ABSTRACT
The concept of social movement refers to an organization with a longer continuity in time, while the concept of collective action refers to practices of social protest, such as strikes, work stoppage, rallies, public statements, threats, blockades, and hunger strikes, among others. Social movements form part of the so-called civil society and are sometimes connected to other forms of collective action like labor unions, churches, or NGOs. With the turn of the 20th century, peasant revolts arose in Mexico which culminated in the Mexican Revolution of 1917. Its main demand was the distribution of land and the “Land and Freedom” slogan of Mexican Revolution’s leader Emiliano Zapata and his Liberation Army of the South shook the continent, enabling the emergence of multiple social movements and rural uprisings–as defined by Eric Wolf. In the context of class struggle it is fundamental to describe two main trends: (a) the anarcho-syndicalism and (b) the Marxist or proletarian tradition.
