The article is devoted to the history of the struggle waged by the Cuban workers in defence of their trade union organization - the Cuban Federation of Labour - against the offensive launched by the capitalists and imperialist agents in 1944 - 1948. The author describes the powerful upsurge of the Cuban people's struggle for their rights in 1944 under the impact of the victories scored by the anti-Hitler coalition headed by the U. S. S. R. in the war against nazism, which resulted in the downfall of the reactionary dictatorial regime instituted by General Batista. However, the power was seized by the bourgeois Partido Autentico which put forward a demagogic program of "national economic development" and proclaimed anti-imperialist slogans. The conquest of power by this party was used by the reactionary elements for launching an offensive against democratic forces, primarily the Cuban Federation of Labour which had achieved definite successes in the struggle to improve the position of the working class during the second world war. The Cuban and U.S. monopolists intended to smash the Cuban Federation of Labour with the help of the so-called "Labour Committee'" set up by the ruling Partido Autentico with the aim of splitting the labour movement, whose members were actually paid agents of the American Federation of Labour in the Cuban trade unions. The author of the article points out that the struggle for the leadership of the country's trade union movement reached its climax in the period of preparation for the Fifth National Congress of the Cuban Federation of Labour, held in the spring of 1947. To secure a majority at the Congress the "Labour Committee" resorted to every conceivable means, going to the length of organizing armed bandit attacks on progressive leaders and organizations. But despite its foul activities the overwhelming majority of Cuban workers were determined to safeguard the unity of the trade union movement in their country. T ... Read more