24th July 1908 – 26th April 1987
Cuban Communist Blas Roca was General Secretary of the pre-1959 Cuban Revolution Communist Party, the Popular Socialist Party (PSP). Under his leadership the Cuban communists provided key organisational and ideological structure for Fidel Castro’s socialist revolution. Post-Revolution, Blas Roca became a Central Committee and Politburo member of the new Communist Party of Cuba in 1965 after the communists of the PSP, 26th July Movement and the Revolutionary Directorate merged into the new Party.
In August 1960, addressing Cuban communists, Blas Roca said:
“We rightly foresaw, and greatly looked forward to, the prospect that in response to conditions created by the (Batista) tyranny, the masses would organise and eventually engage in armed struggle or popular insurrection. But for a long time we failed to take any practical steps to hasten that prospect, because we believed that these struggles, including a prolonged general strike, would culminate in armed struggle quite spontaneously. Hence, we did not prepare, did not organise or train armed detachments… That was our mistake. Fidel Castro’s historical merit is that he prepared, trained, and assembled the fighting elements needed to begin and carry on armed struggle as a means of destroying the tyranny.”
Karol, K.S. 1970. Guerrillas in Power: The Course of the Cuban Revolution. Hill & Wang
Blas Roca went on to be a key communist pillar in building socialism in Cuba, serving as President of the National Assembly of Popular Power from 1976 to 1981. In 1978 he was awarded one of the highest Cuban awards, the Order of Playa Giron, and in the same year received an Order of Lenin from the Soviet Union.
On his death, at his request, he was buried in the Cuban countryside with only a simple headstone.
A Communist giant of the Cuban Revolution.
