Fabio Grobart
Encyclopedia
Fabio Grobart was born in Bialystok
, Poland
August 30, 1905; his birth name was Abraham Grobart aka Abraham Simjovitch. Apparently following orders of the Comintern
, during the early 1920s he became a founding member of the Cuban Communist Party
. After in 1922 entering the Young Communist League of Poland, and additional Communist activities he may have been sentenced to death and this may have obliged him to leave Poland to settle in Cuba.
He played an important, though generally undocumented, role in guiding the political leadership of Cuba's 1959 Revolution along a socialist path. Fabio Grobart was one of the founders of the Communist Party in Cuba in 1925, "and for decades served as a party ideologue and the man who introduced Castro at party meetings" (Goering, 2001). Grobart was both a member of the Cuban Communist Party Central Committee and a member of Parliament. According to Boris Kozolchyk http://www.rand.org/pubs/research_memoranda/RM4994/ Grobart’s blunders were at least partially responsible for the outlawing of the Cuban Communist Party in 1948, and resulted in his deportation. In the 1960s, he directed Cuba Socialista and was top planner guiding orthodox ideologogy. As he grew older, he was considered the Party's historian. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D01E0D8173FF937A15753C1A962958260. He died in Cuba on 22 October 1994.
Abraham was a major éminence grise of Cuban history and is most commonly known as Fabio Grobart, Fabio being a reference to the Roman Consul and guerrilla tactician Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus called "Cunctator (the delayer)", and thus to Fabian socialism http://cepa.newschool.edu/het/schools/fabian.htm.
Grobart’s actual background is not clearly known and subject to controversy http://www.rand.org/pubs/research_memoranda/RM4994/. For instance during the foiled so-called microfaction plot (circa 1966, Barron, 1974 pp. 147–151) http://sshl.ucsd.edu/collections/las/cuba/1960.html, in which the “old” communists allegedly tried to oust or at least control Castro, Grobart was necessarily involved.
But this same source provides no mention of Grobart's actions for or against this very significant plot. Raffy (2004 pp. 383–385) is more specific specifying a somewhat earlier date; this author states that Anibal Escalante, the son of a senior Cuban independence fighter who fought under the command of Calixto Garcia
, was blamed for the plot. Raffe credits Grobart with saving Castro. Escalante was exiled to Prague and the USSR ambassador Kondriatsev was sent home from Cuba. Apparently this effort to save Castro was supported by Castro’s feared security chief “Barba Roja” Manuel Piñeiro
http://www.lanuevacuba.com/nuevacuba/notic-05-10-3010.htm. Those accused of being co-conspirators were imprisoned http://www.cidh.org/countryrep/Cuba83eng/chap.2.htm.
Fabio Grobart was long considered “… maybe the highest ranking representative of the Third International in Cuba in that moment” http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/us-cuba/diaz-balart.htm. However, Grobart’s importance in founding the Cuban communist party was recognized by Fidel Castro http://lanic.utexas.edu/la/cb/cuba/castro/1965/19651004, the Rand thinktank http://www.rand.org/pubs/research_memoranda/2006/RM4994.pdf, and Jewish history experts such as Moisés Asís, who states “By 1925, there were 8,000 Jews in Cuba (some 2,700 sephardic, 5,200 ashkenazic, and 100 Americans). Four ashkenazic Jews were in the small group that founded the first Communist Party of Cuba in 1925: Grimberg, Vasserman, Simjovich aka Grobart, and Gurbich. They opposed the religious and community life of the other Jews.”
It has been claimed that Grobart recruited Fidel Castro as an agent in 1948 http://www.cartadecuba.org/castro_el_infiel.htm http://www.perspectives.com/forums/view_topic.php?id=88905&forum_id=40.
Although the party Grobart helped found was not the first Cuban communist party, it is considered as such by the present Cuban government. The first well known Cuban communist was Pablo Lafargue, born in Santiago de Cuba in 1847. Lafargue went to Europe, became a disciple of Karl Marx, married one of Marx’s daughters, became a very important member of the Socialist Internationals, and helped found the French Workers Party in 1882. Lafargue and his wife committed suicide. The original Cuban Communist Party seems to have arisen early in the 20th Century in the eastern town of Manzanillo.
Fabio Grobart was ethnically “Jewish,” and may not have been a practicing Jew. He apparently never objected to the Cuban government's "attitude toward religion, Zionism and Israel… " http://www.sunspot.net/bal-pe.cuba05aug05.story.
