Cuadernos del Congreso por la Libertad de Cultura (1953–1965) and the Failure of a Cold War Liberal Project for Latin America

Glondys, Olga

doi:10.1057/978-1-137-59867-7_10

Olga Glondys³

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2 Citations

Abstract

Glondys proposes a critical interpretation of the magazine Cuadernos (1953–1965), the most important tool of the Congress for Cultural Freedom (CCF) programme on the South American continent. Focusing on its Eurocentric and radically anti-communist ideological line, the chapter gives insight into a policy which failed to attract local audiences or carry out solid pro-democratic work. As part of a comprehensive analysis of the CCF’s failure in Latin America, the example of Cuadernos illustrates the ‘Apertura a Sinistra’ strategy. This had been adopted by the CCF after the Cuban Revolution, and was undermined by wrong appointments and by internal and external obstacles, all of which finally led to the closure of Cuadernos in 1965.

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Notes

1.
Frances Stonor Saunders, Who Paid the Piper? The CIA and the Cultural Cold War (London: Granta, 1999), p. 307; Giles Scott-Smith, The Politics of Apolitical Culture: The Congress for Cultural Freedom, the CIA and Postwar American Hegemony (London: Routledge, 2002), pp. 124–127. According to the document ‘Statements of receipts and disbursements for the year ended’ (31 December 1961), Cuadernos also received funding from the Broad-High Foundation, Columbus ($25,000). Michael Josselson Papers, Box 9, Folder 4, Harry Ransom Humanities Center, University of Texas at Austin (hereafter MJP).
2.
Jacques Kergoat, Marceau Pivert: socialiste de gauche (Paris: Editions de l’Atelier, 1994), pp. 200–201; Susan Weissman, Victor Serge: The Course is Set on Hope, (London: Verso, 2001), pp. 178–179; Olga Glondys, La guerra fría cultural y el exilio republicano español: ‘Cuadernos del Congreso por la Libertad de la Cultura’ (1953–1965) (Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, 2012), pp. 33–41.
3.
Julián Gorkin, ‘Congreso por la Libertad de la Cultura (América Latina)’, 4 November 1952, International Association for Cultural Freedom Papers, Series II; Box 204, Folder 5, Special Collections Research Center, Joseph L. Regenstein Library, University of Chicago (hereafter IACF); Víctor Alba to François Bondy, 27 July 1952, Series II; Box 204, Folder 5, IACF.
4.
Julián Gorkin, ‘Pour un Congrès pour la Liberté de la Culture en Amérique Latine’, 30 May 1952. There is a personal note on the document addressed to Irving Brown, ‘Here is the project I promised you’. Series II; Box 204, Folder 5, IACF; Gorkin, ‘Congreso por la Libertad de la Cultura (América Latina)’.
5.
‘Réunion du Comité Executif, Paris, 31 mai 1952’, Series II, Box 57, Folder 1, IACF. I am grateful to Nicolas Stegner for sharing this document with me.
6.
‘Rapport sur le Congrès pour la Liberté de la Culture en Amérique Latine’, 2 June 1953, Series II, Box 204, Folder 7, IACF.
7.
Víctor Alba to Bertram and Ella Wolfe, 30 August 1952, Bertram D. Wolfe Personal Papers, Box 11, Folder 62, Hoover Institution Archives, Stanford University (hereafter APBW).
8.
Louis Mercier Vega, ‘Deuxième rapport sur Chili: Mercier, 27 abril 1953’, Series II; Box 204, Folder 7, IACF. ‘Aussi, une place doit être accordée, à côté de la campagne permanente de débourrage de crânes sur la réalité soviétique, a l’information sur l’Espagne franquiste, sur les régimes militaires d’Amérique Latine, même s’ils sont soutenus par certaines ‘machines’ nord-américaines, sur les luttes menées aux Etats-Unis avec notre participation contre le discrimination racial et le Maccarthysme par exemple.’
9.
