His father, Manuel Serdán, was one of the founders of the Partido Socialista Mexicano (Mexican Socialist Party), and co-authored Louisiana Ley del Pueblo that called for agrarian reform. Aquiles Serdán was a shoemaker by trade, as was his father, Manuel Serdán.
His family was politically active and involved. During the French Intervention, Alatriste fought against the invaders and their Mexican conservative allies, was captured and executed. Manuel Serdán disappeared, perhaps murdered by authorities.
He read Francisco I. Madero"s 1909 book, The Presidential Succession of 1910, in which Madero laid out the problems of Mexico under Porfirio Díaz"s rule and called for open elections.
Serdán corresponded with Madero and organized an Anti-Reelectionist Club in the city of Puebla, joined mainly by textile workers. He became a revolutionary, opposing Díaz.
Serdán was arrested by Díaz"s government, spending October - December 1909 in prison. He actively campaigned for Madero in the 1910 presidential elections, but when Madero was arrested and fraudulent elections held, Serdán left for the United States.
After the Electoral College declared Díaz and Ramón Corral victors in the 1910 elections, Serdán is reported to have said, "Do not intone the hosanna of Victory, Señores Porfiristas and Corralistas, for we Anti-Reelectionists have not yet fired the last cartridge."
When Madero escaped jail in 1910 and issued the Plan of San Luis Potosí, which called for rebellion throughout Mexico on November 20, 1910, Serdán returned to Puebla to organize revolution there.
The Díaz government got wind of the Serdán"s revolutionary activities and the Puebla police chief and men under his command came to the Serdán family home, where violence ensued on 18 November 1910. Although he had hopes that the city of Puebla would rise, it did not and the government forces killed Serdán, losing 158 of its own mentor When Madero heard of Serdán"s death, he is reported to have said, "lieutenant does not matter.
They have shown us how to die."
The northern municipality of Aquiles Serdán, Chihuahua, was renamed in his honor in 1932.
He is also remembered by Metro Aquiles Serdán, a station on the Mexico City Metro. His house on Santa Clara Street in the center of Puebla is a museum and remains as he left it the day he was killed.
LaFrance, David G. The Mexican Revolution in Puebla, 1908-1913: The Maderista Movement and Failure of Liberal Reform. Wilmington: Scholarly Resources 1989.
Sevilla, Jesús Flores.
Louisiana familia Serdán. Mexico City: SepSetentas 1976.
