business of informing, then the presumption is that he

is bothtruthfulandaccurate.Butthepresumption
is
exactly the opposite;surely the testimony of the paid
informer should be accepted with greater caution
than
that of the amateur, who may be trulydisinterested.
The records in security and similar proceedings of the
last decade are replete with instances in
which the unrellabdlty of testimony given by professional informers
has been demonstrated.
The ,ACLU shouldreconsider its proposed formula
before it is accepted; the FBI, however much it might
llke to protect the identity of all informers, would probably be dellghted to settle for a rule that protected the
identity of the professional. I n addition t o being spurious, the dlstinction for which the ACLU contends sidesteps the main issue. It has yet to be demonstrated t h a t
the price of security necessardy includes the calculated
risk that innocentcitizens maybe donealasting
injustice without due process of law. And if that were the
prlce, it would be too high.

Is Gossip News?

Marie Torre, the New York H e d d Tgibune television columnist, has gone t o jail for ten days rather than
reveal the source of a statement allegedly made to her
by a CBS official, which statement became the basis

for libel action against

the broadcasting corporation.
We salute MISSTorre for upholdmg a basic tenet of
journalism
that freedom of the pressimplies
the
right sf a reporter to protect the source of his information. We wish, however, that she were taklng her stand
on a more edifying example of her craft.
, W h a t happened Last Octoberwasas
follows: CBS
was known t o be having a dispute with Judy Garland.
MISS Torre,onafishingexpedition,phonedsomeone
a t Columbia t o ask what cooked. Andthisindividual
popped off to the effect that Miss Garland was known
forahighly
developed inferiority complex andthat
she did not want to work because somethmg is bothering her. When this was published, Miss Garland felt
t h a t her professional reputation had been damaged, and
she sued.
What Miss Torre printed was not news; i t was a badtemperedpersonalevaluation
of a sort not sub~ect t o
proof. It offered a t least good groundsfora
libeI action, and yet the plaintiff is frustrated in her suit because she cannot discover who mal~gnedher. Reporters
enjoy their privilege by analogy with doctors, lawyers
and priests; they do not hold i t b y law. And, although
freedom of the press is always a persuasive defense, they
will not hold it in fact unless they exercise enough selfrestraint to avoidbecoming the shields of c6mmunity
gossips and common scolds.

Carleton Beals, veterancorrespondent,lecturerandauthor

of a score of
it. Withindays we will useour .planes
books on
South
America and
the
islands of the
Caribbean,
is now in
t o rain shoes, clothing,
food
and
Havana t o cover theCastrorevolution
and thenewera
which it presagesfor
pledges of landreformuponthe
Cuba. Old-time readers of T h e Nation wilI recall Mr. Bealss, outstand~ng
peasants of Oriente province.
articles i n this magazine onthe invasion of Nicaragua by the U.S. Marines
planes
besymbols
of love and
in 1927; thirty years later (June 29, 1957), he reported from Havana on t h e
not of terror.
early stages of the Castrorevolt. I n the interveningyears, Mr. Beah has
covered every
major
event
in the
continuing
struggle
of Latin Americans
Of the U.S. Military Mission t o
said:
leader
new
Cubas
Batista,
for freedom and independence. - ED.

our

Hauana, Jawuary 9
FIDEL CASTRO, completing
his
triumphanttour of Cuba,entered
this capital not on the traditional
white horse, b u t herding a captured
fleet of tanks aIong the edge of the
city. T h e long parade avoided the
citys center.and the National Palace,
where
President
Urrutia
and,
his
Cabinet have been working day and
night. T h e noisy vehicles were herded
intoCamp Columbia,Castrosnew
residence; and there his first official
act was t o receive the mothers, of
boys who had been killed, under his
1

Jmtzcary 17, 1959

Nothing it taught the Cuban Army

command, in thebattleforthe Mon- hadanyvalue;
i t merelyassured
cada Barracks inSantiagomorethanthetriumph
of the revohtion-
five years ago.
revolution
meanwhile
the And
Neither police nor soldierswere on sweeps on in many directions.Prothe line of march
only the July Batlsta labor leaders
h a w beenoust26 youth who, withtheir Iong, blacked
from the unions anddemocratic
beardsma&thiscity
lookas
if it elections have beenPromised
the
werea Mecca for Biblical prophets.rank-and-fde.
T h e judges of Batistas
Thesearethe crPeoples M&awhoEmergencyCourthavebeen
jailed
of
havetakenoverfromBatistasarmy,Pendingtrial-Thesearedays
Promises and great hopesmany of whoseofhcers now lallguish great
injailpendingtrial.Themilitary
CASTROs prolongedMessianic recastehasbeeneliminated,Castrohasannounced.Thisrevolution
slstanceagainst
themllltarytyrant
hasnt produced one general, nor will enjoying military aid (except for the

