What Is Going On in Cuba?

...As a matter of fact, during the recent electoral ritmpaign the leaders of the party directed their attention to those circles...

...When the government coalition seized the largest Cuban firm, Bacardi, in order to compel it to accept the workers' demands which it had rejected, the Autenticos did not hesitate to risk their influence, and to oppose the seizure...

...Ia the midst of that transitional period, on September 4, 19M, a revolutionary government Was formed...

...The opposing candidate for the presidency was the former Premier, Saladrigas, backed by the coalition of the Democratic, Liberal and Communist partiea, headed by the popular President of the Republic, F. Batista...

...A great deal depends on the policy of the United Stales and on the developments in postwar Europe...

...The colored population of Cuba, as far aa it is not under Communist influence, pins its hopes on the Autenticos...

...The Autenticos have followers in the working class, too...

...Aa early as mid-January, 1934, R. G. San Martin had to resign...

...The Autenticos have no clearly eut program...

...Its roots may be traced back to the revolta against the colonial regime introduced by the Spaniards...

...The Autenticos include large strata of the Cuban intelligentsia, representatives of academic and learned profeaaioaa, aad are very influential among univeraity and high school aludents, who ronatilute a rather important element of public life in Cuba...

...As a matter of fact, theirs is the only party combating Communists among the workers and possessing certain footholds in the trade unions...

...In ihia respect the Aateutleea reflect the spirit of oar time, and are ou the whole a highly modern party...

...This vagueness is an element of strength, since it arouses sympathy for the party from heterogeneous elements...

...El VEN the first available telegrams from Cuba indicate the magnitude of the victory achieved by the Autenticos...

...In pa^ heart* of its boat partisans, the meager gains of BkBapmising movement left a feeling of bitterness flagaajuw of failure in regard to reforms initiated...

...Some element* of xenophobia were also perceptible, which found one expression in the anti-Semitic riote of 1983-34...

...Such groups aa are striving for the preservation and strengthening of democracy after the war, meat atop marking time aad must work for the realization of much-needed reforms...

...It was this colored population that benefited most from the above-mentioned decree prescribing that 50 per cent of Cubans be employed in all enterprises...

...Yet, on the other hand, it is s source of weakness...

...However, it la difficult to foresee which tendency will ultimately get the upper hand in the party...

...In the ranks of the Autenticos there are democratic but also outright Fascist and anti-Semitic elements...

...During the short period of hia presidency, he issued a number of decrees, one of which earned him special famO...

...Hence the fierce hostility of the Communists toward the Autenticos, whom they sometimes—however preposterous this may seem—describe as Trotskyites...

...In a democratic-social coalition headed by himself, President Batista succeeded in uniting the traditional bourgeois partiea, the Liberals and Democrats, as well as the Communists, who six or seven months ago had dubbed themselves tha Democratic-Socialist Party...

...It amounU to 'TKodjatiT w the inner life of Cuba, and to a new -L| u, w relations with the outer world...

...Certain capitalist circles consider the Autenticos as their party...

...S. G. Son Martin, Professor of Anatomy at tha University of Havana, enjoyed considerable popularity because of his personal integrity and his staunch oppoaition to Machado's dictatorial regime...

...The only justification for this assertion lies in the fact that some former members of the Communist Party expelled under the charge of Trotskyism, jbined the Autenticos for the purpose of continuing their activity in the trade unions...

...Ramon Grau San Martin, as the revolutionary President of Cuba...

...By Boris Sapir fgpjp «l«ction of Ramon Grau Son Martin, loader of toe El Partido Revolutionary Cubano (AutenHmc), aa President of the Cohan Republic ia aa m ,/ mpremo political imporUnca...

...In jjt Wastuing transitional period the revolutionary asJHajSxtn* inherent in the movement against Machado ajaro brushed aside, and a "normal order" was estabfabjol under the leadership of Fulgencio Batista...

...the decree required all business enterpriaee and office* to employ at leaat 50 per cent native Cubans...

...One of the characteristics of this movement was its anti-imperialistic tendency, akin to that of the Comintern, although otherwise it WW baoleally hostile to Communism, aa a force blasting national unity by playing up rlasa differences...

...The principles of Cubanidad, according to which the Negroes and the Mulattoes are part of the ' nation, tend to bolster the self-respect of the colored population...

...El Partido Revolutionairio Cubano, called Autenticos, engaged in a stubborn fight against Preident F. Batista's regime, which after certain perturbations aaaumad a definite ahape...

...It waa a mass movement atafsiktg •** national renovation, elimination of foreign jhdhwxaao, aocial reforms, etc...

...There ia a certain resemblance between the eventa in Cuba and those in Argentina and Bolivia...

...A few daya later the government elected one of its members...

...He was unable to And support from either of the two predominant political factors: the government of the United States and the man who held the political sway over the Cuban army, Fulgencio Batista...

...fho hoy to the correct appraisal of tha Cuban situgAaj Mas ia the revolutionary movement which spread l^lpajady lvSO'a and reached a climax in the autumn '»** aw"mwt was directed against the regime gt.dajsaawl Gerardo Machado, who was elected PresiJa*?fc* •** end of 1924, and established a dictatorial f- middle of 1929, after having foisted his reahwtsa* oa the Cubans...

...The ideology of the Autenticos can easily degenerate into national intolerance...

...The Autenticos' anti-Communism ia akin to that kind of "anti-Marxism" which in the 30'a poisoned the atmosphere of Europe...

...These eventa confirm the urgent need for economic and political reform...

...plater tha pressure of tha United States Ambassador, gunner Welles, Machado waa compelled to resign...

...AfTER hia resignation, R. G. San Martin became the acknowledged loader of the opposition...

...On the ether hand, in the present war tha Autenticos definitely took a stand against the Axia...

...R. G. San Martin came to power on the crest of a movement directed against Machado's dictatorship, and conspicuous for its national (even nationalistic) features...

...The Autenticos succeeded in becoming the center to which all the discontented elements of the country are gravitating, while the corrupt state machinery, the rising prices of the necessaries of life, the hitches in the supply of meat, the miserly and irregularly paid salaries of the state officials, etc., cause a widespread dissatisfaction with the existing regime...

...The p>rty has won the electoral campaign with the sole stipport of the group led by Raul Menocul which had seceded from the ruling coalition...

...They are connected with various social groups, and unite them under the banner of Cuban nationaliam...

...Social Democrats are a numerically and politically insignificant group...

...The basic idea of the Autenticos ia that of Cubanidad (Cuban nationalism), which considers the Cuban nation as the criterion of all thinge political...

...The person of Ramon Grau San Martin gives some guarantee agalnat a Fascist trend...