Valentín Campa
Encyclopedia
Valentín Campa Salazar was a Mexican
railway union leader and presidential candidate. Along with Demetrio Vallejo
, he was considered one of the leaders of the 1958 railway strikes. Campa was also the founder of the National Railroad Council, and the defunct underground newspaper The Railwayman.
, Nuevo León
, and joined the Mexican Communist Party
( in 1927 at the age of 25; eventually becoming the youngest member of the parties Central Committee
. Campa's views would eventually draw the ire of the party. In March 1949 he was expelled from the PCM in along with the party Secretary General, Hernán Laborde. The two, along with others in the party, were removed due to their views that the assassination
of Leon Trotsky
should wait. Campa believed the killing of Trotsky would make him a martyr
, and only blacken the message of the party.
In 1976 Valentín Campa was chosen as the presidential candidate for the PCM. The PCM was not certified to run an electoral candidate, however it is rumored Campa garnered approximately one million votes. The vote count was never reported since the candidate ran officially unopposed, the government also refused to release the number of votes each person received. Campa's campaign was supported by the Socialist League and . The campaign was called "The March for Democracy" by supporters and bore the slogan "Campa, Candidate of the Workers Struggle." Campa supported, and discussed in the 97 political meetings he attended over the three month race, priests' political rights, academic freedom, and democracy within the Mexican army. While the campaign, due to its unofficial structure, ran without media access, it is calculated over 100,000 people attended the political meetings held by Campa, and over 10,000 people in support of Campa, attended the closing event at the Arena México
in the nations capital.
In 1947, Campa lead a breakaway faction within the Confederation of Mexican Workers called the Special Confederation of Workers . The new labor confederation included telephonists, railroad workers, miners and oil workers. The goal of the CUT was to be an independent labor movement, devoid of government influence it alleged plagued the CTM. The following year, in 1948, Jesús Díaz de León was elected to the position of STFRM secretary general. On 28 September, Díaz de León filed a petition with the Attorney General against Campa and Gómez Zepeda, whom he felt were a "communist menace," on charges of embezzlement
of 100,000 peso
s. The union was outraged at the actions of Díaz de León, particularly on the grounds that such charges are to be presented to the unions vigilance committee
. The unions general accounting committee followed suit, condemning Díaz de León's actions as having solicited the government into the unions affairs. The unions executive committee and vigilance committee release statements accusing Díaz de León of "wanting to divide the union in complicity with the government," and temporarily suspended him, placing Francisco Quintano Madrazo in his place. Díaz de León however rallied his supporters, appearing at the headquarters of the STFRM, along with an estimated one hundred secret police
officers dressed as railway workers. The supporters assaulted the STFRM headquarters, while their actions were directed from the rear by his grandfather and senator, Colonel Serrano, from a jeep and speaker system attached to a military truck. By 8 October local newspapers were running stories stating Campa and Gómez were wanted by the Federal Judicial Police
. Campa was eventually detained as well as members of the executive and vigilance committee, by the judicial police on charges of transferring 200,000 pesos to Campa's break off group CUT. Campa maintained, as well as provided proof, that the actions were accounted for and proper permission granted. Campa went underground and protested the charges, stating he earned only 575 pesos a month in his position and owned no house, car, or even business, and could not have benefited personally. Campa avoided arrest until November 1949, however upon capture was sentenced to eight years on the charge of fraud
, he was held until 1952 at Lecumberri Prison
.
for the railroad unions had lapsed and a deadline for a new contract was fast approaching. On 24 March, the strike officially began as all three of the railway enterprises, The Pacific, Mexican Railways, and Veracruz Terminal, began work stoppages. The railway officials refused to acknowledge the strike and ordered the union members to return to work. On 26 March, the railway officials began to fire employees, over 13,000 in total, with many arrested. In protest the STFRM held a one-hour complete work stoppage and general strike
. On Good Friday
, 27 March, a proposal was presented directly to President
, Adolfo López Mateos
, the demands were reduced to payment on the seventh day of rest, and a swift end to the repression. The president began to stall as over one hundred thousand people were on strike and estimated millions of pesos were lost.
