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Two Dangers, One Solution: Immigration, Race, and Labor in Cuba, 1900–1930

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 December 2008

Alejandro de la Fuente
Alejandro de la Fuente
Affiliation:
University of South Florida
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Extract

In its morning edition of April 22, 1900, Diario de la Marina examined figures released from the 1899 census, nothing what it considered to be its most important feature: One-third of population was colored. The columnist elaborated that this situation represented an obvious “danger” for “the white race” living in the island and claimed that the only way to avert a future catastrophe was to further stimulate white immigration to Cuba.

Type
Workers in Racially-stratified Societies
Information
International Labor and Working-Class History , Volume 51 , April 1997 , pp. 30 - 49
Copyright
Copyright © International Labor and Working-Class History, Inc. 1997

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References

NOTES

This paper is largely drawn from my Ph.D dissertation, “With All And For All': Race, Inequality and Politics in Cuba, 1900–1930” (University of Pittsburgh, 1996). I thank George Reid Andrews, Seymour Drescher, Carmelo Mesa-Lago, and Harold D. Sims for their comments and criticism. Financial support was provided by the United States Institute of Peace, the Institute for the Study of World Politics, the Harry F. Guggenheim Foundation, the Andrew Mellon Foundation, and the Rockefeller Foundation.Google Scholar

The following archival collections are cited: United States National Archives, Washington, DC (hereafter USNA), including documents from the following collections: Foreign Service Post Records, Record Group 84 (hereafter RG 84); General Records of the Department of State, Record Group 59 (hereafter RG 59); and Records of the War Department, Record Group 165 (hereafter RG 165).

University of Florida, Latin American Library, Braga Brothers Collection (hereafter BBC).

University of Maryland, College Park, McKeldin Library: Cuba Company Papers (hereafter CCP).

1. “El censo,” Diario de la Marina, April 22, 1900 (morning ed.).

2. Porter, Robert P., Industrial Cuba (New York, 1899), 92, 105;Google ScholarAtkins, Edwin F., Sixty Years in Cuba (Cambridge, 1926), 306;Google ScholarWar Department, Office Director Census of Cuba, Report on the Census of Cuba, 1899 (Washington, 1900), 77.Google ScholarFor modern estimates about the demographic loss caused by the war, see de la Riva, Juan Perez, “Los recursos humanos de Cuba al comenzar el siglo: inmigración, economía y nacionalidad (1899–1906)”, Anuario de Estudios Cubanos 1 (1975):7–44;Google Scholarde la Riva, Perez and Seijas, Blanca Morejón, “Demografía histórica: la población de Cuba, la guerra de independencia y la inmigración del siglo XX”, Revista de la Biblioteca Nacional José Martl 13 (1971):17–27.Google Scholar

3. Porter, Industrial Cuba, 88–89. About the disbanding of the Liberation Army, see Perez, Louis A. Jr, Lords of the Mountain: Social Banditry and Peasant Protest in Cuba, 1878– 1918 (Pittsburgh, 1989), 63–66.Google Scholar

4. “Faltan brazos,” Diario de la Marina, February 10, 1900 (morning ed.); “Lo que más importa,” Diario de la Marina, September 15, 1900 (morning ed.); Porter, Industrial Cuba, 86–87.

5. Atkins, Sixty Years in Cuba, 306; “Escasez de trabajadores,” Diario de la Marina, June 19, 1900 (evening ed.); “Invitación,” La Union Española, February 8, 1900 (evening ed.); “Escasez de braceros,” Diario de la Marina, January 1, 1901 (morning ed.); “Faltan brazos,” Diario de la Marina, January 10, 1900 (morning ed.).

