i “thesis” — 2018/6/5 — 9:19 — page 1 — #1 i i i IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca PhD Program in Political History Doctoral Thesis Fascism and Nationalism in Cuba A Case Study on the Global Projection of an European Ideology PhD Student: Andrea Virga Advisor: Dr. Domenico Maria Bruni Co-Advisor: Dr. Katia Figueredo Cabrera Summer 2018 i i i i i “thesis” — 2018/6/5 — 9:19 — page 2 — #2 i i i i i i i i “thesis” — 2018/6/5 — 9:19 — page 3 — #3 i i i Le fascisme, il y a bien longtemps que nous avons pensé que c’était une poésie, et la poésie même du XXe siècle (avec le communisme, sans doute). Je me dis que cela ne peut pas mourir. Les petits enfants qui seront des gar- çons de vingt ans, plus tard, apprendront avec un sombre émerveillement l’existence de cette exaltation de millions d’hommes, les camps de jeunesse, la gloire du passé, les défilés, les cathédrales de lumière, les héros frappés au com- bat, l’amitié entre jeunesses de toutes les nations réveillées, José Antonio, le fascisme immense et rouge. Et je sais bien que le communisme a lui aussi sa grandeur, pareillement exaltante. Peut-être même dans mille ans confondra-t-on les deux Révolutions du XXe siècle ; je ne sais pas. Dans la Révolution fasciste, on m’accordera que la nation a eu sa place plus violente, plus marquée, et c’est aussi une poésie que la nation. Tout cela peut être vaincu par le libéralisme apparent, le capitalisme anglo-saxon, cela ne mourra pas plus que la Révolution de 89 n’est morte au XIXe siècle malgré le retour des rois. Et moi qui ces derniers mois me suis si fortement méfié de tant d’erreurs du fascisme italien, du nationalisme allemand, du phalangisme espagnol, je ne puis dire que je pourrai jamais oublier le rayonnement merveilleux du fascisme universel de ma jeunesse, le fas- cisme, notre mal du siècle. (Robert Brasillach, Lettre à un soldat de la classe 60) 3 i i i i i “thesis” — 2018/6/5 — 9:19 — page 4 — #4 i i i i i i i i “thesis” — 2018/6/5 — 9:19 — page 5 — #5 i i i acknowledgements I would like to thank the following people for their helpful contri- bution to my researches. First of all, my supervisor, Dr. Domenico Maria Bruni, and former supervisor, Dr. Maria Elena Cavallaro, as well as the rest of the IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca secretary and teaching staff, especially Prof. Giovanni Orsina, Prof. Andrea Vindigni and Dr. Antonio Masala, for their patience and comprehension. Secondly, my co-supervisor, precursor and colleague in re- search, Dr. Katia Figueredo Cabrera, for her paramount support and not least for her precious insight on Cuban academy and life, along with Cuban scholars Prof. Antonio Álvarez Pitaluga, Dr. Jorge Domingo Cuadriello and Prof. Reinaldo de la Fuente. Thirdly, my supervisor for the visiting period at CCHS-CSIC’s Instituto de Historia in Madrid, Prof. Lorenzo Delgado Escalonilla, along with director Prof. Consuelo Naranjo Orovio, the first one to tread this very research path three decades ago, and the scholars Prof. Eduardo González Calleja (UC3M) and Prof. Rosa Pardo Sanz (UNED). On the other side of the Ocean, the staff of the Cuban archives, libraries and museums I visited, with a special mention for Julito (Archivo Nacional) and Judit González Nuñez Pineiro (UH), as well as Fr. Juan Miguel Arregui SJ, Dr. Alessia Bonanno, Prof. Franco Savarino (UNAM), Prof. Lillian Guerra (UFL) and her students Dr. Alexis Baldacci and Daniel Fernández Guevara. On this shore, the staff of the archives, libraries and research institutes I consulted in Spain and Germany,particularly Dr. Sandra Carreras and Dr. Friedhelm Schmidt-Welle in IAI Berlin, along with Prof. Paola Laura Gorla (UniOr), Dr. Laura Mariateresa Durante (UniNa), Prof. Marco Tarchi (UniFi), Dr. Francesco Tamburini (UniPi), Dr. Étienne Morales (Paris III), Dr. Petra Kuivala (Helsinki), Prof. Haruko Hosoda (Nichidai), as well as Juan Antonio Llopart, Gustavo Morales and Mariella del Riego. Last but not least, my Master degree supervisor, Prof. Alessan- dro Polsi, for having first suggested a thesis on a Latin American country, and Martina Manfrin, for having first brought me to Cuba. 5 i i i i i “thesis” — 2018/6/5 — 9:19 — page 6 — #6 i i i i i i i i “thesis” — 2018/6/5 — 9:19 — page 7 — #7 i i i Contents 1 Introduction Fascism in Cuba? 5 1.1 The Historiographical Question ................. 6 1.1.1 On Fascism in Latin America .............. 6 1.1.2 On Cuban general background ............ 9 1.2 The State of Literature ........................... 13 1.2.1 Militant literature .......................... 13 1.2.2 Scientific literature ......................... 16 1.3 On Sources ...................................... 20 1.3.1 Primary Sources ........................... 20 2 Figures of the Cuban Right 25 2.1 Biology vs Democracy: Alberto Lamar .......... 27 2.1.1 Life and Works............................. 29 2.1.2 Decadence, Modernism and authoritarian- ism ......................................... 