POLITICAL PARTIES AND ELECTIONS IN THE UNITED STATES <i> by Jose Marti edited by Philip S. Foner translated by Elinor Randall (Temple University Press: $24.95; 149 pp.) </i>

This book contains 10 florid, indignant essays of Jose Marti (1853-95), the famous Cuban patriot who was exiled and lived in the United States. Here he observed the political scene, publishing his essays in various Latin American newspapers. The most widely read journalist writing in Spanish at the time, Marti came to the United States with a bright view of the land of freedom, but rapidly lost his idealism.

Marti is nowhere near as analytical as Tocqueville; in fact, he is much closer in spirit to Dickens in “American Notes.” Marti comments on the political scene in an impressionistic way, as an aristocrat who does not hesitate to criticize roundly the rampant political corruption he sees. From 1860-1884, the Republicans held the White House, prompting Marti to note that the nation had become “a banquet where the fat, successful Republicans were permanently seated at the table.” Observing the presidential conventions of 1884, he writes: “Pails of mud are dumped upon the heads. Lies and exaggerations are knowingly spread.” And in musing on the history of the United States, he notes that in 1620, the year the Mayflower set the Pilgrims ashore, a Dutch ship arrived in Virginia with 20 slaves on board. “Never has a more extraordinary parallelism been seen,” he comments.

The most entertaining essay in the book is the last one, which discusses the changing of the guard from Cleveland, of whom Marti approved, to Harrison, whom Marti despised. He describes the sodden pomp of President Harrison’s inauguration--it was raining furiously--under a sea of umbrellas. Marti notes that when Harrison kisses the Bible, he does so “with the timid kiss of a fervent Protestant.” Then there comes “round after round of applause, like gunshot from the people outside who are unable to lose their cheerfulness.” Harrison “is drinking something brought to him in a deep cup so that people will think it is bouillon.” There is also a description of the colorful parade, “with Buffalo Bill mounted on a Moorish horse given to General Grant by the Sultan.” While the essays do not offer much to chew over, they are fascinating both as a contemporary view and as a glimpse at what Latin America was reading about the United States.