Wind, Water, Stone

Octavio Paz’s lifelong involvement in and passion for politics could be said to have been borne out of his literal birth into political activism. His father was assistant to Emiliano Zapata, the leader of one of the Mexican Revolution’s factions. The revolution is generally considered to have lasted 10 years, from 1910 to 1920. While Paz was only born in 1914, the Revolution would have lasting impacts on his family, childhood, and subsequent adult interests.

The Mexican revolution—like many political upheavals—is a remarkably complex political happening, with several different factions and shifts in power. However, in order to understand the context of Octavio Paz’s writing, it is crucial to understand the role of Zapata and his followers, the Zapatistas. Before the revolution began, Mexico was organized under the unpopular but mostly stable rule of President Porfirio Díaz. When power struggles escalated between the wealthy and the middle class, and Díaz jailed a wealthy landowner political adversary challenging him for the 1910 presidential election, an armed uprising began. When the Mexican Federal Army proved incompetent in dealing with the conflict, the uprising gained steam until the jailed adversary was installed as the new president, Francisco Madero.

However, in the wake of violent political upheaval, the agrarian peasants of southern Mexico also fought for their interests against the new and untested wealthy landowner’s regime. The leader of this homogeneously working-class coalition was Emiliano Zapata. While the history of the Mexican revolution multiplies the factions and complexity, the relevant context here is that Zapata led a group of working-class citizens in a violent uprising against their oppressive government in order to secure human rights. Growing up in exile and financial difficulties that directly resulted from his family’s commitment to this cause instilled a lifelong passion for human rights and bold political action in Octavio Paz.