Book of Readings for use in the Workers' Night Schools

In this site are exhibited several pages from a unique book that was published in Mexico in 1937. The populist government of President Lázaro Cárdenas created a network of free Night Schools for Workers in an effort to raise the literacy rate among the lower classes. In these schools both literacy and political consciousness were taught; the texts and pictures show a marked political tendency as they teach both literacy and labor-capital relations. The Adult Reader on display here was illustrated by members of the LEAR, the League of Revolutionary Artists and Writers which had been founded in 1933. This group allied itself with the programs of the Cárdenas government, offering help to teach the poor. Some famous artists, and a few lesser known, illustrated this book with woodcuts in a strong graphic style.

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thanks to Andrew Abb at American Samizdat