AYALA PLAN: ANTECEDENTS, REFORM, OBJECTIVES, CONSEQUENCES - HISTORY - 2025

The Ayala Plan was a document drafted by the Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata and by the teacher Otilio Montaño in which they established a series of political demands. It was signed on November 25, 1918 and made public three days later. The plan was centered in the return of the property of the land to the peasants.

The Mexican Revolution had broken out in 1910 with the intention of ending the presidency of Porfirio Díaz. He had been in power for several decades, ruling in a dictatorial way. The first leader of the Revolution was Francisco I. Madero, who received the support of other leaders such as Zapata, Pancho Villa or Pascual Orozco.

Ayala Plan Page - Source: Spanish: Montaño, Otilio (1877-1917), via Wikimedia Commons

The revolutionary triumph brought Madero to the presidency. However, his former allies were disappointed by the timidity of his reforms. That was the case of Zapata, who called for an ambitious agrarian reform.

Not seeing his objectives achieved, Zapata published the Ayala Plan. Through this, he did not know Madero as President. Likewise, it established an agrarian reform plan to return the lands that farmers and landowners had taken from the peasants since the time of the Viceroyalty.

Background

After 30 years of the government of Porfirio Díaz, the so-called Porfiriato, his victory in the 1910 elections ended up provoking an uprising against him.

His main opponent in the voting, Francisco I. Madero, had been arrested before the elections and was only able to escape once Diaz had been sworn in. Once free, he proclaimed in Plan de San Luis, calling for Porfirio Díaz's resignation and calling to arms to dismiss him.

Along with Madero were Pancho Villa, Pascual Orozco and, in the south and center of the country, Emiliano Zapata. The latter's main demand, agrarian reform, was explicitly included in the Plan of San Luis.

The revolutionaries achieved their objective and Díaz had to leave the country. Madero, after winning the elections, was elected the new President.

Emiliano Zapata

Emiliano Zapata

Emiliano Zapata always defended the rights of the peasants from his fiefdoms in the south of the country. The revolutionary considered that many of these peasants had lost their lands in the hands of caciques and landowners, who had used legal tricks to take away their properties.

Without changing his main objectives, Zapata joined the fight against Díaz and, later, continued to pressure Madero to comply with what he signed in San Luis.

Break with Madero

The political reality ended up disappointing Zapata. Once installed in the presidency, Madero greatly moderated the demands contained in the Plan of San Luis on the return of land to the peasants.

Zapata pressured the President to accelerate the agrarian reform. However, Madero replied that he needed time, but promised to carry it out. According to some historians, pressure from the army and the most conservative sectors of the country did not allow Madero to enact too radical laws.

This stance made Zapata very angry. He even accused the government of having joined the supporters of the Porfiriato and of having betrayed the revolution.

Return to arms

According to some historians, Madero tried to convince Zapata to be patient. However, the revolutionary felt betrayed and did not listen to the President. Finally, the rupture was total and Zapata decided to take up arms again.

Reform and objectives

After breaking up with Madero, Zapata began working on a document that reflected his demands. Otilio Montaño also participated in this work, as well as some teachers from Morelos.

The result was the Ayala Plan, signed by its authors on November 25, 1911. Three days later, the Plan was proclaimed in Ayala, Morelos, the town from which it received its name. The signatories also called it the Liberation Plan of the Children of the state of Morelos.

With this document, Zapata and his supporters certified the total break with Madero and established their objectives to continue with a revolution that they considered betrayed.

The Ayala Plan contained the ideas of the Zapatistas, divided into 15 different points. Among the most important were the ignorance of Madero as president of Mexico and the request that the lands monopolized by the landowners, from the time of the Viceroyalty to the Porfiriato, be returned to the peasants.

Rejection of Madero

In addition to adhering to most of the San Luís Plan, the first points of the document presented in Ayala were dedicated to President Madero. The Zapatistas, with this Plan, rejected him as Head of the Revolution and as President of the Republic.

Instead, they expressed their loyalty to Pascual Orozco. In the case, they pointed out, that he did not accept the position, the leadership of the Revolution (not the Presidency of the country) would be exercised by Emiliano Zapata himself.

The authors of the Ayala Plan argued their rejection of Madero, stating that he had maintained "most of the governmental powers and corrupted elements of oppression of the dictatorial government of Porfirio Díaz." Likewise, they accused him of not complying with what was agreed in the Plan of San Luis.

On the other hand, Zapata accused the Maduro government of oppressing the people and imposing governments in the states without counting on the will of the majority.

