The paper first examines the main inspirations of the Mexican agrarian reform included in the context of the Revolution that began in 1910. Molina Enriquez stated that the hacienda (large property and extensive farming) was the cause of the agricultural backwardness of the country and this became the dominant interpretation scheme. Like the Spanish “regenerative” writers of the end of the nineteenth century, he highlighted the role of the community and he added the economic and political role of the ranchero’s small ownership. This small farmer should become the main basis of the Mexican mestizo nation. The revolutionaries followed this scheme and oversimplified the agrarian mosaic. Thus, the 1917 constitution (art. 27) stated that land and water were the Nation’s heritage and planned land allotments to communities. These ejidos, in theory taken from the haciendas, were common ownership but private farming plots. The implementation of the agrarian reform followed different rhythms and modes, ranging from maintaining the haciendas (sometimes seized by generals of the revolutionary army) to the restoration of customary pueblos (villages) with ejidos. It sometimes accelerated, as during Cardenas’s government (1934). Between 1920 and 1964, 53 million haciendas were distributed, i.e. 27 % of the total cultivated area. All in all, the reform strengthened the ejido while ensuring the primacy of the small farmer, who stayed nonetheless under state control.