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Title: Authoritarian Demonization of Anarchists
Author: Rafael Uzcategui
Date: February 2012
Language: en
Topics: Cuba, anarchist opposition, authoritarian left, political repression
Source: Originally published in Spanish in Tierra y Libertad. Translated into English by Charlatan Stew and friends, June, 2014.
Notes: Tierra y Libertad original: http://www.nodo50.org/tierraylibertad

Rafael Uzcategui

Authoritarian Demonization of Anarchists

The possibilities anarchism points toward have many enemies. Its

fiercest opponents, however, are those authoritarian regimes which,

distorting and subverting the ideas of socialism, have promoted

themselves historically as embodying the values of liberty, equality and

fraternity. In every situation, state capitalist governments, applying

religious categories to secular contexts, have over-simplified conflicts

by defining them as being between “the faithful”--those who support

them, and “heretics”--those who oppose them. In this alleged

confrontation between the two positions (in religious terms the struggle

of “good” against “evil”), the authoritarians need to claim that all the

world’s revolutionaries are with them confronting the forces that oppose

them--even though this isn’t certain.

As we know, ever since the Russian Revolution of 1917, nationalists and

authoritarian leftists who have come to power have developed various

strategies to dismantle, co-opt, and fragment whatever revolutionary

organizations remain. They do this precisely because such groups

constitute opposition to their plans from the left, because they

denounce the contradictions and abuses of the ongoing process of the

centralization of power. In the case of anarchism--an attitude and way

of thinking which is highly resistant to bureaucratic reorganization of

power and authority--tragic examples abound. In Russia (and later the

Soviet Union), China, Spain, and dozens of other examples, statists have

systematically persecuted and exterminated anarchists. The killing,

however, has been accompanied by lies, misrepresentation, and the

creation of nonexistent support to confuse and paralyze the

international anarchist movement.

Cuba 1961

Those who know the history of anarchism in Latin America know that Cuba

developed, along with countries like Argentina, Chile, Peru, and

Uruguay, an anarcho-syndicalist movement that played an important role

in the labor conflicts of their times. As is well documented in the book

El anarquismo en Cuba by Frank Fernández, [1] anarchists on the island

were prominent in several unions, published newspapers and magazines for

discussion, propaganda, and agitation, as well as providing social

centers for people to meet and interact.

The Cuban anarchists, as interested people can confirm, joined the

popular struggle against the dictator Fulgencio Batista and, his ouster

in 1959 aroused in them the same positive expectations about the future

of the island as in the rest of society. As Fernández relates, the

anarchist publications of the day, Solidaridad Gastronomica and El

Libertario, expressed a favorable and hopeful attitude regarding the new

government, while not trusting it unthinkingly. [2] But, in late 1959,

any criticism of the government, no matter its source, began to be

labeled “counterrevolutionary” in the new language of power. At the same

time, the Castro clique began inviting representatives from all the

revolutionary tendencies of the world to the island in order to convince

them of the regime’s goodness.

Among those invited was the German anarchist Augustin Souchy, who

visited Havana in the summer of 1960 to learn about the experiments with

land reform. His inquiry resulted in a lengthy article, printed in an

official publication, reporting on what he had seen during his visit.

Souchy also wrote a pamphlet entitled Testimonies on the Cuban

Revolution [3], which was published without going through official

censorship, and had a tone different from what the regime had hoped for.

In this pamphlet Souchy warned of the authoritarian turn the new

administration was taking. Soon after he left Cuba, the entire print run

of the pamphlet was seized and destroyed by the government, following a

recommendation by the Cuban Communist Party (PCC). But the pamphlet was

made available outside the country thanks to an edition published by

Reconstruir of Buenos Aires. The anarchists could not be easily

convinced by the Castro government’s propaganda. A new strategy was

needed.

Many Cuban anarchists of the time belonged to the Asociación Libertaria

de Cuba (ALC). In 1961 its Secretary of Relations, Manuel Gaona Sousa,

was in charge of maintaining contacts with the international anarchist

movement. However, from early on, Gaona was enthusiastic about both the

July 26 Movement (M26J) and Fidel Castro. Gaona’s prestige and record of

participation within the anarchist movement, his key role in

communications with the outside world, and his desire to cooperate with

a government that he supported were used to maximum effect by the Cuban

authorities. Gaona wrote a manifesto, “A clarification and a statement

of the Cuban anarchists” [4] which asserted that “nearly all anarchist

activities are now integrated in the various agencies of the Cuban

Revolution.” It also denied that anarchists were being imprisoned for

their activism. Both assertions were contradicted repeatedly by

anarchist publications on the island.

