Francisco Mora & Pablo Higgins

IV Congreso de la CTAL Santiago de Chile [Latin American transnational labor organizing]

Mexico City: Taller de Grafica Popular, 1953. Linocut. 37 ½ x 27 ¾ in. Significant loss at edges. Item #10497

The 4th Congress of the Confederacion de Trabajadores de America Latina (CTAL) [Confederation of Latin American Workers] was held in Santiago, Chile, in 1953, marking a milestone in regional cooperation amongst the Latin American trade union movement. CTAL was founded in 1938 and headed for many years by Vicente Lombardo Toledano, a Mexican Marxist and labor organizer who also founded the Partido Popular.

Francisco Mora, a pupil of Diego Rivera, was a muralist and printmaker who was active in Taller de Grafica Popular from the 1940s through the 1960s, producing numerous protest works in support of labor and against imperialism. In 1947, Mora married Elizabeth Catlett, the renowned African-American artist who also joined TGP and remained in Mexico until her death. Much like Mora, Pablo O’Higgins [born Paul Higgins Stevenson], was a student of Diego Rivera. An active member of the Communist Party of Mexico, O’Higgins was born in Salt Lake City, Utah and emigrated to Mexico permanently in 1924. He was also a founding member of Taller de Grafica Popular.

An exceptional poster and document of Latin American transnational labor organizing and solidarity.