In liberation of the peon, Diego Rivera depicts the harsh treatment of the Mexican lower class through the bruised peon and provides justification for the revolutionaries to burn down the hacienda, to stop the further oppression of any more peons. The mural depicts a laborer, who is badly hurt and left for dead being cut from a post by a revolutionary soldier. The soldier shows sympathy and tends to his broken body. In the background is a hacienda, a vast agricultural estate, with smoke rising from it and is symbolic of the oppression laborers have had to endure. The hacienda being on fire portrays an end to the inhumane treatment, of the peons, that had become a standard. The estate can be hypothesized to be in the northern parts of Mexico, …show more content…
The revolution became successful, and the Spanish masters were exiled in 1821 in a war of independence. However, this was not the end of it as the incoming regime continued to practice peonage. The Mexican revolution of 1910 to 1920 would ride on this wave to oust the authoritarian regime and with it came the end of peonage system. Among notable leaders that were instrumental in ending it was Pancho Villa and Emiliana Zapata. The Mexican revolution promised to take back their lands from the wealthy and to give back to the poor. They argued that the hacienda was an excessive form of wealth that was purchased by their sweat and blood. Eventually in 1936, Lazaro Cardenas would create the “ejido” system where haciendas were turned to communal farms and wages were paid according to the work done. It justified the revolution and indeed actually stopped peonage and ensured it would never spread to generations to come. The land was to be subdivided equally among all, and the freedom of choice was also …show more content…
The choice of becoming a peon must have been hard for the natives but nonetheless one which they had to make. They did not have many options to go for considering that the access to their communal lands had become restricted. Their only sources of compensation were also limited, and they were ignorant not to know of their rights. Their lands layout limited traveling in search of new places; water might have been rare, often plagued by lack and reduced agricultural output. At times, situations arm-twist us to choose the best of the bad choices (Nancy 1984).Becoming a peon must have been the best assurance of survival when faced with such predicaments. However, the system was inhumane to the dilemma of the natives and used their desperation to exploit and oppress the lower squad of workers. This form of system is an affront to humanity and should have never been allowed to continue. The right to fair wages and upholding the dignity of individuals are to be sustained in high