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Castro and the Cuban Communist Party

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2014

Alan Angell
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Extract

When Castro addressed a mass rally in Havana on the thirteenth anniversary of his unsuccessful attempt to storm the Moncada barracks, he referred with some feeling to what he called the ‘traditional communist parties’ of Latin America, attacking them for opposing his strategy of armed struggle which he claimed was the only correct way to seize power. In doing this Castro underlined the uniqueness of the Cuban situation in Latin America, and the difkulties attendant upon any attempt at classifying the Cuban revolution within the customary framework of communism in that continent.

Latin American communist movements have a poor record as insurrectionary forces. Inview of the fierce suppression of communism by governments seeking an easy target at home, and approbation in Washington, it is perhaps not surprising that the 1935 uprising in Brazil stands almost alone in the history of communist attempts at seizing power by revolution in Latin America. But the communists add themselves to the weakness of their position. Their record of dealings with dictators, including of course Batista in Cuba, however theoretically justified in the long run, discredits them in the eyes of the powerful, and growing, radical, nationalist movements.

Type
Articles
Information
Government and Opposition , Volume 2 , Issue 2 , 01 January 1967 , pp. 241 - 252
Copyright
Copyright © Government and Opposition Ltd 1967

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References

1 Times (London), 28 July 1966.

2 Matthews, Herbert Return to Cuba, Hispanic American Report, Stanford University, 1964, pp. 11–12.Google Scholar

3 Torrado, Oswaldo Dorticás ‘Avances institucionales de la revolucián’, Cuba Socialista, No. 53, January 1966, p. 6.Google Scholar

4 From his speech, Our Party Reflects Our Country's History, 3 October 1965.

5 Ibid., his italics.

6 Thomas, Hugh ‘', New Statesman, 26 08 1966 .Google Scholar

7 Details in Cuba Socialista, No. 51, November 1965, pp. 10–11.

8 Hispanic American Report, January 1964, p. 1056.

9 Causse, José ‘La construccián del partido en las fuerzas armadas revolucionarias de Cuba’, Cuba Socialista, No. 47, 07 1965.Google Scholar

10 Ibid., pp. 63–64.

11 The Times, 21 September 1966.

12 Fidel Castro Denounces Bureaucracy and Sectarianism (Pioneer Publishers, New York), 1962, p. 12.

13 Boris Goldenberg, The Cuban Revolution and Latin America (London), 1965, p. 272.

14 Hennessy, A. ‘Cuba: the Politics of Frustrated Nationalism’ in Needier, M. ed. Political Systems of Latin America (New Jersey), 1964, p. 200.Google Scholar

15 Ibid., p. 200.

16 Thomas, H. op. cit.Google Scholar

17 Castro, Fidel ‘Criterios de nuestra revolucián’, Cuba Socialista, No. 49, 09 1965.Google Scholar

18 Castro, Fidel Our Party Reflects Our Country's History, 1965.Google Scholar

19 Fidel Castro Denounces Bureaucracy and Sectarianism, p. 15.