COMMUNISM IN MEXICO DURING 1948

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP82-00457R002400560012-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 21
• Document Creation Date: November 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 21, 1999
• Sequence Number: 12
• Publication Date: March 15, 1949
• Content Type: REPORT

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INIFORMAT101130 E -F_ RT . CD NO.
,OUNTRY f:~exico
SUBJECT Cormunian i_- :'crxico aurixi ; 1948
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PLACE
ACQUIRED
DATE OF INFO.
._ T oxioan Ccz nunist Parttr
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DATE DISTR. 15 Liar 1949
NO. OF PAGES 2].
NO. OF ENCLS. , Appendix
(USTEO BELOW)
SUPPLEMENT TO
1. )urin,; the first several r onth of 1948 it was obvious that the decisions and
the Party li t es osta )fished at tie 10th Annual Congress of the ..lexican Cornmunnist
Part,, held i! I;ovo::ibor 1947 v ;r# 5oin;- strictly followed. Moreovor it was
necessaxlr for the Party ]e aders to reestablish confidence in th?rnselves and in
the Party it ;eneral since this confidence had been considerably shaken as a
result of t:io expulsion et the llr*i Con,'ress of three members of the Central
Corr:nittee, namely, Carlos Sanchez Cardenas, Priciliano Alas,*uer and Alberto
?unbreras? Accordin;ly at all cell neetin;s Party stalwarts vere careful to
point out those respocts In vf.iaa Carlos Sanchez Cardenas and his Croup were
in error and to vindicate the actions and decisions of the present Party
leaders
It ..as not until Larch of 1948,. hotever, that the purCe effected at the 10th
Annual Cora ress was "crrria11y announoedo The for:ial statement indicated that
the #ollot,inr; indiviluals -aeere e;.pelled from Party memberships
Carlos .arches -ardenas- menber of the Contral Ccrrrxittee
:U.berto Lur:"ororaa,seor+otar" of Lduoation and rnonber of the
Central Cotnittee
4'riciliano ? lna??uor, :;ecretarv,? of 0r,;anizatior. and
.;a ber oP' the Central Jorr~ittoe
CLASSIFICATION
CLASSIFICATION S!,CR1;T
NSRB
ocument N..
0 DEC ii
DDA Memo,
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'Ex'T .. II.7ELLIGEI CE A{ I3CY
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iguel Aroche Parrs? Secretary Gineral of the State
Commit' a of Guerrero
Alo jandro ?Iartinez Canberos
Juan Bravo Tis.quero
3. Shortly after the eocpu:lsion of the above Party members,-it was announced
that the position of Secretary of organization left vacant by Priciliano
Almaguer would be filled by Jorge Fernandez AnaEyaa
:1. As the expulsions tom. the i'exican Communist Party during the month of
L:larch became more numerous the split within the ranks of the Party grew
under and wider. On 31 1dareh 1948 Alberto Lunbreras and Carlos Sanchez
Cardenas held a meeting can to all members of the Party_ to present their
criticisms of the leaders and the policies of the Party. This meeting
was attended by approximately 130 members and Sanchez Cardenas and
Luabreras emphasized the inefficiency and corruptness of Dionisio Encins
and his group and their policy of subservience to government and
reactionary forces. In addition to accusing the Party leadership of
inefficiency and failure to follow a course which would strengthen and build
up the PCI:i regardless of Idexioan politics and regardless of immediate ad-
vantages, Sanchez O'ardenas criticized the Party's deference to, and support
of, Vicente Lombardo Tolendano and his Partido Popular. They announced that
their group would in the future publish a bi-monthly periodical entitled
hl Machete,. the first issue of Which was to appear on 7 April 19480
Lumbreras and Sanchez Cardenas strongly advocated the holding of a
national plenary session of the Party to which their objections to the
present Party load..rship coteld be presented and at which a majority of
the Party members could than decide whether or not to continue with its
present leadership. Early in April 1948 the expelled members of the Party,
headed b,r Sanchez Cardenas, organized themselves into a group known as the
Conite Reivindieador del Partido Coraunista I exicano, Its leadership was