35 2.2 The Cuban Lindbergh: Agustín Parlá ........... 48 2.2.1 Life and actions ............................ 48 2.2.2 Cuban patriotism and Spanish nationalism 55 2.3 “Pepín” Rivero and his press empire ............ 65 2.3.1 Life and activities .......................... 66 2.3.2 Politics, Press & Propaganda .............. 72 3 Cuban Fascist Associations 93 3.1 The National Revolutionary Syndicalist Legion . 95 3.1.1 The beginnings ............................ 95 3.1.2 Political outline ............................ 100 3.1.3 Prosecution and demise ................... 115 i i i i i “thesis” — 2018/6/5 — 9:19 — page 8 — #8 i i i Contents 3.2 Minor Fascist Groups............................ 121 3.2.1 The Cuban Nazi Party ..................... 121 3.2.2 The National Fascist Party ................. 127 4 Right and Left After the War 131 4.1 The Transition from the Old to the New Right. 133 4.1.1 The Spanish Right in Cuba ................ 133 4.1.2 The Cuban Counter-Revolution ........... 148 4.2 Castroism as a “Red Fascism”? .................. 156 4.2.1 Cuban Revolution and Neofascism ........ 156 4.2.2 Castro and Castroism...................... 165 5 Conclusion The Cuban Exception 183 5.1 Cuba and Latin America ........................ 184 5.1.1 Fascism in Latin America: some examples 185 5.1.2 The weight of social factors ................ 187 5.2 The reasons of an exception ..................... 188 5.2.1 The geopolitics of freedom ................ 188 5.2.2 A different political culture ................ 191 5.2.3 The failure of fascism ...................... 194 1 Bibliography 197 1.1 Primary Sources ................................. 197 1.1.1 Archives and Collections .................. 197 1.1.2 Periodical Sources ......................... 199 1.1.3 Other Printed Sources ..................... 200 1.2 Secondary Literature ............................ 202 1.2.1 On Fascism and Nationalism .............. 205 8 i i i i i “thesis” — 2018/6/5 — 9:19 — page 1 — #9 i i i Abstract This thesis focuses on the diffusion of fascism in Cuba and its relationship with local nationalism, since up to now this question has not been studied satisfactorily by historiog- raphy, as most works on the subject still resent of World War propaganda. The research makes mostly use of original sources, both archival and printed, with the help of press and previous studies, in order to reconstruct and discuss historical events and ideological standpoints in Cuba, in the time that goes from Machado’s dictatorship to Castro’s Revolution. To this extent, a clarification on the too often mistaken concept of fascism, in the light of scientific literature, is nec- essary. Fascism as a modern 20th-century ideology, strongly opposed and reactive to liberalism and communism, advo- cated a radical inter-class mobilization and rebirth of the nation, in militaristic and organicistic sense, under a total- itarian revolutionary single party or movement headed by a charismatic leader. Inside fascism, four main trends can be distinguished, according to different conceptions of na- tion: classical Fascism, National Socialism, Integrism and Falangism. In the ‘30s, due to the crisis of Liberalism and the advance of Communism, Fascism had become a viable ideological alternative in many undeveloped countries, even outside Europe. This was especially true in Latin America, where European fascist regimes created local sections of the ruling party to cater with the large immigrant communities (espe- cially Italians, Germans and Spaniards). This fascist influence, with its revolutionary nationalism, was strong on local na- tionalist forces, which struggled for national sovereignty and economic independence from colonial powers. These founded native fascist and populist groups, with the support of lower and middle classes. At the same time, the socioeconomic and political situa- tion in Cuba was not exceptional in comparison with other Latin American countries. In 1933, Machado’s dictatorship was brought to an end by a heterogeneous coalition of po- litical forces. After a convulse phase of struggle, power was assumed by Fulgencio Batista who controlled Cuba, either i i i i i “thesis” — 2018/6/5 — 9:19 — page 2 — #10 i i i Contents directly or indirectly, until 1944. This long period, marked by the emergence of social mass movements and the relative decline of the old political class of independence veterans, was crucial for the development of new Cuban nationalism, which had to cope with United States influence and Batista’s strategy to preserve his personal authority. In the core part of the thesis, nationalist people and groups in Cuba are examined and analysed to ascertain their ideological and political relationships with fascism. The Cuban conservative Right is explored through the study of three important figures: the authoritarian writer Alberto Lamar, apologist of Machado’s rule, the aviation hero Agustín Parlá and the journalist José Ignacio Rivero, a great sponsor of Francoism in Cuba.