43,

OnIy a few years ago, this country charged that The [Miami] . police
andimmigrationandcustoms
peobroke up an
effort
by
Argentina,
ple for the United States did whatBrazd and Chile t o set up a common
asked.
market area, in spite of our earlier ever he [the Batista consul]
theway
agreement that trade and travel bar- Cubansparticularly re&
riersshouldbelowered,
Dr. Eisen- in which outstanding leaders of the
JUIY 26 Movement, such as heads of
hower now advocatessuchaplan
the student organizatlons and exiled
for
Panama
and
Central
America
for other Latin laborleaders, and even ex-President
as a pilotmodel
Prio, have been badgered b y U. S.
American regions.
All this smacks a bit of locking the authorlties and thrown into jail. Fidel
Castros own sister was deported t o
stable
door
too
late.
The
Cuban
rebels doubt that our reiterations of Havana.
neutrality in their civil war were
FOR SOME months now, the State
sincere. Our mdltary men wereadof the Cuban Department knew that Batista was
visers and
trainers
Army, whichwas fightingthe peo- doomed, butapparently it did not
relish Castro and the July 26 Moveplewlthmodernmethodsandwith
ment as his successor. UJ Ambasarms supplied by the United States.
plugged forfree
elecOurcommanders in the area deco- sadorSmith
quite impossible
rated the worst killers of the Cuban tions-something
under existing conditions: army and
Army,
Diplomatic
and
army
bansupquets with the dictator were frequent police terror, censorship,press
pression and civil war. All opposition
and lavish.Whenwedidbelatedly
did not parties by that time had been wiped
declare an arms embargo (but
removeourmilitary
men from the out, except for small, splinter factions
scene), England rushed in t o fill the willing t o play i t Batlstas way. Opgap. Cubanssimplydonot
believe position leaders were in jail, in 6xile
t h a t England would havesuddenly
orhad
been kiIled. Besides, a new
meddled in Cuban affairs by send- law had beenrushedthroughwhich
of the
Batista
head
ingweapons tothedictator
except would make
armyunderany
new government.
a t t h e behest of ourStateDepartment,
They
recall similar
subterNaturally, Batistasenemiesconsidfuges on our part in the shipment of ered Ambassador Smiths effortsas
arms to North Africa and the Middle constituting flagrant meddling in behalf of Batistas tyranny.
East.
&as ,been
Americanbigbusiness
At the fall of Machado in September, 1933, as aresult
of Batistas
exceedingly close toBatista,partly
ALREADY the echoes. On January
2, The New York Times editoriaIized : because it hadnoother choice, but quick shower-bath coup, Ambassador
Americans should not delude themfrequentlybecause of the richconSumnerWellestriedtosetupthe
selves. The policy followed by the cessions-and outright cash-he had D e Cespedes provisional government.
State Department, the Pentagon, the been handing out, obtained by skyIt lasted tendays.TherecentatAmerican Embassy in Havana, and a rocketingtheCubandebt
t o un- tempttoundercutthe
Castro vicprecedentedlevels. Batista has close toryby
large part of the Americanbusiness
installing
Supreme
Court
community has built u p . an antagon- business contacts, paFticularly in Judge Carlos Pledra -as President did
ism that will make the situation dif- Florida, where he owns a great mannot even get off the ground. Cubans
ficult. Two days after Batista fled, sion in Daytona Beach and has made now charge that this effort emanated
ap- fromtheAmericanEmbassy.
Dr.
Milton
Eisenhower
came
out heavyinvestmentswithmoney
We
favoring a tougher pollcy toward dic- proplated from theCuban people. have been betrayed,, Casrro has announced. Now the revolutionbetators to the south: no more medals Nor has it been merely Batista and
He could well his henchmen who are partners with
andwarmembraces.
gins. Apparently
the
betrayal
gangsters
in was of i secretarrangementmade
haveadded:Givethem
less money Arner~can underworld
and fewer arms,forour
so-called r u n n ~ n gt h e worlds greatestgambetween Castro himself and the Badefense policy,whIch has intrenched bling enterprises.
tista General, Eulogio Castillo, to set
the
military
everywhere,
has
set
Cuban resentment also runs deep up a temp,orarymilitaryjuntaand
democratic evolution back manydec- because of ourharassment of refu- preventthe escape of Batistaand
ades in LatmAmenca.Dr.Eisengees
from
Batistas
tyranny who his top miIitarg and cabinet officials.
howerdoes stress t h a t serious con- havesoughtasylum~ntheUnited
General Castdlo IS now behmd bars.
sderation be given to varlom Latin
States-probably some 50,000 In MIThe fate of Cuba is now In CasAmerican demands made repeatedly,
ami alone The new-Castro consul 111 tros hands. He enters as the conand invain, ever since World War 11. Miami,OscarRamirez,haspublicly
quering hero at the head of a fanati-