composed o -l' the followirzf?; m
President- Alberto Ltnnbreras
Secretary G neral a Carlos Sanchez Cardenas
Secretaries s Priciliano Aimaguer
Juan Gonzalez
Jesus Bernal
Hipolito Cardenas
Alejandro Liartinez Camberos
`:i;;uel Aroche Parrs
Dolores Bravo
Alvaro ;ioe Barra Zenil
ilarril Gil
Under Secretariesi
Manuel Serna
Julio Se?oviano
The Comite Reivindicador published its first edition of El Machete on
15 April 1948. As wns to be expected, this small two-page newspaper ranted
on at Great length in criticism of the leadership of the POIJ accusing it
of inefficiency and dishonesty. On this same date, 15 April 1948, the Witt
published its own version of El Maohete. distributing a newspaper larger
in size than that of the Ce t? oivindioador but bearing exactly the same
title. The PCI: prcpor rushed this edition to print in order to protect the
title El f tacbete which in years past was the first newspaper ever published
by the 'iexicen Ca m unist Party. The PC?.t then proceeded to accuse the
Comite Reivindieador of plag;i.arisrc of the registered title of its
periodical,
.r nCyr
JILN 1% a. r-
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6 The Comite Reivindicador continued throughout the summer attempting to
recruit new members and for this purpose several of its leaders traveled
throughout almost all the States, of the Republic. In mite of their claims,
it is felt that the. Cornite had little real success in their recruiting,
campaign. In August of 1948 the Comite joined with the Accion Socialists
Unificads (ASU) and enlisted Valentin Carapa and Herman Laborde on their
side. As the result of this unification and unquestionably because of
contributions from the ASJ, the discontinued Comite publication, El
,achete, again appeared but under the new name of Pdoviembre. In Mix
edition Valentin Campa's name appoared as the Director. Yo-wover, only
several editions of 'iosiembre were published, and view. rig the activities
of the Comite Roivindicador over -the entire year, it can only be concluded
that its prospects of surviving and prospering; in the future are very
slight indeed. It is interesting to note, however, that the Comite
Reivindicador closely followed the accepted Communist line and emphasized
that its quarrel was not with Coeanunism but with the leadership of the
PCLO
As early as 19 May 1948 the leaders of the PCY, shoved great apprehension
as to whether or not the Party would be able to fulfill the official re-
quirements laid dot-an for registration of a political party in Mexico. For
this reason a registration assembly was scheduled for 30 May 1948 and
specific quotas for recruitment and for financial contributions were as-
signed to each individual cell, The Party leaders resorted to every means
in their power to stim;latel attendance at the registration assembly in
order that the required number of registrants could be obtained before the
official deadline which was 1 June 1948. If compliance with registration
teas was not accomplished an that day, the Party would be precluded from
participating in the elections for congressmen to take place in July 1949
and would also be precluded. from any other formal participation in ?lexican
political life?
8., On 6 June 1943 .the offficial, registration for the Federal District of the
Gommunist Party was held in Mexico City. The registration: continued before
a notary public throughout the entire day and the Party claimed to have
registered approximately 1500 persons? However, reliable sources have
advised that at the most the Party did not register more than 1000 in-
dividuals and that ever this fissure could not be considered accurate since
many individuals registered several times under different names, The
painters, David Alfaro Siqueiros and Diego Rivera, contributed to the
occasion by short speeches and at the moment that. Rivera signed his appli-
cation for readmission into the ranks of the Party this fact was announced
over a loud speaker to the cheers of those present. At the same time that
the registration was being held in the Federal District, similar registra-
tions were being held in each of the various States of the Republic.
