JosŽ Mart’
A Biography for the Twenty-First Century
By Pamela Barnett
References to Mart’Õs work are from Obras completas. 27 vols. La Habana: Editorial
de Ciencias Sociales, 1975.
Scroll down for a
bibliography of works cited.
You can read more about Mart’ in The Politics of Letters: JosŽ Mart’Õs
Revolutionary Discourse. Doctoral Thesis, University of Toronto, 2006.
Beginnings and Adolescent Prisoner in Colonial Cuba
Born in La
Habana on January 28, 1853, JosŽ Mart’Ñpoet, intellectual, journalist,
teacher, orator and revolutionaryÑdemonstrated, from his youth, a
profound and unswerving commitment to political and cultural emancipation,
and justice and dignity for every individual. More than a century after his
death on the battlefield in Dos R’os on May 19, 1895, his contribution to political
and cultural development in the Spanish-speaking world remains a legacy that
continues to inspire modern-day individuals committed to justice, freedom, creativity,
development and progress in human society.
The son of
immigrants from Spain (his father was from Valencia and his mother was from
Islas Canarias), Mart’ opposed colonial repression from an early age. He
wrote an epic poem, ÒAbdala,Ó and a sonnet, ÒÁ10 de octubre!Ó hailing the
fighters for Cuban independence and the outbreak, on that day in 1868, of La Guerra de Diez A–os, the first war for Cuban
independence.
These works
appeared in student publications in 1869 and are early indications of Mart’Õs
literary activism, attesting to his early confidence in his capacity to
affect an audience through the power of the printed word. Like the work of
his maturity, they are literary pieces oriented towards political action and situated
within the specific historical circumstances to which they respond. They are
also early evidence of the revolutionary activism that informed the
rebellious spirit and creative genius of his emancipatory discourse.
On March 4,
1870, Mart’ was condemned to six years in prison for a private letter he had
written accusing a fellow student of apostasy for having enlisted in the
Spanish army. He was seventeen years old. Heavily shackled at the waist and
leg, he was forced to labour twelve hours daily at the San L‡zaro Quarry,
exposed to the broiling sun and the brutality of the guards. Several months
in these inhumane conditions caused the lifelong injuries to his eyes and
legs that forced his transfer to the prisonÕs tobacco factory.
Deportation to Spain and Activism in Exile
Deported to
Spain on January 15, 1871, he disembarked in C‡diz on February 1, 1871, and arrived
in Madrid by February 16. On March 24, within two months of his arrival in Spain,
a C‡diz newspaper, La Soberan’a
Nacional, published ÒCastillo,Ó an article in which Mart’ describes the
suffering endured by a very old prisoner in Cuba. It also appeared on April
12 in La Cuesti—n Cubana, a Sevilla newspaper.
In Madrid that
March, he also published the first of his pamphlets to reach a large public
audience, El presidio pol’tico en Cuba, a forceful condemnation of
SpainÕs inhumane treatment of political prisoners in colonial Cuba ((1: 43-74, appeared in 1871). This work
of intensely poeticized prose provides early evidence of Mart’Õs profound
humanism. It emerges out of his prison experiences but is centred on others, for
he transcends his personal suffering to recognize the agony of fellow
prisoners, revealing empathy and solidarity with those condemned to the
brutality of prison conditions on the island. Inhumane prison conditions and unjust
colonial administrators come to represent conditions in Cuba and SpainÕs
colonial policy.
Notwithstanding
his characteristic confidence in the persuasive power of the printed word, Mart’,
then eighteen years old, certainly would have understood that his Spanish
readers constituted a mighty challenge to his rhetorical skills and powers of
persuasion. He met this challenge with the eloquence, urgency and moral
conviction of one who, having suffered himself and suffered with others, speaks
the truth, optimistic that public knowledge of injustice will precipitate the
political actions required to end it.
Composed while Mart’ was still in his teens, the poeticized prose of El presidio pol’tico en Cuba, like his adolescent poems, is oriented
towards political action. It challenges the traditional limitations of
both genre and generation, for it is variously described as a prison memoir
or testimony written as a prose poem or in poetic prose in twelve cantos; and
although it was produced in Mart’Õs adolescence, its profound humanism,
literary creativity, as well as its focus and purposeÑjustice
for Cubans and the islandÕs emancipation from SpainÑrender it
essentially coherent with the work of his maturity. It remains one
of his most accomplished and important writings.