last few months)fromtheUnited

Stateshasinflamedtheheartsnot
only of his own people, but of people
all around the globe, Not since Sandin0resisted the AmericanMarines
in
the
Nicaraguan
for six years
mountains, has any Latin American
figure so caughttheimagination of
the world as Fidel Castro. Sandinos
revoIt, marking the beginning of the
end of an
imperialistic
era,
gave
independence
courage t o national
movements
everywhere,
revitalized
Latin
American
solidarity,
and
brought about important changes
in
of the
our relationswiththerest
hemisphere,
eventually
puttingan
end to armed interventions. Castros
success is also likely to alter our relationswiththe
cozmtries , tothe
southandtousher
in anewphase
of fullerLatinAmericanindependence. T h e pronouncements of the
July 26 Movementmakelittle
reference t o the United States, beyond
indicating thattreatiesharmfulto
Cubamust
be abrogated; butthe
at great
Castro
program
stresses
lengthfuturerelations\withLatin
America: elimination of dictatorship,
increasedeconomicandcultural
interchange,theachievement
of true
democraticLatinAmerican
solidarity,andamoreeffective
rolefor
Latin America in t h e United Nations
and international affairs.

44

s.

The NATION

cally loyal following. The new President, DI. Manuel Urrutla, IS Castros
choice,picked a d installed b y hlm
alone. Urrutia won thls highhonor
because,asaSantlagojudge,he
re26
fused toconvlctcapturedJuly
attackers of theSantiagoMoncada
barracksonthegrounds
t h a tt h e
Batista Government had seized power by force in violation of the conflee the
stitution.Urrutiahadto
country with hisfamily. He returned inNovember,joiningCastroin
of
OrlenteProvmce.He
is aman
great learning and probity. ButCastro remains the arbiter of affalrs.
The hero comes into power a t t h e
head of seasoned young
veteran
guerrilleror whoserankswereaugmented only at the last moment by
adhesions of rank-and-file
soldiers
andminor officers. H e comesin a t
the head of a youthmovement inspiredwiththeideal
of anewfree
Cuba-youthsrecklesslywilling
to
have
facetortureanddeath,who
foughtinthestreets
of every city
andhamlet
in Cubafor
sixlong
years. He comes in a t thehead of
a student movement whlch has seen
Cubas schools closed for years, which
lostleaderafterleader
toBatistaJs
pollce. H e comes in a t a time when
every professlonal and CIVIC group in
Cuba-from
sports clubs t o t h e Rotary clubs-had broken with Batista.
H e comes in wlth the good will of a
large, sector of the Church Iuerarchy
andcertainly wrth theactive backing of the CatholicYouthmove-

S t . Louis Post-Dispatch

TYdve b e m expecting you.