’s first period of power. According to this official history, since his lungs were weak and his life was again threatened in the 1950s when he left for Eastern Europe to spend time between Budapest, Prague and Vienna. In 1952, under the name Albert Blanco he was co-delegate with Carlos Palacio a Spaniard for Latin America in the very leftist labor union World Federation of Trade Unions
(WFTU). After 1959 Ernesto Che Guevara and Raúl Castro
met “Alberto Blanco” in Prague and brought him back to Cuba. In 2005 Raúl Castro
’s words led Cuban communist authorities in honors and praise to ”maestro” Grobart, giving his status as such as well as the official imprimatur of “marxist sainthood” http://www.granma.cubaweb.cu/2005/08/31/nacional/articulo01.html,
Fled Poland (circa 1922)
Arrival in Cuba (circa 1922)
Founding of the Cuban Communist Party (1925) in collaboration with Julio Antonio Mella, Ruben Martinez Villena and 14 others
Assassation of Julio Antonio Mella
10 January 1929
Expelled from Cuba by Gerardo Machado
Government (trial dated circa 1926, expelled from Cuba 1930 and or 1932)
Returned to Cuba with false passport March 1933
Alliance with Machado government August 1933 (see Grobart 1975)
Alliance with Fulgencio Batista
Government (circa 1939-1940)
Expulsion by Carlos Prio Government (1948–1950)
Return to Cuba to support Fidel Castro
Government (1959)
Supported Castro in internal struggle of microfaction (middle and late 1960s)
Died Cuba October 22, 1994
, in the Star Trek TV series Deep Space Nine
e.g. http://www.twiztv.com/scripts/ds9/season4/ds9-410.txt.
Grobart, Fabio 1985 Un Forjador Eternamente Joven, Havana, Editorial Gente
Grobart, Fabio 1981 (accessed 5-10-07) De la vida del partido. El proceso de formación del Partido Comunista de Cuba, condensed by communist party from an article in: Cuba Socialista 1981 (1 diciembre). http://www.cubasocialista.cu/texto/cs0176.htm
Grobart, Fabio 1979 in MARINELLO, Juan) VARIOS; Juan Marinello: recopilación de textos sobre... - (Raúl Castro, Fabio Grobart, Vicentina Antuña, Imeldo Alvarez, Eduardo E. López Morales, Cintio Vitier, Samuel Feijóo, Jorge Mañach, y otros) - La Habana,1979
Grobart, F, 1974 Prólogo, In: Mella, JA, Escritos Revolucionarios, Mexico D.F., Siglo Veintiuno, 1978, pp. 23-. The Agrupación Comunista de La Habana had been founded in 1923
Grobart, Fabio 1975 The Cuban working class movement from 1925-1933. Science and Society 29 (Spring 75), 73-102
Grobart, F, 1974 Prólogo, In: Nuñez Machin, Ana.- 1974 Rubén Martínez Villena. Incluye en apéndice amplia antología en prosa y verso. Editorial Ciencias Sociales, La Habana. 2ªed.
Bialystok
Białystok is the largest city in northeastern Poland and the capital of the Podlaskie Voivodeship. Located on the Podlaskie Plain on the banks of the Biała River, Białystok ranks second in terms of population density, eleventh in population, and thirteenth in area, of the cities of Poland...
, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
August 30, 1905; his birth name was Abraham Grobart aka Abraham Simjovitch. Apparently following orders of the Comintern
Comintern
The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern, also known as the Third International, was an international communist organization initiated in Moscow during March 1919...
, during the early 1920s he became a founding member of the Cuban Communist Party
Popular Socialist Party (Cuba)
The Popular Socialist Party was a communist party in Cuba. Originally called the Communist Party of Cuba , it was formed in the 1925 by a group including Blas Roca, Anibal Escalante, Fabio Grobart and Julio Antonio Mella, who acted as its leader until his assassination in Mexico in 1929. It was...
. After in 1922 entering the Young Communist League of Poland, and additional Communist activities he may have been sentenced to death and this may have obliged him to leave Poland to settle in Cuba.
He played an important, though generally undocumented, role in guiding the political leadership of Cuba's 1959 Revolution along a socialist path. Fabio Grobart was one of the founders of the Communist Party in Cuba in 1925, "and for decades served as a party ideologue and the man who introduced Castro at party meetings" (Goering, 2001). Grobart was both a member of the Cuban Communist Party Central Committee and a member of Parliament. According to Boris Kozolchyk http://www.rand.org/pubs/research_memoranda/RM4994/ Grobart’s blunders were at least partially responsible for the outlawing of the Cuban Communist Party in 1948, and resulted in his deportation. In the 1960s, he directed Cuba Socialista and was top planner guiding orthodox ideologogy. As he grew older, he was considered the Party's historian. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D01E0D8173FF937A15753C1A962958260. He died in Cuba on 22 October 1994.
Abraham was a major éminence grise of Cuban history and is most commonly known as Fabio Grobart, Fabio being a reference to the Roman Consul and guerrilla tactician Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus called "Cunctator (the delayer)", and thus to Fabian socialism http://cepa.newschool.edu/het/schools/fabian.htm.
