¹ In recent years a number of works have been published describing the exploits of Mexican agrarian revolutionary leaders such as Emiliano Zapata, Francisco Villa and Pascual Orozco. Yet, while virtually all observers agree that agrarian grievances were inherited from the nineteenth century and more particularly from the Díaz regime, none of these studies which delve into the agrarian aspect of the Mexican Revolution have selectively examined the significance or possible influence of particular agrarian precursors of the conflagration that erupted in 1910.

² For discussions of the Rio Verde uprising see Gama, Valentín, “La Propiedad en México. La Reforma Agraria,” Revista Mexicana de Ingenería y Arquitectura, (México D.F., 1931),Google Scholar Numbers 6, 8, 9, and 10; also, Herzog, Jesús Silva, El Agrarismo Mexicano y La Reforma Agraria, (Mexico D.F., 1959), 62–63.Google Scholar

³ For the most extensive discussion of the agrarian movement in the nineteenth century see Silva Herzog. However, the author, with the exception of the Rio Verde incident, did not examine the uprisings studied in this essay.

⁹ Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, No. 205, fol. 3f; cited by Gibson, Charles C., The Aztecs Under Spanish Rule, (Stanford, 1964), 141–142.Google Scholar

⁵ Gibson, , The Aztecs, 290–291.Google Scholar

⁶ Ibid., 407–409.

⁷ Venustiano Carranza tried to capitalize on this sentiment during his address to the 1916–1917 constitutional convention in Querétaro. See Diario de los Debates del Congreso Constituyente, (México D.F., 1917), Volume 1, 266.

⁸ For a description of the land acquisition process in the colonial period see Chevalier, Francois, Land and Society in Colonial Mexico; The Great Hacienda, (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1963).Google Scholar For an excellent discussion of hacienda expansion in nineteenth century Morelos see Womack, John, Zapata and the Mexican Revolution, (New York, 1969), 37–66.Google Scholar

⁹ Gibson, , The Aztecs, 139–142.Google Scholar

¹⁰ For an intensive analysis of the European ideological and organizational influence upon Mexican anachism and the nineteenth-century agrarian movement, the differences between rural and urban anarchism, biographical data on the leaders of the movement, and the reactions of the Mexican “ establishment “ see John M. Hart, “ Anarchist Thought in Nineteenth Century Mexico,” Ph.D. dissertation, the University of California at Los Angeles, December, 1970.

¹¹ Rhodakanaty, Plotino C., “Lo Que Queremos,” El Hijo del Trabajo, (México D.F.), No. 92, April 28, 1878.Google Scholar

¹² “Pequeña Biografía de Plotino C. Rhodakanaty,” La Paz, (Chilpancingo, Guererro, México), cited by Valadés, José in “Precursores del Socialismo Antiautoritario en Mexico,” La Protesta, (Buenos Aires, Argentina), May 22, 1928, 409.Google Scholar

¹³ Luna, Juan Hernández, “Movimiento Anarco-Fourierista Entre El Imperio Y La Reforma,” Cuadernos de Orientación Política, , Number 4, (México D.F., 1956), 19–20.Google Scholar

¹⁴ Rhodakanaty, , article in El Socialista (México D.F.), Number 178, May 28, 1876.Google Scholar

¹⁵ Letter, Rhodakanaty to Zalacosta, Chalco, September 3, 1865, Archivo Judicial del Estado de Querétaro.

¹⁶ Letter, Rhodakanaty to Zalacosta, Mexico City, November 1868, Archivo Judicial del Estado de Querétaro.

¹⁷ Ramírez, Manuel Díaz, Apuntes Históricos del Movimiento Obrero y Campesino de México 1844–1880, (México D.F., 1938), 35.Google Scholar

¹⁸ Letter, Julio Chávez López to Zalacosta, Puebla, January 13, 1869, Archivo Judicial del Estado de Querétaro.

¹⁹ Letter, Chávez López to Zalacosta, April 18, 1869, Archivo Judicial del Estado de Querétaro.

²⁰ Wolf, Eric R., peasant Wars of the Twentieth Century, (New York, 1968), 294–295.Google Scholar

²¹ López, Chávez, Manifesto a Todos Los Oprimidos y Pobres de México y del Universo, Chalco, Aprii 20, 1869 Google Scholar; text from Luna, Hernández, “Movimiento Anarco-Fourierista,” Cuadernos, Number 4, 19–25.Google Scholar

²² Ramírez, Díaz, Apuntes Históricos, 36.Google Scholar

²³ Ibid., see also, Soto, Antonio Díaz y Gama, , La Revolución Agraria del Sur y Emiliano Zapata su Caudillo, (México D.F., 1961), 29 Google Scholar; and Luna, Hernández, “Movimiento Anarco-Fourierista,” Cuadernos, Number 4, 25–26.Google Scholar

²⁴ Ramírez, Díaz, Apuntes Históricos, 36.Google Scholar

²⁵ Ibid., 36–37.

