Books in Brief: Cuba 1933: Prologue to Revolution

Cuba 1933: Prologue to Revolution, by Luis E. Aguilar (Cornell, 256 pp., $9.50). Luis Aguilar here tries to put Fidel Castro’s revolution into historical perspective (rarely done, this), arguing that Castro’s triumph must be seen in its relationship to the revolutionary attitudes and activities which began in the mid-1920s and flowered at the time of Grau San Martin’s short-lived “Revolutionary Government” in 1933. Though introductory chapters reach back into the nineteenth century, his study emphasizes the political, economic, and social changes which took place between 1924 and 1934, particularly the growth of moderate (pro-Cuban) and radical (anti-Yankee) nationalism. In the last chapter he traces (all too briefly) the changes made in Cuba between 1934 and 1959 by the men (including Grau, Prío, and Batista) and the ideas of Cuba 1933, and the frustrations which developed as a result of increasing political corruption and military rule. According to Aguilar, Castro “interpreted correctly the signs of the time” during the 1950s when he promised elections, constitutional government, and generally to “remake the broken dream” of the 1930s. He concludes his study in 1959 when Castro “drastically changed his course and the course of Cuban history toward an unexpected, formidable, tragic, and still unreached objective.” A well-researched and informative book.

WR

About the Author

W. E. Ratliff

Featured Tags

Cuba 1933: Prologue to Revolution, by Luis E. Aguilar (Cornell, 256 pp., $9.50). Luis Aguilar here tries to put Fidel Castro’s revolution into historical perspective (rarely done, this), arguing that Castro’s triumph must be seen in its relationship to the revolutionary attitudes and activities which began in the mid-1920s and flowered at the time of Grau San Martin’s short-lived “Revolutionary Government” in 1933. Though introductory chapters reach back into the nineteenth century, his study emphasizes the political, economic, and social changes which took place between 1924 and 1934, particularly the growth of moderate (pro-Cuban) and radical (anti-Yankee) nationalism. In the last chapter he traces (all too briefly) the changes made in Cuba between 1934 and 1959 by the men (including Grau, Prío, and Batista) and the ideas of Cuba 1933, and the frustrations which developed as a result of increasing political corruption and military rule. According to Aguilar, Castro “interpreted correctly the signs of the time” during the 1950s when he promised elections, constitutional government, and generally to “remake the broken dream” of the 1930s. He concludes his study in 1959 when Castro “drastically changed his course and the course of Cuban history toward an unexpected, formidable, tragic, and still unreached objective.” A well-researched and informative book.