Pierre Grémion, Intelligence de l’Anticommunisme. Le Congrès pour la liberté de la culture à Paris (1950–1975) (Paris: Fayard, 1995), p. 146.
10.
Carlos de Baraibar to Julián Gorkin, 23 July 1953, Series II, Box 212, Folder 1, IACF.
11.
Michael Josselson to Julián Gorkin, 26 May 1954, Series I, Box 2, Folder 5, IACF; 22 April 1955, Series I, Box 4, Folder 5, IACF. This ‘apolitical’ line upset Jay Lovestone, who criticised Michael Josselson in a letter to Julián Gorkin, 25 October 1956, Series II, Box 54, Folder 2, IACF.
12.
Julián Gorkin, ‘Rapport de Julián Gorkin sur son dernier voyage en Amérique Latine: 12 avril-6 juin 1955’, Julián Gorkin (Julián Gómez y García) Personal Papers, 556–6, Fundación Pablo Iglesias, Alcalá de Henares, Madrid (hereafter AJGG); ‘Informe sobre Cuadernos’, 7 November 1957, 565–20, AJGG.
13.
During 1958, commercial diffusion increased from 3975 to 5379 copies, which seemed satisfactory given that other prestigious Latin American reviews such as Cuadernos Americanos and Sur would never sell above 2000 or 1800 copies, respectively. ‘Informe sobre Cuadernos’, 565–20, AJGG.
14.
Peter Coleman, The Liberal Conspiracy: The Congress for Cultural Freedom and the Struggle for the Mind of Post-war Europe (New York: Free Press, 1989), p. 87.
15.
Keith Botsford to John Hunt and Michael Josselson, 17 July 1962, Series II; Box 46, Folder 5, IACF.
16.
‘Ni Iglesias ni yo logramos saber qué es lo que le interesa nunca para la revista. No hay artículo al que no le encuentre un pero u otro; yo mismo no tengo ningún gusto en colaborar en la revista y lo mismo pasa con otros. Es un hombre muy difícil.’ Julián Gorkin to Joaquín Maurín, 7 April 1955, Joaquín Maurín Personal Papers, Box 4, Folder: Correspondence with Cuadernos, Hoover Institution Archives, Stanford University (hereafter JMPP).
17.
Julián Gorkin to Salvador de Madariaga, 10 January 1958, Series II, Box 56, Folder 3, IACF.
18.
Michael Josselson to John Hunt, 3 August 1961, Series II, Box 46, Folder 3, IACF; Michael Josselson to Louis Mercier Vega, 17 June 1963, Series II; Box 189, Folder 9, IACF.
19.
Louis Mercier Vega to René Tavernier, 19 March 1964, Series VI, Box 4, Folder 16, IACF.
20.
In summer 1959, the direction of Cuadernos was entrusted to Luis Araquistáin, while Gorkin continued as associate director and Iglesias as editor-in-chief but, due to Araquistáin’s sudden death two months later, Gorkin again took over the direction of Cuadernos until January 1963.
21.
Julián Gorkin, ‘La experiencia de Guatemala’, Cuadernos, 9 (November–December 1954), pp. 88–93; Joaquín Maurín, ‘Costa Rica y su presidente Figueras’, 11 (March–April 1955), pp. 83–90. See Jean Franco, The Decline and Fall of the Lettered City: Latin America in the Cold War (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2002), p. 33.
22.
Franco, Decline and Fall, pp. 35–36.
23.
Marta Ruiz Galbete, ‘Cuadernos del Congreso por la Libertad de la Cultura: anticomunismo y guerra fría en América Latina’, Argonauta Español, 3 (2006), available online, <http://argonauta.imageson.org/document75.html>.
24.
Luis Alberto Sánchez, ‘El movimiento comunista en la América Latina’, Cuadernos, 7 (July–August 1954), pp. 87–91; Eduardo Santos, ‘La defensa de la libertad en América Latina’, 11 (March–April 1955), pp. 3–9.
25.
Robert J. Alexander to Nicolás Nabokov, 14 July 1952, Series II; Box 204, Folder 5, IACF.
26.
Carlos P. Carranza, ‘Informe sobre la revista Cuadernos’, 8 May 1957, Series II; Box 53, Folder 15, IACF.
27.
Franco, Decline and Fall, p. 38.
28.
Patrick Iber, Neither Peace nor Freedom: The Cultural Cold War in Latin America. (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2015), p. 10; On the CCF’s transformation in Latin America, compare the chapter “Modernizing Cultural Freedom”, pp. 174–210.
