ABSTRACT
The Mexican Revolution of 1910 developed into the first major effort in Latin American history to uproot the system of great estates and peonage, to curb foreign control over the national resources, and to raise the living standards of the masses. The Age of Porfirio Diaz enriched a favored few at the expense of Mexico’s millions. The dazzling prosperity of the Diaz era was due in very large part to the exploitation of certain resources-of minerals, above all-on a greater scale than ever before. In his Plan of San Luis Potosi, which was a call for revolution, Francisco Madero had emphasked political objectives, only lightly touching on the subject of land reform. Emiliano Zapata's principled and tenacious struggle and the popularity of his ideas among the landless peasantry contributed to the adoption of a bold program of agrarian reform in the Constitution of 1917. Mexico’s struggle for economic sovereignty reached a high point under Lazaro Cardenas.
