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Envisioning Capitalist Alternatives: Business Leaders and the Politics of Influence in Cuba, 1920-1940

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Envisioning Capitalist Alternatives: Business Leaders and the Politics of Influence in Cuba, 1920-1940 ENVISIONING CAPITALIST ALTERNATIVES: BUSINESS LEADERS AND THE POLITICS OF INFLUENCE IN CUBA, 1920-1940 Maikel Farinas Borrego A dissertation submitted to the faculty at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of History. Chapel Hill 2019 Approved by: Louis A. Pérez, Jr. Benjamin Waterhouse John Chasteen Kathryn J. Burns Miguel La Serna © 2019 Maikel Farinas Borrego ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ii ABSTRACT Maikel Fariñas Borrego: Envisioning Capitalist Alternatives: Business Leaders and the Politics of Influence in Cuba, 1920-1940 (Under the direction of Louis A. Pérez, Jr.) My dissertation examines the organization of business leaders in voluntary associations to collaborate and compete within urban centers across Cuba. Businessmen on the island commonly used the local Rotary Club to create networks among themselves and to advance collective interests, at both local and national levels. From the crash of the sugar market in 1920, and contrary to what the historiography has established, these businessmen became increasingly disaffected with large U.S. corporate interests, rejected the continued foreign penetration of the economy, and were concerned with what they viewed as the ruin of the country at the expense of American business interests. Business leaders were not opposed to the continuation of the cash crop export economy, but they supported any alternative economic development that would find solutions to the socioeconomic challenges produced by that variant of capitalism. I argue that Cuban business leaders created a network within civic associations to promote capitalist alternatives away from the sugar industry and the foreign control of the economy. Although they were unable to fully challenge US business interests in the island, these businessmen established reform roadmaps for gradual change and envisioned the economic independence for the country within the margins of capitalism. Capitalist alternatives were centered on encouraging a civic nationalism to protect the national interest, promoting economic diversification to reduce the reliance on the sugar production, expanding the nation’s trading networks beyond the markets of the northern neighbor, investing in regional infrastructures to iii boost business growth and internal consumption, and reaching an economic development that mirrored industrialized nations. These business leaders sought to solve the two major economic problems affecting the nation: sugar monoculture and the overconcentration of the nation’s export into a single market, the United States. Cuban republican order lasted for almost six decades 1902-1958, but this investigation focuses on 1920-1940. The selected periodization covers from the crash of the sugar market in 1920 to the promulgation of the last republican constitution in 1940. Within these years, Cuban businessmen created a nationalist network and platform from which to articulate their aspirations for economic change attired with the raiment of civic virtue. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The completion of this dissertation was made possible by the support of many people. I am grateful to María del Carmen Barcia, Reinaldo Funes Monzote, Ricardo Quiza Moreno, Joan Casanovas, Lilian Guerra, Michelle Chase, Linda Rodríguez, Adrián López Dennis, Gillian Mcgivary, Megan Vail, Alejandra Bronfman, Renata Keller, Marc McLeod, and Daniel Rodríguez for their guidance and support on my way to grad school. Many colleagues helped me to gain access to the materials that I needed for my dissertation. Some friends helped from afar, such as Jaddiel Díaz Frene, Cary Aileen Garcia, and Lester Tomé. The assistance of Teresa Chapa at Davis Library was invaluable for the many years I conducted research. The help from archivists was crucial too, especially from Julio López Valdés at the National Archive in Havana, Susan Hanf at Rotary International Archives, Ana Leonor González at the Archivo Histórico Provincial de Holguín, and Athea Silvera at Florida International University Special Collections. Similarly, I am thankful to Rosa Monzón-Alvarez, Amanda Moreno, and Gladys Gómez-Rossié for their support to my work at the Cuban Heritage Collection at the University of Miami. I value enormously the observations from scholars who commented my on my work after presenting advances of my investigation and the funding that I received. The questions and observations from Jorge Duany, Sebastián A. Arcos, Eliana S. Rivero, Marial Iglesias Utset, Alejandro de La Fuente, Félix Julio Alfonso López, and Bonnie A. Lucero helped me considerably to develop