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Cuba and the Coming American Revolution
The Cuban Revolution of 1959 had a worldwide political impact, including on workers and youth in the imperialist heartland. As the proletarian-based struggle for Black rights was advancing in the U.S., the social transformation fought for and won by Cuban toilers set an example that socialist revolution is not only necessary- it can be made and defended. Second edition with a new foreword by Mary-Alice Waters. "A provocative and forcefully worded examination of the history and the future of American and Cuban politics."-Midwest Book Review This book is part of a series, The Cuban Revolution in World Politics. Click to see the other titles or to order the entire series. Foreword and postface by Mary-Alice Waters, 8-page photo section and other photos, index. Now with enlarged type
107 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2001
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 3, 2021
This book is a series of talks given by SWP leader Jack Barnes who makes an argument for the importance of building a revolutionary, centralized, disciplined and working class party in the US, like the Cubans created. He describes his own personal political experience as a student leader in the 60s, the profound impact of the Cuban Revolution on students then who were also participants in fighting for Black Civil Rights and he was campus organizer of the Fair Play For Cuba Committee at Carleton University.
The Cuban Revolution “shows us that with class solidarity, political consciousness, courage, focused and persistent efforts at education, and a revolutionary leadership of high caliber like that in Cuba, tested and forged in battle over the years, it is possible to stand up to enormous might and seemingly insurmountable odds and win.” ~ Jack Barnes
Many activists were won to a communist perspective and joined the Young Socialist Alliance following the years after the victory of the Cubans at Playa Girón and many later became lifelong leaders of the SWP. Even in the face of anti-Cuban propaganda, these young activists debated, organized and stood in solidarity with the Cubans against the treachery of the US government. It’s important to remember how many times in Latin America, mass movements were crushed with the help of the US government with covert operations, weapons, assignations and outright propaganda lies.
The link and importance with Cuba is to point out what needs to be done - make a socialist revolution - and how it will be accomplished - by building a communist party. What this book also explains is how mass movements will occur again as a product of capitalist economic, social and moral crises. It gives many concrete examples of how working people worldwide are under attack by the ruling rich and their bourgeois parties. That is what is meant by the title: the coming American revolution will come given the international crisis of capitalism today.
Another important point the book makes relates to how the Cuban revolutionary leadership won tens of thousands of Cubans to the revolution through a massive literacy campaign waged in the same year as the victory at Playa Girón. The Cuban leadership declared 1961: The Year of Education. At the same time the US government with the Kennedy brothers in the White House devised plans to invade Cuba and topple its revolutionary government, the Cuban leadership organized thousands of students to teach literacy to workers and peasants in the countryside. This kind of mass movement for social good and culture, volunteerism, is a defining feature of the Cuban Revolution. Even today international solidarity is alive from sending troops to Angola to fight the South African apartheid army to the leagues of medical professionals sent to Haiti, Venezuela, Kenya and Uganda.
At Playa Girón, the CIA-backed mercenaries were defeated even though they "came well organized, well armed and well supported...what they lacked was a just cause to defend. "~ José Ramon Fernandez, leader of a column of troops. It’s inspiring to read about how Cuba defended itself in 1961 with relevant quotes from Castro, Fernandez and Che Guevara. The book also describes the treachery of the US government and the Kennedy brothers in what they called Operation Mongoose which is fully described in now declassified documents 40 years later. The US government is still responsible today, through both Democratic and Republican governments, of 60 years of criminal aggression with the US embargo.
One last political point I learned in this book is the importance of having the political space to debate ideas, openly and in a civil manner, like was explained in the experience of the author at Carleton 60 years ago.
The Cuban Revolution “shows us that with class solidarity, political consciousness, courage, focused and persistent efforts at education, and a revolutionary leadership of high caliber like that in Cuba, tested and forged in battle over the years, it is possible to stand up to enormous might and seemingly insurmountable odds and win.” ~ Jack Barnes
Many activists were won to a communist perspective and joined the Young Socialist Alliance following the years after the victory of the Cubans at Playa Girón and many later became lifelong leaders of the SWP. Even in the face of anti-Cuban propaganda, these young activists debated, organized and stood in solidarity with the Cubans against the treachery of the US government. It’s important to remember how many times in Latin America, mass movements were crushed with the help of the US government with covert operations, weapons, assignations and outright propaganda lies.
The link and importance with Cuba is to point out what needs to be done - make a socialist revolution - and how it will be accomplished - by building a communist party. What this book also explains is how mass movements will occur again as a product of capitalist economic, social and moral crises. It gives many concrete examples of how working people worldwide are under attack by the ruling rich and their bourgeois parties. That is what is meant by the title: the coming American revolution will come given the international crisis of capitalism today.