Several of the leaders of the Party, including Fernando G. Cortex and David
Alfaro Siquei.ros, were dispatched from Party Headquarters to the various
State meetings in order to stimulate interest and to register as many
rr-e>bers as possible in each State.,
9., On 30 June 1948 the National Registration Assembly of the Party was held in
I:exico City? As t'zo result of this registration, the PCI claimed to have
registered 36,000 members throw;pout the Republic with the following numbers
in each States
L Late
'Number
Caxana
7518
Ohiapas
3095
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Number
Coahuila
Sinaloa
1890
.?uavo Loon
1540
Jalisco
1495
Durango
1379
Federal District
1345
{:auerroro
1308
Yucatan
1305
Veracruz
1193
~~,uerotaro
1127
~.a~ ~lipas
1107
an Luis Potosi
1080
7.:,maracas
1(777
Tlaxcala-
1076
lldal ;o
1075
;~onara
1057
( mnrpeohe
1045
Aguascalientes
1039
'1tohoaaan
1025
+,icreloa
1023
roams junto
1008
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The above statistics are certainly false since it is known that the registra-
tion figures were padded and that there was considerable illegal registration,
10. As is generally true with Communist organizations, many meetings were held
in Mexico during; 1948 by all levels of the Party from the Political Bureau
and Central Co mittee d rn:n to the weekly cell meeting. However, perhaps
the most important meetings hold were the meeting in ocmmemoration of the
24th anniversary of U Ii [ 7i oc death in January 1948, the Federal District
meeting in July 1948, the meeting in .celebration of the 29th anniversary
of the Party held in Selstember, and the 6th Ordinary Federal District
Congress held in December. At those meetings which are open to the Party
in general, the attendance is usually not very great and usually averages
under 100 spectators. The most noteworthy factor in connection with
official party meetings held in L exico during the past year was the
frequent and prominent attendance of Communists from other countries in
Latin Auerica, Some of the moat well-known of these visitors were:
31as Roca, Juan Marinello and Ladislao Carbajal of Cuba; Roberto !.iorena
of Brazil, ?alvador Ocampo of Chile, Celso Nicolas Solano of Panama and
I.;anuel Mora Valverde of Costa Rica. Those individuals did not attend the
meetings simply as observers or i-ueats, but actively participated in
discussions and plans for the future? Marinello and Roca of Cuba
particularly exercised a strong influence on the PCM which was certainly
in need of guidance and inspiration. It is believed that one of the
primary purposes of Marinnello?s visit to Mexico was an attempt to
rejuvenate the Party, to lay down the future Party line and to draw up a
work plane In celebration of the 29th anniversary of the PCMJI in addition
to other foreign delegates to the Mexican meeting, an American delegate
named Max Leiss took an active and prominent part in the proceedings,
11? A most important purge1:ithin the ranks of the Party leaders occurred on
8 December 1948 when at a meeting of the Central Committee, Blas Manrique
was removed from office as Secretary General of the Federal District
Committee, as Director of La Voz de Mexico and as a member of the Political
Bureau and the Central Carom` -We-e a was not expelled from the Party,
however, and had not been at the time of this writing. The expulsion of
Lanrique was a very important event in the Mexican Communist Party since
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he had been one of the most militant and capable leaders during the past
several years '1e "As expelled on the grounds that he was laeki ,? in
discipline and xus no longer trustworthy, Some of the suspicion leveled
e4- ai.nst him was based on the fact that his wife, .. imam *.tisky de Manriq,.e,
is an American citizen? Lanrique'c position as Director of Ia Vox de
Mexico was filled by L'einuel Terrasas, f orrsorly leader of Comm youth
and aaa fast rising star in the Mexican Communist Party ranks,
IZ, The Party lire for purposes of propaganda, discussion rend speeches .mss
without exception exactly :.hat would be expected from any Communist A';rty
in the ':astern Hemisphere. As regards national internal affairs of
