The legal-political construction of the ejido and communal property: Mexico 1915-1940

Abstract

This paper analyzes the 20th century first decade’s agrarian legislations. The purpose is to show how the ejido and communal property were post-revolution legal constructions (1920-1940) that were more related with State demands and political pacts made with the various social forces of the country, than with the fulfillment of the Zapatista ideals included in the 1917 Constitution´s 27

article that were misrepresented. Throughout this period, agrarian regulations focused on designing the ejido destined for the mestizo population and only until the end of 1940 the legal figure of communal property emerged to give legal protection to the resources that the indigenous peoples still conserved after the ejido avalanche and the expansion of small property. By the end of the cardenismo, both sectors became part of the public economy and the State after their integration into the CNC.