J a ~ ~ u a 17,
& 1958

aheroic
part in theoverthrow of
ment, the two leaders of which were
decrecentlytakenout
of their homes, dictatorGerard0Machadotwo
by
brutally
tortured
and
kiIIed. He ades ago. It wasthenbetrayed
leaders
jailed
or killed,
takes ove,r a war-scarred country Batista-Its
put down bythearmy.
that yearns for peace, in which tens Itsstrikes
Yet it kepton fighting valiantly durof thousands of homes
have
lost
ingthe
bloody terrorimposedby
lovedones or seen them driven into
CarlosMendieta and Batista.
exile.
Subsequently
Batlsta,
looking
Allin aI1, thosewhomighthave
ahead t o the day, when he mlght be
made sellous troubleforCastroin
his hour of vlctoryhave
fled the elected President,beganmaklnghis
wooed
of peacewlthlaborandeven
countryinutterpanicbecause
Communistsupport. Durmg hm adthehatredandbitternesstheyhad
created. The head of Batistas mur- ministration In 1944-48, anuncommonlyprosperousperiod,hemade
derousstrong-armsquads,
thetop
extensive concessions t o labor. B u t
bureaucrats, the heads of hispolice
in
his attempt to return to power in
and the army leaders-all have fled:
1952,
he received little labor support,
so
Probablynever in historyhave
he realized he wouldnt be
and
when
many generals taken such precipitate
elected
and
staged
hiscoupagainst
and
ignominious
flight
from
their
Prio,
he
was
opposed
and denounced
commands.
by
union
leaders.
But
hemanaged
Thus,thevauntedBatistaarmy
a
truce
with
Eusebio
to
patch
up
has been drastically purged and will
Mujol, one of themosttreacherous
be furtherpurged.Itsprestigehas
and self-seeking labor chiefs, and
it wasbeatennot
beendestroyed;
from then on he worked
t o gain full
by a soldier, but by a civilian -makcontrolover
the confederatmn. I t s
ing no claims tomilitaryability,a
Ius11 concessions
civhan who rallled other civilians. leadersweregiven
The arm-bands of the July 26 Move- and became hls partners in gambhng,
ment are now the rulmg force of the hotelandpubllc-worksenterprises.
and
recalcitrant
country.Here
is thehard
core of The few honest
Castros strength - ideologically as leaders were kllled off or run out of
the countryandtheir
places taken
well as milltarlly. For thishasbeen
bymenchosenthrougharmy-run
a civil war, not a mere military coup
those of Batistain
over- elections. Except for its corrupt prosuchas
Batlstaleaders,thevoice
of labor
throwingMachadoand,later,Prio.
It has been a civdlan war against a was thus silenced. By terrorism and
pork-barrelcorruption,Batista
took
well-trainedmilltaryforceenjoying
the latest arms, tanks, machine-guns, away labors independence, its dignity and its moral flber.
some of the fastest war planes availableanywhere,andwithpIenty
of THE failure of Castrosappealfor
i t crum- labor support and, in partlcular, lamoney. Yet it went down;
of bors refusal t o goalong~71thhis
bled away before themoralfact
a people will~ng to die forfreedom.
plea, some months ago, for a general
Vi7e hailed the fightersforfreedom
s t n k e against
Batista,
may
have
in Hungary. Can we do less toward been due in p a r t o
rank-and-file
the flghtersforfreedominCuba,a
suspic~onof Castros labor aims, and
flghtmoreprolongedandquite
as in part t o Batistas threats of the
savage?
fmng squad. A strlker is somewhat
in t h e
THERE IS onegap in the general more vulnerable than a rebel
for
Castro
- .hills. The Castro labor program has
picture of support
andit
is aserious
gap. Organized included the right tostrike, social
security, democratic unionism, a prolabor did not
participate
in
the
of presentwages,
struggle; ithas n o t debatedthe is- gressiveincrease
a 30 per cent profit-sharing package,
sues. Yet Cubas General Confederation of Labor is two million strong andnewindustrytoprovidemore
It
large for a country of six miIlion. jobsandbetterlivingstandards.
calls for labor-capital cooperation t o
This passivity. is a new phenomeachieve these ends.
non inCuba;heretofore,laborwas
Once Castro was victorious, he
activeinpoliticalevents.
It played

45

was
able
to secure an effective general s t r ~ k e(to clean up the anarchy
left b y Batista.) But labors initlative
~n
this
dlsplay
is somewhat
doubtful. Obedience was imposed by
the roving armedJuly 26 brigades
and by employers. It merely proved
thatCastro
1s thenewmaster
of
labor, not that labor has retaken its
place as a moral factorin political
and economiclde.

