Imperialism, Nationalism, Revolution : the Cuban Case
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IMPERIALISM, NATIONALISM, REVOLUTION: THE CUBAN CASE b Y MARTIN JAMES LONEY B.A.(Hons.), University of Durham, 1966 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS in the Department of Political Science, Sociology and Anthropology @ MARTIN JAMES LONEY 1969 SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY September, 1969 APPROVAL Name,: Martin Janes Lone? Degree: Master of Arts Title of Thesis: Z~nperial.isn,Revcl.ution and Nathnali.sm, The Cubzn Case Examining Comiit tee : , .I_ -I-- ----- 7 --&------ Proicssor Naurice 3 Halperin, Cxtemal Rx&nLne.r SIMON FlUSER LJHIVEKSITY BURIWY 2, R, C, This thesis is an attcrnpt to place t.he Cuban Revoltition bf 1959 in irs historical perspecti-ve. The thesis attempts an undesc tand inz of why the Cubm F.-.volu tion occurred, and what rcle the United Sta t.es had j.n its occurrence. Ps the title suggests, the hypotl~csisis that the Cuba1 Kevolu tion was, in large part, a nationalist response prompted by American economic and political inf lucnce in Cuba. In abditi-on, the thesis tests a number of hy?o theses 011 underdevelopment, advariced by P. Baran and A.G. Fre.nk, by eximining the empirical data for Cuba. I relied for data n~ai~lyon 3iglish languclge pbblica- tions but, in addition, 3: maade a ZGU~week trip to Cuba in 1967 which was useful in providixg som insights into hoi,7 the Cubans, themselves, viewed t5e Revolution c?r?c' jn re- searching some primary sources, k'i-i,?lly, 1 con;ulted a small number of Spanish languz~ewrlrs. An exanination of Chbc=n his tory from settlement in 1510 shows that Cxba was atypical of Lztin America. Eevtlop- merit in Cuba did not really blossom until the second half of the 181-h ceatury. In the early 19th ccntury, when n:ajnlcnd - iv- Latin America was fighti~g for ind epcndence, Oiba ms undergoiug a period of unprecedcnt:ed prosperity. This combined with tile fear of a slave rwolt cnsmed Cuhan loyalty to the Spanish crowfi. When the Cuban independence struggle did break out it contained elements cf social revolution not present in the mainland wars, Blacks, working class whites and some sections of the 1arAlords joined forces against the Spa~lishand their suppor tcrs on the island, particular 17 the Peninsulares and the sugar producers. In addition, the United States had, during tile 19th ccntury, begun its economic penctrntioli c",brond. Ey the outbreak of the War of Independence the United St;~teshhad inv~sted$50,000,000 in Cuba. Eqorts to Cuba ammnted to some $27,000,000 a year. This interes i; sti~m~lntedUnited Ststes ' interveiltioil in the war, w!lich n1my Cubans felt abcr ted vlc tory. Gro:ith of Urlited States ' investment and trade in the 20th century went had in hand with political control over Cuba. In 1933 the Americans were instrumei~tal.in over- throwing Grau san Ifartin's radical nationalist government. After 1933, while Amxicam control r7ss less glaring, the United States con tirwed to exercise considerable politi- cal influence until 1959. The consequence of United States ' economic invest - ment was to stimicllzrte and perpetuate the sugar monoculture. The Cuban ecoiior~ly stagnated, literacy rates fell and there was a net expart of capital to the United States. United States' ecenomic dcninationprcvented the \.A \\ emergence cf a national bourgeoisie or a national landom- ' i ing class. Cuban political ins titu ticns were corisequently wenlc, The sugar uoncc~~lturcaid lack of alternative d evel.opn~ntresulted in a high degree of unernployneilt-. The Cuban Co~munistParty, actlve since the early 1920fs, had considerable supp~rt among the working c lass. In these circuinstances Cnstro 's .guzri!.la army was able to act as a catalyst for Cubm discontent. Cuban underdevelopment had not only shown that the 'ca p~talist! method of development was inadequate but had also pro- duced a general hostility to United States' control and large sectors of the rural and urban population - much of the working class, soue of the intelligentsia, the rural proletariat and the peasantry - who would back revolutionary social change. .TABLE.- OF....... CONTENTS 1%Introduction I1 . Early D~velopnlerits in Cubs Tne Cocqucst ..... Economic Devclopx?nts in the 18th artd 19th Centuries ..... The United Sta!en and Cuba ..... Rattlc far Independence ..... Unltcd Stetes Policy and Cuban Independence ..On. 1%~Trir?m;~h of the %gar ;hZcmocultu~:e ..... The l?evelopri!cnt of the Cuban Workfng Class ..... Jose Mer'ii ..... The Vc!lrgl~ni:dParLy ..... Thz I7ar of Indcpendeixe ..... Hr;~!anismor 1nperi;llism? ..... Consequences of Intervention ..... i.. The C~NSI~Structure h . Worki~~gClr55s Orgaliization L id Ideology V . The Aborted Revolution . A Sumsry Overview a . The United States aad Machado b . 