Lombardo Toledano, Vicente

Lombardo Toledano, Vicente (vēsān`tā lōmbär`dō tōlāthä`nō), 1894–1968, Mexican labor leader. A successful lawyer, he became (1920) governor of the state of Puebla. In 1921 he joined the Mexican Regional Confederation of Workers (CROM). After the CROM lost the support of Plutarco Elías Calles it collapsed (1929), and Lombardo Toledano, a zealous Marxist, later founded (1936) the Confederation of Mexican Workers (CTM) and became its first secretary. With the backing of President Lázaro Cárdenas the CTM soon rose in power and promoted urgent labor and welfare reforms. Under the conservative regime (1940–46) of Manuel Ávila Camacho, Lombardo Toledano was stripped of most of his power in the Mexican labor movement. He left the CTM in 1948 and founded the Popular party (later the Popular Socialist party), which he headed until his death. In 1949 he organized the Latin American Confederation of Labor (CTAL). He ran unsuccessfully for president in 1952.