6. “Escasez de braceros,” Diario de la Marina, January 1, 1901 (morning ed.); Cuba, Military Governor, Civil Report of the Military Governor, 1901, 15 vols. (Havana, 1902), 5:75.Google Scholar

7. For overviews on immigration to Cuba, see de Motes, Jordi Maluquer. Nación e inmigraciõn: los espanoles en Cuba (ss. XIX y XX) (Barcelona, 1992);Google ScholarOrovio, Consuelo Naranjo, “Trabajo libre e inmigración espaflola en Cuba: 1880–1930”, Revista de Indias 52 (1992):749–94;Google ScholarIglesias, Fe, “Características de la inmigración espanola en Cuba, 1904–1930”, in Españoles hacia America. La emigración en inasa, 1880–1930, ed. Sánchez-Albornoz, Nicolás (Madrid, 1988), 270–95;Google ScholarEstévez, Rolando Alvarez, Azúcar e inmigración, 1900– 1940 (Havana, 1988);Google Scholarde la Riva, Pérez, “Cuba y la migracion antillana, 1900–1931,” Anuario de Estudios Cubanos 2 (1979):3–75.Google Scholar

8. For an example asserting the “favorable” effects of Spanish immigration, see de Motes, Maluquer, “La inmigración española en Cuba: elementos de un debate histórico”, in Cuba, to perla de las Antillas, eds. Orovio, Consuelo Naranjo and Gutiérrez, Tomás Mallo (Aranjuez, 1994), 137–47.Google Scholar

9. Bergquist, Charles, Labor in Latin America, Comparative Essays on Chile, Argentina, Venezuela and Colombia (Stanford, 1986);Google ScholarGodio, Julio, Historia del movimiento obrero latinoamericano (Buenos Aires, 1979), 47–50.Google Scholar

10. For examples, see Cabrera, Olga, El movimiento obrero cubano en 1920 (Havana, 1969), 37;Google ScholarInstituto de Historia del Movimiento Comunista y de la Revolución Socialista Cuba, Historia del movimiento obrero cubano, 1865–1958, 2 vols. (Havana, 1985), 1:179–80;Google ScholarCórdova, Efrén, Clase trabajadora y movimiento sindical en Cuba 1 (1819–1959) (Miami, 1995), 91–100.Google Scholar For an example in which these divisions are largely ignored, see PlasenciaMoro, Aleida, “Historia del movimiento obrero en Cuba”, in Historia del movimiento obrero America Latina, 4 vols., ed. Casanova, Pablo Gonzalez (Mexico City, 1984), 1:88–183.Google Scholar

11. For scholarship critical of this idea, see Greenberg, Stanley, Race and State in Capitalist Development: Comparative Perspectives (New Haven, 1980);Google ScholarAndrews, George Reid, Blacks and Whites in São Paulo, Brazil, 1888–1988 (Madison, 1991);Google ScholarHasenbalg, Carlos, Discriminacao e desigualdades raciais no Brasil (Rio de Janeiro, 1979);Google Scholarsee also Andrews, George Reid, “Black Workers in the Export Years: Latin America, 1880–1930”, International Labor and Working-Class History 51 (1997):7–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

12. For a full discussion of these figures, see de la Fuente, “‘With All And For All’”, 58–59.

13. Jackson to the Secretary of State, Havana, January 16 and June 27, 1911. USNA, RG 59/837.55/15 and 18.

14. For sugar production data and the proportion of eastern provinces in the national output, see Guerra, Ramiro,Azúcar y poblacion en las Antillas (Havana, 1970), 227–30;Google ScholarAyala, César, “Social and Economic Aspects of Sugar Production in Cuba, 1880–1930”, Latin American Research Review 30 (1995):95–124; andGoogle ScholarDye, Alan, “Avoiding Holdup: Asset Specificity and Technical Change in the Cuban Sugar Industry, 1899–1929”, Journal of Economic History 54 (1994):628–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar See also de la Riva, “Cuba y Ia migració antillana,” 3–75, esp. 23–27.

