Vol. 76/No. 29      August 6, 2012

The following is a translation of a June 24 book review by the semiofficial Iran Book News Agency of The First and Second Declarations of Havana, which was translated into Farsi and published in Iran by Talaye Porsoo. The original booklet was published by Pathfinder Press.

The two declarations were read by Fidel Castro and adopted by million-strong assemblies of the Cuban people in 1960 and 1962.

The First and Second Declarations of Havana are published in a book with the same title. This work, which reflects the revolutionary anti-capitalist views of South America, contains the manifestos of revolutionary struggles in the Americas adopted by the Cuban people.

IBNA reports that these declarations were issued around five decades ago and they demonstrate the anti-imperialist and revolutionary tendencies of the people of South America, especially Cuba.

The main effect of these declarations was to help clarify the thinking of the vanguard workers, farmers and revolutionary-minded youth in the entire American continent, including the United States, who were increasingly being drawn into struggle. The declarations explained that victory is possible only through their own [struggles].

The introduction to this work briefly explains the perspective of the declarations. Below is a summary.

These declarations strive to answer the question: Why is it that the national bourgeoisie is incapable of advancing the struggle against imperialism even when its interests come into conflict with imperialism? According to these declarations the fear of a social revolution has crippled the national bourgeoisie; it dreads the roar of the exploited masses.

The [Second] Declaration explains that a revolution can be successful only if the working class is able to also lead the struggles of the farming regions.

In its preface the publisher writes, “While the Second Declaration of Havana is more widely known since it was adopted some forty-five years ago, putting the First and Second Declarations together in the order they were presented is what makes it possible to place ourselves inside the historical turning points that linked them.”  
 
 
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