Page:Margaret Shipman - Mexico's Struggle Towards Democracy (1927).pdf/28



The Mexican revolution of 1910 has been called "the battle of three ages: serfdom, capitalism and industrial freedom." Within the bounderies of Mexico exist landed estates among the largest in the world, a developing class of Mexican business men and lesser land owners, and thousands of exploited industrial workers employed chiefly in mines and factories and on transport systems owned by foreign investors.

In order to follow the course of the revolution intelligently, one must know the local conditions in the four principal revolutionary centers, situated, respectively, on the south-central plateau, in Yucatan, and in the northern and eastern sections of Mexico.

The state of Morelos may be considered typical of south-central Mexico. Owing to rich soil and fair amount of rainfall, this has always been a productive and thickly populated region and here, during the Spanish rule, peonage early attained a high development. Here the Indians still cling tenaciously to their old communal customs and have little understanding of individual ownership of land. When, under Diaz, their communal lands (ejidos) were seized for division, few attempted to establish individual holdings. The land soon accumulated in the hands of a very few owners, mostly