15. “La inmigración jamaiquina,” Diario de la Marina, July 24, 1900 (evening ed.). The Cuba Company denied that it was attempting to introduce Jamaicans; see Gauld, Charles A., The Last Titan: Percival Farquhar, American Entrepreneur in Latin America (Stanford, 1964), 44.Google Scholar

16. United Fruit Company: un caso del dominio imperialista en Cuba (Havana, 1976), 208–10;Google Scholar Unknown to Craib, no place, September 26, 1913, CCP, Series I, Box 9, 142; Hugh Gibson to the secretary of state, Havana, September 18, 1912. USNA, RG 59/837.55/19. About the Ponupo Manganese Company, see Iglesias, Fe, “La explotación del hierro en el surde Oriente y la Spanish American Iron Company”, Santiago 17 (03 1975):59–106.Google Scholar

17. Péez, Louis A., Vuba Under the Paltt Amendent, 1902–1934 (Pittsburgh, 1996);Google ScholarTrelles, Carlos M., “La haciennda y el desarrollo económico de la República de Cuba”, Revista Bimestre Cubana 22 (1927); 323–42.Google Scholar

18. Guerrra, Ramiro, “Como nos ven. Nuevas y fecundas orientacions”, Diario de la Marina, January 13, 1929.Google Scholar

19. Lindsay, Forbes and Winter, Nevin O., Cuba and Her People of To-Day (Boston, 1928), 135;Google ScholarPepper, Charles M., To-Morrow in Cuba, (New York, 1899), 150.Google Scholar

20. Ginarte, Benjamin Mun¯oz, “Comentos sin comentarios. Al doctor Ramiro Guerra,” Diario de Ia Marina, February 10, 1929.Google Scholar

21. Vogenitz to Wright, Cienfuegos, October 18, 1939. USNA, RG 84/800/34; Milton Patterson Thompson, “Cuban Immigration Problems,” Matanzas, October 9, 1936. USNA, RG 84/855. For an overview of Spaniards' presence in the commercial sector in Cuba, see Alvarez, Alejandro García, La gran burguesía comercial en Cuba, 1899–1920 (Havana, 1990), 91–104;Google ScholarOrovio, Naranjo, “Análisis histórico de Ia emigración espan¯ola a Cuba, 1900–1959”, Revista de Indias 174 (1984):503–26.Google Scholar

22. Urrutia, Gustavo, “Ideales de una raza. La defensa,” Diario de la Marina, 04 22,1928; Urrutia, “Ideales de una raza. La cuestión económica del negro,” Diario de Ia Marina, July 17, 1929.Google Scholar

23. Arredondo, Alberto, El negro en Cuba (Havana, 1939). 57;Google ScholarForeign Policy Association, Problems of the New Cuba (Havana, 1935), 475–76;Google ScholarClark, Victor S.Labor Conditions in Cuba”, Bulletin of the Department of Labor 41 (1902): 663–793.Google Scholar

24. Mazón, Andrés M. Lazcanoy, Constitución de Cuba, 3 (Havana, 1941), 2:516.Google Scholar For the Ferrocarriles del Norte de Cuba, an American owned company, not only the twelve high employees of the general administration were white, but among the 101 employees in the departments of accounting, fares, shops, and others there was not a single Afro Cuban employed.See Ferrocarriles del Norte de Cuba, Boletín Quincenal, edición extraordinaria (1923); Nicolás Guillén, “El camino de Harlem,” Diario de Ia Marina, April 21, 1929.

25. “Datos cubanos. Movimiento de las empresas de tranvías eléctricos durante 1924–25,” Revista Bimestre Cubana 22 (1927): 274.

26. “Datos cubanos. Movimiento de las fébricas de tabaco en el año de 1924,” Revista Bimestre Cubana 22 (1927): 108; Cuba, Comisión Nacional de Estadistíca y Reformas Económicas, Estadística en relación con la elaboración de cigarros y tabacos en el año 1926 (Havana, 1928);Google Scholar Arredondo, El negro en Cuba, 63. For an overview of the tobacco industry, see Stubbs, Jean, Tobacco in the Periphery: A Case Study in Cuban Labour History (Cambridge, 1985).Google Scholar

27. “Datos cubanos. Resumen de Ia estadística de destilerías y su producción,” Rvista Bimestre Cubana 22 (1927):757–59.

