Castro's Cuba Research Articles

Between God and the Party: Religion and Politics in Revolutionary Cuba.

John Kirk's thorough look at the Cathlolic church, from colonial times to the present, shores up his argument that many influences in Fidel Castro's Cuba have pre-revolutionary roots. Kirk explores Castro's views on religion and their effects on the Cuban Revolution.

Soviet relations with Latin America, 1959-1987

Acknowledgements Introduction 1. The Soviet interest in Latin America 2. 'Communist subversion' in Latin America? The impact of Marxist thought 3. Castro's Cuba - 'a gift to the Russians'? The Soviet-Cuban embrace, 1959-1962 4. The Soviet-Cuban balancesheet 5. 'Socialism with red wine ...' Moscow and Chile's Popular Unity experiment 6. The Soviet Union and the major Latin American powers 7. The USSR and the Central American crisis 8. Conclusion Appendix Bibliography Index.

Prospects for Revolution in Post-Castro Cuba

Last January marked the 30th anniversary of the Cuban revolution, and it could be that, within a decade, that small islandnation will be transformed once again. Since 1959, Castro's Cuba has remained a politically repressive, economically stagnant, militarily adventuristic state. The legitimacy of the Cuban regime depends, in many ways, on the persona of Fidel Castro; when he dies, the government will face by far its severest test to date and, most probably, at a time when a potentially deadly economic and systemic crisis continues to threaten the Cuban polity. Revolutionary or reformist elements will almost certainly emerge to demand change.

Children's Books from Cuba: Dull and Dogmatic

Despite the well-known successes of Castro's Cuban Revolutioneducation and health services have been made available to all sections of the population, illiteracy has been eradicated, life expectancy is greater now for the average Cuban than it was in 1959, birth rates and infant mortality rates have declinedserious problems still remain in Cuba today. The Cuban economy remains fragile and to a high degree dependent on the Soviet Union and protests by discontented Cubans continue to plague Fidel Castro's government. In addition to these obvious problems, one can not help but be impressed by the dismal quality of literature available to young readers in Castro's Cuba. An examination of books for young readers published in Cuba in the 1980's reveals a constant supply of spiritless, moralistic stories that insist on teaching children what adults consider good behavior as well as an inordinate amount of blatant political propaganda. Most of these books lack interesting themes, coherent plots and/or honest characters. One must indeed feel sorry for Cuban children who are denied the pleasure and understanding of well-written fiction and the sense of discovery of interesting nonfiction. The following is a representative sample of recent Cuban books written by some of Cuba's most distinguished contemporary authors for young readers. (Due to the current trade difficulties between the United States and Cuba, these books are not readily available in the U.S.)

Thinking About Cuba

Abstract While Castro's Cuba would most undoubtedly benefit from a normalization of relations with the United States, the advantages that might accrue to the U.S. are far less clear or compelling.

New Evidence of FBI “Disruption” Program

'J NCE again, striking proof of the U.S. rulers' hatred and deep fear of even minimal gains in the black freedom struggle has come to light. The new information is contained in previously-secret FBI disruption documents released in March of this year as part of a farreaching civil liberties suit. Filed in 1973 by the Socialist Workers party (SWP) and the Young Socialist Alliance (YSA), the suit seeks an end to all illegal government spying, harassment, and disruption. It is being handled by the Political Rights Defense Fund, a civil liberties group. The 3,100 pages of secret memos outline the FBI Cointelpro (Counterintelligence program) operation against the socialists that began in 1961. At that time FBI chief J. Edgar Hoover, in motivating Cointelpro against the socialists, wrote in a memo that the SWP has, over the past several years, been openly espousing its line on a local and national basis through running candidates for public office and strongly directing and/or supporting such causes as Castro's Cuba and integration problems arising in the South. The new memos present only the outlines of the FBI's operation against the socialists because many of the pages, like in other documents forced loose from the FBI, are

