Comisión Nacional de Alfabetización - Ministerio de Educación (cover designer: unknown), "¡Venceremos!" 1961. Offset print, booklet.

"¡Venceremos!" - Cuban National Literacy Campaign (1961)

A powerful document from one of the Cuban Revolution's most celebrated achievements—the 1961 National Literacy Campaign. Published by the Comisión Nacional de Alfabetización (National Literacy Commission) and the Ministry of Education, this booklet exemplifies the revolutionary government's commitment to education as liberation.

The cover features a striking photograph of masses of Cubans waving the national flag, topped with the rallying cry "¡Venceremos!" (We Will Overcome!). The motto "Ser Cultos Para Ser Libres" (Be Educated to Be Free) appears on the back, encapsulating the campaign's philosophy that literacy was fundamental to genuine freedom and revolutionary consciousness.

Printed at the Imprenta Nacional de Cuba during the "Año de la Educación" (Year of Education), this publication represents a watershed moment in Cuban history. In 1961, approximately 100,000 young literacy brigadistas fanned out across Cuba—from cities to the most remote rural areas—to teach nearly one million Cubans to read and write, reducing the nation's illiteracy rate from 23% to less than 4% in a single year.