In addition to the appearance of El presidio pol’tico en Cuba and ÒCastilloÓ shortly after his arrival in Spain
in 1871, in September of that year Mart’ also entered into an
intense polemic on the pages of El
Jurado Federal with La Prensa, a Madrid daily that was hostile to the
cause of Cuban independence and to Cuban exiles residing in Spain. As one of
his biographerÕs points out, to appreciate the resonance of the work of
ideological dissemination in which Mart’ excelled, it is sufficient to
remember that on November 5, fourteen newspapers in the Spanish capital
formed La Liga de la Prensa Espa–ola Antifilibustera to confront the
activities of the Cuban independence supporters and their sympathizers
(Toledo Sande, Cesto de llamas. Biograf’a de JosŽ Mart’. La Habana: Editorial de
Ciencias Sociales, 2000: 38). An outstanding feature of this impressive biography is the
authorÕs success in producing a compelling narrative of Mart’Õs life and
times with broad appeal while also offering the academic an informative and
systematic critique of the life and work of this exceptional individual.
In November of
the following year Mart’ published El
d’a 27 de Noviembre de 1871, a poetic ode commemorating the first
anniversary of the execution of eight medical students in the streets of La Habana;
and on February 15, 1873, days after the triumph, on February 11, of the
first Spanish Republic, he published La
Repœblica espa–ola ante la Revoluci—n cubana, a pamphlet condemning the
double standard of freedom for Spain alongside colonial repression in Cuba.
It appeared in SevillaÕs La Cuesti—n
Cubana on April 12. Mart’, then twenty years old, forwarded his reasoned
defence of Cuban independence directly to the members of the new Republican
government.
Confident in his
writing and committed to Cuban independence, he seized every opportunity to persuade
the Spanish public and their colonialist government towards justice for Cuba,
neither overwhelmed nor discouraged by the eminence of public figures or the
likelihood of a hostile reception.
In addition to
his activism promoting the Cuban cause, Mart’ also attended the universities
of Madrid and Zaragoza, where he read law and philosophy and qualified for
bachelor degrees in June 1874. During his first exile in Spain, several
events occurred that would have reinforced his conviction that armed
insurrection was the only route towards political emancipation in Cuba: in
November 1871, the execution of eight medical students in La Habana; in
February 1873, the denial, by the short-lived Spanish Republic, of CubaÕs
right to independence; and in January 1874, the violent overthrow of the
Republican movement.
The Exile Relocates to Mexico, Then Guatemala
His confinement
in Spain was lifted in January1875, but he was prohibited from returning to Cuba because the insurrectionists were still at
war with Spain. He travelled
instead to Mexico, where his family had moved, arriving in the capital by
February 10. His career as a journalist and regular contributor to Revista Universal began soon after his
arrival, and by the date of his departure from Mexico, December 18, 1876, the
pages of this newspaper had recorded ample evidence of his active journalism.
He also
contributed articles to El Federalista.
Mart’Õs articles in the Mexican press reflect a keen, informed involvement in
the cultural, political, social and economic aspects of Mexico which began to
shape his understanding of history and politics in Spanish-speaking America.
His active involvement in Mexican life soon earned him a reputation as a
respected intellectual, journalist, gifted orator, and advocate for
indigenous peoples and workers; however, his dislike for the methods of the Porfiriato
regime that had overthrown the Lerdo government eventually affected his willingness
to remain in Mexico, a country in which he was an Òextranjero.Ó
He moved to
Guatemala after a brief and clandestine visit to Cuba, in January 1877, to
help his family resettle there. In Guatemala he was appointed to teach at the
Escuela Normal, was later named professor of French, English, Italian and
German literatures and philosophy of science at the university, and continued
to extend the reputation he had earned as an intellectual, journalist, orator
and poet. His love and gratitude for his host country are immortalized in a
pamphlet, Guatemala, published by
El Siglo XIX in Mexico in 1878: Òel pueblo aquŽl, sincero y generoso, ha dada
abrigo al peregrine humilde. Lo hizo maestro, que es hacerlo creador. Me ha
tendido la mano y yo la estrechoÓ (7: 117). [Those sincere and humble people
have sheltered the humble traveller. They made him a teacher, which is to make
him a creator. They have extended a welcoming hand to me, and I hold it
firmly.]
Mart’Õs writings
during this period begin to include references to nuestra AmŽrica and madre
AmŽrica (4: 98, 105, 111, 174), unifying concepts that suggest his emerging nuestroamericanismo,
and which continue to inspire th Americas today. He remained in Guatemala
until July 1878, when his principles compelled him to resign his teaching
position and, consequently, to leave the country. Perhaps his exit from Mexico
after two years and from Guatemala after one year also reflects the restless
anxiety of an exile.
Return to Cuba
After more than
seven years in exile, Mart’ returned to Cuba in 1878 following the signing of
El Pacto del Zanj—n, the treaty
that ended La Guerra de Diez A–os.
He was then twenty-five years old. The war had failed to achieve CubaÕs
independence, and the high expectations in many sectors throughout the island
that the pact would result in constitutional reforms and genuine improvement
in the political and economic conditions in Cuba eventually ended in
disillusionment.
