By 1959, the American Charles Wright Mills was already a prominent sociologist with influence in his country and in parts of Europe. At the age of 44, he had developed a solid theory on American society and power relations—The New Men of Power: The Labor Leaders of the United States (1948), White Collar: The American Middle Class (1951), and The Power Elite (1956)—and had also made significant critiques and contributions to social theory—The Sociological Imagination (1959). In October 1959, Mills participated in an academic conference in Brazil, where he met some of the leading figures in Latin American sociology: Gino Germani, Fernando Henrique Cardozo, and Pablo González Casanova. A few months later, between February and March 1960, Mills spent time in Mexico, where he strengthened his relationship with González Casanova, Carlos Fuentes, Enrique González Pedrero, and Arnaldo Orfila, among others. Mills’ brief but decisive time in Mexico has been documented by Elisa Servin in La experiencia mexicana de Charles Wright Mills (2020) Charles Wright Mills’ Mexican Experience.
Mills would come to realize, first in Brazil and then in Mexico, the impact that the 1959 Cuban Revolution had on Latin American intellectuals. His intellectual curiosity led him to engage directly with the Cuban process in order to learn firsthand what was happening there. He sought to distance himself from the negative and counterrevolutionary information being disseminated in the U.S., which had been shaping public opinion since then. Thus was born *Listen, Yankee: The Revolution in Cuba*, a book in which the author steps aside to give voice to the Cuban revolutionaries he interviewed. The work, written in English and quickly translated into Spanish, circulated widely throughout the Americas. With this text, Mills won the sympathy of intellectuals, journalists, and revolutionary leaders across the continent, but also faced criticism, harassment, and threats in his own country.
Listen, Yankee is based on the premise that—whether due to financial groups’ control of the press, self-deception, or ignorance and a lack of understanding—American society fails to grasp the significance of the revolution in Cuba. Mills thus takes up the voice of the Cuban revolutionaries to tell the “Yankees” a bit of history—about the U.S.’s role in Latin America, its imperialist and interventionist stance, and how Cubans have decided to change their own destiny. He explains the forms, reasons, means, limits, and some contradictions of the Cuban process. And he asserts: the bloc of hungry nations in the Americas, Asia, and Africa share the same destiny—to fight for their liberation. “What you must do, in our opinion, is take political action in your own country, ensuring that your government does not use violence—neither directly nor indirectly, in any form—against the Cuban revolution. ‘Hands off Cuba!’” the Cubans would say through Mills in 1960.
“You have to crush Yankee imperialism from within the United States, because you can’t expect the government—if it is indeed your government—to change its political course unless you destroy that system,” the Cubans recommend through Mills. The author was clear on one thing: Cuba had decided from that point on to take charge of its own destiny; the revolution they were undertaking and the material and cultural changes they were initiating could only be stopped from the outside, by external agents, by Yankee imperialism. That is why one of his concerns was that American society would help ensure that Cuba and all peoples had the right to take charge of their own destiny. Changes in the world—or at least in “the bloc of starving nations”—required change from within the U.S., through the rebellion of its own people.
The voice of the Cuban people is today the voice of humanity calling for an end to wars and the ambition of those who believe themselves to be the masters of the world. The steadfastness and resistance of the Cuban people have been and remain an example for continuing the struggle against the genocides and ecocides with which the capitalist system is recolonizing the world.
The Cuban people have historically had many allies whom they have won over through solidarity, literacy and health campaigns, and cultural and artistic exchanges. The people of Cuba have the right to continue choosing their own destiny. For that to be possible—and also so that the entire world can emerge from this state of war, chaos, and uncertainty—it is essential that the people of the U.S. stand up to their governments and stop the fascist and colonialist wave spreading from there. Listen, Yankee: you must crush imperialism from within the United States.
Original text by Raúl Romero published in La Jornada on May 4th, 2026.
Translation by Schools for Chiapas.