Art and the Creation of Mexico’s Communist Party

Focusing on Diego Rivera and David Alfaro Siqueiros, my paper analyzes the interactions of the artists, Mexico’s Communist Party (Partido Comunista Mexicano, PCM), and the post-revolutionary state during the vibrant 1920s. Within a couple of years of the PCM’s beginnings in 1919, Rivera and Siqueiros (among other artists) joined the Party and in 1923 they attained positions on the PCM’s Executive Committee. Although during these early years the Party’s official membership numbers remained numerically minor, this paper argues that the creative participants’ extraordinary influence—both within the PCM and on Mexican officials—was immense. The PCM and the fledging post-revolutionary state derived great prestige from their association with the muralists and the arts, and art and politics often intertwined.

            While considering the world of Mexico City, my paper moves beyond the local to examine the transnational influence on Mexico’s politics and arts. Mexico’s lively political and artistic scene not only attracted the attention of writers, photographers, artists, and intellectuals from all over the world, but members of the Comintern also took an active interest in Mexico’s fledging communist party. Ultimately, however, the relationship between the artists, the PCM, and various transnational influences proved to be anything but static, especially towards the later part of the decade. As the PCM utilized the artists in various capacities, Party members also questioned the abilities of Rivera and Siqueiros to carry out their duties. Moreover, even while government officials appropriated the arts in various ways, they grew increasing concerned with the artists’ radical politics and members of Mexico’s internal security police closely followed the artists. As this paper reveals, the complex connections between the artists, the PCM, and the state call for a multidisciplinary and transnational methodology to reveal the range of influences that structured post-revolutionary Mexico and its place in the world.