Bandits, Patriots or Delinquents? Social Protest in Rural Cuba (1878–1902)

In 1890, despite the price on his head, Manuel Garcia, the most charismatic and infamous bandit in Cuba quietly sipped beer with twelve men in a saloon in Santiago de las Vegas, just outside Havana. The press coverage of his appearance contributed to the legend of this King of the Countryside, who became the quintessential image of late-nineteenth-century banditry.1 The visibility of this type of bandit, who filled the pages of the newspapers and graced the accounts of colonial authorities, eventually dwarfed other forms of social protest, becoming the only manifestation of rural resistance in most historical accounts of the period.This line of investigation began with the publication of Eric Hobsbawm's Primitive Rebels (1958), which marked a milestone in the study of rural protest, by placing 'social bandits' at the centre of the narrative. His thesis attracted numerous specialists internationally who examined the phenomenon in various contexts and time periods.2 Despite the growing literature on social banditry, our understanding of rural protest in general and specifically the place of banditry within other forms of resistance remains undeveloped. The model of social banditry, in which Hobsbawm envisioned banditry as a form of peasant protest, does not explain the rest of the forms of rebellion present.3Using a case study of the Cuban countryside in the second half of the nineteenth century, this study explores other dimensions of rural protest, focusing on the role of the family, the relationship between bandits and their communities and the ways state repression influenced the actions of those involved in these crimes.4 The focus of this article is thus the everyday forms of resistance - arson, robbery, sabotage, for example - which may be less glorified than the King of the Countryside but are no less important. These were the primary - not primitive - forms of struggle that rather than openly challenging the existing structures of oppression, chipped away slowly at them.5The last quarter of the nineteenth century was a time of profound transformations in Cuba. Various important socioeconomic processes began with the abolition of slavery in 1886 and the subsequent expansion of capitalist agriculture. Moreover, the political arena was defined by three armed conflicts: the end of Spanish colonial rule, the North American intervention and finally the establishment of the republic in 1902.All these changes had powerful repercussions for the masses of workers and farmers. Rather than accepting these transformations passively, the popular classes sought to carve out their own political space within their given situation. They actively protested the increasingly unfavourable conditions in the countryside. As such, the popular protest was not a homogeneous and harmonious process that came about through predetermined or coordinated efforts. The multitude of causes for social protest begot a myriad of responses. This article explains the way evolving conditions influenced the forms of rural protest during five distinct periods:1. The first phase of banditry, between 1878 and 1885, corresponds to the central-eastern zone (the provinces of Santa Clara, Puerto Principe and Santiago de Cuba), the scene of the first war of independence (Ten Years' War, 1868-78), a development that fostered mobilisation of the rural sectors into a political matrix.2. The second, 1880-88, overlaps with the first period, but the geographical focus is in the west. Everyday acts of resistance combined with the first explosions of banditry, a reflection of the economic state of the island.3. The third, between 1888 and 1895, is the period of deepening colonial crisis reflected in rising unemployment, low wages and scarce access to land. Banditry was transformed into the most important, though not the only manifestation of discontent. The mobilisation of the popular sectors at a national level culminated in the outbreak of the war of independence. …