Leadership in the Cuban Revolution

Geographies of revolution: Prefiguration and spaces of alterity in Latin American radicalism

“…Anticolonialism, anarchism, syndicalism and heterogeneous forms of socialism concurred to build the Cuban workers' movement, while it was only in the 1960s that orthodox Marxism became hegemonic (Fernández, 2001;Kapcia, 2014;Farber, 2006).…”

“…As magisterially discussed by Anderson (2007), activists from transnational and multilingual networks worldwide did the same. Anticolonialism, anarchism, syndicalism and heterogeneous forms of socialism concurred to build the Cuban workers’ movement, while it was only in the 1960s that orthodox Marxism became hegemonic (Fernández, 2001; Kapcia, 2014; Farber, 2006).…”

“…Kapcia notes how even Guevara’s Marxism can be considered as somehow unorthodox. Following the empirical experience of Cuba, Guevara realised that ‘objective conditions’ were not the only possible pre-condition for revolution, because ‘Political consciousness itself (conventionally seen as part of the “superstructure” rather than the base) could substitute for objective conditions’ (Kapcia, 2014:33). According to Farber, Guevara himself, initially, ‘did not see [Fidel] Castro as belonging to that same camp.…”

“…Despite having joined the armed guerrilla only few weeks before the final victory, Jiménez was well inserted in the revolutionary leadership at the highest levels, including ‘Fidel’s small groups’ (McKelvey, 2017:105). The team that collaborated to redact the land reform law in 1959 was composed by: ‘Fidel, Guevara, the geographer … Jiménez, Vilma Espin and Alfredo Guevara Valdes’ (Kapcia, 2014:74). Interestingly, Kapcia argues that, among the former PSP activists, Jiménez was ‘far from orthodox’ (Kapcia, 2014:74) and describes Jiménez’s positions as an ‘unusual combination of radical ideas and maverick Communism’ (Kapcia, 2014:97).…”

“…The team that collaborated to redact the land reform law in 1959 was composed by: ‘Fidel, Guevara, the geographer … Jiménez, Vilma Espin and Alfredo Guevara Valdes’ (Kapcia, 2014:74). Interestingly, Kapcia argues that, among the former PSP activists, Jiménez was ‘far from orthodox’ (Kapcia, 2014:74) and describes Jiménez’s positions as an ‘unusual combination of radical ideas and maverick Communism’ (Kapcia, 2014:97). Most of the historians who mentioned Jiménez notice the importance of the roles that he played in the agrarian reform and in the early foreign policies of revolutionary Cuba, for which he accomplished the first diplomatic missions in Europe and the USSR.…”