Antonio Ora

Ora, Antonio

 

Born 1890; died 1931. A leader of the workers’ movement in the Philippines.

From 1924 to 1930, Ora was chairman of the Workers’ Party, the country’s first Marxist organization. Concurrently, he headed, with C. Evangelista, the revolutionary wing of the Philippine Labor Congress, a reformist trade union association. After the congress split in 1929, Ora became chairman of the Proletarian Union, which combined the most progressive trade unions. In 1930 he helped found the Philippine Communist Party and was elected chairman and a member of the politburo. Ora was arrested soon after the founding of the party and died under obscure circumstances early in 1931.