Compare And Contrast Zapata And Perónism

During the 20th century, many social movements spread throughout Latin America pressuring for social, economic, and political change. Amongst many social revolutionaries in the region, the most notable are Zapatista movement in Mexico and Perónism in Argentina. Zapatism is the movement associated with rebel leader Emiliano Zapata about the ideas of agrarian land reform. Perónism is the phenomenon that came out of Juan Perón’s presidency that is linked to the “working class” of Argentinean society. While both of these social movements were noted in helping the lower social class, the leaders used different approaches to carry out their ideas, some being more successful than others. The different backgrounds of Zapata and Perón affected the

Zapatism relied more on violence while Perónism attempted to control more of the bureaucracy. Zapatism supporters were usually locals from Morelos; Zapata helped them form into a rebellion army that could deliver the agrarian reforms. The “Plan of Ayala” was a document drafted during the revolution to denounce President Madero and was used as a guiding force for future actions. Zapata states that Madero is “incapable of realizing the promises of the revolution of which he was instigator, because he has betrayed all of his principles, mocking the will of the people in his rise to power.” Zapata had supported Madero against Porfirio Díaz, however since the land issues were not resolved, Zapata mobilized his army again. He used the Regeneración Newspaper to spread his ideology. A limit Zapata’s strategy was limiting because of his reluctance to fight outside their province. The inability to defend the revolution outside southern Mexico made it very hard for the movement to spread nationally, while it quite possibly had the ability to gain national momentum. While Zapata used his army and ideology to take charge of the changes he wanted to see in Mexico, it was hard to control all of the external forces that affect how quickly the changes would be