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Organised Labour and the Cuban Revolution, 1952-1959 Stephen Cushion Institute for the Study of the Americas, University of London

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Organised Labour and the Cuban Revolution, 1952-1959 Stephen Cushion Institute for the Study of the Americas, University of London Organised Labour and the Cuban Revolution, 1952-1959 Stephen Cushion Institute for the Study of the Americas, University of London 1 I declare that the work presented in this thesis is my own. S. Cushion, 14th September 2012 Abstract The standard historiography sees the working class as a passive bystander in the insurrectionary phase of the Cuban revolution, assuming that the real struggle was conducted by a rural guerrilla army. However, an examination of the archival evidence contradicts this view and shows that workers played a much more active role in the defeat of the Batista regime than they are normally given credit for. At the start of the 1950s, Cuba was suffering a crisis in profitability as the world price of sugar declined. This led the employers to conduct a productivity drive backed by the full repressive force of the Cuban state. Going on strike in a dictatorship is a life or death decision and workers need to feel some confidence in their chances of survival and in the possibility of successfully gaining a result that would be in their political and economic interests. Thus, following the defeat of a wave of militantly organised strikes in 1955, significant numbers of working class militants felt of the need for armed support to enable them defend their wages and conditions. Starting from the city of Guantánamo and spreading to cover most of the island, these activists constructed an impressive, clandestine, working class organisation in alliance with the rebel army which, after several failed attempts, proved capable of calling a successful general strike in January 1959. This strike was crucial to the rebel victory. This thesis, based on primary source material found in archives and private collections in Havana, Manzanillo, Guantánamo and Santiago de Cuba, will re-examine working class participation in the Cuban insurrection of the 1950s, concentrating on organised labour rather than the role of individual citizens. 2 Table of Contents Abstract.......................................................................................................................................2 Preface.........................................................................................................................................6 Introduction: Researching Labour in the Cuban Revolution.................................................8 Labour and the political economy of Cuba............................................................................11 Revolution and Counter-revolution.......................................................................................27 Organised Labour to the Fore................................................................................................35 Some definitions....................................................................................................................44 Chapter 1. Organised Labour in the 1950s.............................................................................46 Historical Background...........................................................................................................47 Mujalismo.............................................................................................................................53 Nationalism...........................................................................................................................56 Communism..........................................................................................................................62 Conclusion............................................................................................................................67 Chapter 2. A Crisis of Productivity.........................................................................................71 Economic Dependence and the Power of Sugar....................................................................72 The International Sugar Market.............................................................................................76 Productivity and Politics........................................................................................................81 Conclusion............................................................................................................................86 Chapter 3. The Employers' Offensive.....................................................................................88 Public Transport....................................................................................................................91 Banks...................................................................................................................................101 Other trades.........................................................................................................................104 Students...............................................................................................................................109 Sugar...................................................................................................................................113 Ports....................................................................................................................................127 Tobacco...............................................................................................................................129 Conclusion...........................................................................................................................133 Chapter 4. Workers take stock..............................................................................................138 Guantánamo and the 26th July Movement..........................................................................140 Partido Socialista Popular and Mass Action........................................................................147 Mujalista Interventions........................................................................................................152 Granma and the Workers.....................................................................................................160 Conclusion...........................................................................................................................163 Chapter 5. Responses to State Terror....................................................................................165 Class struggle......................................................................................................................167 Reign of Terror....................................................................................................................174 Competition and collaboration............................................................................................180 Conclusion...........................................................................................................................185 Chapter 6. Two Strikes...........................................................................................................187 A Clandestine Network........................................................................................................189 A "Spontaneous" Strike?.....................................................................................................193 April 9th 1958.....................................................................................................................199 Picking up the pieces...........................................................................................................207 Conclusion...........................................................................................................................210 Chapter 7. Last days of Batista..............................................................................................213 Summer Offensive...............................................................................................................214 Two Workers' Congresses....................................................................................................218 United Front........................................................................................................................228 The Last Days......................................................................................................................234 Conclusion...........................................................................................................................239 Chapter 8. The First Year of the New Cuba.........................................................................242 Division...............................................................................................................................242 Bureaucracy.........................................................................................................................244 3 Conclusion...........................................................................................................................248 Findings and Conclusions......................................................................................................252 Bibliography...........................................................................................................................262 Archival resources...............................................................................................................262 Interviews............................................................................................................................262
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