Central-Colono Relations within the Cuban Sugar Industry, 1914-1933: Exploring the Local Consequences of Global Changes: The Case of San Vicente from WWI to the Great Depression

摘要

Sugar has been a mainstay of the Cuban economy since the mid- eighteenth century. It has tied the island nation to forces not only beyond its physical domain but out of its control as well. As such, Cuba and its inhabitants have been dependent upon world market conditions and other factors that have impacted the international sugar trade. An important element in the production of sugar since the mid 1800s has been the relationship between the central (sugar mill) and the colono (cane farmer). The manner in which this relation has been affected by the changes in the world price of sugar is an important manifestation of the local consequences resulting from global changes throughout twentieth-century Cuban history. World War I and the Great Depression were two significant world events that impacted the international sugar market. A study of the specific experience of a mill in western Cuba regarding the interactions between mill and cane farmer from 1914 to 1933 contributes to the understanding of Cuban history. This thesis relied on materials contained in the Braga Brothers Collection, considered to be a principal source of archival information found in the United States pertaining to the Cuban sugar industry from the late nineteenth century to the l96Os. The collection belongs to the Department of Special Collections of the University of Florida.