29.
John Hunt to Keith Botstford, 1 March 1961, Series I; Box 27, Folder 2, IACF.
30.
Keith Botsford to John Hunt, 10 February 1961, Series II; Box 46, Folder 3, IACF.
31.
Louis Mercier Vega, ‘Plan de Travail immédiat’, 2 March 1961, Series VI; Box 1, Folder 17, IACF.
32.
Keith Botsford to John Hunt, 20 July 1961, Series II, Box 46, Folder 3, IACF.
33.
Michael Josselson to Ignacio Iglesias, 13 July 1961, Series II, Box 187, Folder 11, IACF; see Peter Coleman, Liberal Conspiracy, p. 193.
34.
Michael Josselson to Ignacio Iglesias, 13 July 1961, Series II, Box 187, Folder 11, IACF.
35.
Michael Josselson to Julián Gorkin, 15 August 1961, Series II, Box 131, Folder 4, IACF.
36.
‘Il nous faut changer notre fusil d’épaule’, Michael Josselson to Julián Gorkin, Louis Mercier, Ignacio Iglesias, Arturo Baeza Flores, and Francesco Farreras, 29 September 1961, Series II, Box 187, Folder 9, IACF.
37.
John Hunt to Keith Botsford, 29 January 1962, Series I, Box 31, Folder 5, IACF.
38.
Michael Josselson to Julián Gorkin, 4 January 1962, Series II, Box 131, Folder 4, IACF.
39.
Stonor Saunders, Who Paid the Piper?, p. 216.
40.
Ibid., p. 325.
41.
Michael Josselson to Julián Gorkin, 29 September 1961, Series II, Box 131, Folder 4, IACF.
42.
In his brief note to Iglesias, Josselson quoted a fragment of an article by Spender and Lasky and asked that Baeza Flores use their arguments in his article on Cuba. One of those ideas was a comparison of the popularity of the Cuban Revolution with mass support for the regimes of Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin. Michael Josselson to Ignacio Iglesias, 24 April 1961, Series II, Box 187, Folder 11, IACF.
43.
Teresa Casuso to Julián Gorkin, 27 February 1961 and Gorkin to Casuso, 23 February 1961, Series II, Box 62, Folder 2, IACF.
44.
A document bearing no signature, date, or title, addressed to Josselson, on which somebody wrote inappropriately ‘1.er Proyecto Mercier’, Series II, Box 65, Folder 6, IACF.
45.
Julián Gorkin, ‘Santiago Carrillo y mis negocios con la CIA’ [‘Santiago Carrillo and my business with the CIA’], El País, 17 June 1979, p. 15.
46.
Ignacio Iglesias and Juan Manuel Vera, ‘Un diálogo con Ignacio Iglesias’, interview carried out on 15 October 2005, available online: <http://www.fundanin.org/entrevista-iglesias.htm> (accessed July 2009).
47.
Nicolas Guilhot, ‘A network of influential friendships: the Foundation pour une entraide intellectuelle européene and East–West cultural dialogue, 1957–1991’, Minerva, 44 (2006), pp. 379–409.
48.
Nicolas Nabokov to Mira and Stefan Baciu, 2 April 1962, Salvador de Madariaga Papers, C163/1, C1, Instituto José Cornide, A Coruña (hereafter APSM).
49.
In his letter to Madariaga of 26 October 1962, Josselson wrote that the CCF was not changing its political line but was trying to find effective methods that would target the people it aimed to influence (‘Somme toute, il ne s’agit nullement d’une nouvelle orientation et la nécessite tactique de mettre plus d’accent sur des programmes positives n’implique pas autre chose que la recherche de méthodes permettant d’attirer vers nous les gens que nous espérons influencer’), Series II, Box 189, Folder 3, IACF.
50.
Stefan Baciu to Salvador de Madariaga, 16 March 1962, C163/2, C2, APSM.
51.
Salvador de Madariaga to Ignacio Iglesias, 2 June 1954, C161/2, C3, APSM.
52.
Michael Josselson to Ignacio Iglesias, 19 March 1962, Series II, Box 189, Folder 1, IACF.
53.
Konstanty Jelenski to Michael Josselson, 3 August 1962, Series I, Box 32, Folder 7, IACF.
54.
Keith Botsford to John Hunt and Michael Josselson, 12 September 1963, Series II, Box 46, Folder 6, IACF. See also Coleman, p. 86.
