Organised labour and the Batista régime: a British diplomatic perspective

The important place that British investments occupied in Cuba during the 1950s is reflected in the reports sent home by the ambassador. Having long complained of the low level of productivity, the British Ambassador supported Batista's coup of 1952 in the hope that the de facto government would use its position to reduce labour costs. The régime's use of repression and corruption to reduce the ability of organised labour to defend wages and conditions has not been generally studied, but this aspect of his dictatorship is evident from a reading of the British diplomatic reports, which show that it was central to the support that Batista received from local capital as well as from foreign business interests. In the year that sees the 50th anniversary of the Cuban revolution, this paper will examine the Batista régime and the insurrection against it from the point of view of the British Foreign Office and the business interests it represented.