Too late? Social, economic, and political reform in Spanish Cuba, 1878-1898

The social, economic, and political reforms implemented by the Madrid government in Cuba between 1878 and 1898 were not part of a master plan. These reforms were mostly reactive - brought about by pressure from ethnic, economic, and political groups in Cuba. But lack of a plan of reforms does not mean that there were no significant reforms in Cuba during the period. The fact that these reforms were not part of a plan does not mean, moreover, that there were no interconnections between them. The abolition of slavery, and later on the proclamation of universal male suffrage in Cuba, were advocated by groups of Afro-Cubans who wanted full civil rights, and by the Partido Liberal Autonomista, whose major concern was home-rule for Cuba. After 1890, economic reforms were advocated by the Partido Liberal Autonomista, and by its antithesis, the Partido Union Constitucional. It can be argued that the social reforms implemented in Cuba between 1878 and 1898 had repercussions that transcended their political motivation. They were not too late to make the Spanish type society of Cuba one where the relations between the races were, if elusive, evidently less tense than in other societies of the Americas.