Another important point the book makes relates to how the Cuban revolutionary leadership won tens of thousands of Cubans to the revolution through a massive literacy campaign waged in the same year as the victory at Playa Girón. The Cuban leadership declared 1961: The Year of Education. At the same time the US government with the Kennedy brothers in the White House devised plans to invade Cuba and topple its revolutionary government, the Cuban leadership organized thousands of students to teach literacy to workers and peasants in the countryside. This kind of mass movement for social good and culture, volunteerism, is a defining feature of the Cuban Revolution. Even today international solidarity is alive from sending troops to Angola to fight the South African apartheid army to the leagues of medical professionals sent to Haiti, Venezuela, Kenya and Uganda.
At Playa Girón, the CIA-backed mercenaries were defeated even though they "came well organized, well armed and well supported...what they lacked was a just cause to defend. "~ José Ramon Fernandez, leader of a column of troops. It’s inspiring to read about how Cuba defended itself in 1961 with relevant quotes from Castro, Fernandez and Che Guevara. The book also describes the treachery of the US government and the Kennedy brothers in what they called Operation Mongoose which is fully described in now declassified documents 40 years later. The US government is still responsible today, through both Democratic and Republican governments, of 60 years of criminal aggression with the US embargo.
One last political point I learned in this book is the importance of having the political space to debate ideas, openly and in a civil manner, like was explained in the experience of the author at Carleton 60 years ago.
August 26, 2014
This books appears to complement "Playa Giron" which is also by Pathfinder. Regardless, this book was enjoyable and serves as a journal of activism during the 1960-1962 US war-drumming against Cuba.
November 18, 2023
- "There are moments in history when everything ceases to be "normal." Suddenly the speed of events and stakes involved intensify every word and action. Neutral ground disappears. Alignments shift and new forces come together. The polite conventions of civil discourse that normally reign in bourgeois circles evaporate, including within the "academic community.""
- "In order to rationalize the legitimacy of their exploitative system before the eyes of society as a whole, the rulers rely on ideology. Contrary to the bourgeoisie's pretensions to civilization and culture, there are no "great ideas" or scientific social theories whose inexorable conclusion is that a handful of property-holding families must forever grow wealthy off the labor of the majority of humanity, maintaining their class dictatorship by whatever force and violence is necessary. That's not a law of nature, or of political economy."
- "The capitalists in the United States are particularly pragmatic. They have no theories or ideas. They just do what they must to maintain their class rule, and then promote ideological justifications for it. They market these as buzzwords, hack phrases, and coarse Americanism, through "news" shows, "news" analyses, "newspapers," and talk radio and TV."
- "Because the bourgeoisie and their servants believe their own ideology, they end up making political misjudgments about the capacities of working people—about the toilers whose courageous actions allow them to begin escaping the domination of these ghosts. Thus, at decisive moments the rulers make big miscalculations. And, in the end, that's one of the main reasons why they will lose."
- "In order to rationalize the legitimacy of their exploitative system before the eyes of society as a whole, the rulers rely on ideology. Contrary to the bourgeoisie's pretensions to civilization and culture, there are no "great ideas" or scientific social theories whose inexorable conclusion is that a handful of property-holding families must forever grow wealthy off the labor of the majority of humanity, maintaining their class dictatorship by whatever force and violence is necessary. That's not a law of nature, or of political economy."
- "The capitalists in the United States are particularly pragmatic. They have no theories or ideas. They just do what they must to maintain their class rule, and then promote ideological justifications for it. They market these as buzzwords, hack phrases, and coarse Americanism, through "news" shows, "news" analyses, "newspapers," and talk radio and TV."
- "Because the bourgeoisie and their servants believe their own ideology, they end up making political misjudgments about the capacities of working people—about the toilers whose courageous actions allow them to begin escaping the domination of these ghosts. Thus, at decisive moments the rulers make big miscalculations. And, in the end, that's one of the main reasons why they will lose."
November 9, 2025
Some people who read and review books by Jack Barnes have the mistaken impression that he is talking about a socialist revolution in the US in the immediate future. While revolutionaries need to maintain an optimistic perspective, if we talk about a coming revolution (outside of a pre-revolutionary situation, which the US has never been in) we're not making "predictions," and never claim to know, until when it's rapidly approaching, when a revolution will happen. It's a bourgeois misunderstanding of what Marxism is, and a way to try to dismiss it. But if a revolutionary party never talks about the revolution, it's quite unlikely to ever happen.
This book explains the importance of the Cuban Revolution to revolutionaries in the US, which is of big importance. Another Barnes book which will fill in some of the gaps is Malcolm X, Black Liberation, and the Road to Workers Power. Malcolm X, William Worthy, and Robert F. Williams were all early supporters of the Cuban Revolution, besides being fighters for Black rights. There were many, many more.
This book explains the importance of the Cuban Revolution to revolutionaries in the US, which is of big importance. Another Barnes book which will fill in some of the gaps is Malcolm X, Black Liberation, and the Road to Workers Power. Malcolm X, William Worthy, and Robert F. Williams were all early supporters of the Cuban Revolution, besides being fighters for Black rights. There were many, many more.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews