| Julio Antonio Mella |
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Information AboutJulio Antonio Mella |
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Mella studied law in the n Government e.g. {Link without Title} . Exiled Cubans view him as a victim of the Stalin Trotsky struggle. His biography varies with the source consulted. Early life Mella was born in Havana out of wedlock. His birth certificate is said to read Nicanor McPartland His parents were Nicanor Mella Breá (1851-1929), a tailor and son of Dominican Republic Independence Hero, general Ramón Matías Mella Castillo his querida an English woman named Cecilia McPartland Diez (1882-19?)[http://www.cubaliteraria.com/autor/julio_antonio_mella/html/cronologia.html Nicador Mella takes his name from his father. Nicanor and his younger brother Cecilio travel to the US while his mother convalesces from lung troubles. The boys return to Cuba to live with his fathers' wife Mercedes Bermúdez Ferreira. His name is changed from Nicanor to Antonio and his younger brother becomes Nicasio Mella {Link without Title} . Antonio Mella studies secondary studies at Chandler College in Marianao, Havana and Colegio Mimó. His father's wife Mercedes Bermúdez Ferreira dies in 1915, and after visiting the US, 1n 1917 Antonio Mella returns once again to Cuba. He prepares for the University of Havana at Academia Newton (which is on San Lázaro Avenue and Águila). And then he is sent to boarding school at the prestigious Escolapios De Guanabacoa , until he is expelled. So Mella, all ready radicalized, finishes his secondary studies at the public Instituto de la Habana and or Instituto de Segunda Enseñanza of Pinar del Río in 1921 [Instituto de Segunda Enseñanza de Pinar del Río (1921) . First arrested under during the democratic rule (1921-1924) of , and organizing the formal founding of the Moscow directed Partido Comunista De Cuba . At this time he is linked to women radicals Rosario Guillaume (Charito), and Sarah Pascual [http://www.trabajadores.co.cu/muy_especial/centenario_natalicio_mella/evocaciones_centenario/textos/mella_impetu.htm]. Expelled from the University, arrested accused of a bomb plot [http://www.trabajadores.co.cu/muy_especial/centenario_natalicio_mella/textos/comunista.htm] and then released in late 1925 he flees in early 1926 to Central America [http://www.argenpress.info/nota.asp?num=017583]. Foundation of the "internationalized" Cuban Communist Party Cuba had a number of communist and or anarchist parties especially in Havana and in the eastern area of Cuba at as least as early the first times of the Cuban Republic Possible the first was founded in 1906 near Manzanillo by Agustín Martín Veloz (Martinillo)), [http://www.cubaliteraria.com/autor/julio_antonio_mella/html/cronologia.html . The original "internationalized" Communist Party of Cuba was formed in the 1920s when Gerardo Machado was president and then dictator {Link without Title} . This organization is said related to several fronts including the anti-omperialist league and its anti-clerical analogue {Link without Title} . This party was formally recognized by Moscow in 1925. Contacts were with Moscow were said made in a street level restaurante on 687 Compostela street on the corner with Luz street in Havana {Link without Title} . The founders of the Cuban Communist Party are variously attributed and variously excluded can be listed as: Julio Antonio Mella, Juan Marinello , Alejandro Barreiro , Carlos Baliño , Jesús Menéndez , Carlos Rafael Rodríguez , Lázaro Peña , Blas Roca , Rubén Martínez Villena , Anibal Escalante , Emilio Roig and Fabio Grobart . Fabio Grobart (aka Abraham Semjovitch; Alberto Blanco) was born in Bialystok, Poland in 1905 and died in Cuba. October 22, 1994; he was a member of the Comintern and often considered a covert Moscow appointed leader of the Communists in the Caribbean area [http://www.trabajadores.cubaweb.cu/SUPLEMENTO-HISTORIA/revolucion/fabio.htm [http://lanic.utexas.edu/la/cb/cuba/castro/1987/19870823 . Mella used the pseudonyms of Cuauhtémoc Zapata, Kim (El Machete), y Lord McPartland in his writing. Blas Roca was born Francisco Calderío [http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/cuba/blas-roca.htm]. Alejandro Barreiro is sometimes considered an refers to a Roman Consul who used stealthy tactics, and Fabian Socialism was an English socialist movement, to which George Bernard Shaw belonged, which advocated stealthy democratic change. The Cuban Communist Party was later renamed the People's Socialist Party for electoral reasons. Its policy was dictated from Moscow, it at one time supported the dictatorships of Gerardo Machado, and would later support in the Sierra Maestra, the overt People's Socialist Party was critical of Fidel Castro 's rise to power until the summer of 1958. Mexico After being expelled from the University of Havana, and arrested and then released he flees Machado's repression in Cuba. Mella escapes through Cienfuegos Cuba, goes to Honduras in 1926, and Guatemala and from there to Mexico [http://www.trabajadores.co.cu/muy_especial/centenario_natalicio_mella/textos/comunista.htm]. In Mexico he writes for a number of newspapers: Cuba Libre, El