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The Church and Socialism in Cuba
English, Spanish (translation)
Paperback
Published January 1, 1989
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May 17, 2025
Picked this up at Powell's in Portland one time, upon seeing it, instantly I thought of all the people in my life and statements I've heard about Cuba oppressing religious people. Like many accusations towards socialist nations, I've figured that there must be some exaggeration or misunderstanding about this. As this is one of the predominant talking points about how "Cuba bad" I decided it's important to educate myself on this, to see how true this might be.
Also, I always get told as someone who is primarily a non-fiction reader, that "I could never read non-fiction. It's boring and you really have to like the subject to enjoy reading it". Normally, in most cases, I disagree with this comment, as there's plenty of lively and passionate non fiction writers that can sell you their teachings wrapped in romanticism, etc., however, I think this is an example of one of those books where people stereotype about nonfiction might be correct. Please don't ever pick up this book unless you're really invested in the history of Cuba or the church.
Looking back, my main criticism, which I think is pretty significant is, I think the counterrevolutionary activities within the church could have been greatly expanded on. When you talk of hundreds of clergymen getting arrested and exiled, I'd really like to know individual cases of why this was happening. Certainly not for every member, but more than the anecdotes this book gives, given in contrast to the figures we get. In the grander picture, the book does tell us why it was necessary, seeing patterns of rebellious behavior from certain diocese, such as hiding counterrevolutionaries, criminals, encouraging rebellion, causing economic mischief. Ultimately the church in many areas became a bastion for the vestiges of the counter-revolution, that much is clear. However I still think that for the amount of church leaders arrested/expelled, this is a huge point of contention that needs further discussion.
Perhaps the reality is that the Catholic church never got a chance to materially manifest into anything terribly counterrevolutionary; considering they made themselves vocal agitators fairly quickly, and I think perhaps the Castro administration nipped all those problems in the bud so they wouldn't have to face the consequences down the line. By this point, plenty of examples could be seen from other internal agitators in socialist nations, so I think they had the advantage of hindsight in a way. It's also clear that the Bay of Pigs really disciplined the country into a no tolerance rule for counterrevolutionaries, as some of the Catholic leadership did assist with this, and it's telling how much of a change this made to the country, since the day after the initial attack they proclaimed themselves as socialists in defiance. Maybe because besides prosecuting high ranking officials, and the closure of certain seminaries, churches (which was necessary because of lack of attendees), Catholics were not disturbed very much in other ways and therefore were only radicalized up to a point.
Judging from the information in this book, the revolutionary government never did anything terribly drastic against the church. Which I find funny again that Cuban exiles and the things they choose to complain about are almost constantly blown out of proportion, or are direct consequences of either their own poor decisions or of course the shitty situation with the embargo. There is a LOT more tolerance toward the church than you would expect, given what some people have to say about the oppression of religion by the Cuban government. You'd think with stories the reactionaries tell, the government lined up Catholics and excecuted them en masse. Such is the way of the reactionary. They can't help but be crybullies, making up shit about their enemy in the attempts to manufacture the consent for mass violence against whoever wants to make the world a better place. With that being said, it's not like persecution towards Catholics was completely non existent, animosity towards Catholics (which happened largely due to their reactionary alignment) certainly existed for a time and they were persecuted in some ways. However this was not due to their religion, but to their insistence that Cuba once again return to an imperial comprador state.
There is a lot of good information here that's preserved, perhaps a lot you can't find elsewhere; especially regarding the internal mechanisms of the Catholic church in Cuba, succession, accomplishments, and attitudes of the laity and church.
The constant changes to the apostolate, all the names being thrown at you can get overwhelming.
I enjoy the concept of the CEHILA effort to write a people focused history of the church in Latin America. It's interesting to see how this played out in the context of their neighbors in that part of the world and back in the Vatican, and how much work and dialogue had to be done to get on the same page which ultimately ended up happening. Definitely the Vatican II, Medellin Conference were huge in helping this coordination. I'm very fond of liberation theology and studies that show this seemingly unbreakable utopian force that achievable when Marxism and Religion operate cooperatively and without imposing on one another. The solidarity they achieved with the people, and ecumenically, both within the Island and abroad, is fascinating. It gives me hope.