The majority of
Cubans remained disenfranchised, and SpainÕs political and economic control
of the colony remained unrelentingly repressive. However, the spirit of
independence was still alive on the island, and once again Mart’, who could
be neither co-opted nor coerced into silence, became actively engaged in
building support for the position that armed revolt was still the only route
to CubaÕs political and economic emancipation.
He began
immediately to work with groups that were organizing the renewal of the
independence war, and acquired valuable experience in conspiracy and knowledge
of the preparations and planning required for a successful war. Years of
honing his gift for oratory in Spain, Mexico and Guatemala had prepared him to
make effective use of public speaking opportunities to promote the
independence of Cuba, even under the watchful eye of the colonial
administrators and their sympathizers.
Cintio Vitier
states that those innovative, eloquent speeches in La Habana following the Pacto del Zanj—n decisively marked
Mart’Õs appearance on the stage of political oratory and inspired Cubans to
discover in him a political and spiritual leader (ÒLos discursos de Mart’Ó Anuario Martiano 1, 1969: 295).
Several of these speeches have been preserved, including one he, an independentista, was invited to
deliver on April 26, 1879, at a banquet offered by autonomistas to honour their leader, Adolfo M‡rquez Sterling, at El Louvre in La Habana (4: 175-79).
Once Again, Under Arrest in Colonial Cuba, and Move to New York
Mart’ seized the
opportunity to oppose the political direction of the autonomists, declaring
that CubaÕs problems required immediate, decisive, concrete and heroic
solutions. When the revolt that became known as La Guerra Chiquita erupted on August 24, 1879, the Spanish
government reacted swiftly with widespread arrests. Mart’ was arrested on
September 17, and on September 25, once again he was deported to Spain. This
time, however, his confinement there was brief and his departure in December
somewhat clandestine. He made his way from Spain through Paris to New York,
arriving there on January 3, 1880.
Based in New
York was the Revolutionary Committee in charge of La
Guerra Chiquita, the insurrection that was still raging on the island.
Mart’ served as the committeeÕs sub-delegate, collaborating with the
delegate, Juan Gualberto G—mez, who had organized support for the
first war among Cuban exiles in Paris, and with whom Mart’ had previously collaborated
in La Habana, following the disillusionment with El Pacto del Zanj—n, in organizing support for the renewal of
armed rebellion against Spanish colonialism.
Mart’Õs address
to a meeting of Cuban ŽmigrŽs at Steck Hall on January 24, 1880, shortly
after his arrival in New York, initiated his revolutionary oratory in the United
States and marked the beginning of his campaign among Cubans ŽmigrŽs for
support for CubaÕs war of independence. The Committee disbanded
in September 1880 when the rebellion failed. However, Mart’, who had assumed
interim leadership of the committee before the end of La Guerra Chiquita and had emerged as a leader of the
independence movement among Cubans in the United States, had learned lessons
from the previous wars that he would apply to ensure the success of a new
separatist uprising.
Literary Creativity and Cultural Activism While in Caracas
He remained in
New York until early 1881, when he left for Caracas. He resumed his career as
an educator and taught literature and French grammar at the Colegio Santa
Mar’a, and literature and oratory at the Colegio Villegas. Although his
stay in Venezuela was brief, it is the site of two critical landmarks that
represent Mart’Õs contribution to the cultural history of Latin
America.
The first is the publication of La Revista
Venezolana, wherein he advanced the emancipatory poetics that is
recognized as the first manifesto of Spanish American modernism (Toledo Sande,
Cesto 124). Mart’ proposes a
poetics of affiliation that provides aesthetic criteria for the creation and
identification of literary works that are vitally and genuinely Spanish
AmericanÑfeeling over artifice, originality over imitation, and
artistic freedom over conventional ideas.
The second is Ismaelillo, the collection
of poetry that became the cultural event that initiated modern poetry in
Spanish America, for IsmaelilloÕs
poetic practice is characterized by sincerity, which is expressed through
language and poetic conceits inspired by the poetÕs personal anguish
for his absent son, relocating, as Julio Ramos suggests, the Òspecifically
imaginaryÓ away from the traditional forms and established disciplinary
discourses and placing it into a discrete discursive space (45). Ismaelillo was written in Venezuela
and published in New York in 1882.
Again, however, Mart’Õs
activism set him at odds with the ruling regime and resulted in his
involuntary departure from Venezuela. The head of
state, President Guzm‡n Blanco, expelled him in July 1881. In 1886, in a
letter from New York to his friend Manuel Mercado, Mart’ wrote:
ÒPero mis instrumentos de trabajo, que son mi lengua
y mi pluma, o hab’an de quedarse en el mismo encogimiento en que est‡n aqui,
o habr’an de usarse en pro o en contra de asuntos locales en que no tengo
derecho ni voluntad de entrar, y en los que, sin embargo, como ya me sucedi—
en Guatemala y en Venezuela, ni el silencio me es permitido, porque se juzga,
cuando y se tiene cierto nombre y respeto, que es censura al gobierno el silencio
decorosoÓ (1: 91).
