The Order to Revolt Against Spain

This "order" was written by Jose Marti (January 29, 1895) and signed by representatives of the Cuban Revolutionary Party. The order went to Juan Gualberto Gomez in Cuba, who set the official start date for the War for Cuban Independence from Spain as February 24, 1895.

(From ObrAS COMPLETAS DE JOSÉ MARTÍ, La Habana, 1946, pp. 227-29)

To Citizen Juan Gualberto Gómez, and
Via Him to All Groups in Western Cuba

In view of the favorable and well-ordered state of the revolutionary forces in Cuba, the peremptory demands from some of them, and the repeated warnings of danger from the majority; in view of the measures taken by Cubans living abroad who promise their immediate concurrence and sufficient aid, and after weighing every detail of the situation-on the one hand in order not to provoke with false hopes or a weak spirit an uprising only to be abandoned or poorly supported later, nor on the other hand to contribute some tardy resolutions to a disorganized explosion of the inevitable revolt-those who subscribe (one representing the Cuban Revolutionary Party and the other expressly authorized and empowered by the Commander-in-Chief elect, General Máximo Gómez) to agree and communicate in their names, from New York, all the necessary measures whose power and authority Commandant Enrique Collazo trusts and approves, resolve to communicate to you the following resolutions:

1. The simultaneous, or as nearly so as is possible, revolt of the committed regions is authorized on the date when joint action between them and the forces from abroad will be easy and favorable, some time during the last two weeks of February, not before.
2. Any revolt in the west which is not effected at the same time as those in the east, and with the closest agreement possible between Camagüey and Las Villas, is considered dangerous and by no means recommended.
3. We are assured of immediate assistance from the valued resources already acquired, as well as continued and untiring aid from abroad, of which the signatories are witnesses and agents, and to which they attest on their honor, certain that the closely allied and enthusiastic Cuban communities away from the island now have the will and the ability to contribute to making the war short and effective.

Acting from this instant in accord with these resolutions, taken by virtue of the urgent and express demands of the island, from the knowledge of revolutionary conditions both within and outside of the country, and from the determination not to tolerate any deception or illusion in measures which must be governed by the most unselfish vigilance, for the sake of the lives of our fellow countrymen and the occasion of their sacrifices, we where assembled do sign these resolutions in New York, on January 29, 1895.

In the name of General Gómez
José María Rodríguez

The Delegate of the Cuban Revolutionary Party
José Martí
Enrique Collazo

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Related:
Antonio Maceo | War for Independence