55.
The budgets for Cuadernos and Preuves rose continuously, reaching $166,637 collectively in 1956. In March 1962, Josselson was shocked to discover that the budget for Cuadernos had reached the highest position among all the CCF’s magazines. See Scott-Smith, Politics of Apolitical Culture, pp. 126–127; Michael Josselson to Ignacio Iglesias, 20 March 1962, Series II, Box 189, Folder 1, IACF.
56.
John Hunt to Salvador de Madariaga, 4 January 1965, Series I, Box 48, Folder 6, IACF.
57.
‘Budget Cuadernos 1964’, Series II, Box 7, Folder 7, IACF; audit by PriceWaterCoopers: ‘Statements of receipts and disbursements, for the period of 18 months ended 30th June 1966’ and ‘Statements of receipts and disbursements, for the year ended’. In December 1966, the now defunct journal received $77,706 to cover its debts (more than Preuves, subsidised with $72,691.35 for the whole of 1966), Box 19, Folder 4, MJP.
58.
Louis Mercier Vega to John Hunt, 10 August 1964, Series VI, Box 4, Folder 11, IACF; Keith Botsford to John Hunt, 27 April 1964, Series II, Box 46, Folder 7, IACF; Glondys, pp. 181–182.
59.
Keith Botsford to John Hunt, 28 September 1963, Series II, Box 46, Folder 6, IACF; John Hunt to Michael Josselson, 21 May 1964, Series II, Box 147, Folder 8, IACF.
60.
Michael Josselson to Keith Botsford, 15 May 1964, Series II, Box 190, Folder 1, IACF.
61.
W. Scott Lucas, Freedom’s War: The American Crusade against the Soviet Union (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1999); Lucas, ‘Beyond Freedom, Beyond Control: Approaches to Culture and the State-Private Network in the Cold War’, in Giles Scott-Smith and Hans Krabbendam (eds.), The Cultural Cold War in Western Europe 1945–1960 (London: Frank Cass, 2003), pp. 53–72; Scott-Smith, Politics, pp. 160–164; Hugh Wilford, ‘“The permanent revolution?” The New York Intellectuals, the CIA and the Cultural Cold War’, in Helen Laville and Hugh Wilford (eds.), The US Government, Citizens Groups, and the Cold War: The State–Private Network (London: Routledge, 2006), p. 198.
62.
Quoted in W. Scott Lucas, ‘Revealing the Parameters of Opinion: An interview with Frances Stonor Saunders’, in Scott-Smith and Krabbendam (eds.), The Cultural Cold War, p. 29.
63.
Michael Josselson to Keith Botsford, 13 April 1962, Series VI, Box 2, Folder 2, IACF.
64.
Scott-Smith, Politics, p. 156.
65.
Gorkin’s words according to José Luis Recavarren, quoted in Recavarren’s letter to Louis Mercier Vega, 30 April 1964, Series VI, Box 4, Folder 3, IACF.
66.
Louis Mercier Vega to Alberto Baeza Flores, 26 February 1964, Series VI, Box 4, Folder 8, IACF.
67.
Frances Stonor Saunders quoted by W. Scott Lucas, ‘Revealing the Parameters of Opinion’, p. 21.

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Autonomous University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
Olga Glondys

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Olga Glondys
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Correspondence to Olga Glondys .

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Institute of History, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands
Giles Scott-Smith
Amerika-Institut, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany
Charlotte A. Lerg

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Glondys, O. (2017). Cuadernos del Congreso por la Libertad de Cultura (1953–1965) and the Failure of a Cold War Liberal Project for Latin America. In: Scott-Smith, G., Lerg, C. (eds) Campaigning Culture and the Global Cold War. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-59867-7_10

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-59867-7_10
Published: 03 June 2017
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