[But my working tools, which are my words and my pen
would either have remained as constrained as they have been here, or would
have had to be used to support or resist local events in which I have not the
right nor the will to become involved, and in which, nevertheless, as I
experienced in Guatemala and in Venezuela, not even silence have I been
permitted, because it is understood, when one has a certain name and is
respected, that dignified silence is one way to censure the government.]
El Maestro Returns to New York
Mart’ was
twenty-eight years old when he returned to New York, where he resided until
he left to join the war of independence in Oriente in 1895. Facing
difficult economic circumstances following his return to New York, he struggled
for several years and worked at tedious commercial jobs to earn a living. It
was at least 1887 before his newspaper correspondent work afforded him an
adequate income, and even longer before he could dedicate himself entirely to
the Cuban cause.
He worked with
Rafael Serra, an Afro-Cuban exile, to establish La Liga de Instrucci—n in January 1890. Organized for the
education and advancement of Afro-Cuban exiles, La Liga offered classes and lectures to promote the political and
social development of humble exiled workers. Mart’Õs involvement included community
outreach and teaching, a vocation he valued for the opportunity it provided
for him Òto createÓ: ÒLo hizo maestro, que es hacerlo creadorÓ (7: 117). According to Philip S. Foner, Mart’Õs weekly
lectures inspired patriotic pride in his students at La Liga; a Òsociety for
poor peopleÓ and a Òtraining school for the revolution,Ó it was an important
development in a revolutionary movement that had to base itself on the poor (Our
America by JosŽ Mart’.
New York: Monthly Review Press, 1977, p. 17).
As committed as
he was to CubaÕs independence, however, Mart’Õs nationalism transcended the
islandÕs geographic space. In Mexico, Guatemala and Venezuela, his work as a
teacher and journalist, and his active involvement in the intellectual and
cultural milieu increased his knowledge and influenced his perspective of the
political and social realities of Spanish America. His sojourn in those
countries and his residence in the United States contributed to his
understanding of Spanish-speaking America as nations affiliated through their
linguistic, cultural, political and historical commonalities, challenged by similar
problems of government, economic development, race and class, and faced with the
urgency of resisting the danger of the United StatesÕ territorial
expansionism and economic domination.
Nuestra AmŽrica
Mart’Õs nuestroamericanismo informs a
discourse of affiliation that urges unity among the Spanish-speaking nations of the Western Hemisphere and affirms pride
in their national identity while differentiating them from the United States,
the other America. His concept of a unifying identity is reflected in
his professional work and activities. Uruguay appointed him their consul in
New York in 1887, and in 1890 he became consul in New York for Paraguay and Argentina as
well as UruguayÕs representative to the American
International Monetary Commission, which met between January 7 and April 8,
1891.
Teacher, writer
and orator combine purposefully in Mart’, Òel maestro.Ó His teaching, writing and oratory reflect his active
commitment Òto create,Ó which involved sharing his emancipatory politics and vision
of an independent Cuba and an affiliated America. A confident disseminator of ideas from
his youth, he demonstrated an early
inclination to publicize his views and persuade his audience to participate
in their emancipation from colonial rule.
His emancipatory
discourse brings the poetÕs creativity and aesthetic will together with the
political purpose and ethical appeal imposed by the realities of history and
the activistÕs place in it. It
is a discourse of inclusion that recognizes the marginalized sectors and
integrates them into the march of human progress. His texts invoke the history of Cuba
and the Americas through an emancipatory poetics that combines factual
information and poetic expression. Cintio Vitier uses the term imaginizaci—n to refer to the rapid,
accumulative images and concretized scenes integral to Mart’Õs concise historical narratives
and poeticized prose (ÒLos discursosÓ 307, 309).
Mart’Õs activism
conveys his confidence in the political power of words, not simply to
promulgate his vision of nationhood, but to identify common aspirations and generate
shared concepts that create and strengthen communities. According to Benedict
Anderson (Imagined Communities. London: Verso, 1983), this
means to ÒshapeÓ experience into a ÒconceptÓ (77) and create an Òimagined community
among a specific assemblage of fellow-readersÓ (62) and, we may add, listenersÑCubans
and other nuestroamericanos.
In Imagined
Communities, AndersonÕs argues that journalism has played a critical role
in creating the Òimagined communitiesÓ that contribute to nationalism (Anderson, Benedict. Imagined Communities. London: Verso,
1983). When applied to Mart’Õs discourse, VitierÕs imaginizaci—n and
AndersonÕs Òimagined communitiesÓ are ideas which represent essential
elements of his style and purpose and bring together the emancipatory
aesthetic and politics of his praxis.