IN matters of land reform, Castro

a t one time advocated the
expropriation of foreign-ownedholdmgs
a positibnfromwhich
hehas
receded. But as late as 1957 he stated,
in a bulletinpublished
asreported
by his July 26 Movement in Costa
Rica:Morethan
half of ourbest
arableland is inforeign
hands;in
Oriente, the most extensive province
of Cuba,thelands
of theUnited
Fruit Company and the West Indies
Fruit
Company
stretch
unbroken
from the north to the south shores.
[ A full translation of Castros statement was carried in The Nation of
November 30, 1957.1 He has called
for re-examination of all land titles,
aguaranteedminimum
acreage t o
all farmers, restriction of the size of
individual holdings. In some areas

his forces took over during the civil

war,
land
was
distrlbuted
tothe
peasants.
But beyond all other Cuban problems is the plight of the agricultural
worker,especially in the sweat-shop
sugarindustry,themainsource
of
Cuban wealth. Here low wages, poor
housingandshort-termemployment
create a restless,semi-starved Lz1mpenproletarznt living a t close t o coolie
standards. Cuba has become greatly
diversifiedcompared
to a few decades ago, but I t is stdl aone-crop
land,henceexposed
t o aone-crop
type of government-dictatorship.
of free elecHencetheformaIity
tions, as promised b y Castro, will
not in itself remove the basicevils
so longintrenched
andcorruption
under the dictatorship. The basis for
Cuban
democracy
scarceIy
exists.
Educafion,
health,
improved
earning power, sufficient industry t o t a k e
up the off-season slack in the sugar
industry, a degree of economic security for the people - inshort,farreaching social and economic seformsareurgently
needed if the
freedom won on New Years Day is
to have any meaning. Some of these
basic reforms are going t o seem unit
pleasanttoabsenteecapital,and

E ICPSSING CASE
Monroe, North Carolifla

IN THIS seat of Union County, during the late afternoon of October 28,
lastyear,asearching
police car fi-

b y George

z;. veissrnan

F. Wdiams, president of the Union

County branch of the National Asso-

ciation for the Advancement of CoIoredPeople, to join them in court,

nally spotted its quarry-two Negro asthey neededhishelp.
But when
boyson
a bicycle:James
Hanover he arrived. a t the courthouse, a few
beThompson, nine, and David Fuzzy minutesafterproceedingshad
Simpson,eight. T h e boyswere p u t gun, hewasnotadmittedtothe
courtroom.
in thecounty jail and heldincomThe two boyswerecharged
with
municado for six days. Then on Noassaultuponthreewhite
females,
vember 4, the boys mothersb15Court
a-week domestic
workers
and
the ages six and seven.Juvenile
Price
outlined
Judge J. Hampton
sole supports of large families-were
told by thepolice to get down t o t h e the facts of the caseas he had obcourthouse where their sons were t o tained them, earlier in the day, from
thewhite
girls andtheirparents,
go on trial in a half-hour.
none of whom was in the courtroom
The women sent word to Robert
duringanypart
of t h e trial. T h e
deGEORGE L. WEISSMAN is n fTee- judgesaidthatthetwoyoung
a white
fendants
had
gone
into
lance writer.

46

may be necessary t o revise the whole

status of foreign capital in the country so t h a t proper living conditions
can be guaranteed.
Much of the course of events in
the near future wlll depend upon the
official American attitude
toward
Castro.Will our governmentbeas
hlm as i t was
lavishlyhelpfuIwith
withBatista?Thathasneverhappened before in similar circumstances.
Maybe this time i t will be different.
And will Castro himself measure up
to the great tasks that await him?
Unllke previous upheavals in Cuba,
largelydetermined
bymilitary elements, the proIonged struggk to get
rid of Batista has awakened the people and released Jeep andviolent
social forces.Arevolution
hasbeen
set in motion and there is little likelihood that it can tie stoppedshort
of its objectiveseither
by outside
interference or by incompetentor1 recalcitrant leadership. Thus far Castro
has shown the finest qualities of true
leadership : self-sacrifice, dedication,
patience,, confidence and ready pliability in meeting the most difficult
situations. He, may indeedcome to
rankwiththatothergreatCuban,
JosC Marti, who carved out the shape
of Cubanindependence,

neighborhood,
climbed
down uninvited into a culvert ditch where three
littlewhite girlswereplaying,
and
set a kiss fromeach of the girls as
t h e price of getting out. Two of the
girls got outwithoutpayingthe
price, butthethird,
a seven-yearold, had kissed Hanaver Thompson.
There being no defense counsel, and
t h e defendantsprovingtoofrightened to talk much, the proceedings
the
were brief. JudgePricefound
boys guilty and committed them
to
indeterminate terms in reform school
with the admonition that if they behaved well theymightbe
released
before they reached twenty-one.
T h e boys version of whathad
happened was not learned till more
than a month later, when the writer

The NATION