"'The Only Correct Line-La única línea correcta'”: The French Connection of the Transnational History of a Mexican Maoist Group, 1962-1966

This project will examine the reception of French Maoism in Mexico as the first step towards a transnational and comparative history of the impact of the Chinese Revolution with attention to religion in the formation of one of Mexico's largest leftwing groups, Política Popular [People's Politics]. I pay particular attention to political activism, including the critical role Maoists and Catholics played in union and electoral politics during the 1970s and how they worked together in developing local strains of participatory democracy in Europe and Latin America. I will rely on Catholic Church sources as well as internal documents of both Mexican and French Maoist organizations. I will travel to Paris to spend four months examining four archival collections and look for evidence of the presence of Mexican and Latin American students among the ranks of student activists engaged with Maoist politics during the 1960s in France.