Fidel, As He Sees Himself

Admire or hate him, there is no denying Fidel Castro8217;s place amongst the 20th century8217;s key leaders

My Life
Fidel Castro
Allen lane, 25 pounds
In nearly 600 pages of narrative, the colossal life, work and times of Fidel Castro unfold. In a series of interviews over a period of nearly three years, a normally reticent Fidel discusses almost everything: his parents, early influences, the failed revolution of 1953, his exile to Mexico, the Guerrilla war and the triumph of the revolution on January 8, 1959. Of course, his relations with Che Guevera, the Bay of Pigs missile crisis, his view on a wide range of issues 8212; from the collapse of the Soviet Union to religion and homosexuality 8212; also figure.

Ignacio Ramonet has woven together these interviews to record Fidel8217;s life in the absence of any memoirs that Fidel surely would never have written. In that sense, this is a remarkable contribution to understand one of the most influential figures of the 20th century. As the author says, 8220;His position in history is guaranteed 8212; this is his perspective.8221; The narrative is made interesting with the reproduction of letters and other documentary material, while references to historical parallels makes the text contemporaneous.

Having said this, reconstructing memoirs through interviews suffers from inherent weaknesses. The interviewer himself admits, 8220;One must recognise that some dialogues, due to the intellectual disparity between the person asking the questions and the person answering, become monologues.8221; It does give insights into the private Fidel and to a large extent meets its avowed objective: 8220;How does a boy born in an isolated, rural rustic place to wealthy, conservative and relatively uneducated parents, then educated by Franco supporting Jesuits in Catholic schools for the children of the elite, a young man who rubbed elbows with the offspring of the haute bourgeoisie in class rooms of law school wind up turning into one of the great revolutionaries of the second half of the 20th century?8221; However, the attention to detail which remains the hallmark of Fidel somehow gets buried in the narrative.

This meticulous attention to the detail, I experienced personally in 1993. I accompanied Jyoti Basu to Cuba soon after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Time had carried Fidel on its cover with caption, 8220;Castro8217;s Cuba: The End Of The Dream8221;. One evening, after both of us retired, we were informed around 11 p.m. that the Commandante was waiting to receive us. In a discussion that lasted well over two hours and covered many issues, including the impact of the collapse of the Soviet Union on Cuba, Fidel suddenly started asking detailed information regarding India on issues like the quantity of steel produced, the amount of arable and irrigated agricultural land, etc. Jyoti Basu had least expected such questions and that too in the early hours of the morning. Fidel, then, turned to me and said, given Jyoti8217;s age, one can pardon him but I had no business not to have this information on my fingertips. Since then, I met Fidel twice on different occasions, always with the latest handbook of statistics in my pocket!

The conversations nevertheless make very illuminative reading of one of the tallest revolutionaries of the 20th century. The same day that 32-year old Fidel marched into Havana in victory after defeating Bastista8217;s army, Gen. Charles De Gaulle was being installed as the first president of the Fifth Republic in France. Only the monarchs of Britain and Thailand have held their ceremonial office longer than Fidel. He remains the longest serving political leader who steadfastly defended and consolidated socialist Cuba. As the interview notes, Cuba under Fidel, 8220;clinging to its sovereignty, has achieved undeniably admirable results in the area of human development; the abolition of racism, the emancipation of women, the eradication of illiteracy, drastic reduction in infant mortality rates, higher levels of general knowledge8230; in questions of education, health, medical research and sports, Cuba has achieved results that many developed nations would envy8221;.

Fidel has had to deal with no fewer than ten US presidents, from Eisenhower to Bush II, he survived over 600 assassination attempts, he led Cuba to successfully overcome the economic warfare unleashed by US imperialism as well as its acts of sabotage to destroy Cuba so well-documented by former CIA agent, Philip Agee.

Apart from his dealings with almost all important political leaders of the 20th century, these interviews also reveal the intellectual and creative passion in Fidel. His personal interactions with Ernest Hemingway, Jean-Paul Sarttre, Simone de Beauvoir, Pablo Neruda, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Jose Saramago and a host of other intellectuals figure in the conversations.

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While various attributes of Fidel emerge in these conversations, the overall impression that it leaves you with is what the former French President, Francois Mitterrand, once said on why he chose Castro as one of the three leaders that made the greatest impression on him: 8220;because of his ability to anticipate the future, and his sense of history8221;.

Acknowledging that following the collapse of the Soviet Union, 8220;no one would have wagered one cent on the survival of the Cuban revolution8221;, Fidel says that they produced a miracle, 8220;because the revolution always had, has an increasingly will have the support of a nation, an intelligent populace which is increasingly united, educated and combative.8221; As he ages, the fervour remains, the physical vigour may not.

A worthy reading not only for his admirers but also for his detractors. As he said after the failed revolution of 1953, 8220;Condemn me. It does not matter. History will absolve me.8221;
Sitaram Yechury is a member of the CPIM Politburo