•.. • THE CONTEMPORARY PERIOD • МЕXICO FRANCISCO MADERO: THE PLAN OF SAN LUIS POTOSI, NOVEMBER 20, 1910 Madero was a middle-class, liberal politician who took charge of the early phase of the Mexican revolution, in direct opposition to the previous, authoritarian regime of Porfirio Diaz. He issued the Plan of San Luis Potosi after Diaz stole the Mexican election of 1910 by having Madero arrested and imprisoned. Madero fled to San Antonio and issued the Plan of San Luis Potosi calling for the nullifica- tion of the elections and upon Mexicans to take up arms against the government. The date of its issue marks the beginning of the Mexican Revolution. Peoples, in their constant efforts for the triumph of the ideal of liberty and justice, are forced, at precise historical moments, to make their greatest sacrifices. Our beloved country has reached oñe of those moments. A force of tyranny which we Mexicans were not accustomed to suffer after we won our independence op- presses us in such a manner that it has become intolerable. . . . The legislative and judicial powers are completely subordinated to the executive, the division of powers, the sovereignty of the states, the liberty of the common councils, and the rights of the citizens exist only in writing in our great charter; but, as a fact, it may almost be said that martial law constantly exists in Mexico; the administration of justice, instead of imparting protection to the weak, merely serves to legalize the plun- derings committed by the strong; the judges instead of being the representatives of justice, are the agents of the exccutive, whose interests they faithfully serve; the cham- bers of the union have no other will than that of the dictator; the governors of the States are designated by him and they in their turn designate and impose in like man- ner the municipal authorities. From this it results that the whole administrative, judi- cial, and legislative machinery obeys a single will, the caprice of General Porfirio Diaz, who during this long administration has shown that the principle motive that guides him is to maintain himself in power and at any cost.... In Mexico, as a democratic Republic, the public power can have no other origin nor other basis than the will of the people, and the latter can not be subordinated to formulas to be executed in a fraudulent manner. . . . For this reason the Mexican people have protested against the illegality of the last election and, desiring to use successively all the recourses offered by the laws of the Republic, in due form asked for the nullification of the election by the Cham- ber of Deputies, notwithstanding they recognized no legal origin in said body and knew beforehand that, as its members were not the representatives of the people, they would carry out the will of General Diaz, to whom exclusively they owe their 308 • TWENTIETH-CENTURY REVOLUTIONS • rotested energetically against the election in imposing manifestations in different parts of the Republic. . . But such conduct was indispensable to show to the whole world that the Mexican neople are fit for democracy, that they are thirsty for liberty, and that their present rulers do not measure up to their aspirations. Besides, the attitude of the people before and during the election, as well as after- wards, shows clearly that they reject the energy of the Government of General Diaz and that, if those electoral rights had been respected, I would have been elected for President of the Republic. Therefore, and in echo of the national will, I declare the late election illegal and, the Republic being accordingly without rulers, provisionally assume the Presidency of the Republic until the people designate their rulers pursuant to the law. In order to attain this end, it is necessary to eject from power the audacious usurpers whose only title of legality involves a scandalous and immoral fraud. With all honesty I declare that it would be a weakness on my part and treason to the people, who have placed their confidence in me, not to put myself at the front of my fellow citizens, who anxiously call me from all parts of the country, to compel General Diaz by force of arms, to respect the national will. THE PLAN OF AYALA This document was issued by the radical peasant leader Emiliano Zapata, in 1911. Zapata never managed to seize power, but his economic demands, and his ability to rouse the peasantry in several key regions, affected Mexican social and politi- cal development for many decades. [We hereby proclaim] the liberating plan of the sons of the State of Morelos, affiliated with the Insurgent Army which defends the fulfillment of the Plan of San Luis Potosi, with the reforms which they have believed necessary to add for the benefit of the Mexican Fatherland. We, the subscribers [to this Plan], constituted in a Revolutionary Council ... declare solemnly before the countenance of the civilized world which judges us and before the Nation to which we belong and love, the principles which we have formu- lated to terminate the tyranny which oppresses us and redeem the Fatherland from the dictatorships which are imposed on us, which are determined in the following plan: Justicia y ley. [Justice and Law.] Ayala, 28 November, 1911. From Emiliano Zapata, The Plan of Ayala (29 November, 191), translated by Erick Langer. 309

