Fair Play for Cuba Committee
Encyclopedia
The Fair Play for Cuba Committee (FPCC) was an activist
group set up in New York
in April 1960. The FPCC's purpose was to provide grassroots
support for the Cuban Revolution
against attacks by the United States government, once Fidel Castro
began openly admitting his commitment to Marxism
and began the expropriation
and nationalization
of Cuban assets belonging to U.S. corporations. The Committee opposed the Bay of Pigs invasion
of 1961, the imposition of the United States embargo against Cuba
, and was sympathetic to the Cuban view during the Cuban Missile Crisis
of 1962.
Subsidiary Fair Play for Cuba groups were set up throughout the United States
and Canada
. Among its early notable supporters were William Appleman Williams
, Norman Mailer
, Allen Ginsberg
and Lawrence Ferlinghetti
, as well as Latin America
ns Waldo Frank
and Carleton Beals
.
The Fair Play for Cuba Committee has been the subject of much speculation. It was accused by some of being a Soviet
front, with little real support outside of a few dedicated American communists
. However, it seems to have been connected to the Trotskyist Socialist Workers' Party.
The FPCC achieved notoriety through the activities of Lee Harvey Oswald
in New Orleans
. (Oswald was the accused assassin of President John F. Kennedy
.) One of Oswald's FPCC leaflets had the address "544 Camp Street" hand-stamped on it, apparently by Oswald himself. This address was in the same building as the office of Guy Banister
, an ex-FBI agent who was involved in anti-Castro and intelligence activities.
Oswald's New Orleans activities were investigated by New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison
, as part of his prosecution of Clay Shaw
in 1969. The House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) also investigated the possible relationship of Oswald to Banister's office in the late 1970s.
In his 2002 book, The Kennedy Conspiracy (2002), Anthony Summers
asserted that documents indicate both the Central Intelligence Agency
and the FBI infiltrated the FPCC. He quoted a CIA officer saying "We did everything we could to make sure it was not successful -- to smear it ... to penetrate it. I think Oswald may have been part of a penetration attempt."
Vincent T. Lee shut down the national Fair Play for Cuba Committee in December 1963 when its landlord evicted the group from its national office; the notoriety accorded to it, following the Kennedy assassination, made it impossible for the committee to continue its work. Although, as of 2006, several groups are currently working to end the U.S. embargo against Cuba, none seem to be lineally descended from the Fair Play for Cuba Committee, or to be interested in being associated with the FPCC's name.
Activism
Activism consists of intentional efforts to bring about social, political, economic, or environmental change. Activism can take a wide range of forms from writing letters to newspapers or politicians, political campaigning, economic activism such as boycotts or preferentially patronizing...
group set up in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
in April 1960. The FPCC's purpose was to provide grassroots
Grassroots
A grassroots movement is one driven by the politics of a community. The term implies that the creation of the movement and the group supporting it are natural and spontaneous, highlighting the differences between this and a movement that is orchestrated by traditional power structures...
support for the Cuban Revolution
Cuban Revolution
The Cuban Revolution was an armed revolt by Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement against the regime of Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista between 1953 and 1959. Batista was finally ousted on 1 January 1959, and was replaced by a revolutionary government led by Castro...
against attacks by the United States government, once Fidel Castro
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary and politician, having held the position of Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and then President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party's foundation in 1961 until 2011...
began openly admitting his commitment to Marxism
Marxism
Marxism is an economic and sociopolitical worldview and method of socioeconomic inquiry that centers upon a materialist interpretation of history, a dialectical view of social change, and an analysis and critique of the development of capitalism. Marxism was pioneered in the early to mid 19th...
and began the expropriation
Expropriation
Expropriation is the politically motivated and forceful confiscation and redistribution of private property outside the common law. Unlike eminent domain or laws regulating the foreign investment, expropriation takes place outside the common law and may be used to denote an armed robbery by...
and nationalization
Nationalization
Nationalisation, also spelled nationalization, is the process of taking an industry or assets into government ownership by a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to private assets, but may also mean assets owned by lower levels of government, such as municipalities, being...
of Cuban assets belonging to U.S. corporations. The Committee opposed the Bay of Pigs invasion
Bay of Pigs Invasion
The Bay of Pigs Invasion was an unsuccessful action by a CIA-trained force of Cuban exiles to invade southern Cuba, with support and encouragement from the US government, in an attempt to overthrow the Cuban government of Fidel Castro. The invasion was launched in April 1961, less than three months...
of 1961, the imposition of the United States embargo against Cuba
United States embargo against Cuba
The United States embargo against Cuba is a commercial, economic, and financial embargo partially imposed on Cuba in October 1960...
, and was sympathetic to the Cuban view during the Cuban Missile Crisis
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis was a confrontation among the Soviet Union, Cuba and the United States in October 1962, during the Cold War...
of 1962.