1933.1934 . Mediation. Revolution. Reaction v VI. Bztista in Power a . The United States b . Froin Repression to Reform c . The Cuban Conuriunists VII. The Autentjcos in Fmcr ~VIII. The Eve of Revolution: A Socio-Econonic overview \ L IX. Conclusion - ix- LIST OF TABLES I. KATXONAL ANIJ PER CAPITA INCOME n\r CUM, 1903-1954 . , . , , . 11. SELECTED TTEIsLS 'Di THE CUW MWCE OF PAYMENTS, . .',, , , , . , , , . , 1929 5-1949 111. CU3AN EZ'OP.TS AND DPORTS ..,.........,. IV. CUGAFLT EXPORTS, 1ID'ORTS AXD NA.TIOt?h!hs INCOTG, .,..,c,..,.,,. 1903-1949 The acknowledgeinents fall naturally into two parts. In the first place there are those to whom I am specifically indebted, in particular to Nathan Popkin who helped me in developing the major hypo- thesis, and to Kathl-een Aberle whose criticism and encouragement throughout the preparation of the thesis ensured not only an irnprovcment of the con- tent but also that the thesis was eventualiy com- pleted. In addition I should mention the assistance given to me by Sharon Vance. Her constructive cri- ticism and dexterity at the typewriter prevented the thcsis from paralysing its writer. Secondly I would like to ac'xnotrledge the P. S. A. Department which provided an environment, rare in the modern multiversi ty, in which wiiting a thesis was a worthwhile and educational pursait, Thc. Department has shown to its students wh~tit mecns to search for truth, to maintain academic in- tegsi ty and to pursue solutions to pressing social issues. At a time then social scjcnce is contin- uously retreating in the face of reelity, it is 2 healthy sign. The P.S.A. Department has shown what c~ "cri- tic31 unive):sityl' should be. In practice it has provided insight ;nd stimlation to its students and faculty, in spite of constznt k,arassment by thz university administratior. and by othcr faculty mem- bers. There have of course been those who descrted and those who, losing the argumellt, cried foul, but to those who stayed and made education in at least one North AmerScan dcpartment relevant, the writer owes a vast debt, It is a debt wl>icli P.S,R. stu- dents will pay by translating into practice the re- sults of our studies, Mar tin Eoney. -xi- DEDICATION: to the P.S.A. Department, faculty and students, "The more reactionary a ruling class, the more obvioxs it. becomes that the social order over which it presides has turned into an im- pedimmt to huxan liberation, the more is its ideology taken over by anti-intellec tualisn9 irrationalism, and superstition, And by the same token, the more difficult it becomes for . the intel-lectu~lto withstand the socizl pres- sures brought upon him, to avoid sui:r ender ing to the ruling ideology an3 succumbing to the intellect workers ' comfortable and lccrative conformity. Ur~der such conditioils it becoms a rnzitter cf supreme importance and urgeilcy to insist on the fufictjon ad to stress the com- mitment of the intellectual, For it is under such co~dit.icnsthat it fal-1s to hi..; lot, b~th as a responsibility and as a privilece, tn nave from extinc tion the tradition of huniar~isml rea- son, and progress that constitutes our nost valuable inheritance from the entire history c;f mankind .': INTRODUCT ICN --- --.- The major thesis of this dissertat.ion will. be that .the Cuban Revolution of 19.59 can be seen as tile outgrowth of Cuban cationalism, There is a direct link through tl~e 19th century Var s of Independence and the unsuccescful revelation of 1933, to the band of '~arbudos'vho took power in 1959. This link is seen with grester clarity by the Cubsns than by many western academics, In 1962, in a speech dedicated to Antonio Macco, the famous 19th century fighter, Armxndo Hart, former guerilla and now a member of the Central Committee of the Cuban Cormlnist Party, saj-d, "The greatness and profundity of our revolu- tionary movement today derivns from a series of histori- cal sit.ustioi>s which are tc be found in great: part' in the cliaracter of the struggles for independence and in the process of national formation iil our couiltry. "1 Nationalism is clexly not an isolated factor, It can only be understood agajns t the historical developmenf of a specific set of social and economic relationships. Or as Georgc Plckhanov argued, "The history of idcologies is to a large extent to be explained by the rise, modifi- cat'on and brea!iJom of association of idchas under the influence of the rise, modification ant1 breakdow of deffnite combinations of social forces. "2 The second but integrally related thesis will be that the attempted revolution of 1933 and the Re\-olution of 1.959 were a reaction to the economic insecurity znd under lying stagnation which resulted from the economic structure ; 2 structure which the United States of America, in large measure, created arid supported.