Two Republics in Conflict

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.13169/zanjglobsoutstud.4.1.0002
• Published date: 10 November 2022
• Date: 10 November 2022
• Pages: 8-20
• Author: Julio César Guanche
• Subject Matter: Cuba,race,global south,decolonial,war,barbarism,social identity ,nationalism,double consciousness ,conflict

8Volume Four, Number One

"Two Republics in Conict" — Guanche

Two Republics in Conict: The “Race War” of 1912 in Cuba

Julio César Guanche

Translated by Georoy d e Laforcade

Note: This text was originally published as a prologue for the new edition of Rafael Conte and José

M. Capmany, Guerra de razas. Negros contra blancos en Cuba Leiden: Bokeh 2019, and reproduced by La Tizza

on July 20, 2020: https://medium.com/la-tiza/dos-rep%C3%BAblicas-en-conicto-un-pr%C3%B3logo-

a-guerra-de-razas-b3823d279988. It is printed here with permission and for the rst time that we are

aware of in Eng lish translation.

The Journey from Civilizaon to Barbarism

“Do you see that fat man?,” a husband says to his wife; “He has to go to La Maya.” “Oh, the poor

man!” exclaims the lady with a sorrowful tone.”1 The phrase is found in Guerra de razas. Negros contra

blancos (“Race War. Blacks against Whites”) published in Cuba in 1912 by Rafael Conte and José

M. Capmany and could be its epitome. It refers to a train journey from Havana to the Cuban east,

but it is a metaphor for the transit that the authors of the book, together with the dominant ocial

discourse at the time, imagine as the descent from civilization toward barbarism.

Passengers arriving as far as San Luis, Cristo or Santiago de Cuba were “the masters

of the train.” Not all were necessarily going to ght in the rebellion associated with the Partido

Independiente de Color (Independent Party of Color – PIC), sparked by the armed protest that began

on May 20, 1912. However, they were in fact traveling to the heart of the “Nigricia”2 of Cuba. Its

authors, Conte and Capmany – “two notable Cuban racists”3 – cite this famous book exploring the

1 Unless otherwise noted, all citations are from the 2019 edition of Rafael Conte and José M. Capmany, Guerra

de razas. Negros contra blancos en Cuba (Leiden: Bokeh).

2 An ancient term for regions of the present-day Sudan. Cf. Churi 2007.

3 Rodríguez 2010: 128.