Subsidiary Fair Play for Cuba groups were set up throughout the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. Among its early notable supporters were William Appleman Williams
William Appleman Williams
William Appleman Williams was one of the 20th century's most prominent revisionist historians of American diplomacy, and has been called "the favorite historian of the Middle American New Left." He achieved the height of his influence while on the faculty of the Department of History at the...
, Norman Mailer
Norman Mailer
Norman Kingsley Mailer was an American novelist, journalist, essayist, poet, playwright, screenwriter, and film director.Along with Truman Capote, Joan Didion, Hunter S...
, Allen Ginsberg
Allen Ginsberg
Irwin Allen Ginsberg was an American poet and one of the leading figures of the Beat Generation in the 1950s. He vigorously opposed militarism, materialism and sexual repression...
and Lawrence Ferlinghetti
Lawrence Ferlinghetti
Lawrence Ferlinghetti is an American poet, painter, liberal activist, and the co-founder of City Lights Booksellers & Publishers...
, as well as Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
ns Waldo Frank
Waldo Frank
Waldo Frank was a prolific novelist, historian, literary and social critic. Most well-known for his studies of Spanish and Latin American literature, Frank served as chairman of the First Americans Writers Congress and became the first president of the League of American Writers.-Biography:Frank...
and Carleton Beals
Carleton Beals
Carleton Beals was a radical American journalist, author, historian, and a crusader with special interests in Latin America.-Early years:...
.
The Fair Play for Cuba Committee has been the subject of much speculation. It was accused by some of being a Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
front, with little real support outside of a few dedicated American communists
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
. However, it seems to have been connected to the Trotskyist Socialist Workers' Party.
The FPCC achieved notoriety through the activities of Lee Harvey Oswald
Lee Harvey Oswald
Lee Harvey Oswald was, according to four government investigations,These were investigations by: the Federal Bureau of Investigation , the Warren Commission , the House Select Committee on Assassinations , and the Dallas Police Department. the sniper who assassinated John F...
in New Orleans
New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...
. (Oswald was the accused assassin of President John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
.) One of Oswald's FPCC leaflets had the address "544 Camp Street" hand-stamped on it, apparently by Oswald himself. This address was in the same building as the office of Guy Banister
Guy Banister
William Guy Banister was a career member of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and a private investigator. He gained notoriety from the allegations made by New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison, after Banister's death, that he had been involved in the assassination of John F. Kennedy...
, an ex-FBI agent who was involved in anti-Castro and intelligence activities.
Oswald's New Orleans activities were investigated by New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison
Jim Garrison
Earling Carothers "Jim" Garrison — who changed his first name to Jim in the early 1960s — was the District Attorney of Orleans Parish, Louisiana from 1962 to 1973. A member of the Democratic Party, he is best known for his investigations into the assassination of President John F. Kennedy...
, as part of his prosecution of Clay Shaw
Trial of Clay Shaw
On March 1, 1967, New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison arrested and charged New Orleans businessman Clay Shaw with conspiring to assassinate President Kennedy, with the help of Lee Harvey Oswald, David Ferrie, and others. On January 29, 1969, Shaw was brought to trial in Orleans Parish...
in 1969. The House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) also investigated the possible relationship of Oswald to Banister's office in the late 1970s.
In his 2002 book, The Kennedy Conspiracy (2002), Anthony Summers
Anthony Summers
Anthony Bruce Summers is the non-fiction author of seven best-selling investigative books. He is an Irish citizen, and has been working for some twenty years with Robbyn Swan, who is now his co-author and fifth wife...
asserted that documents indicate both the Central Intelligence Agency
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
and the FBI infiltrated the FPCC. He quoted a CIA officer saying "We did everything we could to make sure it was not successful -- to smear it ... to penetrate it. I think Oswald may have been part of a penetration attempt."
Vincent T. Lee shut down the national Fair Play for Cuba Committee in December 1963 when its landlord evicted the group from its national office; the notoriety accorded to it, following the Kennedy assassination, made it impossible for the committee to continue its work. Although, as of 2006, several groups are currently working to end the U.S. embargo against Cuba, none seem to be lineally descended from the Fair Play for Cuba Committee, or to be interested in being associated with the FPCC's name.
External links
- Article on the Fair Play for Cuba Committee
- Testimony of Vincent T. Lee in regard to Oswald and the Fair Play for Cuba Committee
- Transcript of the radio debate between FPCC representative Lee Harvey Oswald, Ed Butler and Carlos Bringuier
- Fair Play for Cuba and the Cuban Revolution by Bill Simpich, CounterPunchCounterpunchCounterpunch can refer to:* Counterpunch , a punch in boxing* CounterPunch, a bi-weekly political newsletter* Counterpunch , a type of punch used in traditional typography* Punch-Counterpunch, a Transformers character...
, July 24, 2009