Partido Socialista Popular (P.S.P.)

Name adopted in 1944 by the Partido Unión Revolucionaria, the earlier Unión Revolucionaria Comunista.  Its World War II objective became that of increasing its membership by getting all its supporters to become members.  Its slogan was “Economic Progress, Social Security, Victory and a People’s Peace.”  President Grau permitted Communist activities until 1947 when he broke with them and sought to win control of the trade unions for his own Partido Revolucionario Cubano (Auténtico).  President Carlos Prío attacked the PSP and curbed its remaining influence in the unions.  After Batista’s return to power in 1952 he cooled his previously friendly relations with the PSP, which adopted a low profile.  The party was formally outlawed on November 2, 1953, perhaps to improve Cuban relations with the United States in an era of McCarthyism, but it nevertheless condemned Fidel Castro’s violent opposition to Batista.  Only at the end of the struggle did some Communists joined the fighting.  Former cabinet minister Carlos Rafael Rodríguez, however, spent over a year in the Sierra Maestra with Fidel until his victory, and in 1958 the Communists in Las Villas gave their full support to Che Guevara.  In 1961 the revolutionary government merged the three organizations that had opposed Batista and remained supportive of Castro:  The PSP, the Directorio Revolucionario, and Fidel Castro’s own Movimiento Veintiséis de Julio.  This new organization, called the Organizaciones Revolucionarias Integradas (ORI), lasted only a few months before becoming the Partido Unido de la Revolución Socialista de Cuba.