Zapata Of Mexico
Peter E. Newell

"We're all zapatistas, not just the compañeros with the rifles. Our demands are the same, and they have been the same for the last one hundred years: land and liberty." -- Franciso Lozano, campesino of the Altos de Chiapas, February 1994

Emiliano Zapata was a hero of the Mexican Revolution, an effort that overthrew the repressive and violent regime of Mexican dictator Porfirio Díaz in 1910. With his call for "land and liberty," Zapata played a crucial role in the revolution's formation, mobilizing dissent against Díaz's consolidation of economic power amongst wealthy allies and investors. Due to his influence however, Zapata, leader of the Liberation Army of the South, ultimately became a victim of the very revolution he helped orchestrate.

The governments that followed the toppling of Díaz professed a commitment to the country's campesinos (peasantry or farmworkers), but fell short of meeting the demands of the Zapatistas for land reform and political freedom. In the end, the campesino general became an outlaw in the post-revolutionary state, with new president Francisco I. Madero denouncing the Zapatistas as criminals.

Ten years after he took up arms to defend the campesinos of his home state of Morelos, Zapata was assassinated by government emissaries in 1919. However, his murder did not silence Zapata's Liberation Army of the South. Instead, cries of "¡Viva Zapata!" emboldened the Zapatistas in their struggle to reclaim control of ancestral community lands. Even after the original Zapatistas put away their guns, Zapata's name continued to inspire campesino militancy. Whenever campesinos have gathered to seek land or confront the state, the image and name of Emiliano Zapata have been present. Campesino militants inevitably invoke his legacy to build support for their own causes. In the history of campesino struggles, the memory of Zapata has never died. How this came about, and why it continues, is the subject of this book.

This biography explores what Emiliano Zapata worked towards and what he and his compañeros actually achieved in Morelos and southern Mexico between 1910 and 1920. It also includes a brief account of the evolution of the ejidos and common lands of Mexico.

Table of Contents

• Emiliano
• Diaz the Dictator
• Madero
• Morelos on the Move
• Interrupted Honeymoon
• Plan de Ayala
• The South Aflame
• Huerta
• Pancho Villa
• The Convention
• Zapata Meets Villa
• Conquered Capital
• Morelos Commune
• Back Against the Wall
• War of Words
• Carranza Consolidates
• Chinameca Hacienda
• Aftermath
• Appendix
• References and Sources

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