Our Comrades in Havana

Radoslav Yordanov is Center Associate at the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, Harvard University and Global Fellow at the Wilson Center.

"A dazzling display of international history at its best. Radoslav Yordanov offers a deep scholarship richly informed through consultation of multiple archives in Russia, Eastern Europe, and Cuba—and in the process provides a much-needed corrective to understanding Cuba's role and place within the constellation of state actors during the Cold War."—Louis A. Pérez, Jr., author of Colonial Reckoning: Race and Revolution in Nineteenth-Century Cuba "The British spies from Grahan Greene's Our Man in Havana were replaced by Radoslav Yordanov's Our Comrades in Havana—the East European socialist diplomats and advisors, almost immediately after Fidel Castro's revolution. By analyzing their reports preserved in East European archives, this book tells us the story of Cuba and its relations with the socialist block that was never told before. It is a missing page in the history of the Cold War that sheds a new light on the communist experiment in Western hemisphere that still goes on."—Serhii Plokhy, author of Nuclear Folly: A History of the Cuban Missile Crisis "Meticulously researched and lucidly written, this book is indispensable reading for anybody trying to understand the complex dynamics of relations within the socialist bloc. Yordanov masterfully uses his multinational sources to show how Cuban independent spirit and unorthodox Marxism became a challenge to the Soviet leadership who were trying to educate the Cubans to be "true communists" and to restrain their internationalist policies."—Svetlana Savranskaya, co-author of The Last Superpower Summits: Gorbachev, Reagan, and Bush "Yordanov consulted more than 20 archives across Eastern Europe, as well as in Russia, Cuba, and the United States, to craft this superbly-constructed history of Cold War diplomacy."—Richard Feinberg, Foreign Affairs "Thanks to Yordanov's diligent, pioneering research in eastern European archives, Cuba's long relationship with the Soviet bloc can no longer be viewed in simple binary terms. The book proffers a more balanced account of Cuba's relationship with its main allies in the socialist world, as well as providing much-needed nuance. It affords considerable new insights into Cuba's outlook and policies in this fraught period, underscoring Castro's outsized personality as a central problem."—Philip Chrimes, International Affairs "Radoslav Yordanov's Our Comrades in Havana is certainly a welcome contribution. It aims to correct some of the most persistent and unhelpful assumptions about Cuba's relations with the old Soviet Union and the wider socialist bloc between 1959 and 1991, which depict Cuba as a 'client-state' or 'puppet' that was dependent on Soviet ideas and priorities."—Antoni Kapcia, Jacobin "Yordanov's remarkable ability to synthesize delivers a coherent and engaging narrative that offers a rich and precious account of three decades of relations. This carefully crafted work represents an engaging invitation for other researchers to continue refining our understanding of Cuba's interactions with the socialist world, especially from perspectives beyond the Soviet Union."—Rafael Pedemonte, NACLA Report on the Americas "Ultimately, Yordanov's meticulous archival research and probing narrative provide a valuable contribution to Cold War historiography that challenges traditional East–West binaries by foregrounding Cuba's agency in global revolutionary movements."—Marc Becker, The Americas "This impressive feat of archival and linguistic virtuosity will not soon be equaled, even as it speaks to a growing body of literature grounded in both Soviet and Cuban sources."—Jennifer L. Lambe, Hispanic American Historical Review

• List of IllustrationsForewordPreface: From the Outskirts of Sofia to the Center of HavanaAcknowledgmentsAbbreviationsMap of CubaIntroduction—Revolutionary Cuba and the Special Mission of Socialist Diplomacy1. Castro, Moscow, and Eastern Europe during the Revolution (1959–1962)2. The Cuban Missile Crisis of October 19623. Parting Ways in the Short 1960s (1963–1968)4. On the Road to Forgiveness (1969–1972)5. The East and Cuba's Socialist Institutionalization (1972–1980)6. Cuba's World Order as Seen from Berlin to Sofia (1975–1980)7. Clouds Gather over Havana in the Early 1980s8. Into the Central American Turmoil (July 1979–October 1983)9. Arming Cuba for the War of All the People (1980–1985)10. The Slow Showdown (1985–1991)Conclusion: Chronicling the Cuba-East Modus ConvivendiNotesBibliographyIndex