Transnationalism, class and national identity in the Cuban labour movement (1898-1902)

ABSTRACT

For a Cuban anarchist movement intent on promoting harmonious class relations, attachment to national identity within the working classes was a divisive wedge which limited this objective. Transnationalism – understood here as the process of Spanish migration to Cuba, as well as the anarchist network between the U.S. and the Caribbean – combined with this divisive context; it intermeshed with a Cuban working class marked by their recent emancipation from Spanish colonial rule. On the one hand, this article will show how transnationalism was instrumental to building the strength of the anarchist movement in Cuba. Simultaneously, my intervention destabilizes conventional assumptions about transnationalism: rather than simply a generative process which inexorably led to the growth of anarchism in Cuba, it was constrained by, and at times reinforced, antagonistic relations on the basis of national identity. In doing so, this article furthers understandings of how transnational processes impact social movements, particularly in the context of imperial hegemony. Moreover, by foregrounding the domestic situation in Cuba and questioning the benefits of transnationalism, it reasserts the agency of Latin America in labour histories, rather than adopting the common framing of the continent being a passive recipient of influences from mainland Europe.

KEYWORDS:

• Transnationalism
• anarchism
• nationalism
• Cuba
• imperialism

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. ’Viva Cuba libre,’ El Nuevo Ideal, 7 August 1901.

2. “Movimiento Obrero,” El Nuevo Ideal, 1 March 1901.

3. ’Lo que hay que hacer,’ El Despertar. 30 September 1898.

4. Patriotismo,’ El Rebelde, 25 September 1898.

5. ’Kropotkine en los Estados Unidos’, El Nuevo Ideal, 15 May 1901.

6. “Salvajismo Yanqui,” El Nuevo Ideal, 1 March 1901.

7. ’Movimiento Obrero,’ El Nuevo Ideal, 21 August 1901.

8. ’Manifiesto de los obreros de Tampa,’ El Nuevo Ideal, 21 July 1899.

9. ’Movimiento Obrero,’ El Nuevo Ideal, 21 August 1901.

10. ’La Huelga de Tampa,’ El Nuevo Ideal, 14 August 1901.

11. Movimiento Obrero,’ El Nuevo Ideal, 21 August 1901.

12. A LOS TRABAJADORES DE CUBA. UNION Y CONCORDIA,’ El Nuevo Ideal, 11 March 1899.

13. “Algo sobre Creci,” El Nuevo Ideal, 21 December 1899.

14. ’A mi amigo anónimo,’ El Nuevo Ideal 29 April 1899.

15. “La Organización Obrera,” El Nuevo Ideal, 4 March 1899.

16. “Pasado, presente y porvenir,” El Despertar, 30 November 1899.

17. ’A LOS TRABAJADORES DE CUBA: UNION Y CONCORDIA,’ El Nuevo Ideal, 7 March 1899.

18. “Liga de Solidaridad Internacional,” El Nuevo Ideal, 19 junio 1901.

19. El Despertar en Cuba,’ El Despertar, 8 May 1902.

20. ’Por mal camino,’ El Nuevo Ideal, 31 August 1899.

21. ’A LOS TRABAJADORES DE CUBA: UNION Y CONCORDIA,’ El Nuevo Ideal, 7 March 1899.

22. “Ligas que desligan,” El Despertar, 20 May 1900.

23. “Por el bien de Cuba…?,” El Nuevo Ideal, 1 January 1901.

24. ’El Trust,’ El Nuevo Ideal, 7 August 1901.

25. ’HUELGA DE LOS ALBAÑILES,’ El Nuevo Ideal, 31 August 1899.

26. “Consideraciones.” Después de la huelga, El Nuevo Ideal, 6 October 1899.

27. Consideraciones. Después de la huelga, El Nuevo Ideal, 6 October 1899.

28. ’LA HUELGA DE LOS ALBAÑILES,’ El Nuevo Ideal, 13 October 1899.

29. “Muralla china,” El Nuevo Ideal, 29 abril 1899.

30. “Muralla china,” El Nuevo Ideal, 29 abril 1899.

31. “Muralla china,” El Nuevo Ideal, 29 abril 1899.

32. “Por la solidaridad,” El Nuevo Ideal, 8 April 1899.

33. “Muralla china,” El Nuevo Ideal, 29 April 1899.

34. “Trabajadores a la Huelga General,” ¡Tierra!, 22 November 1902.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Turing Scheme - University of Leeds; Cowdray Funding - University of Leeds.