‘Zapata’. Toda la tierra para los campesinos. (Zapata. All the land for the peasants.) Mexico. Print

‘Zapata’. Toda la tierra para los campesinos. (Zapata. All the land for the peasants.) Mexico. Print made by Leopoldo Méndez, 1938. British Museum. The print shows EmilianoZapata on his horse behind a banner held by his supporters bearing the slogan ‘Toda la tierra para los campesinos’ ('All land for the peasants’). The figure of Zapata is used to encourage continued social reform in Mexico, and is printed on red paper, the colour of revolution. “The text beneath the image explains that although Zapata, who fought for agrarian reform during the Mexican Revolution, was assassinated in April 1919, his cry of 'Land and Freedom’ still needed to be heard in Mexico. When this print was made in 1938, President Lázaro Cárdenas, who held office from 1934 to 1940, had started to distribute land as part of the reform process. However, not all the land had been given back to the peasants, nor did they benefit from better economic circumstances, and exploitation by landowners persisted. The text motivates peasants to continue the struggle that Zapata had started, and to fight for the remaining 70,000,000 hectares of land that still belonged to major landowners, ending with the powerful words: 'Down with those who exploit Mexican peasants. Long live Zapata! Long Live the Mexican Revolution!'” -- source link
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