f:exico, the corruption: and dishonesty in the present c;overnment, the
high cost of livin, the low salaries of labor, and the inadequate living
cond itions tivere continually the subjects of propaganda. Efforts of the
United States and ;:'exico to reach an agreement with regard to petroleum
matters were labeled as as direct intervention in Mexican internal affairs by
the United States capitalists. Mexico had alloved herself to be dominated
by the United States in connection with the campaign to eradicate the hoof
and mouth disease and in its participation in the 1avana and 3ogota
conferences, Internationally the loudest outcry of the Party was aimed
against United States imperialism and domination of Mexican industry and
economic life, Marshal Tito wee, of course, entirely in the wrong in his
refusal to abide by the instructions of the Camirforca, The Greek people
were boing forced against their will by Britain and the United States to
accept a form of ;-overnment for which they had no desire,
or the Chinese troops z re heralded as a victory of the democThe
raticopeop
and as the first indications o:^ failure of the LCarshall Planaoplas
13 3 During the early part of February 1948, an effort was made by the Party
leaders to stimulate the educational program vh ich had been undertaken on
several previous occasions but which had died through lack of interest of
the Party members. Alberto Lumbreraas and Blas Manrique were the leaders
of this new effort to stimulate this program but again the scheduled course
of lecturers and discussion groups continued for only a few months and then
ceased because of lack of attendance by the pupils, and often because of
the failure-of the lecturers to make an appearance. The general apathy of
the majority of the nerab3rs of the PCM is reflected in this failure of the
educational program,
14w, Throughout the year 1948 one of the PCLI's greatest worries has been its
lack of operating funds. At every meeting without fail the Party leaders
urged the members to be more prompt and conscientious in the payment of dues
and in making; contributions, however, the average Party member falls into
such a low income bracket; that it is easy to understand mhy the Party had
so much difficulty in raisin; enough money even to continue in operation.
The only way in iehioh it managed to keep its head above water at all was
through the funds raised by means of raffles, dances and other similar
enterprises? One of the beat indications of the Party's dire financial
straits is perhaps the intermittent publication of its would-be official
weekly La Voz de f'.exicos An examination of the copies which appeared
during the pest year indicates that only 17 editions in all were printed
and that in one instance a .cried of ten and one-half weeks elapsed before
sufficient funds vore raised to finance the next edition. There were other
lapses of ton and eight w3eks. This interrupted appearance of the Party to
newspaper is considered i'--dy.cative of the status of the Party finances, for
there is no doubt but that Party leaders consider the continuous and
regular publications of tbcn Part newspaper as one of the most important
activities of the Party,
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CE';I'RAL I I TELLI GE2?CE AGI;I;CY
15. At do end of 1948 the following individuals composed the leadership of
the I,:exioan Cormtunistt Party:
The Political Bureau
. ionisi a ir .a '-" Jesus Iazoano
Jorge Fernandez Anaya Reyes Fuentes Garcia
Fernando G. Cortex Encarnacion Peres
Manuel Terrazas Abel Cabrera
Este la Jimenez Espoonda
The Central Committee
Dion'arO ,z z~a Secretary General
Jorge 1? erriandez &wkya Secretary of Organization
L anuel Terrazas Secretary of Youth Affairs
Jesus lazoano Secretary of Propaganda
Encarnacian Perez Secretary of Finance
Fernando G. Cortex Secretary of Rural and V orkers Affairs
Abel Cabrera
E stela Jinener Esponda Secretary General of the National Block of
Revolutionary Women, and Secretary of
'cx:,en's Affairs (Seoretaria Femenil)
Reyes Fuentes Garcia Seo'y General, S
$otero Valdez tate C tees, Jalisco
~+ re n a
Alberto ILartireez n n a , Tamaulipas
I nacio F. Roc:rigue.c ? a Guariajuato
-~ n ? n , Sinaloa
Jose Mostejanc
Ileriberto Saurcedo n n n n , xichoaoan
Gre-orio :iolira n re n , Coahuila
