Global Learning
  • Home
  • Defenders of Cuban Socialism
    • UN Charter
    • Declaration of Human Rights
    • Bandung
    • New International Economic Order
    • Non-Aligned Movement
  • Substack editorial column
  • New Cold War articles
  • Friends of Socialist China articles
  • Global Research articles
  • Counterpunch articles
  • Cuba and the world-system
    • Table of Contents and chapter summaries
    • About the author
    • Endorsements
    • Obtaining your copy
  • Blog ¨The View from the South¨
    • Blog Index
    • Posts in reverse chronological order
  • The Voice of Third World Leaders
    • Asia >
      • Ho Chi Minh
      • Xi Jinping, President of China
    • Africa >
      • Kwame Nkrumah
      • Julius Nyerere
    • Latin America >
      • Fidel Castro
      • Hugo Chávez
      • Raúl Castro >
        • 55th anniversary speech, January 1, 1914
        • Opening Speech, CELAC
        • Address at G-77, June 15, 2014
        • Address to National Assembly, July 5, 2014
        • Address to National Assembly, December 20, 2014
        • Speech on Venezuela at ALBA, 3-17-2015
        • Declaration of December 18, 2015 on USA-Cuba relations
        • Speech at ALBA, March 5, 2018
      • Miguel Díaz-Canel >
        • UN address, September 26, 2018
        • 100th annivesary, CP of China
      • Evo Morales >
        • About Evo Morales
        • Address to G-77 plus China, January 8, 2014
        • Address to UN General Assembly, September 24, 2014
      • Rafael Correa >
        • About Rafael Correa
        • Speech at CELAC 1/29/2015
        • Speech at Summit of the Americas 2015
      • Nicolás Maduro
      • Cristina Fernández
      • Cuban Ministry of Foreign Relations >
        • Statement at re-opening of Cuban Embassy in USA, June 20, 2015
        • The visit of Barack Obama to Cuba
        • Declaration on parliamentary coup in Brazil, August 31, 2016
        • Declaration of the Revolutionary Government of Cuba on Venezuela, April 13, 2019
      • ALBA >
        • Declaration of ALBA Political Council, May 21, 2019
        • Declaration on Venezuela, March 17, 2015
        • Declaration on Venezuela, April 10, 2017
      • Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) >
        • Havana Declaration 2014
        • Declaration on Venezuela, March 26
    • Martin Luther King, Jr.
    • International >
      • Peoples’ Summit 2015
      • The Group of 77 >
        • Declaration on a New World Order 2014
        • Declaration on Venezuela 3/26/2015
      • BRICS
      • Non-Aligned Movement
  • Readings
    • Charles McKelvey, Cuba in Global Context
    • Piero Gleijeses, Cuba and Africa
    • Charles McKelvey, Chávez and the Revolution in Venezuela
    • Charles McKelvey, The unfinished agenda of race in USA
    • Charles McKelvey, Marxist-Leninist-Fidelist-Chavist Revolutionary
  • Recommended Books
  • Contact

Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Recommended books on Amazon.com; click on image of book to connect

Mella fuses Martí and Marxism-Leninism

9/10/2014

0 Comments

 
Posted July 9, 2014

    José Martí had forged a movement that responded to the two issues of colonial domination and social inequality: a movement that was anti-imperialist, seeking to establish a truly independent nation; and that sought social equality, in which all would be included as full citizens of the nation, regardless of race or class.  Julio Antonio Mella (see “Julio A. Mella and the student movement” 7/7/2014) was formed in the moral and intellectual environment established by the powerful teachings of Martí (“José Martí” 6/26/2014).  But Mella had experienced the “rotten fruit” of representative democracy, and he therefore lived in a different historic moment.  He had seen what Martí could not possibly have imagined: the participation of the Cuban national bourgeoisie in the imperialist project of the United States, reducing itself to a figurehead bourgeoisie; the participation of ample sectors of the middle class in the corruption of the republic; and the loss of direction, the “moral blindness” and the “inertia of the soul” that defined the society of the republic (see “A neocolonial republic is born” 7/1/2014).  From Mella’s vantage point, Martí’s formulation of a society made by all and for the good of all seemed impractical.  Mella discerned the need for a struggle by workers, peasants, and the poor that would take power from the political class that had surrendered its dignity to the interests of US corporations and that had forgotten the needs of the humble. Thus, Mella gave a Marxist reading to Martí.  By deepening its awareness of the dynamics of class differences and contradictions, he pushed the legacy of Martí to a more advanced stage.  But he also preserved essential dimensions of Martí, such as anti-imperialism in defense of national independence as well as the ethical messages of Martí, like the need for personal sacrifice in defense of ideals.  Mella therefore also contributed to the evolution of Marxism-Leninism, in which its political theory and practice would be integrally tied to the struggles of neocolonized peoples for full independence.  This synthesis and fusing of Marxism-Leninism and Martí, initiated by Mella, would be brought to fruition in the 1950s and 1960s by Fidel Castro and the “generation of the centenarians,” so-called because they inaugurated a new stage of armed struggle during the year of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Martí (Vitier 2006:124-36; Instituto de Cuba 1998:223).

