Antonio Guiteras (1906 - 1935)

Thu Nov 22, 1906

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Antonio Guiteras y Holmes, born on this day in 1906, was a revolutionary socialist in Cuba during the 1930s.

Born in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania, USA, he participated in the radical government installed after the overthrow of the autocratic right wing Cuban President Gerardo Machado y Morales in 1933. He first became widely known as a student leader and associate of Julio Antonio Mella, a Cuban Communist revolutionary.

In his book “Cuba: A New History”, the leftist historian Richard Gott wrote the following about Guiteras:

"Guiteras’s views reflected an eclectic mix of revolutionary influences, from Auguste Blanqui to Jean Jacques Jaurès. He drew inspiration from the Mexican and the Russian revolutions, the struggle in Ireland and Sandino’s guerrilla movement in Nicaragua. He shared the anti-imperialist politics of the age and, drawing on anarchist roots, advocated rural and urban armed struggle, assaults on army barracks and the assassination of policemen and members of the government.

He was a firm believer in direct action, the propaganda of the deed, derived from Blanqui and the Spanish anarchists, and was much criticised by the Communists for his voluntarism and his predilection for violence."

According to the New York Times, Guiteras died in a firefight while trying to flee the country.