On 28 March, Vallejo was kidnapped along with 28 others by the Federal Police and the army. The government mobilized several battalions of troops, fired another 9,000 workers and arrested over 10,000. The arrests spread beyond railway workers to professors, peasants and Marxist-Leninist
activists. Valentín Campa was wanted by authorities for his role in leading the strikes. On 3 April Gilberto Rojo Robles, deputy to Vallejo, issued a notice to all workers to return to work on the basis a deal was made, however no such agreement came to pass. Rojo Robles was soon after arrested along with Alberto Lumbreras, and Miguel Aroche Parra of the POCM and Dionisio Encina, secretary for the PCM. Valentín Campa however would remain at large, directing railroad strikes for a year. While in hiding Campa founded the National Railroad Council in 1959 and started an underground newspaper titled The Railwayman. In May 1960, Valentín Campa was finally arrested and imprisoned.
It would be ten years after their eleven year sentence before Vallejo and Campa would eventually be released. The rising student movement had succeeded in pressuring Gustavo Díaz Ordaz
to repeal the law against "social dissolution." On 27 July 1970, Campa and Vallejo were released. Following Vallejos release he refused to join Campa in the National Railroad Council, instead opting to found his own group, Railwaymen's Union Movement (MSF).
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
railway union leader and presidential candidate. Along with Demetrio Vallejo
Demetrio Vallejo
Demetrio Vallejo was a railroad worker and union activist from Tehuantepec, Oaxaca, Mexico. Vallejo began working as a railroad employee in 1928, later joining the Partido Comunista Mexicano in 1934. Vallejo was eventually promoted to Regional Director of the PCM in Oaxaca, however later expelled...
, he was considered one of the leaders of the 1958 railway strikes. Campa was also the founder of the National Railroad Council, and the defunct underground newspaper The Railwayman.
Communist Party
Valentín Campa was born in MonterreyMonterrey
Monterrey , is the capital city of the northeastern state of Nuevo León in the country of Mexico. The city is anchor to the third-largest metropolitan area in Mexico and is ranked as the ninth-largest city in the nation. Monterrey serves as a commercial center in the north of the country and is the...
, Nuevo León
Nuevo León
Nuevo León It is located in Northeastern Mexico. It is bordered by the states of Tamaulipas to the north and east, San Luis Potosí to the south, and Coahuila to the west. To the north, Nuevo León has a 15 kilometer stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border adjacent to the U.S...
, and joined the Mexican Communist Party
Mexican Communist Party
The Mexican Communist Party was a communist party in Mexico. It was founded in 1911 as the Socialist Workers' Party by Manabendra Nath Roy, a left-wing Indian intellectual. The PSO changed its name to the Mexican Communist Party in November 1919 following the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia...
( in 1927 at the age of 25; eventually becoming the youngest member of the parties Central Committee
Central Committee
Central Committee was the common designation of a standing administrative body of communist parties, analogous to a board of directors, whether ruling or non-ruling in the twentieth century and of the surviving, mostly Trotskyist, states in the early twenty first. In such party organizations the...
. Campa's views would eventually draw the ire of the party. In March 1949 he was expelled from the PCM in along with the party Secretary General, Hernán Laborde. The two, along with others in the party, were removed due to their views that the assassination
Assassination
To carry out an assassination is "to murder by a sudden and/or secret attack, often for political reasons." Alternatively, assassination may be defined as "the act of deliberately killing someone, especially a public figure, usually for hire or for political reasons."An assassination may be...
of Leon Trotsky
Leon Trotsky
Leon Trotsky , born Lev Davidovich Bronshtein, was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and theorist, Soviet politician, and the founder and first leader of the Red Army....
should wait. Campa believed the killing of Trotsky would make him a martyr
Martyr
A martyr is somebody who suffers persecution and death for refusing to renounce, or accept, a belief or cause, usually religious.-Meaning:...
, and only blacken the message of the party.
