Revolutionist Emiliano Zapata attempted to destroy the haciendas in his home state of Morelos. Other radical leaders in other states worked to undermine the hacienda system. At any cost, the Zapatista/Villista wanted no more of the Díaz policy. In place of Díazism the peasants wanted freedom, dignity, land, schools, and food; to achieve these goals they would ravage the nation. Men, women, and children, intent on smashing the hacienda world, could no longer exist on tortillas and water. Singly and in hordes, they scavenged and ravaged. Peasants who understood less than ten Spanish words found themselves trying Spanish if it helped the cause.
Raiders commandeered trains and boarded flat cars and freight cars, perched on the roofs, clung to the ladders, crowding the cowcatcher of the locomotive. Soldados (soldiers) sang their cockroach songs as the train rolled, belts of ammunition across their shoulders and around their waists.
