Culture during the construction of the new State in Cuba (1959-1961) Intellectuality and politics at the beginning of the Revolution

Abstract

The cultural policy of the Cuban Revolution between 1959-1961 was characterized by the coexistence of tendencies, the diversity regarding the use of aesthetic forms, the appeal to intellectuals for a predominant participation in the culture organization -even when they had not actively contributed throughout the insurrectional process-, a democratization of the access to culture, and a gradual inclination to the centralization of existent institutions carried out by the State. The analysis of primary sources like cultural journals Lunes de Revolución, Casa de las Américas, Verde Olivo and Cine Cubano, as well as the study of the grounds of Revolutionary Government laws that created Consejo Nacional de Cultura (National Council of Culture), Casa de las Américas institution, Imprenta Nacional (National Printing Press) and Instituto Cubano de Artes e Industrias Cinematográficas (Cuban Institute of Arts and Cinematographic Industries), allows stating that these features were established as of January, 1^st 1959, years before the well-known Fidel Castro´s “Palabras a los intelectuales” (Words to Intellectuals) that systematized and made the cultural policy performed by the Revolution in its beginnings explicit. The wide call accomplished by the revolutionary leadership caused intellectuals from diverse, disperse and in some cases opposed groups to be integrated to the official cultural field and to provide it a heterogeneity that became a peculiarity of revolutionary culture.