26th of July Movement

26 July Movement
Movimiento 26 de julio
A modern impression of one of the flags of the 26th of July Movement
Leaders	Che Guevara Alberto Bayo Fidel Castro Raúl Castro Camilo Cienfuegos Juan Almeida Bosque Frank País Celia Sánchez
Dates of operation	1955–1962
Headquarters	Tuxpan, Veracruz, Mexico (first) Havana, Cuba (last)
Active regions	Cuba
Ideology	Vanguardism Political pluralism Left-wing populism Left-wing nationalism Anti-imperialism
Political position	Left-wing to far-left
Opponents	Fulgencio Batista's Government, Cuban Army
Battles and wars	Operation Verano, Battle of La Plata, Battle of Las Mercedes, Battle of Yaguajay, Battle of Santa Clara
Succeeded by United Party of the Cuban Socialist Revolution

The 26th of July Movement (Spanish: Movimiento 26 de julio; M-26-7) was a Cuban vanguard revolutionary organization and later a political party led by Fidel Castro. The movement's name commemorates the failed 1953 attack on the Moncada Barracks in Santiago de Cuba, part of an attempt to overthrow the dictator Fulgencio Batista.^[1]

M-26-7 is considered the leading organization of the Cuban Revolution. At the end of 1956, Castro established a guerrilla base in the Sierra Maestra. This base defeated the troops of Batista on 1 January 1959, setting into motion the Cuban Revolution and installing a government led by Manuel Urrutia Lleó. The Movement fought the Batista regime on both rural and urban fronts. The movement's main objectives were distribution of land to peasants, nationalization of public services, industrialization, honest elections, and large-scale education reform.

In July 1961, the 26th of July Movement was one of the parties that integrated into the Integrated Revolutionary Organization (ORI) as well as the Popular Socialist Party (PSP) and the 13 March Revolutionary Directorate. On 26 March 1962, the party dissolved to form the United Party of the Cuban Socialist Revolution (PURSC), which held a communist ideology.^[1]