 1984 takeover became a blueprint for Mexican cooperativism, inspiring similar factory seizures during the 1980s debt crisis.
The film's release in 2019 coincided with AMLO's presidency, reframing the workers' struggle as unfinished business against neoliberalism's lingering damage.
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