Karl Krause and the Ideological Origins of the Cuban Revolution

The work of the German philosopher, Karl Krause, whilst enjoying relative obscurity in the West, may, Gott argues, through Martí, Guevara and Castro, have contributed more to the philosophy of the Cuban Revolution than Marx or Hegel. Although the Revolution was clearly idealist, utopian and anti-imperialist, it is often thought, particularly in the early stages, to have lacked a defined ideology. Castro had, from the beginning, named Martí as the inspiration for the 26th July Movement, but what Gott seeks to examine in this paper are the origins of Martí's philosophy. Gott believes that scholars have spent so much time examining the early Marxist and socialist influences on the Revolution that, until very recently, the intellectual heritage from Krause (passed down through the independence movements of the nineteenth century) has been ignored. In this paper Gott charts Krause's life and work, the subsequent adoption of his ideas by intellectuals in Spain and Latin American where they became a significant influence on progressive liberal thought in Cuba (Martí was an early proponent of Krause's work) through to its manifestation in the rhetoric of the Cuban Revolution.