Toward a more inclusive history of the Cuban revolution of 1959

Linger, Eloise

doi:10.13169/intejcubastud.12.2.0300

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International Journal of Cuban Studies

Volume 12, Issue 2

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Toward a more inclusive history of the Cuban revolution of 1959

research-article

Author(s): Eloise Linger

Publication date (Print): 1 December 2020

Journal: International Journal of Cuban Studies

Publisher: Pluto Journals

Keywords: revolutions, historiography, revolutionary directorate, Afro-Cuban, women, Cuban oral histories.

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Abstract

The article claims that most historiography of the Cuban revolution of 1959 has omitted women, people of colour, and to some extent student youth and labourers. The shorter first part of the paper presents reasons of historical context and dominant Euro-male mindset that help explain why histories of Cuba's and other revolutions omitted women and people of colour until recent scholarship. Then, excerpts from oral testimonials of three activists in revolutionary movements of the 1950s give a livelier picture of how Afro-Cubans, women and youth provided the backbone and vast networks that kept alive and pushed forward the more highly celebrated guerrilla forces that came to power, led by Fidel Castro. Twentieth-century Cuban revolutionary context and continuity is evident in the quotes from Aida Pelayo, a leader of the civic coalition Mujeres Martianas in the 1950s, about her student days in the 1930s.

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Eloise Linger

Journal

Journal ID (doi): 10.2307/j50005551

Journal ID (jcode): intejcubastud

Title: International Journal of Cuban Studies

Publisher: Pluto Journals

ISSN: 1756-3461

ISSN: 1756-347X

Publication date (Print): 1 December 2020

Volume: 12

Issue: 2 ( doiID: 10.13169/intejcubastud.12.issue-2 )

Pages: 300-328

Affiliations

State University of New York

Article

Publisher ID: intejcubastud.12.2.0300

DOI: 10.13169/intejcubastud.12.2.0300

SO-VID: 681e827c-52d8-4d34-a542-060d2137e126

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All content is freely available without charge to users or their institutions. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles in this journal without asking prior permission of the publisher or the author. Articles published in the journal are distributed under a http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

History

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lang eng

ScienceOpen disciplines: Literary studies,Arts,Social & Behavioral Sciences,History,Cultural studies,Economics

Keywords: women,Cuban oral histories.,Afro-Cuban,revolutionary directorate,historiography,revolutions

References

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Alberd, A. (1994) Interview and translation by E. Linger in December in Casilda, Cuba.
Andrews, G.R. (2004) Afro-Latin America 1800–2000. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.
Arce, B.C. (2018) México's Nobodies: The Cultural Legacy of the Soldadera and Afro-Mexican Women. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
Beckles, H. (1985) “The slave-drivers war: Bussa and the 1816 Barbados Slave Rebellion”, Boletin de Estudios Latinoamericanos y el Caribe, 39, 85–110.
Benson, D.S. (2016) Antiracism in Cuba: The Unfinished Revolution. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press.
Castro Porta, C., Pelayo, A., Iglesias, M., Revuelta, N., Mier, R., Mesa, B.M. and Román, O. (1990) La Lección del Maestro. Havana: Editorial de Ciencias Sociales.
Chase, M. (2015) Revolution within the Revolution: Women and Gender Politics in Cuba 1952–1962. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press.
Choy, A., Chui, G. and Wong, M.S. (2005) Our History is Still Being Written: The Story of Three Chinese-Cuban Generals in the Cuban Revolution. New York: Pathfinder Press.
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Clergé Fabra, L.A. (2018) Interview and translation by E. Linger, 10 May, Havana.
Cushion, S. (2016) A Hidden History of the Cuban Revolution: How the Working Class Shaped the Guerrillas' Victory. New York: Monthly Review Press.
De la Fuente, A. (2001) A Nation for All: Race, Inequality, and Politics in Twentieth-Century Cuba. Chapel Hill, NC, and London: University of North Carolina Press.
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Espín, V., De los Santos, A. and Ferrer, Y. (2012) Women in Cuba: The Making of a Revolution within the Revolution. New York: Pathfinder Press.
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García-Pérez, G.M. (2005) Crónicas: Guerrilleras de Occidente. Havana: Editorial de Ciencias Sociales.
Hart Dávalos, A. (1997) Aldabonazo. Havana: Editorial Letras Cubanos.
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Linger, E. (1993) “Maria Luisa LaFita: Arms smuggler, sharpshooter and militia commander from the 1930s to the 1960s”, Panel 176, Berkshire Conference on the History of Women, Vassar College, June. Conference archives at Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY, USA.
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Pelayo, A., Iglesias, M., Mier, R. and Mesa, B.M. (1994). Interview and translation by E. Linger, 28 March, Havana.
Pérez, L.A., Jr. (1988) Cuba between Reform and Revolution. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Pérez Sarduy, P. and Stubbs, J. (eds) (1993a) Afro-Cuban Voices on Race and Identity in Contemporary Cuba. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida.
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Pérez-Stable, M. (2012) The Cuban Revolution: Origins, Course, and Legacy. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Randall, M. (1992) Gathering Rage: The Failure of Twentieth Century Revolutions to Develop a Feminist Agenda. New York: Monthly Review Press.
Randall, M. (2015) Haydée Santamaría, Cuban Revolutionary: She Led by Transgression. Durham, NC, and London: Duke University Press.
Salas, E. (1990) Soldaderas in the Mexican Military: Myth and History. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.
Sawyer, M.Q. (2006) Racial Politics in Post-Revolutionary Cuba. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Shayne, J.D. (2004) The Revolution Question: Feminisms in El Salvador, Chile, and Cuba. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
Shepherd, V., Bailey, B. and Brereton, B. (eds) (1995) Engendering History: Caribbean Women in Historical Perspective. New York: St Martin's Press, Scholarly and Reference Division.
Skocpol, T. (1979) States and Social Revolutions: A Comparative Analysis of France, Russia, and China. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Sweig, J.E. (2002) Inside the Cuban Revolution: Fidel Castro and the Urban Underground. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
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Tilly, C. (1976) The Vendée. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Trotsky, L. (1932) The History of the Russian Revolution, vol. 1, 2nd printing. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Waters, M.-A. (ed.) (2003) Marianas in Combat: Tete Puebla and the Mariana Grajales Platoon in Cuba's Revolutionary War 1956–1958. New York: Pathfinder Press.

