ABSTRACT
The literature on the rhetoric of revolution considerably outweighs writings on the anatomy of revolution. In the search for an operational framework, this chapter restricts statements to those internal and external factors which determine the authenticity of a revolution and the limits to its autonomy. It illustrates contentions with references to the Cuban revolutionary experience from 1959 to the present. The Cuban Revolution was first and foremost, in its original execution, a military revolution. In the case of Cuba, the distinction between authenticity and autonomy becomes especially acute since most debates about the postrevolutionary situation are made in terms of autonomy more than authenticity. The Cuban regime and its leadership are to be credited with an appreciation of the spiritual and economic dynamics of social change. Cuba must deal with the authority of the military and its captive bureaucratic sector. The Cuban Revolution is not exactly the beatification of socialism.
