Sartre’s humanism and the Cuban revolution

Abstract

Drawing its inspiration from the writings that Sartre dedicated to the Cuban revolution after his 1960 visit to the island, this article discusses his understanding of the relationship between socialism and freedom. The importance of these texts, which were never published in book form in France, goes beyond their specific analysis of the Cuban revolutionary process. They offer a good opportunity to deepen the study of themes central to Sartre's thought and help us understand the complex connection that Sartre made between his criticism of colonialism and imperialism, and his vision of a socialist society that, by being centered on man and freedom, would not make the critical errors of so-called "real socialism."

Metropolitan anxieties: a critical appraisal of Sartre’s theory of colonialism

“…His more considered statements reveal greater complexity in his analyses and a preparedness to treat aberrant cases as a problem for his theory and not just as rogue outliers. Paolucci (2007), for instance, presents a close reading of Sartre's writings on Cuba and his visit to the island in 1960. She concludes that Sartre saw in the youthful Cuban revolution a species of socialism that was centred on the freedom of the human person and not the tyrannical encrustations of a fossilised Communist Party.…”

Giannina Bertarelli, una italiana que traducía en La Habana. Reflexiones sobre vida y obra

“…En esa famosa y conocida ocasión viajó acompañado de Simone de Beauvoir, y se reunió con Fidel Castro, Che Guevara y otros líderes e intelectuales comprometidos con el proceso. Tras una experiencia cubana que viviera con cierto enamoramiento, Sartre escribió entonces una serie de dieciséis artículos para el periódico France Soir con el título de Ouragan sur le sucre y que aparecieron luego en un volumen independiente en español, Huracán sobre el azúcar (Sartre, 1960a), y en inglés, publicado como Sartre on Cuba (en Paolucci, 2007 Point en enero de 1968. Aquí se define el intelectual de izquierda que, a juicio del filósofo, es la categoría que solo puede asimilar el sentido completo de la palabra 'intelectual', entendida como un componente de un "grupo socioprofesional que podría llamarse los teóricos del saber práctico" (Sartre, 1968, p. 191).…”