Finally, he accused Madero of entering into "scandalous collusion with the scientific party, landowners-feudalists and oppressive caciques, enemies of the Revolution proclaimed by him" and asked to resume the fight against the government.

Return of land to peasants

The most important part of the Ayala Plan dealt with the recovery of the lands that the landlords had taken from the peasants. This point, according to experts, shows the clearly agrarian character of the entire Revolution and, in particular, of the Zapata struggle.

The reclaimed lands had belonged to the peasants until the time of the Viceroyalty. In order to recover them from the hands of the landowners or caciques, the former owners had to present their property titles and, thus, demonstrate that they had taken their lands in bad faith. In case of doubt, special courts would be created that would have the last word.

Most of these property titles were communal and had been issued during the Viceroyalty. Years later, the Lerdo Law rendered these titles worthless, which became a very simple way to expropriate communal lands. These cases were what the Plan de Ayala tried to correct.

Land expropriation

Another of the points included in the Ayala Plan was the possibility of expropriating those lands, mountains or waters that were in the hands of large owners. To do so, the state had to pay compensation, which would be established by law.

These lands would be handed over to the towns so that the peasants could work on them. Likewise, it also established that part of these lands could have an industrial use.

Nationalization of assets

For many experts, the most radical point of the document was the 8th. This gave the option to the State to nationalize the assets of those landowners or chiefs who were against the Plan.

Two thirds of these assets would be used for matters such as war indemnities and the payment of pensions to widows and orphans of those who died in the struggle to make the Zapatista project a reality.

When discussing private property, since it did not even contemplate the payment of compensation, this point came into conflict with the position held by the Madero government.

In addition, it represented a change with respect to the San Luis Plan, which only spoke of the situation of the small property without touching the large concentrations of land.

Consequences

Victoriano Huerta

Madero suffered a coup and was assassinated in 1913. Victoriano Huerta, the leader of that insurrection, took power and received the support of Pascual Orozco. Zapata, despite his confrontation with Madero, did not accept his murder and the change of regime.

The first consequence was the change introduced in the Plan of Ayala. Thus, considering Orozco a traitor, Zapata assumed the leadership of the Revolution. Similarly, he promised to continue his fight until Orozco and Huerta were defeated and Ayala's Plan became a reality.

Alliance with Villa

To try to expel Huerta from power, Zapata allied himself with Pancho Villa and Venustiano Carranza. After a few months of fighting, they achieved their goal.

This victory did not mean that the country stabilized. The differences between Zapata and Villa, on the one hand, and Carranza, on the other, soon began to show themselves, so they soon began to clash militarily.

Zapata assassination

The Aguascalientes Convention, in which the revolutionaries who had risen against Huerta participated, ended with the total rupture between Zapata and Carranza. The latter, after a few months of struggle, managed to defeat his rivals and win the presidency.

Zapata withdrew to the south, where he tried to put his ideas about the organization of agricultural communities into practice, without abandoning the fight against the Carranza government.

In 1919, he was assassinated by order of Carranza. His fight was then assumed by Gildardo Magaña, who would reach an agreement with Álvaro Obregón to support him in his attempt to defeat Carranza.

Constitution of 1917

Despite the differences between Carranza and Zapata, the former took into account the Ayala Plan when drafting the new Constitution of the country.

After the Constituent Congress held in 1916, part of the principles included in the Plan acquired constitutional status in the Magna Carta approved in 1917. Specifically, they appeared in Article 27, which dealt with the ownership of land and water.

The agrarian reform promoted by the government, insufficient according to the Zapatistas, was aimed at the disappearance of the large estates and the distribution of land between the indigenous and peasants.

References

1. Ayala, Anylu. The Ayala Plan and the Agrarian Revolution of Emiliano Zapata. Obtained from culturacolectiva.com
2. Secretary of Culture. Proclamation of the Plan of Ayala. Obtained from cultura.gob.mx
3. Mexico history. The Plan of ayala. Obtained from independencedemexico.com.mx
4. Minster, Christopher. Emiliano Zapata and The Plan of Ayala. Retrieved from thoughtco.com
5. Alba, Victor. Emiliano Zapata. Retrieved from britannica.com
6. Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture. Plan of Ayala. Retrieved from encyclopedia.com
7. Revolvy. Plan of Ayala. Retrieved from revolvy.com
8. Brunk, Samuel. Emiliano Zapata: Revolution & Betrayal in Mexico. Recovered from books.google.es