Free pamphlet to download: `Cuba -- How the workers and peasants made the revolution'

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On January 1, 1959, the hated US-backed Batista dictatorship in Cuba was overthrown by the workers, peasants and students. To mark that momentous occasion Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal is making freely available Resistance Books' Cuba: How the workers and peasants made the revolution, by Chris Slee (2008). Please click HERE to download the pamphlet in pdf format, or read it on screen below. If you would like to purchase a hard copy of the pamphlet, please visit Resistance Books.

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By Chris Slee

January 10, 2010 -- Some left groups claim that the Cuban Revolution was made by a few hundred guerrilla fighters, and that the working class played no role.

For example Ruth Braham, writing in the Socialist Alternative magazine, claims that the Cuban Revolution “entailed a mere 800 armed guerrillas seizing power, again on behalf of the majority but without their active involvement”.

Similar views have been expressed by members of the International Socialist Organisation. For example, Jonathan Sherlock says: “If you believe that Cuba is somehow socialist, however distorted, then you believe that it is possible to bring about socialism via several hundred guerrilla fighters coming down from the mountains at the right moment and seizing power. You will believe ... that socialism can be brought about without working-class struggle”.

In reality, “working-class struggle” played an essential central role in the Cuban Revolution. The workers, peasants and students played an active role, before, during and after the insurrection which destroyed the Batista dictatorship in January 1959. The overthrow of the regime was not simply a matter of guerrilla fighters marching into the cities. Fidel Castro called a general strike which developed into a mass popular uprising during the first few days of January 1959. The subsequent transformation of property relations was the result of ongoing mass struggles by the workers and peasants ... Download HERE or read on screen below.

[Chris Slee is a long-time socialist activist and a member of the the Australian Socialist Alliance.]

Free pamphlet to download: `Cuba -- How the workers and peasants made the revolution'