Hope and Despair

Cuban popular political leader Julio Antonio Mella originated the fight for a New Cuba and Cuban antifascism in the 1920s. No Barrier Can Contain It begins with him, and his life intersects with the topics and themes covered in chapter 1. The chapter sets the stage for the discussion of antifascism by following Cuban popular politics from the crisis of 1920 through the election of Gerardo Machado, his devolution into a strongman, and his overthrow, to Fulgencio Batista’s rise to power and victory in breaking the March 1935 general strike. The chapter introduces activists Teté Casuso and Pablo de la Torriente Brau as central figures and guides throughout the book.

Cuba Can Be Proud of Her Sons

Chapter 5 returns to Cuban volunteers in Spain to explore the function and significance of their transnational identities and experiences. Due to colonialism, neocolonialism, and migration, Cubans were transnational—shaped by movement, connection, and exchange across borders and oceans. In particular, Cuba had ties with Spain and the United States, which gave Cuban volunteers special roles as translators and network builders and made them especially valuable to Spaniards and English-speaking volunteers. Another fundamental characteristic of volunteers was political and ideological diversity, which also characterized antifascism on the island. Chapter 5 studies two domestic groups whose commitment to the Spanish Republic did not rest primarily on leftist ideology but rather on other types of transnational identifications tied to domestic concerns: Cubans of African descent and Freemasons. Examining these two groups along with the Cuban volunteers, chapter 5 explores the connections between transnationalism and continuity from Cuba’s struggle to Spain’s.

Postscript

Taking a longer-term view, the postscript examines the legacy of antifascism and the Spanish Civil War in Cuban politics and historical memory during the early years of the Cuban Revolution that triumphed in 1959. The postscript returns to Teté Casuso during the struggle of the 1950s, when she helped Fidel Castro, and afterward, when she broke with the Revolution and left once again for exile in the United States. It addresses selective memory and forgetting of Cuban antifascists such as Casuso in revolutionary Cuba’s official accounts of antifascism and the Generation of the Thirties. Also, it connects Cuban antifascism to the present by discussing the Antifa movement across time and space.

Cuba’s Revolutionary Spirit and the Hopes of Free Spain

Chapter 3 follows Pablo de la Torriente Brau from where we left him in chapter 1, examining his path from the Cuban domestic struggle into exile and then on to a combat death on the Spanish front in December 1936. His trajectory illustrates at an individual human scale the meaning of transnational antifascism for Cuban activists. The chapter studies recruitment in New York City and Havana for the Cuban volunteers inspired by Torriente, and considers the logistics of the recruitment effort. It examines notable Cuban martyrs in the Spanish conflict as well as their symbolism, especially with regard to the pursuit of Cuba’s domestic struggle abroad. The chapter discusses Cubans’ belief that Spain would offer “countless lessons that will benefit our people” in the fight back home.

The Blood of These Children… Runs through Our Veins

Chapter 4 begins with Teté Casuso in the aftermath of her husband’s death in Spain, when she founded Havana’s Asociación de Auxilio al Niño del Pueblo Español (Association of Aid to the Child of the Spanish People, or AANPE), the central organization of the Cuban campaign to assist Republican children during the conflict. Composed of children, women, and men from all over the island and Cuban communities abroad, the AANPE was part of the international campaign to aid Republican children but was nonetheless unmistakably Cuban. One of its most powerful organizing mechanisms was the argument that the blood of Spanish children ran through Cuban veins. Fostering this sense of familial and cultural solidarity and billing itself as a nonpartisan charity served the association well for much of the war, helping it to achieve impressive successes in collecting aid. That its pro-Republican stance was deemphasized indicates mobilization of a subtle solidarity, in which the cause was obscured to garner broader popular support.

Factionalism, Solidarity, Unity

Chapter 6 considers the antifascist perspectives and goals of a number of leftist individuals and groups on the island. Tension and overlap and conflict and collaboration between groups characterized the antifascism of the Cuban Left. The factionalism of the era is readily apparent, but so, too, is significant unity and solidarity building. Unity and solidarity—even if limited and imperfect—are notable not only I the various leftist internationalist groups well known to have fought among themselves but also between those ideological cohorts and Cuban domestic political actors and groups not affiliated with internationalist ideologies. Ultimately, to demonstrate that there was a continuity in the fight for a New Cuba in Cuban antifascism, chapter 6 illustrates the ways in which the defense of the Spanish Republic on the island involved the same people, groups, relationships, networks, ideas, goals, rhetoric, and tactics as did the Cuban struggle. The Spanish Civil War caused each group to reckon with its own existence, role, values, and aims. The conflict reenergized these groups and provided the impetus for unity, which was vital for the continuation of the struggle at home and abroad.

Support the Brother People of Ethiopia

Chapter 2 examines Cuban responses to Mussolini’s invasion of Ethiopia in 1935, focusing on Communists and people of African descent. Distinctions between the two groups as well as their overlap introduce the diversity of Cuban antifascism. The chapter analyses the impact of shifting Comintern policy, asserting that the Cuban Communist Party’s response to the Ethiopian invasion was a barometer of change. It explores antifascism in the African diaspora, Cuban participation in this transnational network, and attempts by Cubans of color to reconcile the diaspora with their Cuban nationalism in the context of antifascist struggle. It concludes with a look at how black Cubans made a gradual and troubled transition from supporting the Ethiopian cause to supporting the Spanish Republican cause.

Introduction

The introduction introduces the concepts of fascism and antifascism, particularly in so far as they relate to Spain and to Cuba. It discusses the “special relationship” between Spain and Cuba and touches upon the ways in which this relationship impacted the development of fascism and antifascism in the two countries. Finally, it summarizes the book’s chapters.

Conclusion

In the end, Franco’s Nationalists overthrew the Republican government of Spain, and Cuban antifascists suffered yet another defeat. The conclusion details how Cuban activists continued antifascist efforts during World War II as antifascism went “mainstream.” There was no greater symbol of the official position antifascism attained in Cuba than Batista himself; the book suggests that the fight for a New Cuba achieved substantial success in antifascism in part because it influenced Batista, at least for a time.