Libertador, Tren Blindado "The armored Train" a Trotsky symbol [http://lahaine.org/articulo.php?p=8431&more=1&c=1]), El Machete and the Boletín del Torcedor (which is published in Havana) [http://www.cubaliteraria.com/autor/julio_antonio_mella/html/biografia00.html]. Death At the time of his death he was a Cuba n marxist revolutionary in Mexico trying to organize the overthrow of the Cuban government of General Gerardo Machado . This cause was an embarrassment to the Cuban Communist Party which was trying to gain power by establishing a modus vivendi with Machado. What further disturbed the Cuban communists was that they felt he had fallen under Leon Trotsky ’s influence. Mella was assassinated on January 10 1929 , while walking home late at night with photographer Tina Modotti . The Mexican government tried to implicate Modotti in the murder, even releasing nude photographs of her by Edward Weston to try and generate public opinion against her. Muralist Diego Rivera played a very active role in defending her and exposing the Mexican government's crude attempt to frame her, for this crime that the Mexican authorities felt correctly or incorrectly to have involved her. It is unclear whether Mella was murdered by the dictatorial Cuban government, if his death was brought about by Trotsky-Stalin Communist Party feuding, or by combination of these mutual interests. It is widely speculated that he died by the notoriously bloody hand of Vittorio Vidale {Link without Title} . The Mystery of the Murder of Julio Mella Many political murders, often of communist backsliders and other heretics such as trotskites have been attributed to Vidale's "bloody hand." Outside of Cuba, the murder of Julio Mella is commonly believed to be one of them. The love triangle of Mella, Vidale and Modotti is immortalized in holding a belt of ammunition. Vidale' face, partly hidden, stares suspiciously from under a black hat, as he peers over her shoulder, while Modotti gazes lovingly at Julio Antonio Mella (shown with light colored hat) a founder of Communist Party Of Cuba . It is noted that in an avowedly communist web site Mella, Modotti and Vidale are cropped from the image [http://www.prc-morlupo.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=My_eGallery&file=index&do=showgall&gid=15 . . Given the closeness of Diego Rivera to the people involved some consider this fresco painting to be evidence of Vidale's and Rivera's involvement in Mella's assassination and this work of art is believed by many to relate to Rivera's expulsion from the Mexican Communist Party. Mella's death is believed to be caused by the .38 caliber {Link without Title} , Revolver Vidali commonly carried, rather than the .45 caliber 1911 Colt Automatic that Tina Modotti kept in her house, to murder Mella on January 10, 1929, one month after Mella was expelled from the Mexican Communist Party for association with Trotskyites . Mella had rejoined the communist party just two weeks prior to his death, although this circumstance like much else related to Vidale is murky. After Mella's death Vidale "inherited" Tina Modotti. Tina is also believed to have been another ruthless communist assassin more in love with "the cause" than any individual [http://cuhwww.upr.clu.edu/exegesis/39-40/solermartinez.pdf . She was with Mella holding his arm when he was killed, as shown allegorically in the Diego Rivera Mural. Thus, Modotti was believed by some to have participated in this “Stalinist” plot to eliminate Mella. Vidale's rivalry for Tina Modotti's affections may have been partial motive for Vidale to carry out the murder. The Mella assassination illustrates the complexity of those times and demonstrates Vidale and his "manager's" skill at obfuscation and covering his tracks. Officially José Agustín López (said to have no particular political affiliations), was charged with Mella’s murder, but two other known killers, Jose Magriñat and Antonio Sanabría were also suspected. The police investigating this crime were given conflicting eyewitness reports. In one version, Mella and Modotti were walking alone, in another Vidale was said to be walking with Mella and Tina Modotti. Since Mella's wounds were from point blank range, neither Modotti or Vidale were injured, and Modotti gave a false name to the investigators, the police were suspicious of her alibi. Modotti was arrested, but soon released. Magriñat, who had also been arrested was then released. Apparently a loose end, he was ultimately killed in Cuba by “Communists” in 1933 (Albers, 2002). The official position of the present Cuban government is still that Mella was killed at who had just returned from Cuba had warned Mella that he was in danger. Funeral and symbolism On September 29, 1933 the troops of chess club that commemorates this event Mella's bust stands in a small park on San Lazaro Avenue slightly east and downhill of Havana University and is the object of much marxist veneration. Before the 1961 Bay Of Pigs Invasion , this bust was often blown down at night and could be heard in the silence after the explosion rumbling in a most frightening way as it rolled eastwards. Each time, by next morning it was rapidly restored to its pedestal. |