Julio Antonio Mella in the clamor of battle

More than a century after the birth of Julio Antonio Mella, on March 25, 1903, the imprint of the formidable anti-imperialist and communist fighter is still a beacon for the people, even though his existence was cut short, before his 26th birthday, by order of the tyrant Gerardo Machado.
His short life until he was killed in the streets of Mexico City on January 10, 1929 were so intense and brimming with revolutionary activity and political thinking that sometimes it is hard to believe he could do so much, a feat explainable only by his sound revolutionary principles, courage and willpower.

In 1921, as a young student of Law, Philosophy and Letters at the University of Havana, Mella founded and managed the journal Alma Mater and, in 1922, the Federation of University Students (Cuba’s emblematic FEU), since then an invaluable mechanism to fight corruption, reform education, reinforce the institution's links with society and other booming organizations, and mobilize the students.

The following year he headed the first National Congress of Students as one of the main authors of its statutes, laid down in a manifesto proclaiming the creation of the José Martí Popular University, which provided higher education free of charge to the most unprotected sectors of society: workers and very humble people.

He took another consequential step in 1925 together with the pro-independence fighter Carlos Baliño: the foundation of the first Communist Party of Cuba.

As he proved while living in Cuba and later in exile, Mella was a Marxist convinced that a project of social justice could not be fulfilled if national emancipation and independence did not come first, a profound principle that befits his political maturity.

In those years he was imprisoned and shocked the nation by going on a hunger strike in protest against the excesses of the tyrant. The brutal pressure against him led to his expulsion from the University in 1926. In danger of losing his life, he went into exile in Mexico, where this unstoppable revolutionary found a breeding ground for the creation of new combat fronts.

As soon as he arrived in Mexico, Mella joined the Communist Party and became a member of its political bureau. He also established relations with representatives of a Venezuelan patriotic organization whose prime goal was liberating its country from a dictatorship.

Mexico linked him to the continental Communist International, and for that reason he made trips to Russia and Brussels in order to get to know better the already controversial left-wingers of other countries.

Exile was not only enriching for the young man, but also difficult and challenging, as he was the object of accusations and criticisms from elements infiltrated in the communist ranks to undermine their foundations. He remained firm and honest in the midst of those skirmishes, always thinking about the liberation of Cuba and the toppling of the Machado regime.

In 1928 the Association of New Cuban Revolutionary Émigrés (ANERC), a key tool to make his dream come true and free Cuba from its neocolonial status, eradicate the shameful Platt Amendment imposed by the United States, and realize ‘the work of the revolutions’, as Villena said.

He organized an armed expedition that was to leave for the island and start the struggle, but some informers squealed on him plans, so Machado thwarted his plans, which led to his death sentence when the Cuban president sent an assassin to Mexico who put an end to the life of an extraordinary human being. However, he lives on as the spirit behind the revolutionary wave that overthrew the tyrannical government in 1933.
Julio Antonio Mella was also a brilliant exponent of Marti's legacy. One of those Cubans who are indispensable.