28. “Cuartillas traspapeladas,” La Prensa, January 11, 1916; Ramiro Neyra y Lanza, “La prensa y Ia inmigraciOn antillana,” Labor Nueva, April 16, 1916, 6–7.

29. The index of dissimilarity measures differences between two population groups. In Table 1 it measures differences in the occupational distribution of immigrants and native whites and blacks. To calculate this index, the absolute values of the differences in distribution for each group are divided by two. An index of perfect equality equals 0, an index of 100 indicates total inequality. For an example of the use of this index in a similar context, see Andrews, George Reid, “Racial Inequality in Brazil and the United States: A Statistical Comparison”, Journal of Social History 26 (1992): 229–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

30. Atkins, Sixty Years in Cuba, 315.

31. Instituto de Historia, Historia del movimiento obrero, 1:122; Clark, “Labor Conditions,” 770–72; Pepper, To-Morrow in Cuba, 152.

32. “Manifiesto del Congreso Obrero de 1892,” in Instituto de Historia, El movimiento obrero cubano. Documentos y artículos, 2 (Havana, 1975), 1: 75–85;Google ScholarMayor, Marcelino Ojeda, “Por Ia verdad y el obrero,” El Cubano Libre, 09 17, 1903;Google Scholar “La bancarrota de los Idolos y el trabajador consciente,” ¡Tierra!, November 27, 1909; “PolitiquerIas,” ¡Tierra!, December 4, 1909.

33. “Presidentes del Gremio de Estibadores y Braceros de Ia Marina de Santiago de Cuba,” La Voz Obrera, May 1, 1933; Rebecca Scott, “Labor and the Exercise of Political Voice: Santa Clara, 1899–906,” paper presented at “Race at the Turn of the Century,” a conference at New York University (April 1996), 10. The figures concerning the Labor Congress of 1914 were gleaned from photographs published in Memoria de los frabajos presentados al Con greso Nacional Obrero (Havana, 1915).Google Scholar

34. Dumoulin, John, “El movimiento obrero en Cruces, 1902–1925”, in Las clases y la lucha de clases en la sociedad neocolonial cubana, 4 (Havana, 1980), 2:27; William Brackett to the Commanding Officer, Marine Camp, Camagüey, 01 11, 1919Google Scholar, USNA, RG 165/ 2056–112.

35. Dumoulin, John, “El primer desarrollo del movimiento obrero y la formación del proletariado en el sector azucarero. Cruces 1886–1902”, lslas 48 (1974): 3–66;Google Scholar “Obreros de Ia Patria,” La Lucha, October 9, 1909; Tellería, Evelio, Congresos obreros en Cuba (Havana, 1973), 154.Google Scholar

36. Blas Rodriguez Pascual, “Obreros y burgueses. El odio de razas entre los torcedores,” La Opinión, March 25, 1920; Juan Cubero Garcia, “A los trabajadores y en particular a los torcedores” La Opinión, April 2, 1920; Arturo Juvanet, “Por la justicia y el derecho,” La Opinión, April 13, 1920; Cabrera, El movimiento obrero, 152; “Conflicto en puerta,” La Correspondencia, July 18, 1912. I thank Rebecca Scott for sharing the last reference with me.

37. “Asuntos varios. En Remedios,” Diario de la Marina, August 25, 1900 (evening ed.); Jos Wells to the Secretary of State, Antilla, June 17, 1921, USNA, RG 59/837.504/211.