Comments

Comment on this article

[1] AAUW (American Association of University Women) (2011) “Gender equality and the role of women in Cuban society”, https://www.aauw.org/files/2013/01/Cuba_white-paper.pdf. (Accessed Nov. 2019.)

[2] Alberd, A. (1994) Interview and translation by E. Linger in December in Casilda, Cuba.

[3] Andrews, G.R. (2004) Afro-Latin America 1800–2000. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.

[4] Arce, B.C. (2018) México's Nobodies: The Cultural Legacy of the Soldadera and Afro-Mexican Women. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.

[5] Beckles, H. (1985) “The slave-drivers war: Bussa and the 1816 Barbados Slave Rebellion”, Boletin de Estudios Latinoamericanos y el Caribe, 39, 85–110.

[6] Benson, D.S. (2016) Antiracism in Cuba: The Unfinished Revolution. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press.

[7] Castro Porta, C., Pelayo, A., Iglesias, M., Revuelta, N., Mier, R., Mesa, B.M. and Román, O. (1990) La Lección del Maestro. Havana: Editorial de Ciencias Sociales.

[8] Chase, M. (2015) Revolution within the Revolution: Women and Gender Politics in Cuba 1952–1962. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press.

[9] Choy, A., Chui, G. and Wong, M.S. (2005) Our History is Still Being Written: The Story of Three Chinese-Cuban Generals in the Cuban Revolution. New York: Pathfinder Press.

[10] CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) (2019) “Chiefs of state and cabinet members of foreign governments. Cuba”, Library. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/world-leaders-1/CU.html. (Accessed Nov. 2019.)

[11] Clergé Fabra, L.A. (2018) Interview and translation by E. Linger, 10 May, Havana.

[12] Cushion, S. (2016) A Hidden History of the Cuban Revolution: How the Working Class Shaped the Guerrillas' Victory. New York: Monthly Review Press.

[13] De la Fuente, A. (2001) A Nation for All: Race, Inequality, and Politics in Twentieth-Century Cuba. Chapel Hill, NC, and London: University of North Carolina Press.

[14] Díaz Vallina, E. and González Pages, J.C. (2000) “The self-emancipation of women”, in Cuban Transitions at the Millennium, ed. E. Linger and J. Cotman. Largo, MD: International Development Options, 15–31. First published in Global Development Studies (1999) International Development Options, vol. 1, 3–4, 11–39.

[15] Díaz Vallina, E., Dotre Romay, O. and Dacosta Pérez, C. (1997) “La mujer revolucionaria en Cuba durante el período insurreccional, 1952–58”, Revista de Ciencias Sociales (Puerto Rico), vol. 3, 24–32.

[16] Domínguez, J.I. (1978) Cuba: Order and Revolution. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.

