Sam Dolgoff - the Cuban Revolution a Critical Perspective

  Sam Dolgoff The Cuban Revolution: A Critical Perspective 1974  ã Chapter 1 - The Cuban Revolution: Introduction ã Chapter 2 - Castro's riendl! Critics ã Chapter - The Character of the Cuban Revolution ã Chapter # - The Ideolog! of Spanish $narchism ã Chapter % - $narchism in Cuba ã Chapter & - The atista (ra ã Chapter ) - The Revolution in *erspective: (conomic ac+ground ã Chapter , - $non!mous eroes of the Revolution ã Chapter . - The Cuban Revolution: (!e/itness Reports ã Chapter 10 - h! the $narchists ro+e /ith Castro's Regime ã Chapter 11 - The *osition of the Cuban $narchists: Selected Documents 1.&0-1.)#3 45issing6 ã Chapter 12 - Cuba in the 7ate 1.&0's and the 1.)0's 45issing6 ã Chapter 1 - The Structure of *o/er in Cuba  Chapter 1 - The Cuban Revolution: an Anarchist Perspective et/een reactionar! 8pro-atistianos8 and 8revolutionar! Castroites98 an adeuate assessment of the Cuban Revolution must ta+e into account another9 largel! ignored dimension9 i;e;9 the histor! of Cuban $narchism and its influence on the development of the Cuban labor and socialist movements9 the position of the Cuban anarchist movement /ith respect to the problems of the Cuban Revolution9 and libertarian alternatives to Castroism;Toda!'s Cuban 8socialism8 differs from the humanistic and libertarian values of true socialism as does t!rann! from freedom; There is not the remotest affinit! bet/een authoritarian socialism or its Castro variet! and the libertarian traditions of the Cuban labor and socialist movements;The character of the 7atin $merican labor movement -- li+e the Spanish revolutionar! movement from /hich it derived its orientation -- /as srcinall! shaped9 not b! 5ar<ism9 but b! the principles of anarcho-s!ndicalism /or+ed out b! a+unin and the libertarian /ing of the International or+ingmen's $ssociation -- the 8irst International8 -- founded in 1,&#;The 7atin $merican labor movement /as9 from its inception9 greatl! influenced b! the ideolog! and revolutionar! tactics of the Spanish anarcho-s!ndicalist movement; (ven before 1,)09 there /ere organi=ed anarchist and anarcho-s!ndicalist groups in uenos $ires9 $rgentina> 5e<ico9 Santiago9 Chile> 5ontevideo9 ?rugua!> Rio de @aneiro and Sao *aulo9 ra=il;In 1,.19 a congress of trade unions in uenos $ires organi=ed the ederacion Abrera $rgentina /hich /as in 1.01 succeeded b! the ederacion Abrera Regional $rgentina AR$-Regional 7abor ederation of $rgentina3 /ith #09000 members9 /hich in 1. , reached 009000; The anarcho-s!ndicalist  La Protesta 9 one of the best anarchist periodicals in the /orld9 founded as a dail! in 1,.)9 often forced to publish clandestinel!9 is still being published as a monthl!;In *aragua!9 anarcho-s!ndicalist groups formed in 1,.2 /ere in 1.0& organi=ed into the ederacion Abrera Regional *aragua!a; The anarcho-s!ndicalist unions of Chile in 1,. published the paper  El Oprimido  The Appressed3; In the late 1.20s the Chilean $dministration of the I numbered 209000 /or+ers; efore then9 man! periodicals /ere published and the labor movement flourished; The Bournal  Alba 9 organ of the Santiago ederation of 7abor9 /as founded in 1.0%; The anarchist and anarcho-s!ndicalist groups and their publications /ere ver! popular /ith the /or+ers in San Salvador9 uatemala9  icaragua9 and Costa Rica /here the anarchist paper  Renovacion  first appeared in 1.113;To illustrate the scope of the anarcho-s!ndicalist movement in 7atin $merica9 attention is called to the organi=ations participating in the s!ndicalist groupings9 convened b! the AR$ of $rgentina in uenos $ires; esides the AR$9 there /ere represented *aragua!9 b! the Centro Abrera *aragua!a> olivia9 b! the ederacion 7ocal de 7a *a= and the groups 7a $ntorcha and 7u= ! 