The Vanguard Will Be the Guerrilla Movement, 1968–1979

This chapter explores how guerrilla motifs were still readily discernible in the official discourse of the 1970s. Scholarly studies have often overlooked this period in the Revolution’s trajectory, designating it simply as a decade of “Sovietization,” or, to use the Cuban term, increased “institutionalization.” What the evidence in this chapter reveals is that, though the Revolution underwent a profound structural change in the late 1960s and early 1970s, many of the beliefs and values which underpinned the revolutionary project in its formative years—that is, those linked to a guerrilla ethos—were still being promoted well into the Revolution’s second decade in power.

Consolidating the Revolution, 1959–1968

This chapter comprises an in-depth analysis of the revolutionary leadership’s discourse between 1959 and 1968, a year often pinpointed by external observers as heralding a move away from the guerrilla-style, empirical management of the Revolution towards a more structured, Soviet-inspired approach. The chapter also charts the way in which the leaders of the Revolution employed guerrilla rhetoric from their very first days in power, thus gradually embedding guerrilla-related motifs into the official discourse. In turn, this language helped to shape a new political culture that not only reinforced the legitimacy of the revolutionary project but also gave the impression of conferring ownership for its development onto the Cuban people.

The Revolution Under Raúl

This chapter investigates the on-going legacy of the guerrilla struggle between 2006 and 2018, the period of Raúl Castro’s tenure as Cuban President. It argues that, while many foreign commentators viewed the political, social, and economic change of these years as evidence that the Revolution and its socialist model were on the way out, the discursive phenomenon of guerrillerismo still very much anchored it in the past. Such an anchor remained of high importance to the leadership at a time of not only domestic upheaval but also shifting relations with its long-standing enemy to the north: the United States.

Perpetuating a Fighting Spirit

Chapter 1 offers an overview of the armed struggle that, beginning with the attack on the Moncada barracks in 1953, brought the Revolution to power in 1959. In so doing, it reveals the historical circumstances that allowed the leaders of the Rebel Army, specifically Che Guevara, to acquire power and thereafter leave a permanent guerrilla imprint on revolutionary discourse. Guevara’s writings on the methodologies of guerrilla warfare constitute a particular focus of attention, given that his ideas and image continue to permeate the verbal and visual language of the Revolution. Ultimately, this chapter offers an overview of the origins of guerrillerismo, especially when discussed in the Cuban context.

Introduction

The introduction challenges the widely held view in Western scholarship that the supposed “militarization” of the Cuban Revolution is key to understanding its longevity. While the pervasiveness of the armed forces in revolutionary Cuba is hard to refute, this chapter argues that it is the Revolution’s guerrilla origins, rather than its “militarism,” that partly explains its survival and the political authority of its leaders. Specifically, it is the promotion of a guerrilla ethos in the Revolution’s official, hegemonic discourse that, through the creation of a new political culture since 1959, has afforded historic legitimacy to the ex-guerrilla fighters in power. This chapter explains how the author, through discourse analysis, draws on the works of Michel Foucault and Norman Fairclough to examine a range of texts that span the Revolution’s six decades in power. This analysis reveals a consistent endorsement of the values and attributes associated with the guerrilla fighter, a phenomenon introduced here as guerrillerismo.

Guerrillerismo in the Shadows, 1980–1989

By examining the official discourse of the Cuban Revolution in the 1980s, this chapter paints a more complex picture of the decade than has commonly been portrayed in the literature. Far from being a time in which the Revolution was subsumed by its adherence to the Soviet model, the tracing of the relative absence or presence of guerrillerismo demonstrates that the 1980s was a decade of shifting ideological currents, a decade in which the use of a guerrilla rhetoric served different functions at different points. This chapter argues that one such function in the late 1980s (as well as in other decades), was to undermine the proliferation of a “siege mentality.”

Conclusion

The concluding chapter ties together the analyses of the official language of the Cuban Revolution for over six decades. It reflects on how the discursive perpetuation of the guerrilla ethos therein contributed not only to the survival of the Revolution itself but also to the part it has played in enabling the veterans of the sierra to maintain their political control over the revolutionary project since 1959. The chapter also highlights the different functions of guerrillerismo at different points in the revolutionary trajectory. In so doing, it asks whether a guerrilla rhetoric, which borrows heavily from Che Guevara’s writings, has enabled the Revolution to adapt and transform over time while appearing to remain true to its founding principles. Finally, the historic handover of power to Miguel Díaz-Canel in 2018 raises this question: how long can a guerrilla discourse sustain a Revolution whose leaders did not participate in the armed struggle that brought it to power?

Surviving the Special Period

This chapter focuses on the so-called Special Period in Cuba, a time of heightened instability and a profound economic crisis that, in 1991, resulted in the collapse of the country’s principal political and economic ally: The Soviet Union. It makes the case that the guerrilla code is a recourse the Cuban leadership turns to when trying to steel the population to face a series of unprecedented challenges. It also argues that, to the Cuban people, guerrillerismo was a guide for how to move the Revolution forward; evidence for this is found in this chapter’s examination of the official discourse during the “Battle of Ideas” moment at the turn of the millennium.