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Register of the Rodolfo Echeverría Martínez Collection, 1911-1986
87037
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Title: Rodolfo Echeverría Martínez Collection,
Date (inclusive): 1911-1986
Collection number: 87037
Collector:
Echeverría Martínez, Rodolfo, collector.
Collection Size: 34 manuscript boxes, 2 oversize boxes, 1 phonotape (17 linear feet)
Repository:
Hoover Institution Archives
Stanford, California 94305-6010
Abstract: Reports, correspondence, minutes, conference proceedings, resolutions, speeches,
pamphlets, discussion bulletins, newsletters, and printed matter, relating to activities
of the Partido Comunista Mexicano from its formation in 1919 until its merger with other
parties in 1981, including electoral, trade union, student and other activities, and
activities both at the national level and within various states.
Language:
Spanish.
Collection is open for research.
The Hoover Institution Archives only allows access to
copies of audiovisual items. To listen to sound recordings or to view videos or films during your visit, please contact the Archives
at least two working days before your arrival. We will then advise you of the accessibility of the material you wish to see
or hear. Please note that not all audiovisual material is immediately accessible.
For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Archives
[Identification of item], Rodolfo Echeverría Martínez collection, [Box no.], Hoover Institution Archives.
Acquired by the Hoover Institution Archives in 1987.
Materials may have been added to the collection since this finding aid was prepared. To determine if this has occurred, find
the collection in Stanford University's online catalog at
http://searchworks.stanford.edu/ . Materials have been added to the collection if the number of boxes listed in the online catalog is larger than the number
of boxes listed in this finding aid.
Communism--Mexico.
Communism.
Mexico.
Trade-unions--Mexico.
Mexico--Politics and government.
Trade-unions and communism.
Student movements--Mexico.
Education.
Phonotapes.
Partido Comunista Mexicano.
The Partido Comunista Mexicano (P.C.M.) was organized in September 1919 by Mexican
socialists under the direction of Comintern representatives Manabendra Nath Roy and
Michael Borodin. The political instability and radicalism of the final years of the
Mexican Revolution, combined with a native tradition of anarcho-syndicalism and trade
unionism, created a party with a large rural following, as well as strength among
transport workers, miners, educators and intellectuals. The party probably reached
maximum strength (approximately 30,000 members) during the Popular Front period, when it
cooperated with the administration of President Lazaro Cardenas (1934-1940). By 1960, the
membership was estimated at 3,000. In 1940, two important leaders, Hernan Laborde and
Valentin Campa, expelled from the P.C.M. for "right opportunist deviation", formed the
Partido Obrero-Campesino Mexicano (P.O.C.M.). In 1948, the Partido Popular Socialista
(P.P.S.) was established by Vincente Lombardo Toledano. From its inception, the P.P.S.
was more influential; its larger membership allowed its candidates to qualify for
election registration, a goal which the P.C.M. was never able to achieve under the old
electoral law.
After the 1968 protest movement and subsequent government repression, the P.C.M.
abandoned attempts to cooperate with the the government party (Partido Revolucionario
Institucional, P.R.I.) and organized to work for political rights and electoral reform.
In the mid-1970's the P.C.M. formed electoral coalitions with other leftist groups; after
1978, electoral reform made it possible for the party to register legally and participate
openly in elections. The political dominance of the P.R.I. disinclined the P.C.M. to
concentrate on parliamentary activity, however. The greater focus was on creating a
stronger mass-based party, leading to the unification of the P.C.M. with four other
left-wing parties in 1981 to form the Partido Socialista Unificado de Mexico (P.S.U.M.).
Rodolfo Echeverría Martínez was a student activist in the late 1960's, and a member of
the Executive Commission in the mid-1970's. Opposed to unification, he left the party in
1981. The material was assembled by Echeverria during and after his membership in the
party, as well as from at least two other sources. Gabino R. Alcaraz was active in
Michoacan in the 1920's and 1930's, initially as acting president of the Partido
Socialista Michoacano (ca. 1925). By 1927, he was a member of the P.C.M. state Central
Committee and responsible for agrarian affairs. His papers are organized as a separate
series. Enrique Condes Lara was a member of the P.C.M. Central Committee in Puebla, and
head of the electoral operation there; materials gathered by him are included in the
section relating to the state of Puebla.
Sources:
Carr, Barry,
Mexican Communism,
1968-1983: Eurocommunism in the Americas?
San Diego: University of
California Press, 1985
Schmitt, Karl M.,
Communism in
Mexico: A Study in Political Frustration.
Austin: University of Texas
Press, 1965