7ibertad> 5e<ico9 b! the *ro-$ccion Sindical> ra=il9 b! the trade unions from seven constituent provinces> Costa Rica9 b! the organi=ation9 acia la 7ibertad> and the Chilean administration of the I; These e<amples give onl! a s+etch! idea of the e<tent of the movement; sources: The $narchist historian 5a< ettlau's series of articles reprinted in  Reconstruir  9 Roc+er's  Anarcho-Syndicalism 9 India edition9 pgs; 1, -1,#> no date3Insofar as the histor! of anarcho-s!ndicalist movements in $rgentina9 Chile9 ?rugua!9 ra=il9 and other 7atin $merican lands are concerned9 there is a voluminous literature in Spanish9 and some9 though b! no means enough9 /or+s in (nglish; ?nfortunatel! there is scarcel! an!thing9 in an! language9 about the histor! of Cuban $narcho-S!ndicalism;  The anarcho-s!ndicalist srcins of the Cuban labor movement and its influence is substantiated b! the  Report on Cuba 9 issued b! the conservative International an+ for Reconstruction and Development:;;; in the colonial da!s9 labor leadership in Cuba came largel! from anarcho-s!ndicalists of the a+unin school; $ strong thread of their ideolog! /ith its emphasis on 'direct action'9 its contempt for legalit!9 its denial that there can be common interests for /or+ers and emplo!ers9 persists in the Cuban labor movement in modern times ;;; it must be remembered that nearl! all popular education of /or+ing people on ho/ an economic s!stem /or+s and /hat might be done to improve it9 came first from the anarcho-s!ndicalists ;;; uoted in  Background to Revolution !evelopment o #odern Cuba > e/ Eor+9 1.&&9 p; 19 23(ven the communist historian oris i+irov concedes that;;; the labor movement of Cuba has had a long tradition of radical orientation; $narcho-S!ndicalist influence /as important from the late 1,.0's to the 1.20's uoted ibid; p; 1 %3 4$narcho-S!ndicalist influence certainl! spans a longer period;6(ven less is +no/n about the anarcho-s!ndicalist roots of the *uerto Rican labor movement9 /hich as in Cuba9 traces bac+ to the latter half of the 1.th centur!; The editor of the e<cellent antholog! of labor struggles and socialist ideolog! in *uerto Rico9 $;; Fuintero Rivera as+s:;;; /ho even in *uerto Rico +no/s about readers in tobacco /or+roomsG 4as in Cuba and lorida9 /or+ers  paid readers to read /or+s of social and general interest to them /hile the! made cigars6 ho +no/s that *uerto Rican stud! groups in the first decade of this centur! studied the /or+s of the 4anarchists6 a+unin9 Hropot+in9 Reclus and the histor! of the irst International or+ingmen's $ssociation ;;; that as earl! as 1,.09 a+unin's  $ederalism and Socialism  /as published b! anarchist groups in *uerto Rico and /idel! read b! the /or+ersG ;;;Fuintero informs the reader that in 1,.)9 the anarchist9 Romero Rosa9 a t!pographer9 /as one of the 8principal founders of the first nation/ide union in *uerto Rico -- the ederacion Regional Abrera;8 Together /ith ernando ome= $costa9 a carpenter9 and @ose errer ! errer9 also a t!pographer9 Romero Rosa founded the /ee+l!  Ensayo Obrera  to spread anarcho-s!ndicalist ideas among the /or+ers;7ouisa Capetillo9 the (mma oldman of *uerto Rico9 /hom Fuintero calls a 8legendar! figure in the histor! of the *uerto Rican labor movement98 /as a gifted spea+er and organi=er /ho addressed countless meetings all over *uerto Rico in the late 1,.0s and earl! 1.00s; She championed /omen's rights and  preached free love further def!ing convention b! /earing pantaloons3;$ prolific /riter9 7ouisa Caprtillo /rote -- in Spanish -- such libertarian essa!s as:  %umanity in the  $uture& #y 'ie( o $reedom& Rights and !uties o )oman as Comrade* #other and $ree %uman Being  ; She also /rote and spo+e e<tensivel! on art and the theater and carried on an e<tensive correspondence /ith foreign anarchists;et/een the !ears 1.10 and 1.209 anarchist and s!ndicalist periodicals /ere published in *uerto Rico and s!ndicalists carried on an intense agitation and militant action in labor struggles; source:  Lucha Obrera en Puerto Rico > 2nd edition9 1.)#9 pgs; 19 1#9 #9 1% 9 1%&9 1&1;3The e<ample of *uerto Rico illustrates ho/ little is +no/n about the anarcho-s!ndicalist srcins of the labor and socialist movements in the Caribbean area; This /or+ tries to trace the remar+able influence of