In 1976 Valentín Campa was chosen as the presidential candidate for the PCM. The PCM was not certified to run an electoral candidate, however it is rumored Campa garnered approximately one million votes. The vote count was never reported since the candidate ran officially unopposed, the government also refused to release the number of votes each person received. Campa's campaign was supported by the Socialist League and . The campaign was called "The March for Democracy" by supporters and bore the slogan "Campa, Candidate of the Workers Struggle." Campa supported, and discussed in the 97 political meetings he attended over the three month race, priests' political rights, academic freedom, and democracy within the Mexican army. While the campaign, due to its unofficial structure, ran without media access, it is calculated over 100,000 people attended the political meetings held by Campa, and over 10,000 people in support of Campa, attended the closing event at the Arena México
Arena México
Arena México is an indoor arena in Mexico City, Mexico located in the Colonia Doctores neighboorhood in the Cuauhtémoc borough. The arena is primarily used for professional wrestling, or Lucha libre, shows promoted by Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre . The building is called the "cathedral of lucha...
in the nations capital.
CTM/STFRM
Valentín Campa was a member of the Executive Committee of the Union of Railroad Workers of the Mexican Republic from 1943 – 1947. In 1944 a split began to develop within the party and the president was asked to step and assist in a compromise. Luis Gómez Zepeda was chosen as secretary general and Campa was elected to serve as Secretary of Education, Organization and Propaganda.In 1947, Campa lead a breakaway faction within the Confederation of Mexican Workers called the Special Confederation of Workers . The new labor confederation included telephonists, railroad workers, miners and oil workers. The goal of the CUT was to be an independent labor movement, devoid of government influence it alleged plagued the CTM. The following year, in 1948, Jesús Díaz de León was elected to the position of STFRM secretary general. On 28 September, Díaz de León filed a petition with the Attorney General against Campa and Gómez Zepeda, whom he felt were a "communist menace," on charges of embezzlement
Embezzlement
Embezzlement is the act of dishonestly appropriating or secreting assets by one or more individuals to whom such assets have been entrusted....
of 100,000 peso
Mexican peso
The peso is the currency of Mexico. Modern peso and dollar currencies have a common origin in the 15th–19th century Spanish dollar, most continuing to use its sign, "$". The Mexican peso is the 12th most traded currency in the world, the third most traded in the Americas, and by far the most...
s. The union was outraged at the actions of Díaz de León, particularly on the grounds that such charges are to be presented to the unions vigilance committee
Vigilance committee (trade union)
A vigilance committee is an unofficial grouping within a trade union, formed for the purpose of putting pressure on that union's leadership to pursue alternative policies or to pursue existing policies with increased vigour...
. The unions general accounting committee followed suit, condemning Díaz de León's actions as having solicited the government into the unions affairs. The unions executive committee and vigilance committee release statements accusing Díaz de León of "wanting to divide the union in complicity with the government," and temporarily suspended him, placing Francisco Quintano Madrazo in his place. Díaz de León however rallied his supporters, appearing at the headquarters of the STFRM, along with an estimated one hundred secret police
Secret police
Secret police are a police agency which operates in secrecy and beyond the law to protect the political power of an individual dictator or an authoritarian political regime....
officers dressed as railway workers. The supporters assaulted the STFRM headquarters, while their actions were directed from the rear by his grandfather and senator, Colonel Serrano, from a jeep and speaker system attached to a military truck. By 8 October local newspapers were running stories stating Campa and Gómez were wanted by the Federal Judicial Police
Federal Judicial Police
The Federal Judicial Police was the former federal police force of Mexico.The jurisdiction of the Federal Judicial Police encompasses the entire nation and was divided into thirteen zones with fifty-two smaller detachment headquarters...
. Campa was eventually detained as well as members of the executive and vigilance committee, by the judicial police on charges of transferring 200,000 pesos to Campa's break off group CUT. Campa maintained, as well as provided proof, that the actions were accounted for and proper permission granted. Campa went underground and protested the charges, stating he earned only 575 pesos a month in his position and owned no house, car, or even business, and could not have benefited personally. Campa avoided arrest until November 1949, however upon capture was sentenced to eight years on the charge of fraud
Fraud
In criminal law, a fraud is an intentional deception made for personal gain or to damage another individual; the related adjective is fraudulent. The specific legal definition varies by legal jurisdiction. Fraud is a crime, and also a civil law violation...
