Revista de La Habana 1930

            Gustavo Gutierrez published a magazine (quarterly) in 1930 called "La Revista de La Habana." It contained articles by many of the most renowned thinkers of the day including such international luminaries as Albert Einstein, Langston Hughes and Federico Garcia Lorca. One could also say that the Cuban contributers were among Cuba's "best and brightest!" It's subject matter included politics, economics, science, mathematics, literature, poetry, history, painting, sculpture, current events, etc. 

            The top photograph shows the first magazine cover and the bottom photograph shows many of the contributors including; Roig de Leuchsenring, Fernando Ortiz, Hernandez Cata, Manach, Sicre, Chacon y Calvo, Gattorno, Abela, Ichaso, Marinello, Riveron, Massaguer (see blog entries C.W.Massaguer #1 and #2), Wanguemert, Lugo-Vina and others. Plus, one of the contributors from Spain can be identified on the extreme right of the photograph as the celebrated dramaturge and poet, Federico Garcia Lorca.

            In the introduction, the young Gustavo saw Cuba as a natural bridge between the two Americas due to Cuba’s strategic geographical position; aided by the new and modern forms of rapid air travel and tele-communications. He reminded his readers of the neighbor to the north’s centrifugal reach and meddling drive, fearing, as a result, the disintegration of Cuba’s own cultural identity. This was a common concern of the day.

           He lamented, “We Cubans, have a strange habit of looking fondly and romantically towards our colonial and revolutionary past, relentlessly quoting our heroes. We cultivate a frenetic desire for material riches, acting like a slave who’s been put out to dance in front of his master. We’ve become an ostentatious populace that gyrates in cabarets with foreign names, tacky imitations, where tourists of all types satiate their thirst for liquor and lust. Why all this? What greatness does this achieve? What reason for this licentiousness while the people traverse through one of their deepest crises?”

         Gustavo was concerned for Cuba and its people. Culture needed to propagate among the people so they could develop discernment and build good character. He warned his countrymen not to be “duped by professional agitators, oracles acting in their own interest or money lenders from foreign lands.” Nor did he accept the perspective of the idle rich, “who lounge around with their material possessions seeing Cuba through rose-colored glasses.”

          He saw humanity broken as a result of the Great War which divided men into irreconcilable camps, individuals prone to extremes, exaggerations of all sorts, a people capable of deceiving themselves and lying to all those around them.

          In sensing this lack of honesty and integrity he wrote, “In our country we’ve almost completely lost the notion of limits. Everyone’s a genius to his friend and mediocre to his adversaries. To call a politician, artist or poet, notable, is almost a personal offence. One is forced to state that with “so and so” is born a new era in literature, politics or art. Critics are almost always subjective. The work doesn’t really matter resulting in a majority not concerned with real success or achievement, but rather, with favorable publicity and public opinion forged in deceit. There’s a lack of sincerity with one’s vocation or opinions or achievements since the ultimate goal is instant material gratification regardless of the cost. Everything is fabricated and contradictory because the poet writes the laws and the lawyer writes the novels while the doctor is put in charge of foreign policy.” In other words, it was all about the glitz and the glamour with little concern for true artistry in any form.

          “The political, social and economic life of the world, he continued, “is changing dramatically. New systems of government are sweeping into our lives; the Soviet model, fascism and democracy. As life renews itself and advances it gives birth to new problems and defective forms, which in turn renew themselves, and the cycle continues.  All reforms surge forward to eliminate certain defects but new ones materialize, unpredictable, unstoppable."

          The previous generation of Cubans that in 1902 fought and won their independence from their colonial oppressors achieved their goal, freedom from the Spanish Crown. Gustavo’s concern was with his troubled generation and the ones to follow. He considered himself a man of tomorrow, on a path laden with difficulty, warning the reader not to succumb to the past to fix the problems of the present. He said that,  “We must focus our literature, our arts and our sciences with a modern criteria and re-orient and perfect our socio-political character internationally and domestically. It will not be achieved with poems and speeches but through the slow yet indestructible process of education with its ultimate goal being that of culture. We must not poison the soul of a cultured populous with lies nor can we oppress them for very long. Culture nurtured and led our forefathers toward victory and it must do likewise for us today.”

          “We intend on bringing the advances of other cultures to the people of Cuba and those of the Cuban people to the world. This is the purpose of this magazine.  We have gathered Cubans from all stripes, young and enthusiastic intellectuals.  And though we do not all think alike, unsurprisingly, we are progressive, rational and avant-garde. But more than this we are all woven together by an ideology that is pure Cuban with a firm conviction against ignorance, indolence, selfishness and greed. We are guided by one sole purpose: Onward with culture, onward for truth!”

          The public response to the publication of La Revista de La Habana exceeded expectations. Congratulatory letters and telexes arrived from Latin America, the United States and Europe. Naturally, the response was greatest among the intellectual class in Cuba. However, due to a domestic economic downturn as well as the advent of the Great Depression, La Revista de La Habana closed after one year, having published only twelve issues.