Julio Antonio Mella was born in Havana on March 25, 1903. He studied Law, Philosophy and Letters at the University of Havana; He also stood out as a student leader and athlete. He was founder of the University Student Federation (FEU), and Alma Mater magazine.
In March 1923, he chaired the 1st National Student Congress and promoted the creation of the José Martí Popular University. He was the creator of the Anticlerical League and the Antimperialist League of the Americas. He joined the Communist Association of Havana, where he actively worked among the proletariat. As a result, the first Marxist-Leninist Party of Cuba emerged in August 1925, along with Carlos Baliño.
On August 16 and 17, 1925, the First Congress of the Communist Party was held. Among the most prestigious trade union leaders, from Ariguanabo, were Miguel Valdés, Secretary of the Labor Center and leader of the Tobacco Union in San Antonio and Emilio Rodríguez Lara. At the congress, Miguel Valdés reported on the work carried out by the Communist Association in San Antonio de los Baños.
Emilio Rodríguez Lara was appointed as director of the work of the Congress. The fifth session of the Congress was opened by Emilio; Miguel Valdés was elected as a member of the Central Committee of the first Communist Party.
Julio Antonio Mella was accused of placing a bomb in the Payret Theater in December 1925. In prison, he went on a hunger strike and was released on bail. Due to his political activism, he was expelled from the University of Havana. He went into exile in Mexico, constituting the Association of New Cuban Revolutionary Emigrants. In 1927 he visited Belgium and the Soviet Union as a delegate to the IV Congress of the International Red Trade Union. He was killed in Mexico, by orders of Gerardo Machado, on January 10, 1929.