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Cuba: Exceptional Case or Vanguard in the Struggle Against Colonialism
Cuba: Exceptional Case orVanguard in the Struggle AgainstColonialism?By Che Guevara
[...]...Some sectors, in good faith or with axes to grind, claim to see inthe Cuban Revolution a series of exceptional origins and featureswhose importance for this great historical event they even inflateto that of the decisive factor . They speak of the exceptionalism of the Cuban Revolution as compared with the course of otherprogressive parties in America and conclude therefrom that theform and road of the Cuban Revolution are unique and that in theother countries of America the historic transition of the peopleswill be different.We accept that there are exceptions which give the CubanRevolution its peculiar characteristics. It is a clearly establishedfact that every revolution has this type of specific factor, but it isno less an established fact that all of them follow laws whichsociety cannot violate. Let us analyze, then, the factors of thispurported exceptionalism.
file:///F|/litany/pdfs/cheexceptionalcase.htm (1 of 12) [6/19/2002 3:08:24 AM]
 
Cuba: Exceptional Case or Vanguard in the Struggle Against Colonialism
The first, perhaps the most important, the most original, is thatcosmic force called Fidel Castro Ruz, a name that in a few yearshas attained historic proportions. The future will accord our PrimeMinister's merits their exact place, but to us they appearcomparable to those of the greatest historic figures of all LatinAmerica. And what are the exceptional circumstances about thepersonality of Fidel Castro? There are various features of his lifeand character which make him stand out far above all hiscompa?eros and followers. Fidel is a man of such tremendouspersonality that he would gain the leadership in whatevermovement he participated in; and so it has been throughout hiscareer from his student days to the premiership of our country andof the oppressed peoples of America. He has the qualities of agreat leader, and added to these are his personal gifts of audacity,strength, courage, an extraordinary eagerness always to discern thewill of the people; and these have brought him to the position of honor and sacrifice that he occupies today. But he has otherimportant qualities, such as his ability to assimilate knowledgeand experience in order to understand a situation as a wholewithout losing sight of the details, his immense faith in the future,and the breadth of his vision to foresee events and anticipate themin action, always seeing farther and better than his compa?eros.With these great cardinal qualities, with his capacity to bringpeople together and unite them, opposing the division whichweakens; with his ability to lead the whole people in action; withhis infinite love for the people; with his faith in the future and hiscapacity to foresee it, Fidel Castro did more than anyone else in
file:///F|/litany/pdfs/cheexceptionalcase.htm (2 of 12) [6/19/2002 3:08:24 AM]
 
Cuba: Exceptional Case or Vanguard in the Struggle Against Colonialism
Cuba to construct from nothing the present formidable apparatusof the Cuban Revolution.However, no one could assert that there were political and socialconditions in Cuba totally different from those in the othercountries of America, and that precisely because of that differencethe revolution took place. Nor could anyone assert, on the otherhand, that Fidel Castro made the revolution despite that difference.Fidel, a great and able leader, led the revolution in Cuba, at thetime and in the way he did, by interpreting the profound politicaldisturbances that were preparing the people for the great leap ontothe revolutionary road. Also certain conditions existed which werenot confined to Cuba, but which it will be hard for other peoplesto take advantage of again because imperialism, in contrast tosome progressive groups, does learn from its errors.The condition that we would describe as exceptional was thatNorth American imperialism was disoriented and was never ableto measure accurately the true scope of the Cuban Revolution.Here is something that explains many of the apparentcontradictions in North American policy. The monopolies, as ishabitual in such cases, began to think about a successor for Batistaprecisely because they knew that the people were not compliantand were also looking for a successor to Batista, but alongrevolutionary paths. What more intelligent and expert stroke thenthan to get rid of the now unserviceable little dictator and toreplace him with the new "boys" who could in their turn serve the
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