82 THE GREEN RISING 



The Land Policy of Obregon 



The revolution which swept Obregon into office 

 marks the high tide of agrarianism in Mexico. All 

 the rebel factions except the followers of Felix Diaz 

 supported Obregon. These included all the agrarian 

 groups, such as the Zapatistas, Villistas, and Cedil- 

 listas. Obregon was strongly supported by such out- 

 standing agrarian leaders as Villareal, who led a 

 revolt against Diaz in 1906, Soto y Gama, founder 

 of the Partida Agrarista, and many others. 



When Obregon came into power in May, 1920, a 

 program of social and economic reform began almost 

 immediately. The government set about the task of 

 returning to the individuals their communal estates 

 from which they had long been dispossessed. There 

 were 15,000 villages that were entitled to land 

 grants. Approximately 3,000 were granted pro- 

 visional possession of their lands. 



The land policy of the nation was administered 

 by a National Agrarian Commission, with branches 

 in each state. The application of the village was 

 made directly to the national or local commission. 

 The acreage assigned to a village approximates a 

 league (4,387 acres), but the quality of the soil and 

 other conditions were considered in determining the 

 size of the distribution. 



The expropriation of the large estates was par- 

 tially carried out. The land policy with reference to 

 the hacendados did not imply a confiscation. The 