Graciano G, B~,nitea n n , Chiapas
n x ,
Juan Pablo Zaans Oaxaca
Enearnacio Valdez
TNeron Velazquez
David Serrano
Daniel Esquivel
J. Gonzalo Bernal
EIigio Ramirez
Amelia Villalta
t-Guel Caatil3o
L-artin Guerra
Josef ina Leon
Alternates
Irmundo Verdesosa S, 0
l
Antonio Medina;
Esther CTiapa
David Alfaro Siqueiros
y nera
, State Coemnittee, Baja
California I;orte
Irao The Confederacion de Jovenes Lexiaanos (CJrr) a Croup
mostly of students of Communist affiliation, ris a member of te '-,orldstir;
Federation of Democratic Youth. Th. o President of this Confederation is
Manuel Popoca Estrada and the or'o,anization has established a permanent
o
ffice within the offices of the E1exican Cammunist Party at Calle Atenas
J'56 0
rrrnrT
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d't"tt. L I 1I'; LL.I c l`TCE AC,MNCY
17, 'Turin;, the Continental Yoh Go .-ress sponsored by the I orld Federation
::f l3ertocratic Youth in 1-!a x:100 Cit;yr Or 30 April 1948, the CJM acted as
:lost to the renresentativeta froi-.i the other countries as well as actively
articipatin-, in the Congress itself.. Salvador lim Gamiz Fernandes,
:e:retary General of the i;J'~~ emu ; the '"exican delegate to the 'FDY
"on rass _?t_tue]. ropcya. ritesident, ans honorar.- president of this
%arg-tress and delivered the onenir:r address of welcotsxs.
t8. On the e3venirt,,7 of 9 July 1,048 an anti-United States demonstration was
=.:tared in front of the American Enbassy in protest against the arrival
n hexico of United Stites Army planes to take part in a search for a
'.cst airplane carrying merters of the Joint '.lexicon Anerioan Commission
1tor tho eradication. of the hoof and mouth disease, .uch of the
organizing of the sstude__t r-roups participating in this demonstration
=liras done by members of the CJI', This demonstration was of no appreciable
consequence but nevertheless s;ear'pnt as a vehicle for the Communists to
? timr..late anti-Atrierican. fee lirr -
19. Subsequent to the holding of the -Continental Youth Congress, a minority
group of the CJ'I which objected to the strongly leftist character of the
iMll that was forcefully brought, out by its participation in the Congress,
publicly proclaimed its iuteirtion to break away from the CJL! and to
hall a counter-Congress of DeTnoc'atic Youth,, This Congress mould pre-
-umab1y attract the rightist youth of Mexico. Unt'ortUnnatel ho
-the counter-Congress was of little- importance and the dissident groupr,is
?.ompletely larking in leadership end in financial resources, It is
: xpeoted, therefore, tlia.t ti- is rnn`tremerit will be unable to hinder the
progress or developrient of the WIT..
0.? A general appraisal of the Party's activities during 1948 definitely
leads to the conclusion that the Fart r lost ground during the
past -.nd at the present time is "~akar in political influence, in numbers, ~ar
,_t:.ed in organization than it was qt th? '3oginnirlg of 1948. The reasons
"or this weakenin- and decline nc the Party are not difficult to under-
`tand,. First of all there ere two important schisms within the ranks
: f Party leaders and, of course, a most serious blow to the Party's
prestige was its failure to be registered as an official Party by the
a..exiean government in --mite of the fact that three other minori
parties
re giver. official reconition.The Ale-an Gorerrunent has certainly
not encouraged or assisted the lair;-t, in any way and in certain instances
as hindered Party activities by jailing certain of its leaders prior to
proposed demons trati on or 3n eet i,.r; ;~ The prospects of the Mexican
Crwi unist Party exercising an impel-tart influence in l.4exioan political
;+.ife during the next year appear most slight unless some drastic change
occurs in the Party make-up which cannot be foreseen at this time.,
Foreign Communist Party Officials in Mexico lei. 1948
2During the year 1948 there was an appreciable increase in the activities
nd influence of leading foreign Corrmuni.sts in ;~
Iacsrtant foreign Corrrnini,ts~ to visit Mexico duri oe? The most ia-
'uaan /:iarinello, and Ladtslao Carbajal of Cuba; RobertoyL oronvore a ofBBrazilaa
,alvador Ocampa Pastene of Chile, Colso Nicolas Solano of Panrama; and
i.>.nuel Mara Valverde of Costa Rica.
