What is the truth about the Cuban Revolution? How was it won? Who won it? Was victory due to luck or to genius? Did Fidel Castro and the 26th of July movement fill a void left by loosely organized opposition groups, or did they face seriously positioned rebel groups with designs on power after president Fulgencio Batista’s ouster? Did Fidel Castro cooperate with the Popular Socialist Party (the Cuban communist party) and deceive dissidents and the people at large about his future commitment to Marxist-Leninism, or did he establish a broad-based underground force, especially in cooperation when the urban branch wanted to plan a general strike? Did Castro and the communists remain allies, or did they disagree over the final phase of the guerrilla movement? For 40 years, scholars have attempted to answer these questions, but insufficient access to the necessary documentary evidence has kept their answers incomplete.
Julia Sweig—granted...