Gaona’s manifesto, which was sent to all anarchist publications of the

time, contained five key ideas: The first that there were no anarchists

arrested for their convictions; second, that there was no political or

religious persecution in Cuba; third, that anarchists supported Castro’s

government; fourth, that Castro’s government represented the ideals for

which the anarchists fought; and the fifth part was a crude and literal

copy of the government’s propaganda about the purported political and

economic benefits delivered by the Castro regime. Finally, the document

stated: “We want to alert fellow anarchist Movements in Mexico, Latin

America, and the world, and fellow Spanish-speaking exiles in America,

so that they won’t be taken unawares by the malicious and deceitful

information sent out by people who serve, consciously or unconsciously,

the Cuban counterrevolution.” Although the manifesto claimed to express

the position of Cuban anarchism, it was signed by just 25 individuals,

and it later became known that some signatures were collected by Gaona

through deception. Many anarchists who he asked refused to sign a text

that they regarded as renouncing the basic principles of anarchism.

Among them was the well-known comrade Marcelo Salinas y Lopez; they were

persecuted and sooner or later forced into exile.

The Isolated anarchists

Gaona’s manifesto brought about several dire consequences for the

anarchist movement of the island. From the point of view of the Cuban

authorities, it divided the anarchists into “good,” the small group that

supported Gaona’s position, and “bad,” the rest. It also sowed confusion

in anarchist organizations outside Cuba, especially in Latin America.

At this time there was also a U.S. government offensive against Cuba.

And in this context, on the left there was a lot of admiration for the

bearded July 26 Movement (M26J) as a model for guerrilla insurgencies in

Latin America. On the other hand, there was poor communication with the

anarchist activists on the island. Under the circumstances, the

manifesto literally paralyzed anarchist criticisms and questioning of

the new regime. In fact, the isolating of the Cuban anarchists promoted

their persecution and extermination. To give a few examples: Augusto

Sánchez was imprisoned and murdered; Rolando Tamargo and Ventura Suárez

were shot; Sebastian Aguilar Jr. was shot; Eusebio Otero was found dead

in his room; Raúl Negrín was burned alive. Casto Moscú, Modesto Piñeiro,

Floreal Barrera, Suria Linsuaín, Manuel González, José Aceña, Isidro

Moscú, Norberto Torres, Sicinio Torres, José Mandado Marcos, Plácido

Méndez and Luis Linsuaín were arrested and sentenced to prison. Some

comrades could not stand the torture in prison, such as: Francisco

Aguirre, who died in his cell; Victoriano Hernández, sickened and

blinded by the abuse, committed suicide; and José Álvarez Micheltorena,

died a few weeks after his release.

Manuel Gaona was actively involved in promoting the persecution of his

former comrades. Although the accusations against the genuine anarchists

employed the typical Stalinist epithets--such as labeling them “CIA

agents” among other things--they proved to be effective. According to

Fernández, “The confusion in the international anarchist camp regarding

the Cuban situation was promoted by the Cuban government’s propaganda

machine, which had enormous resources, talent, imagination, and great

political skill.” Even exiled Cuban anarchist groups, like the Cuban

Libertarian Movement in Exile (MLCE), [5] were accused by other

anarchists and anti-authoritarians of being “counterrevolutionaries”.

For example, Daniel Cohn-Bendit, at the International Anarchist Congress

of Carrara in 1968 accused the MLCE of “being funded by the CIA.” The

abandonment of Cuban anarchists by their peers is one of the worst

mistakes in the history of the anarchist movement. It was not until

1978, with the publication of The Cuban Revolution: A critical

perspective by Sam Dolgoff, [6] that the world’s anarchists began to

understand what really had happened on the island. But it was too late.

Half a century later, the farce

Fifty years after the Gaona manifesto, there are attempts to use the

same strategy again. At a time when various self-described leftist and

progressive governments have come to power in Latin America, the new

bureaucracies are trying to spread the idea that all revolutionaries,

including anarchists, are on their side. Some converts, inventing

phantom organizations and initiatives, spread the idea through the

Internet that the “true anarchists” support the governments of Rafael

Correa, Evo Morales, Cristina Kirchner, and Hugo Chávez, among others,

and that those who criticize them are “false anarchists”, and are “far

from the popular struggles.” One of the most extravagant attempts has

been made by a freewheeling “Revolutionary Anarchist Federation of

Venezuela”, which in its first statement expresses support for the

Bolivarian government of Hugo Chavez and affirms the need to join in its

electoral coalition, the Gran Polo Patriótico, contending in the

upcoming presidential elections. However, there is a big difference

between now and Manuel Gaona’s times. Information technologies nowadays

make it almost impossible for people to lack information in the way that

allowed ignorance of the real nature of Fidel Castro’s government in the

past. Anyone interested and concerned can now research and find out the

different opinions and initiatives in the popular and revolutionary

milieus which expose the contradictions of these governments and their

increasing involvement with today’s globalized capitalism. They can

learn about these regimes’ criminalization of those who are involved in

social struggles, and the protection of the new bourgeoisie through

state capitalism. History repeats itself--the first time it is tragedy,

the second time it is farce.