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22, From the information available it is clear that Juan Marinello and Clas
Roca, President and aec:retan
y General respectively of the Partido
Socialista Popular (Ccrm unist Party) of Cuba, came to r exico City for
the purpose of imparting to the leaders of the I1exican Communist Party
the plan to be followed in the reorganization and rejuvenation of the
'arty. During a series of conferences which took place in the htter
part of September and the first week in October 2948, they apprised the follow-
ing Party leaders of the propaganda line to be followed in their respective
countries with regard to major international issuest
Gelco Nicolas S-olano, Secretary General of the Partido del Pueblo
(Coamnunist Partzr) of Parana;
Salvador Carpio, Secretary of Organization of the Commnmiat Party
Ref El. Salvador.;
Roberto Mayorga, forrorly a member of the Central Coarocittee of the
Cammimist Party of Argentina,;
;Manuel Lors Valverde, Secretary General of the Partido Vanguardia
Popular (Cormnunis t. Party) of Costa Rica;
Dioniaio Er..cina, Secret4ryr General of the lexioan Communist Party,
23, During the early part of September I'arinello, accompanied by the lkxioan
Communist fellow traveler, Mareiso 13aasolt palled on former President
Laiaro Cardenas and delivered a letter from. certain Cuban intellectuals.
In this letter Cardenas was requested to convoke a congress in favor of
peace xhich would be attended by intellectuals and liberals from the
latin American republics. Later Cardenas agreed to take a leading part
in the congress, v:hioh is tentatively scheduled to take place in Mexico
City in March 1949 and is knovri as the "Conferenoia Americana pro Paz y
Democrao ia,"
24., 11arinel to and Roos departed for Havana in the early part of October 1948,
In November Dionisio Enc:ina went to Havana to attend the Congress of the
Partido roc lists Popular. Here again he was in contact .th Marinello
and Roca and received further instructions from theca, He returned to
;.'exioo City in the Utter part of llcwamber, and during; the Plenary Session
of the Central Con nittee, of the "exioan C xisnunist Party which took place
in :Mexico City frun 4 through 10 December the instructions previously
received from the Cuban leaders were passed on to the members of the
Central Committee,
25. Present at the Plena -v Session of the Central Committee of the PCM TAB
Lad islao Carba jal, a leader of the Communist Party of Cuba, who arrived
in Mexico during tae early part of Deoenber 1948. His mission was to
assist the local Party- in carrying out the instructions previously re-
ceived, The instructions, emanating originally from Marinello and Roca
and made knov.-n to Liexioan Communist Party leaders during the Plenary
Session of the Mexican Communist Party were implemented during the Fifth,
Ordinary Congress of the .Federal District Committee held in Mexico City
frcr7 17 through 19 December 1948 and more placed in the form of resolutions
on the basis of which tho activities of the Party will be directed during
the current year. Carbajal is in '.iexico at the present time,
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26. Of perhaps more far-reaching impcrtanoe was the directive to all Latin
American Ccx:munist Parties which was drawn up during this period on in-
structions from ''arinell.o. The directive, as it applied to the Mexican
Communist Party, called for the formation of espionage groups composed of
trusted Party members Who were to supply complete information regardirn
the activities of any groups opposed to the Coaaaunist Party.
