Based on a diverse variety of sources, including archival materials, interviews and newspapers, this article seeks to demonstrate that the Cuban Revolution was not from the outset a project inspired by an "orthodox" communism. Close ties with the USSR led to doubts and theoretical debates (encouraged by Che Guevara's thesis: "foquismo") in a country where many feared a passive integration in the socialist sphere. Intense controversies erupted within the intellectual milieu during the 1960s (like the "manual controversy" in 1966), reflecting divergent sensibilities regarding "things Soviet" and differing ideas about the role of artists and the avant-gardes in a revolutionary society. The "normalization" of Cuban-Soviet relationships, noticeable at the end of the decade, was only possible after a long period of disagreements, apprehensions and doctrinal controversies.