Revolution in Cuba; An Essay in Understanding

24 cm, x, [6], 468, [4] pages. illus., Map. Bibliography. Index. Some wear and soiling to DJ, DJ flap creased. Name in ink on fep. Some edge soiling. The Cuban Revolution (1959) was an armed revolt conducted by Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement and its allies against the authoritarian government of Cuban President Fulgencio Batista. The revolution began in July 1953, and continued sporadically until the rebels finally ousted Batista on 1 January 1959, replacing his government with a revolutionary socialist state. The 26th of July Movement later reformed along communist lines, becoming the Communist Party in October 1965. The Cuban Revolution had powerful domestic and international repercussions. In particular, it reshaped Cuba's relationship with the United States. Efforts to improve diplomatic relations have gained momentum in recent years. In the immediate aftermath of the revolution, Castro's government began a program of nationalization and political consolidation that transformed Cuba's economy and civil society. The revolution also heralded an era of Cuban intervention in foreign military conflicts, including the Angolan Civil War and the Nicaraguan Revolution. A history of the Cuban revolution under Fidel Castro, from his days as a guerrilla to the mid 1970's, by a New York Times reporter. Herbert Lionel Matthews (January 10, 1900 - July 30, 1977) was a reporter and editorialist for The New York Times who grew to notoriety after revealing that Fidel Castro was still alive and living in the Sierra Maestra mountains, though Fulgencio Batista had claimed publicly that he was killed during the 26th of July Movement's landing. Matthews was a graduate of Columbia University and reported from Europe during the Spanish Civil War before returning to New York. His coverage of that war and later the Cuban political situation were subject to substantial criticism for showing communist sympathies, a charge Matthews rejected for years. He also reported during the Italian conquest of Ethiopia in 1936; and then wrote Eyewitness in Abyssinia: With Marshal Bodoglio's forces to Addis Ababa in 1937. Throughout 1959, Matthews visited Cuba several times and constantly continued to deny that Castro was a Communist.[8] He claimed that Castro's revolution itself was not inherently Communist, and that Castro simply wanted a full-blown social revolution. One of Matthews' most famous statements concerning Castro was made on 5 July 1959, and he stated that: "There are no Reds in the Cabinet and none in high positions in the Government or army in the sense of being able to control either governmental or defense policies. The only power worth considering in Cuba is in the hands of the Premier Castro, who is not only not Communist but decidedly anti-Communist." Herbert Matthews, 16 July 1959 As the Cuban revolution continued, Matthews still attempted to prove that Castro's revolution and regime were not linked to Communism, but in 1960, Castro declared that he would adopt the Communist ideals to reshape Cuban society. Matthews continued to state that the revolution itself had never been associated with Communism and that Castro had not been a Communist when he took power. However, Matthews' efforts were futile, as many, both in the United States and in Cuba, blamed him for the rise of the Communist leader. Several believed that he had known Castro was a Communist, while the some in the State Department claimed that Matthews had led them to believe Castro had democratic intentions and thus postponed their ability to act on the growing Communism. Matthews has been compared to Stalin apologist Walter Duranty, a fellow journalist on The New York Times staff, as well as other journalists such as Edgar Snow, Richard Harding Davis, and John Reed, all who demonstrated empathy for revolutions and created controversy in their time. Matthews retired from the New York Times in 1967. Two years later, he published Fidel Castro: A Political Biography (1969). His.…