ABC Party

The ABC Party was a prominent clandestine organization opposing the Gerardo Machado regime (1925–1933) in the early 1930s. Composed of intellectuals, students, and members of the middle class, the ABC used the cellular concept for an underground organization. Each cell contained seven members who had no knowledge of the other cells. The directing cell was known as A, the second tier of cells was B, then C, and so on. In December 1932, the ABC issued its program manifesto, which opposed not only the Machado regime but also the circumstances that brought it into existence. ABC advocated the breakup of large landholdings, nationalization of public services, limitations on landownership by U.S. interests, and political liberty and social justice.

In late 1932, the ABC conceived a two-phased plan to eliminate Machado. Phase 1 succeeded when Senate president Clemente Vásquez Bello was assassinated in Havana. Phase 2, which contemplated blowing up all top government leaders during Vásquez Bello's funeral in a Havana cemetery, failed when the Vásquez Bello family requested that he be buried in the family plot in a Santa Clara cemetery. Machado's police then launched a manhunt for members of the organization, driving most of the ABC leadership into exile. In 1933, the ABC supported the mediation efforts of U.S. ambassador Sumner Welles to ease Machado out of the presidency and bring an end to the violence. Following Machado's resignation on 12 August, the group participated in the short-lived regime of Carlos Manuel de Céspedes and later opposed the more radical regime of Ramón Grau San Martín (1933–1934). The ABC ceased to operate after those turbulent years, but many of its leaders came to occupy prominent positions in later administrations and exerted considerable influence until the 1950s.

See alsoCuba, War of Independencexml .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

López Civeira, Francisca. El proceso revolucionario de los años 30. Havana: Editorial Félix Varela, 2000.

Suchlicki, Jaime. Historical Dictionary of Cuba (1988) and Cuba: From Columbus to Castro, 3d ed. (1990).

Thomas, Hugh. Cuba: The Pursuit of Freedom (1971).

Whitney, Robert. State and Revolution in Cuba: Mass Mobilization and Political Change, 1920–1940. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2001.

                                          Jaime Suchlicki