JosŽ Mart’, Journalist and Correspondent
While in the
United States, Mart’ wrote articles for Spanish and English language New York
newspapers: La Revista Ilustrada de
Nueva York, La AmŽrica, The Hour and The Sun. He edited and contributed articles to Patria, the publication of the Partido Revolucionario Cubano. He also
wrote Versos sencillos and most of
the poems of Versos libres as well
as poems, stories and articles for four volumes of La edad de oro, a magazine to educate and encourage young readers
to experience pride in their Spanish American identity.
In addition, he
was a regular contributor to several major newspapers with a readership throughout
the Spanish-speaking world: CaracasÕs La Opini—n Nacional, MexicoÕs El
Partido Liberal and Buenos AiresÕs La Naci—n. Ram—n Becali suggests
that most of Mart’Õs writings were produced through journalistic
militancyÑÒmilitancia period’sticaÓ (49). He states:
ÒMart’ inquieto,
rebelde, en trasiego constante, encuentra en su rol de corresponsal el cargo
ideal para sus fines revolucionariosÓ (15)
[Mart’,
restless, rebellious, constantly on the move, finds in working as a
correspondent to be idŽal for his revolutionary goals].
Similarly, in Colonialism and Culture, Iris M. Zavala, who positions early
Latin American modernism and modernists as agents of social and cultural
change, situates Mart’ within the Òliberationist imaginaryÓ of modernismÕs
Òanti-colonial narrativeÓ (Colonialism
and Culture: Hispanic Modernisms and the Social Imaginary. Bloomington
and Indianapolis: Indiana U. P., 1992).
For Becali,
Mart’Õs work as correspondent reflects the character and principles that
define his intellectual activism:
Òcapacidad de
observaci—n, aprensi—n visoauditiva, rebeld’a, sinceridad y precision en sus
testimonios, inteligencia verbal, adaptabilidad interpersonal, amor
inquebrantable por la justicia y vocaci—n infinita por el bien comœnÓ (28).
[keen
observation, auditory and visual perception, sincerity and prŽcision in his
testimony, verbal intelligence, interpersonal adaptability, unbreakable love
for justice, and infinite dedication to the good of all].
Journalism was
an integral part of Mart’Õs political activism. More than a
means of providing a livelihood and like teaching, it provided opportunities
for him to create a knowledgeable and vigilant reading
public, to share his vision, and to inform and inspire
his audience throughout the Spanish-speaking world. Resistance and
emancipation are thematic currents in his articles.
In his essay, ÒNuestra AmŽrica,Ó Mart’Õs
writes: ÒLos pueblos
han de tener una picota para quien les azuza a odios inœtiles; y otra para
quien no les dice a tiempo la verdad . . . . Pensar
es servirÓ (6 : 22). [The people should have a pillory for those who
foment useless hate and another for those who donÕt tell the truth in time. . . .To think is to serve.]
Mart’ exhorts his
readers to value and defend the political, economic and cultural independence
of the Spanish-speaking countries of America. He urges them to have pride in
their identities, govern in the interests of their people, develop in harmony
with their autochthonous elements, maintain their integrity, protect their
sovereignty, and safeguard their independence from external aggression. He informs
and influences them on a wide range of subjects of cultural, political and
historical significance.
He addresses topics
ranging from philosophy, art and literature to politics, history and
economics, always conveying an enthusiasm for creativity, a passion for
justice and a keen awareness of the historical circumstances that occasioned
each instance of writing. His wide-ranging writings on the United States
provide readers in the Spanish-speaking world with biographical sketches of
outstanding personalities, depictions of scenes and cities, descriptions of
cultural events and new technologies, analyses of politics and racial
inequalities, reports on the conflicts between capital and labour, and
warnings against the menace of United States imperialism.
Many of his
writings, including those that chronicle the nature and effect of
modernization on people and institutions in the United States, convey the nuestroamericanismo through which Mart’ emphasizes affiliation
and the importance of preserving the culture, values, uniqueness and
independence of nuestra AmŽrica. For example, in Divergent Modernities (Trans. John D.
Blanco. Durham: Duke U. P., 1996), RamosÕs reading
of Escenas norteamericanas
emphasizes them as
Òthe context in which Mart’ elaborates his Latinoamericanista thoughtÑthe discourse on us that culminates in ÔOur AmericaÕ
and Versos sencillosÓ.
The articles
published by ArgentinaÕs La Naci—n, occasioned by the Pan-American Congress that convened in
various sessions from October 2, 1889, to April 19, 1890, are urgent calls
for Spanish America to assert its independence. This vigilance found its
ultimate expression in Mart’Õs essay, ÒNuestra AmŽrica,Ó published in New
York and Mexico in 1891.
