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5819 Items in 8 Ms Coll\Mexican Communist Partida Comunista Mexicana. Mexican Communist Party records, 1951-1958. 4 linear ft. (5,819 items in 8 boxes). Historical note: These papers are photocopies printed out from a microfilm of items selected from the files of the Mexican Communist Party Headquarters in Mexico City which was raided by the Mexican government in the Spring of 1959. This microfilm was prepared for the use of Daniel James who was to have prepared a study of the Party for the Twentieth Century Fund. Summary: Correspondence, manuscripts, documents, lists, and subject files of the Mexican Communist Party (Partida Comunista Mexicana) from the 1950s. Included are organizational records of the national party as well as many local groups, and folders on a great range of topics including workers in the petroleum industry, teachers, relations with other national communist parties, finances, front groups, factionalism within the party, party conferences, party history, and biographical data. Organization: Arranged. Photocopies printed from a microfilm. Originals are presumed to be in the custody of the Mexican government. Finding aids: Register, 98p.; Box list, lp. Donor: Gift of the 20th Century Fund, 1964. Restrictions on use: Collection is shelved offsite and requires 48 hours for access. Available for faculty, students, and researchers engaged in scholarly or publication projects. Permission to publish materials must be obtained in writing from the Librarian for Rare Books and Manuscripts. 1. Mexican Communist Party. 2. Oil industry workers—Mexico. 3. Teachers—Mexico. 4. Communism—Mexico. 5. World politics. 6. Mexico—Politics and government—1946-1970. ID: NYCR89-A600 * * SC/ES - 11/83 BRC - 2/84 012 BOX LIST. Shelved off-sM* Box L Description of Materials Folders 1-U, frames 1-576 Shelved off-site" Box 2. Folders 5 16 franeS 5TT 1166 3« ~ ' ~ Folders 17-32, frames Ilo7-l880 Shelved off-site" Box U. Folders 33-^0, frames 1881-2516 Shelved oFf-sKepox 5 Folders 53-69, frames 3303-^153 etf off-sit*" Box 7. Folders 63-70, frames U15U-I+9T5 3ox 8 'Shelved off-site" - o , r n Folders 71-81, frames 1+976-5819 f: 001 AH INTRODUCTION TO THE PAPERS.-QFTyE MEIICA.N COMMUNIST PARTY (Prepared by Daniel" James ) The most complete record ot the operations ef an important Cononmist Party erer to cove into £he possession of the West is now in the hands of the Mexi- can Gortrnaent, as the result of a raid upon the headquarters of the Mexican Ceoara— aiat Party in the Spring ef 1959 which yielded so»e nine tons of party files, equip- as»at iad furnishings. A selection ef the sest pertinent documents found in the files, tatallinj 5,813, has been made arailable exclusirtly to the present writer for the purpose ef making an exhaustire study from the "inside," so to speak, of the Mexican Coconunist Party. (He has also been promised access, should he require it, to the remainder ef the seized material.) The writer hereby proposes that he undertake such a study, based largely upon the arailable documents, under the auspices of the \ Twentieth Century Fund. The authenticity of the documents has been established beyond any doubt, both by the Mexican authorities treatseIres and non-Mexican experts. They would be arailable for reproduction in the study — which will be the first time they will hare seen the light of day. The nearly 6,000 seized docuaents constitute a detailed record of rirtu- ally erery phase of act#rity of the Mexican Communist Party (hereinafter referred te by its Spanish initials, PCM), en both the legal and illegal lerels, since its in- ception in 1919; they tend to be more of a record, heverer, ef the past two deeades or so than ef the party's earlier history. As such, they rereal, in the words of the Coosnuaists themselres, more aboutthe way they operate than anything hithert* published about Comanmism excepting the known writings of its founders and heirs. f 002 - 2 — •fu* foil >ring ia a brief sampling of the subject matter dealt \rith in the seized documents, which Trill gire aocae idea of the wealth of material thej coatain: Membership. National and lecal membership lists (including one which names the former Mexican President, General Lazaro Cardenas, a* & PGM cardholder). Sympathizers. Detailed lists of who they are, their financial contribution*. Illegal ActJTitisa. "VU.il drops" used by the PCM for both domestic and foreign nail. Reports of cell Meetings, aiaea of cell*, yho belengs to then and There they are. Exteasire notes discasaiag the PCM's illegal work. Organization. Details concerning the organization ef the PCM nationally and locally, documents explaining how it operates. Planning. Extensire "work plans'* drawn up for the national party on a yearly and monthly basis, for its state units, and for special actirities such as labor conferences. ) Labo£. Detailed information en the