With impeachment proceedings underway against him for his involvement in the Watergate affair, Nixon was finally Sign up now to learn about This Day in History straight from your inbox. The first-ever night game in professional baseball took place nearly 60 years earlier, on May 2, , when a Des Moines, Iowa, team hosted Wichita for a Western League game. As of , the top-selling hip hop albums of all time were Run D. President Harry S. Truman signs the United Nations Charter and the United States becomes the first nation to complete the ratification process and join the new international organization.
Although hopes were high at the time that the United Nations would serve as an arbiter of After heavy casualties incurred during their ambitious spring Live TV. This Day In History. History Vault. Throughout Zapata's writings, terms such as "economic liberty" and even "growth and prosperity" point out that a Marxist interpretation of the original Zapatista movement would be out of place. As mentioned before, Zapata's ideology can be described with such inventive terms as "liberal-bourgeois," a very conservative-sounding ideology indeed.
According to biographer and political scientist Robert Millon, such a liberal-bourgeois society would be a democracy in which small property owners hold the majority of land, and the government is responsible for preventing foreign imperialism in the sense of imposition of economic or political control [8].
The anti-imperialist stance, seen before in Zapata's Manifesto when he proclaimed that the revolution must "emancipate the country from the economic domination of the foreigner," allows for a more modern interpretation of Zapata's ideology, that of the dependency theorists. Simplified, dependency theory states that a nation cannot fully develop economically and socially as long as it remains dependent on or under the control of the "First World" -- in Mexico's case under the influence of its big brother north of the border.
In a chapter called "Misconceptions Concerning Zapatista Ideology," the aforementioned author, Robert Millon, debunks some of the myths surrounding Zapata's beliefs and those of his followers. Many biographers of Zapata as well as chroniclers of the Mexican Revolution explain the Zapatista ideology as "Indianist," socialist, or even anarchist.
As mentioned before, there are socialist elements, but they are by no means predominant. As far as "Indianist" ideology is concerned, it would be hard to argue that Zapata, a mestizo who always donned the garb of a small-time farmer and not the traditional white breeches of the Indians, was a racial purist. On the contrary, Zapata's ideology was quite inclusionary, trying to create a feeling of local and national identity among all racial groups.
Zapata was, if nothing else, a realist. He certainly read and studied much about communism, calling it a "good and humane" ideology, but ultimately turned away from it, regarding Marxism as "impractical. Overall, it would be incorrect to state that Zapata had no socialist or communist leanings and did not attempt to implement any of the goals of those ideologies.
It would, however, be an equally specious and rather tendentious description of Zapata to paint him as a communist, bent on destroying private property and seeking supremacy for those of pure Indian blood. The Mexican Revolution was in no way a communist one, unlike the Russian revolution that occurred almost simultaneously.
Emiliano Zapata was a highly intelligent, rational leader, trying to lead the people of southern Mexico out of extreme poverty.
He was a realist who knew when to fight and when to play politics. His legacy lives on today in the contemporary Zapatista Rebels of Chiapas. Their view of Zapata is decidedly different from the one presented here and their ideology differs significantly from that of Zapata himself. Nevertheless, they are attempting to achieve the same goal as Zapata, to lead their people out of despair and into a fair, equal future, free from oppression.
Throughout history, political and revolutionary leaders have been glorified by their followers in life as well as in death. Few in modern history, however, have experienced the apotheosis that has been bestowed upon Emiliano Zapata.
It is no exaggeration to equate the veneration of Zapata with that of a religious figure. Naturally, there is a multitude of poems and songs written about the Mexican Revolution, some dealing with the swashbuckling and ruggedly romantic Pancho Villa, but many more commemorating the heroic life of martyr Emiliano Zapata. Marlon Brando portrayed him on the silver screen in Viva Zapata! Even during his lifetime, Zapata was portrayed as a rather bloodthirsty, ham-fisted, and undereducated peasant, hell-bent on finishing his revolution, no matter what the cost.
As so often happens, fiction and fact do not correlate very well. The popular image of Zapata, most likely propagated by his enemies, is far from the truth.
Zapata led his men into battle only when it was the logical military choice and when he realistically foresaw a victory. When Zapata's forces occupied Mexico City, the infamy that had preceded him caused many of the city's inhabitants to quake with fear, fully expecting to be brutalized or killed by the savage peasants from the south. Many were surprised and indubitably very relieved when Zapatista peasants went door to door, merely asking for some food to aid the under-supplied and under-fed forces.
The deification of Zapata is a more recent phenomenon than that of his vilification. It is not at all unusual to find contemporary poetry and literature, especially among the new Zapatistas, that elevate Zapata to a Christ-like state. He wasn't born, they say. He just appeared just like that.
They say he is Ik'al and Votan who came all the way over here in their long journey, and so as not to frighten good people, they became one. Because after being together for so long Ik'al and Votan learned they were the same and could become Zapata.
And Zapata said he had finally learned where the long road went and that at times it would be light and at times darkness but that it was the same, Votan Zapata, and Ik'al Zapata, the black Zapata and the white Zapata. It was largely because of the Zapatistas Zapata and his adherents that land reform was written into the Mexican Constitution of Zapata, however, led the most poorly armed of the main factions in the revolution and was unable to realize his goals.
His enemies received large amounts of foreign military supplies, while he received no assistance from abroad. The inability of his poorly equipped volunteer army, mostly peasants and hacienda workers, to carry out large pitched battles dictated that they had to fight a grueling guerilla war. Zapata was unable to win on the battlefield, but was never totally defeated.
He was assassinated in Although his larger vision for the future of Mexico did not prevail, his fight for land reform helped shape modern Mexico. You do not currently have access to this article. Please login to access the full content. Access to the full content requires a subscription. Under the terms of the licence agreement, an individual user may print out a single article for personal use for details see Privacy Policy and Legal Notice.
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