Plan of Ayala

The Plan of Ayala was Emiliano Zapata’s 1911 manifesto rejecting Francisco I. Madero’s government and calling for land restitution and redistribution in Mexico.

Emiliano Zapata: A Mexican revolutionary leader who organized agrarian resistance in Morelos and led the Liberation Army of the South. Zapata issued the plan as the political program of his rebellion.
Article 3 of the Plan of Ayala: A provision of the Plan of Ayala calling for expropriation of one-third of large estates to fund compensation and distribute land. It set out the plan’s most explicit mechanism for redistributing large properties.
Ejido: A form of communal landholding in Mexico, often held by a village or community for collective use. The plan’s defense of village lands anticipated communal tenure as a central agrarian issue.
Mexican Constitution of 1917: Mexico’s constitution adopted in 1917, which established a framework for land reform, labor rights, and national control of subsoil resources. Its Article 27 addressed land and resource ownership in ways that echoed revolutionary agrarian demands.
Francisco I. Madero: A Mexican political leader whose opposition to Porfirio Díaz helped bring about the Mexican Revolution and who served as president from 1911 to 1913. The plan repudiated Madero for failing to deliver the political and agrarian changes Zapata expected.
Article 6 of the Plan of Ayala: A provision of the Plan of Ayala ordering the return of lands, woods, and waters taken from villages and citizens. It made restitution, rather than redistribution alone, a central demand.
Hacienda: A large landed estate in Latin America, often combining agricultural production with control over local labor and resources. Haciendas embodied the concentrated private ownership challenged by the plan.
Article 27 of the Mexican Constitution: A constitutional provision establishing national authority over land and subsoil resources and enabling agrarian redistribution in Mexico. It later supplied constitutional grounds for land redistribution sought by the plan.
Mexican Revolution: A prolonged armed conflict beginning in 1910 that ended the Díaz regime and reshaped Mexico’s political and social order. The plan emerged from the revolution’s struggle over political authority and land.
Article 8 of the Plan of Ayala: A provision declaring the property of enemies of the plan subject to nationalization to support revolutionary expenses and pensions. It linked opposition to the movement with confiscation and financing.

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