Reviewing the Reviewers: Ideological Bias in the APSR Book Section

I would like to give attention to that portion of the American Political Science Review which is most read and least criticized, the book review section. My reading of APSR book reviews in recent years leads me to the following observations:Most of the books selected for review adhere to the orthodox ideological values of today's political establishment. More importantly, these books almost invariably are reviewed by political scientists who share the same centrist ideological slant as the authors they are reviewing. In the reviews dealing with international relations, for instance, cold war terms like “totalitarianism”, “Castroism”, “subversion” and “Free World” are employed uncritically. Western capitalist nations are described as having “governments”, while socialist nations are said to have “regimes”, usually identified as being under the tutelage of one personage, hence: “Mao Tse-tung's regime”, and “Fidel Castro's Cuba”. The idea that popular sentiments and democratic in-puts might be part of the governance of countries like Cuba or China is not entertained.

Reviewing the Reviewers: Ideological Bias in the APSR Book Section

I would like to give attention to that portion of theAmerican Political Science Reviewwhich is most read and least criticized, the book review section. My reading ofAPSRbook reviews in recent years leads me to the following observations:Most of the books selected for review adhere to the orthodox ideological values of today's political establishment. More importantly, these books almost invariably are reviewed by political scientists who share the same centrist ideological slant as the authors they are reviewing. In the reviews dealing with international relations, for instance, cold war terms like “totalitarianism”, “Castroism”, “subversion” and “Free World” are employed uncritically. Western capitalist nations are described as having “governments”, while socialist nations are said to have “regimes”, usually identified as being under the tutelage of one personage, hence: “Mao Tse-tung's regime”, and “Fidel Castro's Cuba”. The idea that popular sentiments and democratic in-puts might be part of the governance of countries like Cuba or China is not entertained.

Reviewing the Reviewers: Ideological Bias in the APSR Book Section

I would like to give attention to that portion of the American Political Science Review which is most read and least criticized, the book review section. My reading of APSR book reviews in recent years leads me to the following observations:Most of the books selected for review adhere to the orthodox ideological values of today's political establishment. More importantly, these books almost invariably are reviewed by political scientists who share the same centrist ideological slant as the authors they are reviewing. In the reviews dealing with international relations, for instance, cold war terms like “totalitarianism”, “Castroism”, “subversion” and “Free World” are employed uncritically. Western capitalist nations are described as having “governments”, while socialist nations are said to have “regimes”, usually identified as being under the tutelage of one personage, hence: “Mao Tse-tung's regime”, and “Fidel Castro's Cuba”. The idea that popular sentiments and democratic in-puts might be part of the governance of countries like Cuba or China is not entertained.