operations »f party fractions inside the Mexican trade unions, especially such key ones as the Railway Workers, Oil Work- ers, Zlectrical Workers and Teachers. The same' concerning operations aaeng the peasantry. * Rail Strike. Series of accounts of the party's role in calling the paralyzing rail strike of February-March 1959 which, indirectly, led te the raid on PCM leadquarters which yielded the documents discussed here. (The raid had been con- ducted to obtain eridence ef the PCM'a masterminding ef the strike, after which the party's leaders were imprisoned and two members of the Seriet Embassy depofeted.) Soriat Union. Correspondence with the Seriet Ceomranist Party, reports on trips to Ruasia by PCM leaders, accounts of funds receired frem Moscow by the PCM, internal discussions of the XX CPSU Cengress (February 1958), and other date> show- ing how closely the Kremlin controls the Mexican party. International Communist Ties. Correspondence with satellite Communist ~3' f / 003 Parties, contacts with the Red-controlled World Federation ef Trade Unions and other international Caiacninist groups, relations with such notorious international agents as Vittorio Vid&li (aiiaa Carlos Cor.traras, etc.) of Trieste. Latin. America. Report of a conference of northern Latin American Communist Parties, correspondence with those parties, ties with the Red-controlled Latin Ameri- can Confederation of Labor, contact with Cuban Cotnmuai3ts before Castro. U. S. Communista. Correspondence with the U. S. Communist Party, report jf an An;erioau Cou^aunist to tha FCW's XIII Congress (1958), discussions of "Brovrieri *t in.-i fe the PCM. Y i q a n c e s_. Minutely J#l^iled accounts of receipts and expenditures of the PCM on the national un«i ) ical levels, on a day-to-day basis as well as monthly and annually. Evidence of receipt uf funds froa: the Seviets. Propaganda. Reports on the PCIPs propaganda activities, the operations of its daily organ, "La Voz de Mexico," of ita publishing house, Fondo de Cultura Popular, etc. Fronts. Accounts oi the PCM's various front3 among the youth, women, etc. Schools. Details of the party's penetration into the University of Mexico and other schools of higher learning, and the various teachers unions. Information concerning the PCVi' s own schools. Internal Security. Dsscription of the PCM's intelligence and security apparatus, reports of its Control Commission concerning possible police agents in its midst, activities of the far-right Sinarquista movement, and rf activities inside| the office of the Mexican President (as described by an informer). Dia3«n3ion. Internal debates on the party line and the "deviations" ef certain leaders, including ex-secretary General Dionisio Encina, correpondence concerning factionalism between the famous painter and current Secretary General, David Alfaro Siqueiros, and other party leaders. 004 Relations with other Mexican parties. Material concerning relations, i& particular, with Victate Leabardo Teledano'a Popular Socialist Partj, and vith % ) third Comaanist grouping, tho Party of Vork«r« and Peasants. Eltctoral actiritits, "Hie PCM*« tactici and atrmtogjr ia th# 1968 Pr««i- d«atial «l«ction, its joint actiritioa with Lombard*•• PPS, its draft prograa. Hiatory* Material oa the history of tho PCM siaco ita inception la 1919. Theory. Notes concerning the application of Marxist-Leninist doctrine to Mexico. n 005 TENTATIVE *>KP0HT ON OF SLIl ZKD V.KX1CAN COMMl'MSf !X^Cl MENTS (Prepared by Daniel James) The f ol lowi iuIU'1 "ii ^cf aa hirtilhiriilvy tentativtentativee' report on our study of the seized files of the Mexican Communist f^rty, based upon an incomplete exam- ination of loss than half of soie nearly 6,000 documents available. It should he understood that »*e can i'.ive, at the moment, only a sketchy idea of what they contain; but it. itiav be added that, on the whole, they have proved quite revealing. T!iis tentative report i of necessity, cast in the somewhat schematic form we use below. PCM MEMBERSHIP It appears from trie documents we have studied, so far, that the PCM has only 3-4,000 Members today -- Or had, as of 19*>i). That represents a decided drop from an estimated 30,000 it had in the early 1940s. The bulk of the membership is concentrated in the Federal District (Mexico City) ami three or four more or less uidustrialized states (notably Nuevo Leon, whose capital is the Mexican "Pittsburgh," Monterrey, and Coahuila/. According to a report made in 1957 by the PCM leader, Jose Encarnacion Perez, the Federal District had only 37~> members organized into 39 cells. Only 28-30 of those cells were active, he further reported. He also disclosed that an unknown number of party members were not attached to cells, but it appears there were only about 28 of them. That would put the total Mexico City member- ship, in 1957, at slightly more than 40O.
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