38. Clark, “Labor Conditions,” 768–69 (my emphasis).

39. “Huelga general,” La Lucha, November 2, 1902; “La huelga de los aprendices,” in Instituto de Historia, El movimiento obrero, 1: 193–95; “La huelga general. La Liga General de Trabajadores Cubanos,” La Lucha, November 14, 1902. See also Córdova, Clase trabajadora, 91–95; Instituto de Historia, Historia del movimiento obrero, 1:137–39. The Liga had petitioned the government concerning Cuban apprentices since June. See “La Liga de Trabajadores,” La Lucha, June 17, 1902.

40. Instituto de Historia, Historia del movimiento obrero, 1:150 (emphasis in original).

41. “La huelga del alcantarillado de la Habana,” in Instituto de Historia, El movimiento obrero, 1:289–92; Instituto de Historia, Historia del movimiento obrero, 1:163–64; Socialista, Partido, “Manifesto to All Workers”, enclosed in Victor Berger to the Secretary of State, Washington DC, 02 19, 1912Google Scholar USNA, RG 59/837.0132/1.

42. Flaxer, “Memorandum on Labor Unions,” in Guggenheim to the Secretary of State, Havana, 06 18, 1931,Google Scholar USNA, RG 84/850.4/747; “Extranjeros, y no nativos, son los obreros con que cuenta obras publicas,” Unión Nacionalista, September 7, 1928 “Capataces extranjeros atropellan inicuamente a los obreros cubanos,” El globo, May 16, 1927.

43. “La huelga de bahía” La Lucha, July 9, July 19, 1904; “Movimiento obrero. Los estibadores” La Lucha, July 16, July 17, 1906; Beaupré to the Secretary of State, Havana, May 8, 1912, USNA, RG 59/837.5401/23; “Noticias del puerto. Jamaiquinos” Diario de Ia Marina, March 11, 1921; “Estibadores cesanteados injustamente” La Lucha, August 15, 1928.

44. Garrett, Frank to Whigham, George, Jatibonico, 08 22, 1913,Google Scholar CCP, Series 1, Box 9, 135.

45. Smith, F. Gerard to Rionda, Leandro, Francisco, 02 15, 1917,Google Scholar BBC, RG 10, Series 10a, Box 8; “Cincuenta haitianos de la “Sugar States” cometen más atropellos con los terratenientes de Cueto,” Diario de Ia Marina, June 29, 1928.

46. Unknown to Galham, Camagüey, November 30, 1916, and M.K. to Whigham, George. Richmond, November 29, 1916, CCP, Series 1, Box 23, 913 and 204; Griffith to the Secretary of State, Santiago de Cuba, December 12 and 15, 1916, USNA, RG 59/837.504/1 and 2; DeGraux, “Labor Situation”, 12 4, 1918,Google Scholar USNA, RG 165/2056–65.

47. Craib to Whigham, George, Jatibonico, 12 20, 1916,Google Scholar CCP, Series 1, Box 20, 264; Dickinson to the C. B. Hurst, Antilla, June 13, 1922, USNA, RG 59/837.00/2232; “Elantagonismo que desde hace tiempo viene separando a los espan¯loles de los haitianos fue causa de una horrible batalla,” La Lucha, July 4, 1924; “Strike Conspiracy Develops in Havana,” The Havana Post, August 13, 1917; Jos Wells to the Secretary of State, Antilla, June 17, 1921, USNA, RG 59/837.504/211.

48. Dumoulin, “El primer desarrollo,” 59–60.

49. Castelló, Lino, “Francisco Lamuño,” El Hombre Nuevo, 08 13, 1919;Google Scholar “Argentina, Cuba, España,” ¡Tierra!, November 20, 1909; “El mítin de Martí,” ¡Tierra!, November 27, 1909. See also Dumoulin, “El primer desarrollo,” 34–35.

