***** Since the occupation of January 1994, many have projected their hopes onto this ‘exotic’ struggle against ‘neo-liberalism’. We examine the nature of the Zapatista uprising by moving beyond the bluster of the EZLN communiqués, on which so many base their analysis.

** Introduction: The Mexican context

*** A brief chronology [4]

** Part 1: The Roots of the Modern State

*** The latifundias

*** Zapatismo and the Ayala Plan

*** The end of the Morelos Commune

*** The working class

*** The 1917 Constitution

** Part 2: The Changing Face of the Institutional Revolution

*** Radical social democracy to the rescue

*** The Economy after 1940

*** The 1959 Movements

*** Mexico’s ’68

*** The early 1970s — economic crisis

*** Oil boom — and bust

*** The Lost Decade

*** The Tequila Effect and Beyond

** Part 3: A Commune in Chiapas?

*** Traditional accumulation and social structure

*** 1970s — eviction and resistance in the Lacandon

*** New patterns of accumulation

*** The sparks of rebellion

*** Formation of the EZLN [20]

*** Zapatista organisation

*** The class position of the Zapatista Indian

*** The ‘ultra-left’[26]: Mao and Marcos

*** The forces of production

*** Nationalism

*** The Academics [31]

*** The refusal to take power and civil society

*** Dignity

** Conclusion

** Postscript: September 2000: Mexico and the Fall of the PRI