Labor Conditions on Haciendas in Porfirian Mexico: Some Trends and Tendencies
o F THE MANY PROFOUND TRANSFORMATIONS which took place in the Mexican countryside in the period between 1876 and 191o, two have been emphasized: the expropriation of the lands of communal villages, and the decrease in real wages paid to laborers on haciendas. By the end of the Porfiriato over 95 percent of the communal villages had lost their lands, according to available data.' The buying power of wages paid to agricultural laborers on haciendas sharply declined between 1876 and LgLO.2 These statistics give only a partial and limited view of the situation in the countryside. What happened to the expropriated peasants? Did they become peones acasillados on the haciendas, industrial workers or free agricultural laborers? To state that the value of real wages paid to laborers on haciendas