The 1940s witnessed a resurgence of agrarismo in Morelos, Mexico, the homeland of Emiliano Zapata. Under the leadership of Rubén Jaramillo, campesinos fought for better crop prices, credit, and land reform.1 The struggle of the Jaramillistas, as the participants became known, lasted from 1942 until Jaramillo’s assassination in 1962. As the movement unfolded in the years between the end of the Cardenista presidency and the height of the cold war, it acquired characteristics crucial to our understanding of postrevolutionary Mexico. Influenced by the legacy of Emiliano Zapata’s agrarianism, the hope created by Lázaro Cárdenas’s (1934 – 40) populism, the disillusionment brought about by subsequent administrations, and the renewed expectations for radical change inspired by the Cuban Revolution, the Jaramillistas are emblematic of campesino resistance during this period. As post-Cardenista administrations abandoned a commitment to the countryside, they quelled Jaramillista petitions with violence. In response to this repression, campesinos drew...

You do not currently have access to this content.