Accordingly, they have got back to the land. In the state of Morelos,
which is a small, south-central state, but a very important one--being
next to the Federal District, and by consequence to the city of
Mexico--there has been a remarkable land revolution. General Zapata,
whose name has figured elusively in newspaper reports now as having made
peace with Madero, then as breaking faith, next wounded and killed, and
again resurrected and in hiding, then anew on the warpath and proclaimed
by the provisional government the arch-rebel who must surrender
unconditionally and be tried by court-martial; who has seized the
strategic points on both the railroads running through Morelos, and who
just a few days ago broke into the federal district, sacked a town,
fought successfully at two or three points, with the federals, blew out
two railroad bridges and so frightened the deputies in Mexico City that
they are clamoring for all kinds of action; this Zapata, the fires of
whose military camps are springing up now in Guerrero, Oaxaca and Puebla
as well, is an Indian with a long score to pay, and all an Indian's
satisfaction in paying it. He appears to be a fighter of the style of
our revolutionary Marion and Sumter; the country in which he is
operating is mountainous, and guerilla bands are exceedingly difficult
of capture; even when they are defeated, they have usually succeeded in
inflicting more damage than they have received, and they always get
away.
Zapata has divided up the great estates of Morelos from end to end,
telling the peasants to take possession. They have done so. They are in
possession, and have already harvested their crops. Morelos has a
population of some 212,000.
In Puebla reports in September told us that eighty leading citizens had
waited on the governor to protest against the taking possession of the
land by the peasantry. The troops were deserting, taking horses and arms
with them. It is they no doubt who are now fighting with Zapata. In
Chihuahua, one of the largest states, prisons have been thrown open and
the prisoners recruited as rebels; a great hacienda was attacked and the
horses run off, whereupon the peons rose and joined the attacking party.
In Sinaloa, a rich northern state--famous in the southwestern United
States some years ago as the field of a great co-operative experiment in
which Mr. C. B. Hoffman, one of the former editors of _The Chicago Daily
Socialist,_ was a leading spirit--this week's paper reports that the
former revolutionary general, Juan Banderas, is heading an insurrection
second in importance only to that led by Zapata.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account