²⁶ Unfortunately, a great deal of material and information about the activities of Rhodakanaty, Zalacosta, Chávez López, Gómez and others involved with the Escuela del Rayo y del Socialismowas lost when the school records were destroyed in a fire.

²⁷ López, Chávez, “Manifesto,” from Luna, Hernández, “Movimiento Anarco-Fourierista,” Cuadernos, Number 4, 24.Google Scholar

²⁸ Diario, Volume 1, 266.

²⁹ The principal periodicals involved were El Socialista, El Hijo del Trabajo, El Obrero Internacional, (México D.F.), and La Internacional, (México D.F.).

³⁰ González, José María, “Las Sociedades Mutualistas,” El Hijo del Trabajo, Number 16, August 6, 1876.Google Scholar

³¹ Ibid.

³² For examples see La Internacional, Number 4, July 28, 1878; González, , “También Son Hombres,” El Hijo1, Number 61, September 23, 1877 Google Scholar; and González and others in the series entitled “ La Cuestión Indígena,” that was carried by El Hijo throughout 1877–1878.

³³ González, , “¡Apeo y Deslinde de Terrenos! ¡Abajo la Usurpación!,” El Hijo, Number 67, November 4, 1877.Google Scholar

³⁴ González, , “La Cuestión Indígena, (Hacienda de las Bocas),” El Hijo, Number 71, December 2, 1877.Google Scholar

³⁵ La Internacional, Number 8, August 25, 1878.

³⁶ Report from Juan Othon, Señor Secretario de la Prefectura Superior Política del Departmento de San Luis Potosí, January 1864, cited by González, in “La Cuestión Indígena (Hacienda de las Bocas),” El Hijo, Number 72, December 9, 1877.Google Scholar

³⁷ González, , article in El Hijo, Number 79, January 27, 1878.Google Scholar

³⁸ This was probably done in 1876 although no record of the exact date of the event exists.

³⁹ González, , “La Cuestión Indígena (Hacienda de las Bocas),” El Hijo, Number 73, December 16, 1877.Google Scholar

⁴⁰ Communique from Joaquín Flores to Rodríquez, Commandant F. according to La Internacional reporter Moctezuma and telegraphed to La Internacional on July 20, 1878.Google Scholar It was published in La Internacional, Number 3, July 21, 1878.

⁴¹ Editorial in La Internacional, Number 4, July 28, 1878.

⁴² For examples see González, , “¡Apeo y Deslinde de Terrenos! ¡Abajo la Usurpación!,” El Hijo, Number 67, November 4, 1877 Google Scholar; and “De Rodillas, Miserables!,” El Hijo, Number 55, August 12, 1877.

⁴³ La Internacional, Number 8, August 25, 1878; and Number 14, October 6, 1878.

⁴⁴ La Internacional, Number 2, July 14, 1878.

⁴⁵ Soto, Díaz y Gama, , La Revolución Agraria, 43–47 Google Scholar; and Ramírez, Díaz, Apuntes Históricos, 63–66.Google Scholar

⁴⁶ Interview, José Valadés, Oaxtepec, México, November 6, 1969.

⁴⁷ Ibid.; see also Soto, Díaz y Gama, , La Revolución Agraria, 52–53.Google Scholar

⁴⁸ Santa Fe, Alberto, “La Ley del Pueblo,” La Revolución Social, (Puebla), Number 2, December 18, 1879 Google Scholar; and El Socialista, Number 30, August 4, 1878.

⁴⁹ Alba, Victor, Las Ideas Sociales Contemporáneas en México, (México D.F., 1960), 103.Google Scholar

⁵⁰ In 1883 El Socialista became the first Mexican journal to demonstrate an interest in Marxism. It began by publishing a matter-of-fact obituary of Marx (El Socialista, Number 25, April 11, 1883). A year later the text of the Communist Manifesto appeared for the first time in a Mexican newspaper (El Socialista, Number 39, June 12, 1884). Finally, in 1885, an article by Marx himself was printed ( Marx, Carlos, “La Lucha de las Clases,” El Socialista, Number 40, July 19, 1885).Google Scholar

⁵¹ Santa Fe had worked with Rhodakanaty, González, and Zalacosta on the staffs of El Hijo and La Internacional.

⁵² Letters, Santa Fe to the Editor, El Hijo, Number 151, June 15, 1879, and Number 174, November 23, 1879.

⁵³ Fe, Santa, “La Ley del Pueblo,” La Revolución Social, Number 2, December 18, 1879 Google Scholar; and El Socialista, Number 30, August 4, 1878.

