Jose Marti, the United States, and the Marxist Interpretation of Cuban by Carlos Ripoll

Author:Carlos Ripoll [Ripoll, Carlos]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, General, Political Science, Political Ideologies, Communism; Post-Communism & Socialism
ISBN: 9781351510578
Google: StwzDwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2017-09-04T01:45:24+00:00

The Making of a Castroite Martí

At the core of Martí’s thought is his great belief in and commitment to the preservation of individual freedom. For him liberty was “the right of every man to be honest, to think and speak without hypocrisy” (XVIII, 304). In 1894 he wrote: “Respect for the freedom and ideas of others, of even the most wretched being, is my fanaticism. If I die, or am killed, it will be because of that” (III, 166). Kirk misses the point of that commitment and, ever intent on seeking parallels between Marti and Castroism, has the following to say: “Martí’s interpretation of freedom was essentially a socially oriented view that was rather vague and naïve at times, while at others it was truly thought-provoking because of its startling relevance to modern times (as for instance his plans for a concentrated mass literacy campaign, on which an almost identical scheme was modeled by the Castro government in 1961, the ‘Year of Education’)” (131).

Although the basis for the comparison is never explained, Kirk was probably thinking of Martí’s well-known article “Itinerant Teachers.” But there Martí stated that “it is necessary to keep men informed about the earth and the lasting transcendent nature of life” (VIII, 288)—hardly the objective of Marxist-Leninist literacy campaigns aimed rather at facilitating political indoctrination. The aim of the 1961 Cuban campaign is contrary to Martí’s belief that “he who under the pretext of guiding the young teaches them a group of isolated and absolute doctrines and preaches to them the barbarous gospel of hate, instead of the sweet gospel of love, is a treacherous assasin, ingrate to God, and enemy of man” (VII, 230). In addition, Kirk wrongly asserts that Marti spoke of “necessary political education” as part of a “totally new and far-reaching educational policy, evident from his notes on the theme of’Educatión Popular’“ (125). Even the diligent reader who locates Martí’s notes on “Popular Education” disregarding the incorrect citation given by Kirk will search in vain for even the slightest allusion to “necessary political education.” The notes merely address education of “the sentiments” and “moral qualities” enhanced by “instruction” (IX, 375).

Kirk does even greater violence to another passage by Martí to draw parallels between his work and socialism. Martí did not generally speak favorably of socialism. The year before his death he wrote: “Socialist ideology, like so many others, has two main dangers. One stems from confused and incomplete readings of foreign texts, and the other from the arrogance and hidden rage of those who in order to climb up in the world pretend to be frantic defenders of the forsaken so as to have shoulders on which to stand” (III, 168). In the face of that condemnation, Kirk turns to the word sociabilidad (sociability) in an article by Martí as the foundation on which to build the theory that Martí envisioned an independent Cuba in which its citizens would be expected “to cooperate at all times placing the best interests of the state before their own” (92).

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