Also, I always get told as someone who is primarily a non-fiction reader, that "I could never read non-fiction. It's boring and you really have to like the subject to enjoy reading it". Normally, in most cases, I disagree with this comment, as there's plenty of lively and passionate non fiction writers that can sell you their teachings wrapped in romanticism, etc., however, I think this is an example of one of those books where people stereotype about nonfiction might be correct. Please don't ever pick up this book unless you're really invested in the history of Cuba or the church.
Looking back, my main criticism, which I think is pretty significant is, I think the counterrevolutionary activities within the church could have been greatly expanded on. When you talk of hundreds of clergymen getting arrested and exiled, I'd really like to know individual cases of why this was happening. Certainly not for every member, but more than the anecdotes this book gives, given in contrast to the figures we get. In the grander picture, the book does tell us why it was necessary, seeing patterns of rebellious behavior from certain diocese, such as hiding counterrevolutionaries, criminals, encouraging rebellion, causing economic mischief. Ultimately the church in many areas became a bastion for the vestiges of the counter-revolution, that much is clear. However I still think that for the amount of church leaders arrested/expelled, this is a huge point of contention that needs further discussion.
Perhaps the reality is that the Catholic church never got a chance to materially manifest into anything terribly counterrevolutionary; considering they made themselves vocal agitators fairly quickly, and I think perhaps the Castro administration nipped all those problems in the bud so they wouldn't have to face the consequences down the line. By this point, plenty of examples could be seen from other internal agitators in socialist nations, so I think they had the advantage of hindsight in a way. It's also clear that the Bay of Pigs really disciplined the country into a no tolerance rule for counterrevolutionaries, as some of the Catholic leadership did assist with this, and it's telling how much of a change this made to the country, since the day after the initial attack they proclaimed themselves as socialists in defiance. Maybe because besides prosecuting high ranking officials, and the closure of certain seminaries, churches (which was necessary because of lack of attendees), Catholics were not disturbed very much in other ways and therefore were only radicalized up to a point.
Judging from the information in this book, the revolutionary government never did anything terribly drastic against the church. Which I find funny again that Cuban exiles and the things they choose to complain about are almost constantly blown out of proportion, or are direct consequences of either their own poor decisions or of course the shitty situation with the embargo. There is a LOT more tolerance toward the church than you would expect, given what some people have to say about the oppression of religion by the Cuban government. You'd think with stories the reactionaries tell, the government lined up Catholics and excecuted them en masse. Such is the way of the reactionary. They can't help but be crybullies, making up shit about their enemy in the attempts to manufacture the consent for mass violence against whoever wants to make the world a better place. With that being said, it's not like persecution towards Catholics was completely non existent, animosity towards Catholics (which happened largely due to their reactionary alignment) certainly existed for a time and they were persecuted in some ways. However this was not due to their religion, but to their insistence that Cuba once again return to an imperial comprador state.
There is a lot of good information here that's preserved, perhaps a lot you can't find elsewhere; especially regarding the internal mechanisms of the Catholic church in Cuba, succession, accomplishments, and attitudes of the laity and church.
The constant changes to the apostolate, all the names being thrown at you can get overwhelming.
I enjoy the concept of the CEHILA effort to write a people focused history of the church in Latin America. It's interesting to see how this played out in the context of their neighbors in that part of the world and back in the Vatican, and how much work and dialogue had to be done to get on the same page which ultimately ended up happening. Definitely the Vatican II, Medellin Conference were huge in helping this coordination. I'm very fond of liberation theology and studies that show this seemingly unbreakable utopian force that achievable when Marxism and Religion operate cooperatively and without imposing on one another. The solidarity they achieved with the people, and ecumenically, both within the Island and abroad, is fascinating. It gives me hope.
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