Grobart’s actual background is not clearly known and subject to controversy http://www.rand.org/pubs/research_memoranda/RM4994/. For instance during the foiled so-called microfaction plot (circa 1966, Barron, 1974 pp. 147–151) http://sshl.ucsd.edu/collections/las/cuba/1960.html, in which the “old” communists allegedly tried to oust or at least control Castro, Grobart was necessarily involved.
But this same source provides no mention of Grobart's actions for or against this very significant plot. Raffy (2004 pp. 383–385) is more specific specifying a somewhat earlier date; this author states that Anibal Escalante, the son of a senior Cuban independence fighter who fought under the command of Calixto Garcia
Calixto García
Calixto García e Iñiguez was a general in three Cuban uprisings, part of the Cuban War for Independence: Ten Years' War, the Little War and the War of 1895, itself sometimes called the Cuban War for Independence, which bled into the Spanish-American War, ultimately resulting in national...
, was blamed for the plot. Raffe credits Grobart with saving Castro. Escalante was exiled to Prague and the USSR ambassador Kondriatsev was sent home from Cuba. Apparently this effort to save Castro was supported by Castro’s feared security chief “Barba Roja” Manuel Piñeiro
Manuel Piñeiro
Manuel Piñeiro Losada , known as Barba Roja , was a Cuban political and military figure, a leading character of the Cuban Revolution, as the first head of Fidel Castro's security apparatus...
http://www.lanuevacuba.com/nuevacuba/notic-05-10-3010.htm. Those accused of being co-conspirators were imprisoned http://www.cidh.org/countryrep/Cuba83eng/chap.2.htm.
Fabio Grobart was long considered “… maybe the highest ranking representative of the Third International in Cuba in that moment” http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/us-cuba/diaz-balart.htm. However, Grobart’s importance in founding the Cuban communist party was recognized by Fidel Castro http://lanic.utexas.edu/la/cb/cuba/castro/1965/19651004, the Rand thinktank http://www.rand.org/pubs/research_memoranda/2006/RM4994.pdf, and Jewish history experts such as Moisés Asís, who states “By 1925, there were 8,000 Jews in Cuba (some 2,700 sephardic, 5,200 ashkenazic, and 100 Americans). Four ashkenazic Jews were in the small group that founded the first Communist Party of Cuba in 1925: Grimberg, Vasserman, Simjovich aka Grobart, and Gurbich. They opposed the religious and community life of the other Jews.”
It has been claimed that Grobart recruited Fidel Castro as an agent in 1948 http://www.cartadecuba.org/castro_el_infiel.htm http://www.perspectives.com/forums/view_topic.php?id=88905&forum_id=40.
Although the party Grobart helped found was not the first Cuban communist party, it is considered as such by the present Cuban government. The first well known Cuban communist was Pablo Lafargue, born in Santiago de Cuba in 1847. Lafargue went to Europe, became a disciple of Karl Marx, married one of Marx’s daughters, became a very important member of the Socialist Internationals, and helped found the French Workers Party in 1882. Lafargue and his wife committed suicide. The original Cuban Communist Party seems to have arisen early in the 20th Century in the eastern town of Manzanillo.
Family and personality
Fabio Grobart had a son (still living and not an only child) Fabio Grobart Sunshine born August 31, PhD in International Economics & MS Chemical Engineering http://www.nodo50.org/cubasigloXXI/congreso04/grobart_200304.pdf.Fabio Grobart was ethnically “Jewish,” and may not have been a practicing Jew. He apparently never objected to the Cuban government's "attitude toward religion, Zionism and Israel… " http://www.sunspot.net/bal-pe.cuba05aug05.story.
Official History
Official Cuban government histories state that Grobert left Poland after joining the Communist Youth League, and for this reason was condemned to death http://www.trabajadores.co.cu/SUPLEMENTO-HISTORIA/revolucion/fabio.htm. His first job in Cuba was as a tailors’ assistant and rapidly became active in Cuban Unions. Directed to do so by the Cuban communist party he funded the corresponding communist youth league. Although it is public record that Gerard Machado often turned to the communist party for support, officially Grobart was arrested by Machado officials and did not return until this President, turned dictator, fell from power. Some time before 1943 Grobart resumed union activities during Fulgencio BatistaFulgencio Batista
Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar was the United States-aligned Cuban President, dictator and military leader who served as the leader of Cuba from 1933 to 1944 and from 1952 to 1959, before being overthrown as a result of the Cuban Revolution....
’s first period of power. According to this official history, since his lungs were weak and his life was again threatened in the 1950s when he left for Eastern Europe to spend time between Budapest, Prague and Vienna. In 1952, under the name Albert Blanco he was co-delegate with Carlos Palacio a Spaniard for Latin America in the very leftist labor union World Federation of Trade Unions
World Federation of Trade Unions
The World Federation of Trade Unions was established in 1945 to replace the International Federation of Trade Unions. Its mission was to bring together trade unions across the world in a single international organization, much like the United Nations...