⁵⁴ Letters, Santa Fe to the Editor, El Hijo, Number 151, June 15, 1879, Number 174, November 23, 1879, and El Socialista, Number 98, January 15, 1880.

⁵⁵ La Revolución Social, October 17, 1878, and October 24, 1878; see also Soto, Díaz y Gama, , La Revolución Agraria, 50–53.Google Scholar

⁵⁶ Letters, Santa Fe to the Editor, El Hijo, Number 151, June 15, 1879, and Number 174, November 23, 1879.

⁵⁷ El Socialista, Number 32, August 29, 1886.

⁵⁸ “Don Miguel Negrete,” El Hijo, Number 220, October 10, 1880.

⁵⁹ Negrete, Miguel, article in El Socialista, Number 70, June 9, 1879.Google Scholar

⁶⁰ See “ Don Miguel Negrete,” El Hijo, Number 220, October 10, 1880, and El Hijo del Ahuizote, (México D.F.), Number 249, November 2, 1890.

⁶¹ Negrete, , article in El Socialista, Number 70, June 9, 1879.Google Scholar

⁶² Ibid.: see also the letters, General Gonzalez Ortega to Negrete, New York, September 10, 1866, and Silvestre Aranda to Benito Juárez, Chihuahua, Chihuahua, April 22, 1866, Archivo Juárez, Biblioteca Nacional, México D.F.

⁶³ Diario del Imperio, (México D. F.), Number 136, June 14, 1865.

⁶⁴ Letters, General Francisco Naranjo to Negrete, Villa Aldama, Nuevo León, January 27, 1866, February 6, 1866, and February 7, 1866; also, General Juan N. Sáenz to Negrete, February 6, 1866, and February 7, 1866 (point of dispatch unknown); Archivo Juárez, Biblioteca Nacional, México D.F.

⁶⁵ Five letters, Negrete to Colonel Pedro Villegas, Santa Ana, Puebla, February 14, 1869; also letter, Negrete to Lt. Colonel Melitrón Galarza, February 14, 1869, Chiaulla, Puebla; Archivo Juárez, Biblioteca Nacional, México D.F.

⁶⁶ Don Miguel Negrete,” El Hijo, Number 220, October 10, 1880.

⁶⁷ Ibid.

⁶⁸ Negrete, , “Municipio Libre,” El Hijo, Number 200, May 23, 1880.Google Scholar

⁶⁹ Letter, Negrete to Porfirio Díaz, January 30, 1893, Archivo Histórico de la Defensa Nacional, Expediente X/lll.2/15-709, Primer Tomo, Document #499.

⁷⁰ Ramírez, Díaz, Apuntes Históricos, 73.Google Scholar

⁷¹ Montiel, Tiburcio, “Comunismo,” El Socialista, Number 28, July 31, 1878.Google Scholar

⁷² Soto, Díaz y Gama, , La Revolución Agraria, 43.Google Scholar

⁷³ Montiel, , “Comunismo,” El Socialista, Number 28, July 31, 1878.Google Scholar

⁷⁴ Pedrueza, Rafael Ramos, La Lucha de Clases a Través de la Historia de México, (México D.F., 1941), 412.Google Scholar

⁷⁵ Ramírez, Díaz, Apuntes Históricos, 73.Google Scholar

⁷⁶ Navarro, Moisés González, El Porfiriato, Vida Social, Villegas, Daniel Cosio, ed., La Historia Moderna de México (6 Volumes), Tomo 4, (México D.F., n. d.), 244.Google Scholar

⁷⁷ For data on land distribution and the size of haciendas before the Revolution of 17910 see Womack, , Zapata, 391–392 Google Scholar; Magana, Gildardo, Emiliano Zapata y El Agrarismo en México (5 Volumes), Tomo 1, (México D.F., 1951), 39 Google Scholar; and Diez, Domingo, Dos Conferencias sobre el Estado de Morelos, (México D.F., 1919), 56.Google Scholar

⁷⁸ ProfessorWomack, John in his perceptive Zapata and the Mexican Revolution, 405,Google Scholar makes the claim of “ originality “ for Zapata’s Plan de Ayala and Agrarian Law. Díaz Soto y Gama, however, has argued the case for the precursors with the claim that the Plan of Ayala offered the people nothing more than what the nineteenth century agrarians had proposed in the face of insurmountable odds (La Revolución Agraria, 49–50).

⁷⁹ For the closest comparison see the “Ley del Pueblo,” El Socialista, Number 30, August 4, 1878; and La Revolución Social, Number 2, December 18, 1879.

⁸⁰ Womack, , Zapata, 393.Google Scholar