, he was held until 1952 at Lecumberri Prison
Palacio de Lecumberri
The Palacio de Lecumberri is a large building, formerly a prison, in the northeast of Mexico City, Mexico, which now houses the General National Archive ....
.
Strikes of 1959
In February 1959, the previous collective contractCollective bargaining
Collective bargaining is a process of negotiations between employers and the representatives of a unit of employees aimed at reaching agreements that regulate working conditions...
for the railroad unions had lapsed and a deadline for a new contract was fast approaching. On 24 March, the strike officially began as all three of the railway enterprises, The Pacific, Mexican Railways, and Veracruz Terminal, began work stoppages. The railway officials refused to acknowledge the strike and ordered the union members to return to work. On 26 March, the railway officials began to fire employees, over 13,000 in total, with many arrested. In protest the STFRM held a one-hour complete work stoppage and general strike
General strike
A general strike is a strike action by a critical mass of the labour force in a city, region, or country. While a general strike can be for political goals, economic goals, or both, it tends to gain its momentum from the ideological or class sympathies of the participants...
. On Good Friday
Good Friday
Good Friday , is a religious holiday observed primarily by Christians commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and his death at Calvary. The holiday is observed during Holy Week as part of the Paschal Triduum on the Friday preceding Easter Sunday, and may coincide with the Jewish observance of...
, 27 March, a proposal was presented directly to President
President of Mexico
The President of the United Mexican States is the head of state and government of Mexico. Under the Constitution, the president is also the Supreme Commander of the Mexican armed forces...
, Adolfo López Mateos
Adolfo López Mateos
Adolfo López Mateos was a Mexican politician affiliated to the Institutional Revolutionary Party who served as President of Mexico from 1958 to 1964...
, the demands were reduced to payment on the seventh day of rest, and a swift end to the repression. The president began to stall as over one hundred thousand people were on strike and estimated millions of pesos were lost.
On 28 March, Vallejo was kidnapped along with 28 others by the Federal Police and the army. The government mobilized several battalions of troops, fired another 9,000 workers and arrested over 10,000. The arrests spread beyond railway workers to professors, peasants and Marxist-Leninist
Marxism-Leninism
Marxism–Leninism is a communist ideology, officially based upon the theories of Marxism and Vladimir Lenin, that promotes the development and creation of a international communist society through the leadership of a vanguard party over a revolutionary socialist state that represents a dictatorship...
activists. Valentín Campa was wanted by authorities for his role in leading the strikes. On 3 April Gilberto Rojo Robles, deputy to Vallejo, issued a notice to all workers to return to work on the basis a deal was made, however no such agreement came to pass. Rojo Robles was soon after arrested along with Alberto Lumbreras, and Miguel Aroche Parra of the POCM and Dionisio Encina, secretary for the PCM. Valentín Campa however would remain at large, directing railroad strikes for a year. While in hiding Campa founded the National Railroad Council in 1959 and started an underground newspaper titled The Railwayman. In May 1960, Valentín Campa was finally arrested and imprisoned.
It would be ten years after their eleven year sentence before Vallejo and Campa would eventually be released. The rising student movement had succeeded in pressuring Gustavo Díaz Ordaz
Gustavo Díaz Ordaz
Gustavo Díaz Ordaz Bolaños served as the President of Mexico from 1964 to 1970.- Political career :Díaz Ordaz was born in San Andrés Chalchícomula . His father, Ramón Díaz Ordaz Redonet, worked as an accountant, while his mother, Sabina Bolaños Cacho de Díaz Ordaz, worked as a school teacher...
to repeal the law against "social dissolution." On 27 July 1970, Campa and Vallejo were released. Following Vallejos release he refused to join Campa in the National Railroad Council, instead opting to found his own group, Railwaymen's Union Movement (MSF).