Subject Analysis in the Philosophy of Communications

SUBJECT ANALYSIS IN THE PHILOSOPHY OF COMMUNICATIONS LT "SUBJECT ANALYSIS" stand for any complexity of probes aimed at understanding the subjects that men sub-ject to predication. Subject analysis is distinguished , therefore, from the attention that we focus on predicates , upon what is said of subjects. Subject analysis looks principally to the beings grasped in subjects and only functionally to meaning expressed in predicates. Let " saying " or " talking " mean not only communication in the language of words but communication in the broadest sweep of its complexity , even the communication that a man carries on with himself.l Subject analysis presupposes a certain epistemology of judgment, i.e., the subject component, whatever it is that we are " talking about," is grasped in sensorial perception and, more often than not, is symbolized as opposed to predicated meaning; the predicate is an intelligible formality or " aspect " under which the subject is understood here and now in this act of judgment. Given that the subjects about which we talk. which engage our attention, very often form symbolic patterns which reveal diverse ways of being and styles of life, the use of subject analysis is valuable for whatever light it might throw on men themselves and on their cultures. Subject analysi~ finds its constitutional charter to philosophical existence in Socrates's" Know Thyself." When the same subjects are reiterated in constantly repeated symbolic structures we encounter the iconic. Let " icon " stand for form in the sense of Gestalt or structure constituted by a tissue of images, often metaphors, that are repeated without 1 Walter J. Ong, "Communications Media and the State of Theology," Cross Currents (Fall, 1969), pp. 462-480. 748 744 FREDERICK D. WILHELMSEN perspective and hence without conscious irony. What Susan Sontag says about poster art is an admirable instance of a species illustrating the genus of the iconic: " Posters have come to be regarded as mysterious cultural objects, whose flatness and literalness only deepen their resonance, as well as ... rich emblems of society." 2 The iconic, due to its flat literalness, is repeatable because any one of its elements is interchangeable with any other. This recalls Aristotle's insistence that metaphor obey the structure of any proportion, "a transference being from either genus to species, or from species to genus, or on grounds of analogy." 3 Irony, on the contrary, always involves the critical interjection of a fresh consideration, a perspective. All subject analysis partakes of the ironic. It is by no means perverse that Arthur Koestler's study of creativity commences with an analysis of humour as paradigmatic of the novelty marking all creative thinking. The iconic, however, eschews novelty, and its very flatness and lack of perspective permits the anticipation of the iconic act. This familiarity, to return to Susan Sontag's observations on poster art, indicates that we are confronting an art form which " is usually parasitic on other forms of art-on the world itself, or a highly stylized image of it." 4 The American cowboy, our icon, acts in a predictable way or the genre is offended.5 The iconic, as understood in this essay, must not be narrowed to staged and stylized theater. Iconography embraces every playing dimension of life in Huizinga's sense of the term.6 A classical " Saturday night on the town " with the boys is an iconic gesture in that it involves a series of repeated and anticipated acts whose specific content will often vary but whose formal structure is rigidly predictable. The issue is well illustrated by games: the content of chess or baseball, for example, always 2 Dugald Stermer, Introductory Essay by Susan Sontag, The Art of Revolution, Castro's Cuba 1959-1970 (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1970), p. xx. • Aristotle, Poetics, p. 21, 1457b-1458a. • Stermer/Santag, op. cit., p. xx. • Jane Bret, and Frederick D. Wilhelmsen, The War In Man: Media and Machines (Athens, Ga.: University of Georgia Press, 1970), pp. 67-7~. 0 Johan Huizinga, Homo Ludens (Boston: The Beacon Press, 1955). THE PHILOSOPHY OF COMMUNICATIONS 745 changes but the rules remain the same, and it is the game, not its content, that is played. Repeatability and predictability are the rule. The novel monkey wrench of humour...

Communist China's Trade Relations with Latin America

Research Article| September 01 1970 Communist China's Trade Relations with Latin America George Ginsburgs, George Ginsburgs Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Arthur Stahnke Arthur Stahnke Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Far Eastern Survey (1941) 10 (9): 803–819. https://doi.org/10.2307/2643031 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation George Ginsburgs, Arthur Stahnke; Communist China's Trade Relations with Latin America. Far Eastern Survey 19 May 1941; 10 (9): 803–819. doi: https://doi.org/10.2307/2643031 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentAsian Survey Search This content is only available via PDF. Copyright 1970 Regents of the University of California Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

Justice and Law in Latin America: A Cuban Example

The period immediately following Castro's overthrow of Batista on New Year's Day 1959 was followed by a series of revolutionary trials that attempted to weed out and punish supporters of the fallen dictatorship and “enemies of the revolution.” One of the most unusual of these political trials became a cause célèbre that called into question the general nature of law and justice in Castro's Cuba. The analysis of this case allows us to see clearly the relationship that has traditionally existed between the ideas of law and justice in Latin American culture. This study also touches incidentally upon the ever present judicial problem of defining the responsibility of soldiers for their actions during warfare.

Castro's Cuba, Cuba's Fidel.

Based on interviews conducted between 1958 and 1966, the book covers a wide range of topics, including aid to other revolutions, relations with the United States and the Soviet Union, and individual freedom in a Communist society.

Castro's Cuba: A Graveyard of Theories

Castro's Cuba: A Graveyard of Theories