Mike Gonzalez (born 1943) is a British
historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the stu ...
and literary critic who was Professor of Latin American Studies in the Hispanics Department of the
University of Glasgow
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, image_size = 150px
, caption = Coat of arms
Flag
, latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis
, motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita
, ...
.
He has written widely on Latin America, especially
Cuba
Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...
and the
Cuban Revolution
The Cuban Revolution ( es, Revolución Cubana) was carried out after the 1952 Cuban coup d'état which placed Fulgencio Batista as head of state and the failed mass strike in opposition that followed. After failing to contest Batista in cou ...
of 1959. He characterizes Cuba as a
state-capitalist economy rather than socialist.
A long-time member of the British
Socialist Workers Party, he testified in
Tommy Sheridan
Tommy Sheridan (born 7 March 1966) is a Scottish politician who served as convenor of Solidarity from 2019 to 2021. He previously served as convenor of the Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) from 1998 to 2004 and as co-convenor of Solidarity from 2 ...
's defence at the
Sheridan defamation trial and
HM Advocate v Sheridan and Sheridan
''Her Majesty's Advocate v Thomas Sheridan and Gail Sheridan'' was the 2010 criminal prosecution of Tommy Sheridan, a former Member of the Scottish Parliament and his wife Gail Sheridan for perjury in relation to the earlier civil case ''Sheridan ...
. Gonzalez is also a member of
Solidarity - Scotland's Socialist Movement
Solidarity – Scotland's Socialist Movement was a political party in Scotland. The party launched on 3 September 2006, founded by two former Scottish Socialist Party MSPs, Tommy Sheridan and Rosemary Byrne, in the aftermath of Sheridan's libel ...
, the party Sheridan formed after the split in the
Scottish Socialist Party
The Scottish Socialist Party (SSP; gd, Pàrtaidh Sòisealach na h-Alba; sco, Scots Socialist Pairtie) is a left-wing political party campaigning for the establishment of an independent socialist Scotland.
The party was founded in 1998. It c ...
.
Dr Francis King (University of East Anglia) wrote: Mike Gonzalez "allows his own (trotskisant) sympathies to intrude too obtrusively into his analysis."
Selected articles/works
''Cuba, Castro and Socialism''(with Peter Binns) (1980)
with Peter Binns and
Alex Callinicos
Alexander Theodore Callinicos (born 24 July 1950) is a Rhodesian-born British political theorist and activist. An adherent of Trotskyism, he is a member of the Central Committee of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) and serves as its Internatio ...
) (1980)
*Nicaragua : revolution under siege (1985)
*Nicaragua : what went wrong? (1990)
*Revolution and Counter-Revolution in Chile
''Which way forward for the movement?''(with
Alex Callinicos
Alexander Theodore Callinicos (born 24 July 1950) is a Rhodesian-born British political theorist and activist. An adherent of Trotskyism, he is a member of the Central Committee of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) and serves as its Internatio ...
) (2002)
*Che Guevara and the Cuban Revolution (2004)
''Bolivia: Rising of a People''2005)
*A rebel's guide to Marx (2005)
''The split in the Scottish Socialist Party''2006)
*Hugo Chávez: Socialist for the Twenty-First Century (2014)
(2015) with Marianella Yanes
External links
State of Nature, July 2010
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gonzalez, Mike
British Trotskyists
Historians of Latin America
Latin Americanists
British Marxist historians
Socialist Workers Party (UK) members
1943 births
Living people
Trotskyists