27. Roberto Lorena, a leading member of the Communist Party of Brazil and a
member of the Central Committee of the Confederation do Trabajadores de
la America Latina (CTAL), arrived in L: xico on 23 ".:arch 1948 to attend the
Third Congress of tae CTALL It was during this Congress that the idea of
pro otin? a Cannunint dominated "pro-peace" conference in Mexico City
on jnated, and vh'c r Morena departed from Uexi.oo on 20 August 1948 he
embarked upon a tour of certain Latin American countries to organize in
each a ountry a local c amnittee which mould seb of delegates to the oon-
I'erence In preparing
the groundwork for the "pro-peace" conference
Morena has been more active t: w,r any other Communist Party leader, and
it is believed that he has beer, assigned this as his primary task.
38. Salvador Ocssnpo Pastene, a loading Chilean Communist and member of the
Central Committee of the CTRL, is primarily occupied at the present time
working on behalf o" the OTAL., and Vicente Lombardo Toledano. This is
substantiated by the fact that, when he arrived in Iiogata, Colombia, from
Venezuela in Januar;r 1948, he had in his possession an outline of the
labor and political movea:ents of Lrexico and a CTAL memorandum concerning
the then current iahor situation in Mexico, In addition, when he was in
Mexico City in the nur er of 1948, he spent a large. part of his time at
the CTAL offices and was a prominent participant in all CTAL meetings.
29~ Calso jicolas Solana, Secretary General of the Partido del Pueblo
(Co munist Party) or Panama, arrived in 1'exico City from Balboa on
23 September. The ostensible purpose of Solano's visit was to give a
series of lectures at the Unj ersidad Obrera on the subject of the
problems of Panama. Although it is kno- n that Solana chid deliver one
lecture at the Universidad Ohrera on 7 October, it is believed that this
served only to obscure hi;.y real purpose in coming to Mexico City. It
is believed that So:;.ano's real object was to confer with Vicente Lombardo
Toledano with regard to the labor situation in Panama. This belief is
substantiated to cone extent by the fact that while in Mexico City he
visited the offices of Viv CTAL on at least five occasions. ':ith one
exception these visits la?:ted for more than two hours, and on one of the
visits he was accompanied by Dionisio Encina, Secretary General of the
Mexican Cc mmunist PF rty.
30, During Sol.ano's visit to 1,xie o City he went almost ever, day to the
headquarters of the Mexican Cam niianiat Party, where he was in conference
with the leaders of the Party. It is known that on four occasions he
visited in the hone of the Costa Rican Communist refugee, Manuel Mora
Valverde? Solano departed on 9 October for Balboa.,
31, Manuel 1 ora Valverde, Secretary General of the Partido,Vanguardia Popular
(Communist Party) of Costa Rica, arrived in Mexico City on 3 May 1948.
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- though a leading Conn, unist from this area, it is not believed that Manuel
Lora has taken an important tart in Commaunist Party activities; it is be-
ved that his presence in Lexico can be. attributed pririarily to the fact
that he was expelled from Costa Rica as a result of the successful revolu-
tion h-srou,,ht about by Jose Fiueres, It has been reliably reported that
as soon as the political situation in Costa Rica permits it he will return
to San Jose.
C. S aanish Communist Pary :wan ~.oxico
32, The main activities of the Spanish Communist Party during 1948 consisted in
the prmulgati. oh of "peace propaganda," encouragement of labor agitation.,
and active participation in furthering L:exioan leftist organisations, The
main impression they have givers is that their activity has become increas-
ingly less, and in taeeir oonnunioations itiith the Party headquarters in
Paris it is possible to observre a growing frustration and querulousness as
a coYzsequence.