my research results further. I am also thankful to the institutions and fellowship programs that provided me generous funding for investigation: The Institute for the v Study of the Americas, the Initiative for Minority Excellence, the Eliana Rivero Research Scholarship at Florida International University, the Cuban Heritage Collection, and the Graduate School at UNC Chapel Hill. I owe a debt of gratitude to many professors at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who worked closely with me for many years. I want to mention John C. Chasteen, Miguel La Serna, Kathryn J. Burns, Benjamin C. Waterhouse, and Louis A. Pérez. Benjamin C. Waterhouse helped me considerably to develop a strong background in business history, and his writing group offered an ideal space to receive feedback chapter after chapter. My adviser, Louis A. Pérez offered insightful questions that helped me to think deeper about Cuban and Latin American history, and he was always available to offer guidance, not only for my dissertation but for my career. Many colleagues from the Department of History at UNC Chapel Hill commented chapters or lengthy sections of my dissertation, their numerous questions and the suggestions helped me to improve my writing and aided me to develop my ideas further. Thank you to Ann Halbert-Brooks, Mary Elizabeth Walters, Allison Somogyi, Xaris A. Martínez, Samuel Finesurrey, Jeanine Navarrete, Shannon James, Melanie Sheehan, Joshua Tait, Robert Richard, Robert K. Colby, Ashton Merck, Jessica Auer, Joseph D. Stieb, Brian K. Fennessy, Mishio Yamanaka, Daniel Giblin, and Angélica Castillo. I also benefitted greatly from the editing skills of Daniel Velásquez. Finally, I am very grateful for the many years of support from Kathy Wood and Beatriz Riefkohl Muñiz at UNC Chapel Hill. Lastly, I am thankful for the support and encouragement from my family, especially from mis viejos and my wife, Maday Beltrons Diaz. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES ......................................................................................................................... ix LIST OF GRAPHICS ..................................................................................................................... x LIST OF FIGURES ....................................................................................................................... xi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ....................................................................................................... xii INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................... 1 Sugar Economy: A Bitter Variant of Capitalism ................................................................ 1 Uprooting Capitalism: The Historiography on the Republican Period ............................... 8 Business Leaders: Civic Associations and the Expressions of Capitalist Nationalism ....................................................................................................................... 13 Structure of the Dissertation ............................................................................................. 23 CHAPTER 1. COLLABORATE AND COMPETE: A BUSINESSMEN NETWORK IN THE MAKING ................................................................................................... 28 Business Communities in a Crowded Transnational Society ........................................... 33 A Businessmen Network to Collaborate and Compete..................................................... 43 Forging Civic Enterprises for Urban Development .......................................................... 55 CHAPTER 2. TRACING BUSINESS LEADERS: GENERATIONAL CHANGE AND CIVIC NATIONALISM ..................................................................................................... 71 The Heads of the Industry: A Family-Business Model .................................................... 74 Business Sectors Across Cuba: A Window from the Rotarian Network .......................... 84 Politics “In the Higher Sense:” The Emergence of Civic Nationalism .......................... 100 CHAPTER 3. ENVISIONING CAPITALIST ALTERNATIVES: REFORM ROADMAPS FOR ECONOMIC INDEPENDENCE ................................................................ 114 Business Quarrels: “This Territory is and Should be Exclusively Ours” ....................... 118 vii The Economic Problem: Envisioning Capitalist Alternatives ........................................ 130 Discussing the Need for Economic Self-Sufficiency ...................................................... 134 A Plan for a Nationalist Commercial Diplomacy ........................................................... 142 CHAPTER 4. THE POLITICS OF INFLUENCE: UNSWEETENED NATIONALIST ASPIRATIONS ..............................................................................................
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