(WFTU). After 1959 Ernesto Che Guevara and Raúl Castro
Raúl Castro
Raúl Modesto Castro Ruz is a Cuban politician and revolutionary who has been President of the Council of State of Cuba and the President of the Council of Ministers of Cuba since 2008; he previously exercised presidential powers in an acting capacity from 2006 to 2008...
met “Alberto Blanco” in Prague and brought him back to Cuba. In 2005 Raúl Castro
Raúl Castro
Raúl Modesto Castro Ruz is a Cuban politician and revolutionary who has been President of the Council of State of Cuba and the President of the Council of Ministers of Cuba since 2008; he previously exercised presidential powers in an acting capacity from 2006 to 2008...
’s words led Cuban communist authorities in honors and praise to ”maestro” Grobart, giving his status as such as well as the official imprimatur of “marxist sainthood” http://www.granma.cubaweb.cu/2005/08/31/nacional/articulo01.html,
Outline of Major Events in Fabio Grobart's life
Born Poland August 30, 1905Fled Poland (circa 1922)
Arrival in Cuba (circa 1922)
Founding of the Cuban Communist Party (1925) in collaboration with Julio Antonio Mella, Ruben Martinez Villena and 14 others
Assassation of Julio Antonio Mella
Julio Antonio Mella
Julio Antonio Mella was a founder of the "internationalized" Cuban Communist Party.Mella studied law in the University of Havana until he was expelled in 1925 and is considered a hero by the present Cuban government. Some Cubans view him as a victim of the Stalin-Trotsky struggle...
10 January 1929
Expelled from Cuba by Gerardo Machado
Gerardo Machado
Gerardo Machado y Morales was President of Cuba and a general of the Cuban War of Independence...
Government (trial dated circa 1926, expelled from Cuba 1930 and or 1932)
Returned to Cuba with false passport March 1933
Alliance with Machado government August 1933 (see Grobart 1975)
Alliance with Fulgencio Batista
Fulgencio Batista
Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar was the United States-aligned Cuban President, dictator and military leader who served as the leader of Cuba from 1933 to 1944 and from 1952 to 1959, before being overthrown as a result of the Cuban Revolution....
Government (circa 1939-1940)
Expulsion by Carlos Prio Government (1948–1950)
Return to Cuba to support Fidel Castro
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary and politician, having held the position of Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and then President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party's foundation in 1961 until 2011...
Government (1959)
Supported Castro in internal struggle of microfaction (middle and late 1960s)
Died Cuba October 22, 1994
Character in film
Since Grobart excelled in intelligence activities and at one time owned a tailor shop in Havana http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D01E0D8173FF937A15753C1A962958260 he is readily identifiable with the ultimate skilled spy, the character Elim GarakElim Garak
Elim Garak is a fictional character from the television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, in which he is portrayed by Andrew J. Robinson. In the series, Garak is an exiled spy from the Cardassian empire and a former member of a prestigious Cardassian intelligence group called the Obsidian Order...
, in the Star Trek TV series Deep Space Nine
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is a science fiction television series set in the Star Trek universe...
e.g. http://www.twiztv.com/scripts/ds9/season4/ds9-410.txt.
Published works
This list is very incomplete please add any other citations that you might have.Grobart, Fabio 1985 Un Forjador Eternamente Joven, Havana, Editorial Gente
Grobart, Fabio 1981 (accessed 5-10-07) De la vida del partido. El proceso de formación del Partido Comunista de Cuba, condensed by communist party from an article in: Cuba Socialista 1981 (1 diciembre). http://www.cubasocialista.cu/texto/cs0176.htm
Grobart, Fabio 1979 in MARINELLO, Juan) VARIOS; Juan Marinello: recopilación de textos sobre... - (Raúl Castro, Fabio Grobart, Vicentina Antuña, Imeldo Alvarez, Eduardo E. López Morales, Cintio Vitier, Samuel Feijóo, Jorge Mañach, y otros) - La Habana,1979
Grobart, F, 1974 Prólogo, In: Mella, JA, Escritos Revolucionarios, Mexico D.F., Siglo Veintiuno, 1978, pp. 23-. The Agrupación Comunista de La Habana had been founded in 1923
Grobart, Fabio 1975 The Cuban working class movement from 1925-1933. Science and Society 29 (Spring 75), 73-102
Grobart, F, 1974 Prólogo, In: Nuñez Machin, Ana.- 1974 Rubén Martínez Villena. Incluye en apéndice amplia antología en prosa y verso. Editorial Ciencias Sociales, La Habana. 2ªed.