Platform of The Cuban Revolutionary Party

(From ObrAS COMPLETAS DE JOSÉ MARTÍ, La Habana, 1946)

Article 1. The Cuban Revolutionary Party has been formed to achieve absolute independence for the island of Cuba, and to aid and encourage that of Puerto Rico, through the combined efforts of all men of good will.

Article 2. The object of the Cuban Revolutionary Party is not to thoughtlessly plunge Cuba into a hasty war, nor hurl it at all costs into an ill-disposed and inharmonious movement, but to organize, in accord with all the active and honest elements willing to join, a short and noble war directed toward assuring in an atmosphere of work and peace the happiness of the island's inhabitants.

Article 3. The Cuban Revolutionary Party will assemble the revolutionary elements in existence today, and will collect, without immoral compromises with any man or nation whatever, all the additional elements possible, resolving to establish in Cuba, by means of a war waged with republican methods and spirit, a nation capable of assuring a durable happiness to its children, and of fulfilling, in the historic life of the continent, the difficult duties determined for it by its geographical location.

Article 4. The Cuban Revolutionary Party does not propose to perpetuate in the Cuban Republic, either with new forms or with changes that are more apparent than essential, the authoritarian spirit and bureaucratic composition of the colony, but to build, in the frank and cordial exercise of man's legitimate capabilities, a new and sincerely democratic nation able to defeat, through the order that stems from meaningful work and a balance of social forces, the dangers of sudden liberty in a society built upon slavery.

Article 5. The Cuban Revolutionary Party does not plan to take to Cuba a victorious group of people who consider the island their prey and dominion, but to prepare, with all the effective means permitted it by freedom abroad, the war that must be fought for the integrity and welfare of all Cubans, and to give all Cubans a free country.

Article 6. The Cuban Revolutionary Party has been established to build the one fatherland, cordial and wise, so that from its preparatory labors, and in each of them, it may lay the groundwork for saving Cuba from the foreign and domestic dangers that threaten it, and for replacing the economic confusion from which it suffers with a system of common funds that will immediately open the country to the diverse activities of its inhabitants.

Article 7. The Cuban Revolutionary Party will take precautions not to attract, with any indiscreet act or declaration during its propaganda, the ill-will or distrust of nations whose prudence or affection counsels or imposes the maintenance of friendly relations.

Article 8. The Cuban Revolutionary Party has the following concrete purposes:

1. To unite in all continuous and common effort the actions of all Cubans living abroad.
2. To encourage sincere relationships among historical and political factors, on the island and outside it, which may contribute to the rapid winning of the war, and to the greater strength and efficiency of the institutions to be established after it ends, and which it is bound to germinate.
3. To propagate in Cuba the knowledge of the spirit and methods of the revolution, and to gather the island's residents in a unity of purpose favorable to its victorious outcome, by methods that will not necessarily endanger Cuban lives.
4. To procure operational funds for achieving its program, while at the same time making available a continuous supply and a great number of resources for the war effort.
5. To discreetly establish with friendly nations relationships which tend to hasten, with the least possible bloodshed and sacrifice, the successful outcome of the war and the founding of the new republic that is indispensable to the American balance of power.

Article 9. The Cuban Revolutionary Party will be governed in accord with the secret statutes agreed upon by the organizations creating it.

RESolUTIONS

First: It is urgent to unite all honest revolutionary elements in free and common republican action.

Second: Common revolutionary action must have no concealed purposes, nor must it be undertaken without adjusting to the country's rights, realities, and democratic spirit, in line with justice and experience. It must not be propagated or accomplished in a manner that justifies, whether through commission or confusion, the country's fear of a war which is not fought as a mere tool of the popular government, and of the frank and unselfish preparatory measures of the republic.

Third: Revolutionary organization must not overlook the practical needs derived from the constitution and history of the country, nor must it work directly for the present or future predominance of any one class; rather must it work, in conformity with democratic methods, for the assembling of all the effective forces in the country; for the brotherhood and united action of Cubans living on foreign soil; for the respect and assistance of the world's republics; and for the creation of a just and frank republic-unified in territory, laws, work, and cordiality, built by all for the benefit of all.

Fourth: The revolutionary organization will respect and encourage the free and individual constitution of the local emigrant groups.

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Antonio Maceo | War for Independence