Originally published in Spanish in Tierra y Libertad. Translated into

English by Charlatan Stew and friends, June, 2014.

There is an earlier English translation by Christie Books, titled

Authoritarian Chimeras, Cuba, and the Gaona Manifesto, posted on the

Christie Books website (February 5, 2012):

http://www.christiebooks.com/ChristieBooksWP/2012/02/authoritarian-chimeras-cuba-and-the-gaona-manifesto-by-rafael-uzcategui/

Tierra y Libertad original: http://www.nodo50.org/tierraylibertad

Frank Fernández notes that Gaona’s manifesto was dated and signed in

Marianao on November 24, 1961, and clearly denounced the Cuban

anarchists who didn’t share his enthusiasm for the Castro regime.

[1] Published in English as Cuban Anarchism The history of a movement.

San Francisco: See Sharp, 2001. Available online at

http://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/frank-fernández-cuban-anarchism-the-history-of-a-movement

See especially Chapter 4: Castroism and Confrontation (1959–1961), and

Chapter 5: Exile and Shadows (1961–2001)

[2] In Cuban Anarchism: the History of a Movement, Chapter 4, Fernández

relates how the anarchists in Cuba decided to issue a Declaración de

Principios (Declaration of Principles), in the summer of 1960, accusing

the Castro regime of strengthening government centralization, and moving

toward a Marxist dictatorship. The eight points of the Declaración also

outlined the ways in which their anarchist perspective differed from the

policies of the regime: “1) it defined, in accord with libertarian

ideas, the functions of unions and federations in regard to their true

economic roles; 2) it declared that the land should belong “to those who

work it”; 3) it backed “cooperative and collective work” in contrast to

the agricultural centralism of the government’s Agrarian Reform law; 4)

it called for the free and collective education of children; 5) it

inveighed against “noxious” nationalism, militarism, and imperialism,

opposing fully the militarization of the people; 6) it attacked

“bureaucratic centralism” and weighed forth in favor of federalism; 7)

it proposed individual liberty as a means of obtaining collective

liberty; and 8) it declared that the Cuban Revolution was, like the sea,

“for everyone,” and energetically denounced “the authoritarian

tendencies that surge in the breast of the revolution.”

http://www.illegalvoices.org/apoc/books/cuban/front.html

[3] Augustin Souchy, Testimonios sobre la revolución cubana. Buenos

Aires: Editorial Reconstruir, 1960. Available online at

http://issuu.com/ellibertario/docs/testimonios_souchy2

[4] For a discussion of the use of the terms “libertarian” and

“anarchist” interchangeably, especially in places outside North America,

see: An Anarchist FAQ (02/17), The Anarchist FAQ Editorial Collective,

Published June 18, 2009. Version 13.1

http://www.theanarchistlibrary.org/print/The_Anarchist_FAQ_Editorial_Collective__An_Anarchist_FAQ__02_17_.html

See Section A.1.3, Why is anarchism also called libertarian socialism?:

“Anarchists have been using the term ‘libertarian’ to describe

themselves and their ideas since the 1850’s. According to anarchist

historian Max Nettlau, the revolutionary anarchist Joseph Dejacque

published Le Libertaire, Journal du Mouvement Social in New York between

1858 and 1861 while the use of the term ‘libertarian communism’ dates

from November, 1880 when a French anarchist congress adopted it. [Max

Nettlau, A Short History of Anarchism, p. 75 and p. 145] The use of the

term ‘Libertarian’ by anarchists became more popular from the 1890s

onward after it was used in France in an attempt to get round

anti-anarchist laws and to avoid the negative associations of the word

‘anarchy’ in the popular mind (Sebastien Faure and Louise Michel

published the paper Le Libertaire--The Libertarian--in France in 1895,

for example). Since then, particularly outside America, it has always

been associated with anarchist ideas and movements. Taking a more recent

example, in the USA, anarchists organised ‘The Libertarian League’ in

July 1954, which had staunch anarcho-syndicalist principles and lasted

until 1965. The US-based ‘Libertarian’ Party, on the other hand has only

existed since the early 1970’s, well over 100 years after anarchists

first used the term to describe their political ideas (and 90 years

after the expression ‘libertarian communism’ was first adopted).”

[5] “Una aclaración y una declaración de los libertarios cubanos”,

available online at http://issuu.com/ellibertario/docs/manifiestogaona

[6] Montreal: Black Rose Books (1976). Available online at

http://libcom.org/history/cuban-revolution-critical-perspective-sam-dolgoff