Anarchism

Strong in Spain in the 1870s, anarchism reached Cuba through immigration and literature in the 1880s, and its successful appeal to Cuban workers threatened the non-political trade union movement organized by the Partido Reformista. By the 1890s, however, it had been largely suppressed by the authorities, its leaders imprisoned or deported to Spain. After the 1917 Russian Revolution, Cuban anarchists tried to organize into an efficient political force, and although anarcho-syndicalists dominated the Confederación Nacional Obrera Cubana, they were rivaled by the Communists whose agrupaciones became popular and coopted their members. President Machado opposed anarchism, communism, and socialism, curtailing political activities by all of them. From then on, the anarchists ceased to play any influential political role.