       Mella was the most advanced leader of what has come to be called the “Generation of 1930.”  He represents an important step in the evolution of a Cuban ethic tied to political practice, which has had four important moments: Carlos Manuel de Céspedes and the first independence struggle of 1868 (see “The Cuban war of independence of 1868” 6/17/2014); José Martí and the second war of independence in 1895, which turned to anti-imperialism and an inclusive concept of democracy; Mella and the Generation of 1930, which, influenced by the Russian Revolution, took the first steps in the fusing of Marxism-Leninism and the revolutionary ethic and analysis Martí; and Fidel Castro and the “generation of the centenarians,” which brought the revolution to a new stage of armed struggle, the triumph of which made possible a deepening of the theoretical-practical synthesis of Marxism-Leninism and the teachings of Martí that had been initiated by Mella.

      The evolution in Cuban political practice and theory was a part of the evolution of the political theory and practice of Marxism-Leninism on a global scale, which has had five important historic movements: Marx and the Western European workers’ movement of the 1840s; Lenin and the Russian Revolution of 1917-24; the adaptation of Marxism-Leninism to China by Mao; the synthesis of Marxism-Leninism and the Third World anti-colonial perspective, represented by Ho, Fidel, and others in the period 1946 to 1979; and the post-1995 renewal of socialism in the Third World, represented by the Bolivarian Revolution in Latin America (see “The social and historical context of Marx” 1/15/14; “Reflections on the Russian Revolution” 1/29/2014; “Ho reformulates Lenin” 5/7/2014; “Ho synthesizes socialism and nationalism” 5/8/2014; “Ho’s practical theoretical synthesis” 5/9/2014; “A change of epoch?” 3/18/2014; “Is Marx today fulfilled?” 3/20/2014; “The alternative world-system from below” 4/15/2014).

     Assassinated at the age of 26, Julio Antonio Mella is remembered and appreciated in Cuban popular consciousness today for his important contributions in the development of the Cuban Revolution and as a symbol of the revolutionary tradition of Cuban students.  At the entrance to the University of Havana, one can find Mella Plaza and monument, where each academic year begins with a ceremony presided by the elected officers of FEU, the student organization that he created.


References

Instituto de Historia de Cuba. 1998.  La neocolonia.  La Habana: Editora Política. 

Vitier, Cintio.  2006.  Ese Sol del Mundo Moral.  La Habana: Editorial Félix Varela.


Key words:  Third World, revolution, colonialism, neocolonialism, imperialism, democracy, national liberation, sovereignty, self-determination, socialism, Marxism, Leninism, Cuba, Latin America, world-system, world-economy, development, underdevelopment, colonial, neocolonial, blog Third World perspective, Cuban Revolution, neocolonial republic, Julio Antonio Mella
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author: Charles McKelvey

    Retired professor, writer,  and Marxist-Leninist-Fidelist-Chavist revolutionary

    Categories

    All
    American Revolution
    Blog Index
    Bolivia
    Charismatic Leaders
    China
    Critique Of The Left
    Cuban History
    Cuba Today
    Ecuador
    Environment
    French Revolution
    Gay Rights
    Haitian Revolution
    Knowledge
    Latin American History
    Latin American Right
    Latin American Unity
    Marx
    Marxism-Leninism
    Mexican Revolution
    Miscellaneous
    Neocolonialism
    Neoliberalism
    Nicaragua
    North-South Cooperation
    Presidential Elections 2016
    Press
    Public Debate In USA
    Race
    Religion And Revolution
    Revolution
    Russian Revolution
    South-South Cooperation
    Third World
    Trump
    US Ascent
    US Imperialism
    Vanguard
    Venezuela
    Vietnam
    Wallerstein
    Women And Revolution
    World History
    World-System
    World-System Crisis

    Archives

    August 2019
    July 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    December 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    January 2013

    RSS Feed

    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture

More Ads


website by Sierra Creation