The Long Night of Dark Intent: A Half Century of Cuban Communism

622 Pages·2009·2.646 MB·English

by  Irving Horowitz

LONG
TilE
NIGHT
DARK
OF
INTENT

LONG
THE
NIGHT
DARK
OF
INTENT
FLAH
A
YRUTNEC
NABUC
FO
MSINUMMOC
GNIVRI SIUOL ZTIWOROHl
~~ ~~o~~~~n~~~up
LONDON AND NEW KROY
First published 2008 by Transaction Publishers
Published 2017 by Routledge
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Library of Congress Catalog Number: 2008014366
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Horowitz, Irving Louis.
The long night of dark intent : a half century of Cuban communism /
Irving Louis Horowitz.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4128-0879-8 (alk. cloth)
1. Cuba—Politics and government—1959-1990. 2. Cuba—
Economic conditions—1959-1990. 3. Cuba—Politics and government--
1990- 4. Cuba—Economic conditions—1990- 5. Communism—Cuba.
6. Cuba—Military policy. 7. United States—Foreign relations--Cuba.
8. Cuba—Foreign relations—United States. 9. Cuba—Social condi-
tions—1959- 10. Cuba—History—20th century. I. Title.
F1788.H573 2008
972.9106'4—dc22 2008014366
ISBN 13: 978-1-4128-4224-2 (pbk)
ISBN 13: 978-1-4128-0879-8 (hbk)
To the memory of my friend:
Jeane J. Kirkpatrick
“It looked as if a night of dark intent was coming, and not only a night,
an age … Someone had better be prepared for rage. Th ere would be
more than ocean water broken before God’s last Put out the Light was
spoken.”—Robert Frost, Once by the Pacifi c, 1928

Contents
Preface ix
Acknowledgments xix
1960s: Guerrilla Dictatorship 1
1 Th e Stalinization of Fidel Castro 3
2 Castrologists and Apologists: True Belief in 18
the Service of False Sentiment
3 Cuban Communism and Marxist Revisionism 30
4 Th e Missile Crisis: A Decade in United States- 58
Cuban Relations
1970s: Consolidation of Communism 69
5 United States Policy toward Cuba in a Latin Context 71
6 Capitalism, Communism, and Multinationalism 84
7 Th e Militarization of Guerrilla Communism 104
8 Military Origins of the Cuban Revolution 122
9 Ideological Euphoria and Post-Revolutionary Cuba 143
10 Authenticity and Autonomy in Cuban Communism 166
11 Institutionalized Militarism of Cuba 175
12 Th e Cuba Lobby: Supplying Rope to a Mortgaged 191
Revolution
13 Institutionalization as Integration: Th e Cuban 213
Revolution at Age Twenty
1980s: Militarization of the Regime 222
14 C. Wright Mills and Listen, Yankee 224
15 Th e Role of Cuba in the Pacifi cation of Central America 237
16 Fidel’s “Soft” Stalinism 250
1990s: Regionalization and Retreat 254
17 Small Nation, Global Pretensions: Fidel Castro Redux 256
18 Revolution, Longevity, and Legitimacy in Communist States 264
19 Th e Dictator Who Would Be King 286
20 New Beginnings and Familiar Endings 296
21 Totalitarian Options in a Post-Communist World 306
22 American Foreign Policy toward Castro: Paradox, 317
Procrastination, and Paralysis
23 Th e Conscience of Castrologists 329
24 Social Science as an Instrument of Democratic 348
Struggle
25 Th e Cuban Revolution: Th e Myth of Th eory and 365
the Th eory of Myths
26 Consequences of the American Embargo 386
27 On Socialist Economics and Communist Politics 401
28 Th e Jewish Experience in Cuba 408
29 Castro and the End of Ideology 412
30 Military Autonomy and Dependency in Castro’s Cuba 417
31 Cuban Models and Democratic Choices 426
32 Endless Celebrations for an Old Dictator 434
33 Reality Avoidance and Political Pilgrimage 439
34 Th ree Points of Light: Long Term U.S. Policy 453
Responses to Cuba
35 Cuba Lobby Upgrade: Plus ça Change, Plus 460
C’est la Même Chose
36 Th e Cuban Embargo and the American Interest 477
2000s: Dissolution of Political Power 485
37 Th e Two Cubas of Elián González 487
38 Cuba after Castro: Th e Historical Limits to Dictatorship 494
39 Humanitarian Capitulation 499
40 One Hundred Years of Ambiguity: U.S.-Cuba 509
Relations in the 20th Century
41 Th e Confl ict between Economy and Ideology 521
in Cuban Communism
42 Transition Scenarios for a Post-Castro Cuba: 535
Speaking Loudly but Carrying a Small Stick
43 Castro’s Corn: Petroleum and Globalization 547
44 Rocky Shoals of Reform: Castro and the Caudillo 555
45 Cuba, Castro, and Anti-Semitism 564
46 Semper Fidel 575
47 Mi Vida: Th e Manichean Face of Dictatorship 584
Index 595
Preface:
Th e Long Night of Dark Intent:
50 Years of Cuban Communism
I chose as a title Th e Long Night for the simple reason that in the
case of Fidel Castro’s Cuba we are looking at a half century of rule,
plus another earlier four years of guerrilla warfare and random
incendiary incidents all dedicated to fi rst achieving the aim of
the revolution—the seizure of power. Th e Cuban Revolution did
not start with the grand entrance of the guerrillas into the streets
of Havana in the fi rst week of January, 1959. Th at event simply
and poignantly culminated several years of armed insurrection
against the Batista Regime. Nonetheless, it was a benchmark of
triumph and a harbinger of tragedy to come. Rather than herald
a new era of Cuba joining the world community of nations as a
paragon of democracy, as so many fervently hoped and believed
at the time, it became a bellwether, or better a beachhead, of
communist rule in the Western hemisphere. Th is strange amal-
gam of the proverbial “man on horseback,” military rule as a
consequence of guerrilla insurgency, and iron-fi sted party rule
evolving from near anarchic movement politics defi ned Castro’s
Cuba at the outset; and with a bow to the single-minded tenacity
of the tyrant, has continued to do so for a half century.
Even those who doggedly continue to support the regime,
or at least a search for normalcy between other nations in the
West and the Communist regime in Havana, have come to the
painful realization that the hopes and aspirations of the Cuban
people were not fulfi lled by the July 26th Movement that quickly
morphed into the January 1st Movement of the Military. Th is
collection of my essays, articles, and speeches over that long time