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“as a result of American aggression.”
Initially, an uprising was planned that would have unseated Castro and replaced him with
Anibal Escalante, a trusted Party ally. However, Castro discovered the plan and neutralized it by
expelling the ringleader, Soviet ambassador Mikhailovich Kudryavtsev. A frustrated Khrushchev
then hit on the idea of provoking Kennedy to invade Cuba. The idea was that Castro would be
overthrown, and when no missiles would be found, the American government would be
embarrassed. According to González: “Khrushchev’s carefully conceived plans had not counted
on the unexpected and apparently irrational behavior of President Kennedy.” González writes:
“…Finally, Soviet developments in Cuba were so blatant and political pressures in the
U.S. so strong, that Kennedy was forced to act. But, when he announced the blockade of
the island, he unexpectedly stated that the American actions were not directed against
Cuba, but against the Soviet Union. Kennedy’s behavior was so surprising that
Khrushchev was caught completely off balance and panicked before the possibility of a
nuclear confrontation which he had not anticipated and for which he was not prepared …
Fortunately for the world, Khrushchev was enough of a political realist to recognize when
a gambit had been lost…Khrushchev never understood why Kennedy had acted in such
an irrational and foolish way, by not attacking Cuba and, thereby, allowing Castro to stay
in power.”
On December 2, 1961, Castro proclaimed: “I have been a Communist since my teens.” On
December 11, 1963, the New York Times printed one of President Kennedy’s last interviews, in
which he said: “I think we have spawned, constructed, entirely fabricated without knowing it, the
Castro movement.” In 1979, the New York Times published a letter from the former U.S.
Ambassador to Cuba, Earl E. T. Smith, in which he said: “Castro could not have seized power in
Cuba without the aid of the United States. American government agencies and the United States
press played a major role in bringing Castro to power ... The State Department consistently
intervened ... to bring about the downfall of Batiste, thereby making it possible for Fidel Castro
to take over the government of Cuba.”
COMMUNISTS FIGHT AMONG THEMSELVES
At the meeting of the 22nd Party Congress in the fall of 1961, the rivalry between Russia and
China came out in the open. It centered around two issues: the place of Stalin in communist
history, and relations with the country of Albania. Khrushchev (1894-1971), the Soviet premier
from 1958-64, made verbal attacks on Stalin constantly, and even had his body removed from
the mausoleum on Red Square. Mao Tse-tung, and the Chinese Communists went out of their
way to proclaim their loyalty to the dead leader. When Enver Hoxha, the Communist ruler of
Albania refused to follow Khrushchev’s lead in condemning Stalin, Russia canceled all
economic and technical aid, and recalled all Soviet personnel. China then sent in their own
advisors, praising Albania for their stand.
China was upset because Russia failed to support them during a recent military action, and
was suspicious of Khrushchev’s policy of ‘peaceful coexistence’ with the United States. Since
1961, world communists have split into either pro-Soviet or pro-China factions. China began
advocating Maoism, rather than Marxist-Leninism.