Familiarity with
JosŽ Mart’Õs life and work inspires admiration for his creative genius and
extraordinary capacity for work. His participation in cultural and political
organizations, his newspaper articles that chronicle society and events in
the United States, his critiques of the nation that his prophetic eye
perceived as the emerging imperialist hegemon in the region, and his activities
in defense of nuestra AmŽricaÕs
uniqueness and its quest for independence all offer evidence of his unrelenting
political activism.
JosŽ Mart’, Revolutionary and Orator
An unwavering supporter
of Cuban independence who recognized armed resistance as a radical but
necessary solution to colonial repression, he was always among those individuals
and groups that worked actively to heighten the spirit of revolution and to organize,
mobilize and support armed rebellion against the colonial regime. His independentista oratory, an important
part of his literary and political legacy, played a key role in his
revolutionary activism among the Cuban communities in the United States.
His speech to Cuban
ŽmigrŽs in New YorkÕs Steck Hall in January 1880 was the occasion to rally
their support for La Guerra Chiquita,
the new revolt that had erupted in August 1879 and was raging on the island. In
portraying the rebellion as a new phase in the continuing war to secure an
honourable peace and CubaÕs independence, he invokes the heroism and
sacrifices characteristic of the Guerra
de Diez A–os, interweaving references to the current insurrection to
convey a continuing narrative of CubaÕs epic struggle for independence that unites
dead martyrs and living insurgents in one heroic revolutionary movement.
He reflects on Òaquella dŽcada magn’ficaÓ [that magnificent decade] and the disappointing nature of the
negotiated peace that ended it, reminds his audience of the support and
contribution made by humble Cubans to the revolution, and conveys
optimism that the lessons from the past would engender the ideological
preparedness, military organization and unified support required for a
successful war.
His disposition
for analysis and reflection had, perhaps, enabled him to already foresee that
La Guerra Chiquita was not fated to
succeed. After it ended in 1880 and other efforts by exiled Cubans and
military leaders of the independence wars to reorganize support for another
armed insurrection were also unsuccessful, Mart’Õs revolutionary work focused
on building support among migrant Cuban workers in New York and the active,
larger Cuban communities in Key West and Tampa for a new independence war.
As the movement
strengthened, his work as leader, organizer, writer and orator intensified. His
speeches to the tobacco workers in Florida in November and December of 1891ÑÒCon
todos y para el bien de todosÓ [With All and for the Good of All] (November
26, 1891, in Tampa), ÒLos nuevos pinosÓ [The New Pines] (November 27, 1891,
in Tampa), and ÒLas ‡guilas y las palomasÓ [The Eagles and the Doves] (December
25, 1891, in Key West)Ñare masterpieces of revolutionary oratory. They
played an important role in heightening the workersÕ spirit of revolution,
garnering their support for a new revolutionary party, and building material
support for a new independence war.
After approval
by all immigrant centers of its bases
and estatutos, the Partido Revolucionario Cubano was
formed under Mart’Õs political leadership on January 5, 1892. Significant
changes distinguished it from previous attempts to organize external support
for Cuban insurgency: its orientation acknowledged the interests and
involvement of all races and classes in the independence struggle, and the organization
of its leadership took control of the revolution out of the hands of the
military generals and rich landowners and placed it in civilian hands more
representative of the popular support for the revolution.
Mart’
discontinued his newspaper correspondent work to devote himself entirely to
the Cuban independence cause, working successfully to broaden and strengthen
support for the revolutionary forces both outside Cuba and on the island,
where Juan Gualberto G—mez became responsible for coordinating political
activities within the island on behalf of the revolutionary party. Mart’Õs
unwavering commitment to the cause of Cuban independence and his unrelenting
political activity culminated in his martyrdom, at the early age of
forty-two, on the battlefield in Dos R’os, on May 19, 1895, three months
after the outbreak of the war for Cuban independence in Oriente on February
24.
In an unfinished
letter to his Mexican friend, Manuel Mercado, dated the eve of his death, May
18, 1895, Mart’ wrote:
Ò. . . ya estoy
todos los d’as en peligro de dar mi vida por mi pa’s y por mi deber . . . de impedir
a tiempo con la independencia de Cuba que se extiendan por las Antillas los
Estados Unidos y caigan, con esa fuerza m‡s, sobre nuestras tierras de
AmŽrica. Cuanto hice hasta hoy, y harŽ, es para esoÓ (20: 161).
[Ò. . .already
each day IÕm in danger of giving my live for my country and in doing my duty.
. . to prevent, with the independence of Cuba, the United States from
expanding over the Caribbean, and with that added force, over our nations of
America. What I have done until now, and will do, has been for that reason.]
Nevertheless,
when in 1898 Cuba appeared on the verge of achieving its independence from
Spain, the United States wrested that victory from Cuba by declaring war on
Spain, which it easily defeated, and taking control of SpainÕs remaining
empire.