•.. • THE CONTEMPORARY PERIOD • МЕXICO FRANCISCO MADERO: THE PLAN OF SAN LUIS POTOSI, NOVEMBER 20, 1910 Madero was a middle-class, liberal politician who took charge of the early phase of the Mexican revolution, in direct opposition to the previous, authoritarian regime of Porfirio Diaz. He issued the Plan of San Luis Potosi after Diaz stole the Mexican election of 1910 by having Madero arrested and imprisoned. Madero fled to San Antonio and issued the Plan of San Luis Potosi calling for the nullifica- tion of the elections and upon Mexicans to take up arms against the government. The date of its issue marks the beginning of the Mexican Revolution. Peoples, in their constant efforts for the triumph of the ideal of liberty and justice, are forced, at precise historical moments, to make their greatest sacrifices. Our beloved country has reached oñe of those moments. A force of tyranny which we Mexicans were not accustomed to suffer after we won our independence op- presses us in such a manner that it has become intolerable. . . . The legislative and judicial powers are completely subordinated to the executive, the division of powers, the sovereignty of the states, the liberty of the common councils, and the rights of the citizens exist only in writing in our great charter; but, as a fact, it may almost be said that martial law constantly exists in Mexico; the administration of justice, instead of imparting protection to the weak, merely serves to legalize the plun- derings committed by the strong; the judges instead of being the representatives of justice, are the agents of the exccutive, whose interests they faithfully serve; the cham- bers of the union have no other will than that of the dictator; the governors of the States are designated by him and they in their turn designate and impose in like man- ner the municipal authorities. From this it results that the whole administrative, judi- cial, and legislative machinery obeys a single will, the caprice of General Porfirio Diaz, who during this long administration has shown that the principle motive that guides him is to maintain himself in power and at any cost.... In Mexico, as a democratic Republic, the public power can have no other origin nor other basis than the will of the people, and the latter can not be subordinated to formulas to be executed in a fraudulent manner. . . . For this reason the Mexican people have protested against the illegality of the last election and, desiring to use successively all the recourses offered by the laws of the Republic, in due form asked for the nullification of the election by the Cham- ber of Deputies, notwithstanding they recognized no legal origin in said body and knew beforehand that, as its members were not the representatives of the people, they would carry out the will of General Diaz, to whom exclusively they owe their 308 • TWENTIETH-CENTURY REVOLUTIONS • rotested energetically against the election in imposing manifestations in different parts of the Republic. . . But such conduct was indispensable to show to the whole world that the Mexican neople are fit for democracy, that they are thirsty for liberty, and that their present rulers do not measure up to their aspirations. Besides, the attitude of the people before and during the election, as well as after- wards, shows clearly that they reject the energy of the Government of General Diaz and that, if those electoral rights had been respected, I would have been elected for President of the Republic. Therefore, and in echo of the national will, I declare the late election illegal and, the Republic being accordingly without rulers, provisionally assume the Presidency of the Republic until the people designate their rulers pursuant to the law. In order to attain this end, it is necessary to eject from power the audacious usurpers whose only title of legality involves a scandalous and immoral fraud. With all honesty I declare that it would be a weakness on my part and treason to the people, who have placed their confidence in me, not to put myself at the front of my fellow citizens, who anxiously call me from all parts of the country, to compel General Diaz by force of arms, to respect the national will. THE PLAN OF AYALA This document was issued by the radical peasant leader Emiliano Zapata, in 1911. Zapata never managed to seize power, but his economic demands, and his ability to rouse the peasantry in several key regions, affected Mexican social and politi- cal development for many decades. [We hereby proclaim] the liberating plan of the sons of the State of Morelos, affiliated with the Insurgent Army which defends the fulfillment of the Plan of San Luis Potosi, with the reforms which they have believed necessary to add for the benefit of the Mexican Fatherland. We, the subscribers [to this Plan], constituted in a Revolutionary Council ... declare solemnly before the countenance of the civilized world which judges us and before the Nation to which we belong and love, the principles which we have formu- lated to terminate the tyranny which oppresses us and redeem the Fatherland from the dictatorships which are imposed on us, which are determined in the following plan: Justicia y ley. [Justice and Law.] Ayala, 28 November, 1911. From Emiliano Zapata, The Plan of Ayala (29 November, 191), translated by Erick Langer. 309