r3. During the year 1948 the financial resources of the Party underwent a can-
siderable decline which resulted in greater delays in the appearance of the
Party organ, Espana opUar. However, they were able to retain at least a
tri-monthly pub io&tioz. rate. In this periodical the main subject matter was
always confined to encouraging anti-France propaganda and giving publicity
to the political "cri nes" of the Franco government against Communist agents
apprehended by the Security Police. A noisy campaign to solicit funds for
the aid of these Communist guefrillas resulted in the sum of 58,769 pesos,
according to one source. From another, however, it was learned that the
Party directorate in Paris was dissatisfied with the amount of money received
by the campaign in Lexicon
34. In the international field, the Spanish Communists followed the traditional
line and took advantage of every opportunity to play on anti-American
sentiment and encoursgo all ?.exican organizations which are attempting
to thwart designs to bring the United States and Mexico into closer
economic activity, particularly with respect to the all-important problem
of petroleum. The impression is left that in this regard the Spanish
Communist Party acts as a cheer leader, lustily urging the others on in
the fight against American imperialism.
35, Probably the most in;,ereating single activity was their system of reporting
to France on a more or less monthly basis, discussing developments in
Maxican political, social and economic life. These reports demonstrated a
definite cam munications service between Mexico City and Paris, and several
of them indicate they were written in response to specific information
requests from Party officials in France. They also reflected the directive
given the Party by J ion :Larinello, discussed in paragraph 26. On the other
hand, these information letters disclose that the authors (usually Felipe
Arconada and Ricardo Castellete) are far from objective in their observa-
tions and often leap to erroneous conclusions through incomplete information.
These reports usually elaborate the success of local leftist groups as well
as the role played in them it success by the local Spanish Communists,
36. Another aspect of the Communist program during the year was that of frenzied
attempts to counteract a stream of pro-Franco propaganda which appeared in
the rightist '.'exioan press. The Franco regime had sent innumerable envoys
during the year to L:exico, attempting to intensify oonmmeroial and cultural
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CENTRAL IN7i8LLIGEICE AGENCY
relations between the two countries. The local Spanish Coazmaunists s efforts
vere not notably successeu:L, and their indil ration reached one of its high
points When a Franco envoy, one Jose Gallostra, Spanish Ambassador to
Bolivia, uus able to cause the disaffection of Adolfo .Alvarez-Su6rlla y do
Losana, Counsellor of the Spanish Republican J nbaasy in t:exico City and a
career diplomat who has served the Republican Government over since its
f orc.?ation.
37. Another main vehicle, for the propaganda activity, besides Banana Popular
vies the C~lunist front organization, thex Federaoion do Organ, msde-'
Ayuda a la Republica Espanola (FOARE), i'urin; the year, this agency held
several auctions, public lectures, demonstrations, eta,, to propagandize
the Republican cause and the Suerrilla ua:fare in Spain, and to obtain
money for remittance to Europe to aubsidis;e and increase these anti-Franco
activities. However, the tempo of the activity has been on a steady
decline since the beginning of 1948 and the end of the year saw the FOARE
ina nearly bankrupt condition. Reports as the activities of the FOARE
dealt mainly with their efforts to increase, membership and stimulate their
financial resources,
D, Lombardo Toledano and International Communist Atitivitigs
38. Communist activities in Mexico during the yee-r 1948 did achieve soave
measure of success %h ioh deserves careful stl:dy and attention. Significantly
enough, however, these successes were not wit lin any of the organized Can.
munist political units, but were the results (?f activities of that larger
and more important group which should be characterised as neo-Communist.
Their activity is being included under this review of Cconzu gist develop.
ments because from the point of view of Amerioen continental interests
their political objectives, propaganda line and operational techniques are
identical with those of publicly known Communist units. group
neocssary to review the activities of certain prominent lef"tistslabor it is
leaders, certain labor unions, youth groups and .he leftist party, the
Partido Popular. The recognized leader of this group is, of course, Vicente
Lombardo Toledano. His activities, v.?ith their at