While its
historians recorded CubaÕs war of independence as the Spanish-American War,
the United States annexed Puerto Rico and made Cuba a protectorate. By 1899
the United States had written CubaÕs first Constitution and assumed effective
control over its society and economy. But Mart’Õs life and work were not forgotten.
His immense contribution to CubaÕs national independence struggle, his power
to inspire revolutionaries, and his enduring influence on Cuban political
consciousness surfaced dramatically with the 1959 Cuban Revolution. He
continues to inspire Cubans inside and outside of Cuba, and his message of
political, economic and cultural emancipation continues to shape cultural and
political institutions today.
Mart’Õs moral
standards, principled beliefs, and exemplary conduct in both the public and
private dimensions of his life have inspired an immense hagiography along with
some attempts to undermine it. History, however, justly records him as an
incorruptible revolutionary whose unwavering commitment to racial equality,
human rights and autochthonous values was uncharacteristic of his
contemporaries, transcended the boundaries of his era and anticipated the
ideas and writings of later revolutionaries.
His work through
La Liga and among Cuban workers in
New York and Florida was an important part of his active commitment to
ensuring that an independent Cuba would bring about dignity, equality, social
justice and enfranchisement for all Cubans. His life and work exemplify the
intellectual activistÑwhether orator, poet, journalist, teacher, artist
or revolutionaryÑwhose contribution to human progress is founded on the
principle that self-development, freedom, justice, and dignity for everyone are
achievable through social, political and historical transformation. The foundation
of that achievement is self-knowledge and self-development, an awareness of
the connectedness between individuals and groups of individuals in society, an
awareness of the relations of power, and an understanding of history.
Mart’Õs
essential humanism is consistent with a progressive view of scientific and
technological development. Genuine progress is informed by social and
historical consciousness and characterized by social justice and development.
He valued technological progress that produced economic and social benefits
for all, and rejected the cult of wealth which exacted high human and social
costs. He opposed ideas of progress that depended on importing technologies
and methods incompatible with the character and values of Spanish American
societies and detrimental to the material and spiritual well-being their
people. He believed that subservience to foreign ideas, which are often
valued precisely because they were foreign, inhibits the development of local
solutions for widespread local benefit.
Concerned about inequitable
economic relations, he cautioned that unequal international partnerships
served foreign interests, created dependency, and provided national benefits enjoyed
only by sectors of the local elite. For Mart’, economic growth without
development in social welfare is not genuine human progress; likewise, creativity
without social awareness is not authentic.
Originality and Creativity - Mart’'s Emancipatory Aesthetic
His humanism, the
foundation of his revolutionary activism, also informs his emancipatory aesthetic
as well as his understanding of the role of artists and intellectuals in
society. Their understanding of self and others, their responsibility for
expressing a peopleÕs collective identity and aspirations, their part in
effecting cultural liberation, and their role in the nationÕs historical
transformation are key ideas brought together within an emancipatory
aesthetic that recognizes the power of authentically creative works of art to
effect cultural emancipation and historical transformation.
Mart’ was prolific on the subject of art
and literature and wrote several critiques of artists and their works, but
this body of writing is not the subject of our study. Most of these articles
are in his Obras Completas, vols. 5,
13 and 15. There is always room for sustained enquiry into this
area of his praxis, but significant contributions have been made to
understanding Mart’ as a literary critic.
JosŽ Antonio PortuondoÕs ÒJosŽ Mart’,
cr’tico literarioÓ (Washington: Union Panamericana, 1953) is still one of the
most important analyses of Mart’ as critic. The numerous studies published in
the Anuario del Centro de Estudios
Martianos by the Centro de Estudios Martianos in La Habana are
particularly valuable in suggesting points of departure for analyses of a
more extensive and systematic nature. Angel RamaÕs La ciudad letrada (The
Lettered City. Trans. John Charles Chasteen. Durham: Duke U. P., 1996. La
Ciudad Letrada. Hanover, N.H.: Ediciones del Norte, 1984) is a pivotal
study that explores the historical place of writing and the changing roles of
writers in nineteenth century Latin America.
Ramos builds on RamaÕs analysis in Desencuentros de la modernidad en AmŽrica
Latina por el siglo XIX (Divergent
Modernities. Culture and Politics
in Nineteenth-Century Latin America. Trans. John D. Blanco. Durham: Duke
U. P., 1996.) Ramos traces the intellectual genealogy of latinoamericanismo and studies Mart’Õs role in inaugurating the literato as a new intellectual
subject.
Iris Zavala (Colonialism and Culture: Hispanic Modernisms and the Social
Imaginary. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana U. P., 1992) also
provides insights into the Òmodernist imaginaryÓÑlyrical poetry as a
convergence of the understanding of self and the world, and the liberating
function of literature and criticismÑand contributes significantly to
understanding the integral relationship between armed rebellion and writing
in Mart’. She associates modernist writers with a liberating mission and a
conscious commitment to social change.