50. Jackson to the Secretary of State, Havana, July 13 and August 5, 1911, USNA, RG59/837.108/2 and 5.

51. “La huelga de Cienfuegos se intensifica,” La Lucha, August 12. 1917; “El estado de la huelga en las Villas,” La Lucha, August 13, 1917; “La huelga de las Villas continúa sin solucionar,” La Lucha, August 15, 1917; “Huelguistas arrestados,” La Lucha, August 22, 1917; “Un centro de conspiracion,” La Lucha, August 22, 1917; Van Natta to the Chief of Military Intelligence, Havana, November 26, 1917, USNA, RG 59/837.00/1444: Charles Winnans to Gustave Scholle, Cienfuegos, August 22, 1917, USNA, RG 59/837.504/26; Dumoulin, John, Azúcar y lucha de clases, 1917 (Havana, 1980), 82.Google Scholar

52. “Report on the Cuban Strikes since January 1, 1919,” Havana, March 26, 1919, USNA. RG 165/2056–171; Crowder to the Secretary of State, Havana, November 24, 1924, USNA, RG 59/837.00/2583. On the sugar strikes of 1924, see Instituto de Historia, Historia del movimiento obrero, 1:217–19.

53. “Horrible ejemplo de ferocidad,” La Discusión, March 25, 1917.

54. Tellería, Congresos obreros, 128, 137–42, 188; “Actas del Congreso de fundaciín de la CNOC,” in Instituto de Historia, El movimiento obrero, 1: 407–41.

55. “Nueva protesta de Ia Federaciín Obrera de Ia Habana,” “La viril protesta obrera” and “Manifiesto protesta de Ia Liga Antimperialista” all in Rosell, Mirta, ed., Luchas obreras contra Machado (Havana, 1973), 83–84,Google Scholar 95–98, 108–10 (emphasis in original).

56. Instituto de Historia, Hiswria del movimiento obrero, 1:256–57; “Plataforma electoral del Partido Comunista de Cuba.”in Luchas obreras contra Machado, ed. Rosell, Mirta (Havana, 1973). 188–211.Google ScholarOn the CNOC's program see Judicial, Policía, “Memorandum”, Havana, 07 17, 1930,Google Scholar USNA, RG 84/800B. For the relationship between Communists and Eastern Europeans. see Sección de Expertos to Federico Rasco, Military Commander of Havana, November 13, 1931, USNA, RG 84/800.1/1143.

57. Schoenrich, Edwin to Guggenheim, Santiago de Cuba, 07 13, 1931Google Scholarand Guggenheim, General Conditions Report for July 1931, Havana, August 8, 1931, USNA, RG 84/800/4 and 809.

58. Wakefield, “Political Situation in the Nuevitas Consular District,” March 17, 1931, USNA, RG 84/800; Echevarría, Carlos González, Origen y desarrollo del movimiento obrero camagüeyano (Havana, 1984), 87;Google ScholarLewis, Rupert, Marcus Garvey, Anti-Colonial Champion (Trenton, 1988), 106–7.Google Scholar

59. “Memorandum: Racial Problem of Cuba,” enclosed in Welles to the Secretary of State, Havana, September 29, 1933, USNA, RG 84/800/143; Welles to the Secretary of State, Havana, September 30, 1933, USNA, RG 84/800/324; Villena, Ruben Martínez, “Las contradicciones internas del imperialismo yanqui y el alza del movimiento revolucionario”, in Ministerio de Edvación, Documentos de Cuba republicana (Havana, 1972), 176–93.Google Scholar

60. Pérez-Medina, A., “The Situation of the Negro in Cuba”, in Negro, An Anthology, ed. Cunard, Nancy (New York, 1970), 294–98;Google ScholarMenéndex, Matilde S., “¡Racismo o política?” La Correspondencia, 02 28, 1936;Google Scholar Gastón Moray Varona, “La cuestión social,” Diario de la Marina, February 24, 1929; Vasconcelos, Ramón, “Al margen de los días. Complejos”, in Municipio de la Habana, Las comparsas populares (Havana, 1937), 33–37.Google Scholar