[17] Espín, V., De los Santos, A. and Ferrer, Y. (2012) Women in Cuba: The Making of a Revolution within the Revolution. New York: Pathfinder Press.

[18] Foran, J. (ed.) (1997) Theorizing Revolutions. London and New York: Routledge.

[19] García-Pérez, G.M. (2005) Crónicas: Guerrilleras de Occidente. Havana: Editorial de Ciencias Sociales.

[20] Hart Dávalos, A. (1997) Aldabonazo. Havana: Editorial Letras Cubanos.

[21] Helg, A. (2019) Slave No More: Self-Liberation before Abolitionism in the Americas. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press.

[22] Hunt, L. (1984) Politics, Culture, and Class in the French Revolution. Berkeley and Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press.

[23] James, C.L.R. (1963) The Black Jacobins: Toussaint L'Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution. New York and Toronto: Random House (Vintage Books).

[24] Kampwirth, K. (2002) Women and Guerrilla Movements: Nicaragua, El Salvador, Chiapas, Cuba. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press.

[25] Kerber, L.K. (1997) Toward an Intellectual History of Women. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press.

[26] Klouzal, L. (2008) Women and Rural Communities in the Cuban Insurgent Movement, 1952–1959. Amherst, NY: Cambria Press.

[27] Linger, E. (1993) “Maria Luisa LaFita: Arms smuggler, sharpshooter and militia commander from the 1930s to the 1960s”, Panel 176, Berkshire Conference on the History of Women, Vassar College, June. Conference archives at Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY, USA.

[28] López, K. (2013) Chinese Cubans: A Transnational History. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press.

[29] Maloof, J. (1998) Voices of Resistance: Testimonies of Cuban and Chilean Women. Lexington, KY: University of Kentucky Press.

[30] Miranda, O. (1989) Ecos de la Revolución Francesa en Cuba. Havana: Editora Política.

[31] Moghadam, V.M. (1997) “Gender and revolutions”, in Theorizing Revolutions, ed. J. Foran. New York and London: Routledge, 137–67.

[32] Morales Domínguez, E. (2007) Desafíos de la problemática racial en Cuba. Havana: Fundación Fernando Ortiz.

[33] Oltuski, E. (2002) Vida Clandestina: My Life in the Cuban Revolution. San Francisco: John Wiley & Sons.

[34] Pelayo, A., Iglesias, M., Mier, R. and Mesa, B.M. (1994). Interview and translation by E. Linger, 28 March, Havana.

[35] Pérez, L.A., Jr. (1988) Cuba between Reform and Revolution. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press.

[36] Pérez Sarduy, P. and Stubbs, J. (eds) (1993a) Afro-Cuban Voices on Race and Identity in Contemporary Cuba. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida.

[37] Pérez Sarduy, P. and Stubbs, J. (eds) (1993b) AfroCuba, an Anthology of Cuban Writing on Race, Politics, and Culture. Melbourne and New York: Ocean Press.

[38] Pérez-Stable, M. (2012) The Cuban Revolution: Origins, Course, and Legacy. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press.

[39] Randall, M. (1992) Gathering Rage: The Failure of Twentieth Century Revolutions to Develop a Feminist Agenda. New York: Monthly Review Press.

[40] Randall, M. (2015) Haydée Santamaría, Cuban Revolutionary: She Led by Transgression. Durham, NC, and London: Duke University Press.

[41] Salas, E. (1990) Soldaderas in the Mexican Military: Myth and History. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.

[42] Sawyer, M.Q. (2006) Racial Politics in Post-Revolutionary Cuba. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

[43] Shayne, J.D. (2004) The Revolution Question: Feminisms in El Salvador, Chile, and Cuba. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.

[44] Shepherd, V., Bailey, B. and Brereton, B. (eds) (1995) Engendering History: Caribbean Women in Historical Perspective. New York: St Martin's Press, Scholarly and Reference Division.

[45] Skocpol, T. (1979) States and Social Revolutions: A Comparative Analysis of France, Russia, and China. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

[46] Sweig, J.E. (2002) Inside the Cuban Revolution: Fidel Castro and the Urban Underground. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

[47] Thomas, H. (1971) Cuba: The Pursuit of Freedom. New York: Harper & Row.

[48] Tilly, C. (1976) The Vendée. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

[49] Trotsky, L. (1932) The History of the Russian Revolution, vol. 1, 2nd printing. New York: Simon & Schuster.

[50] Waters, M.-A. (ed.) (2003) Marianas in Combat: Tete Puebla and the Mariana Grajales Platoon in Cuba's Revolutionary War 1956–1958. New York: Pathfinder Press.