Her view differs from a more traditional
understanding of literary modernism and modernists as relatively distanced
from social concerns or unintentional agents of change. For example, Angel
Augier suggests that modernists were agents of change but not fully aware of
the historical conditions determining their cultural production (Acci—n y poes’a en JosŽ Mart’. La
Habana: Editorial Letras Cubanas, 1982, p. 247). In El activismo creador de Mart’, V’ctor MassuhÕs analysis of
Mart’Õs creative activism essentially overlooks its interplay with the
activism inherent in his writing.
Similarly, although there are excellent
stylistic analyses of Mart’Õs writing, at time of my writing, they have not
systematically, if at all, addressed its political purpose. For example, Giovanni
Meo ZilioÕs (ÒJosŽ Mart’. Tres estudios estil’sticos.Ó Anuario Martiano 2 (1970): 9-94) provides a superb stylistic
analysis of Mart’Õs writing, but without any systematic attempt to reconcile
it with his political activism. Fern‡ndez Retamar, of course, describes the
essential nature of Mart’Õs writing as political action in, for example,
ÒCu‡l es la literatura que inicia JosŽ Mart’Ó (Anuario del Centro de Estudios Martianos 4 (1981): 26-50.
A discussion of
the revolutionary aesthetic informed by Mart’Õs humanism is a necessary
introduction to the study of the convergence of poetics and politics in selected
texts and a discussion of their purpose, audience and effects, to make
possible a shared understanding of this aspect of his creative genius. His life and work exemplify
the intellectual activist whose contribution to human progress is founded on
the principle that self-development, freedom, justice, and dignity for
everyone are achievable through historical transformation. His writings
occupy a central place in the Òliterature of combatÓ in the new political and
economic era that emerged in the final decades of the 1800s. They place him
alongside radical revolutionary thinkers for whom humanism is the necessary
foundation of the political and social consciousness required to transform
nations into independent and just societies, and for whom also moral progress
is as important an indicator of national development as material accumulation
and technological growth.
Mart’Õs humanism is the foundation of
his revolutionary activism. His commitment to human progress and nation-building generates his creative impulse and forges
an integral link between writing and his other political activities. The
transformative spirit of Mart’Õs creativity and aesthetic will brings
together the activist and the inner poet and gives form to distinctive texts
that challenge literary boundaries and mark significant contributions in the
struggle to create, legitimize and establish authentic, original literature
in Spanish America. It is exemplified in El
presidio pol’tico en Cuba, his revolutionary oratory and ÒNuestra
AmŽrica,Ó works I studied and critically evaluated in The Politics of
Letters: JosŽ Mart’Õs Revolutionary Discourse (Doctoral Thesis, University of
Toronto: 2006).
Mart’Õs revolutionary discourse incorporates the link between the
aesthetic and political dimensions of AmericaÕs transformation and brings the
poetÕs creativity and aesthetic will together with the political purpose and
ethical appeal imposed by the realities of history and the activistÕs place
in it. It is a discourse of inclusion that recognizes the marginalized
sectors and integrates them into the march of human progress.
His emancipatory poetics combines
factual information and poetic expression in the poeticized prose, figurative
language and proliferation of images that characterize his style. In the
politics of letters, Mart’Õs excels in the employment of the rhetorical arts
to inspire leaders, mobilize the people, and convey truth in the service of
the nation through the rational appeal of facts and arguments strengthened by
power of the schemes and tropes of poetic language to speak to peopleÕs souls
and intellects and move their passions.
Bibliography of Works Cited
Anderson, Benedict. Imagined Communities. London: Verso, 1983
Barnett,
Pamela. The Politics of Letters: JosŽ Mart’Õs
Revolutionary Discourse. Doctoral Thesis, University of Toronto: 2006.
Foner, Philip S. Our America by JosŽ Mart’. New York: Monthly Review Press, 1977.
Mart’, JosŽ. Obras completas. 27 vols. La Habana: Editorial de Ciencias Sociales, 1975.
Portuondo, JosŽ Antonio. JosŽ Mart’.
Cr’tico literario. Washington: Uni—n Panamericana, 1953.
Ramos, Julio. Divergent Modernities. Culture and Politics in
Nineteenth-Century Latin America. Trans. John D. Blanco. Durham: Duke
U. P., 1996.)
Toledo Sande, Cesto de llamas. Biograf’a de JosŽ Mart’. La Habana: Editorial de Ciencias Sociales, 2000.
Vitier, Cintio. ÒLos discursos de Mart’Ó Anuario Martiano 1, 1969: 293-318.
Copyright 2012 Pamela Barnett
