CUBA UNDER CASTRO

The Aftermath of Revolution

The New Society

Castro had toppled a dictator but the influence of his movement on Cuban society was limited. Solution?

Entered pragmatic alliance with established opposition parties. Result?

Support of middle classes and organised labour.

Alliance with old politicians was seen as tactical necessity but temporary.

Rebel leadership was ‘bourgeois’ in origin but claimed the war had ‘proletarianized’ them.

The New Man

Programme went beyond aim of political sovereignty and social reform.

Aim to build new society and new man on egalitarian basis. Proto-socialism?

Guevara: ‘We will make the man of the twenty-first century: we ourselves’.

Legitimacy of regime?

Consolidation and Centralisation

Power concentrated in a few hands.Batista officials faced ‘people’s courts’ and

executed.Liberal democratic institutions abolished.Promised elections cancelled.Judiciary compromised. Judges appointed by

Castro.Free press closed down.Unions and private organisations lost

independence.

Revolution eats its own children

Opposition within movement who expected return of liberal democracy.

Urrutia resigned as Head of State.Exodus to Miami.Many feared Castro’s radical changes (and of

more to come).

The New Vision

Only way to make profound social and economic change was to break the historic impasse of economic subordination to foreign (US) interests and dependence on sugar.

Castro was a patriot but solution to Cuba’s dilemma pointed him in the direction of socialism. Alternative?

Enthusiasm versus Ideology

Price freeze and large wage increases. Purpose and result?

Agrarian Law Reform of May 1959. (Cooperatives)

Nationalisation of Industries and Utilities. Purpose and result?

Confrontations with Washington.February 1960 agreement with Soviet Union.

Terms?

Divorce US Style

Nationalisation of US oil refineries. Justification?

US retaliation?Cuban Response?October 1960 US Embargo by Eisenhower.Fears of US invasion leads to revolution

taking on widespread militaristic fervour. Describe?

‘Committees for the Defence of the Revolution’.

Bay of Pigs

US decision to rely on Cuban exiles underestimated Castro’s popularity and military readiness.

US humiliation on April 15th 1961 boosted Castro’s status as a patriot.

Soviet’s had promised to defend Cuba. Now decided to send armaments.

October 1962. US spy plane revealed nuclear weapons on Cuba.

Cuban Missile crisis ensured permanent US hostility To Cuba and their absorption into Soviet Sphere of Influence.

Building the Revolutionary State

Fundamental aim was to end sugar export economy and diversify agriculture.

Aims to be achieved by socialist methods.Four Year Plan and central planning.Workers to be motivated by ‘moral incentives’

and not by material benefits.

Catch 22

No foreign reserves and declining export earnings.

No capital to invest in developing manufacturing sector.

Us Embargo being felt.Reliance on Soviets for technical aid and

financial credits.PROBLEMS?Inefficiencies, lack of productivity, erratic

decisions.

Mistakes and Mismanagement

Peasant cooperatives organised and then replaced by collectivisation in State Farms because sugar industry needed huge plantations.

Peasants paid wages and set production targets.

Many problems and shortages, e.g., too many cattle slaughtered. Sowing ,planting, fertilizing mismanaged.

RESULT WAS INABILITY TO SUPPLY FOODSTUFFS TO THE NATION AS A WHOLE.

The Communist View

In 1963 Castro decided industrialisation would be subordinated to sugar production.

Sugar would be developed as never before.Target of 10 million tons of sugar by 1970.Aim to be largest producer in world and

dictate terms.Harvests lagged behind targets.

Popular Reactions

Opponents went into exile allowing consolidation of power but loss of technical skill.

Peasants and workers largely supported the regime.

40% increase in wages over 3 years wasted productive resources of country.

RATIONING REMAINED A PERMANENT FEATURE OF DAILY LIFE.

General support ensured

Improvements in living standards.Nourished, clothed and sheltered.Unemployment eliminated by public works.Social security established.Free medical care.Free schooling and training.

Revolution in Attitudes

Racial equality promoted.Women given equal rights.Deep sense of national pride instilled.Despite economic pragmatism, REMAINED

LOYAL TO GUEVARA’S MORAL REVOLUTION.

COMMITMENT TO EXPORTING CUBAN MODEL OF SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT TO LATIN AMERICA AND THIRD WORLD.

…BUT NOT IN ECONOMICS

Only 8 and a half million tons reached by 1970.

Economy distorted.THE CENTRAL ECONOMIC AIM OF THE

REVOLUTION HAD BEEN FRUSTRATED. INDUSTRIALIZATION HAD TO BE ABANDONED. CUBA REMAINED A ONE CROP EXPORT ECONOMY.

CUBA DEPENDENT ON SOVIET GOODWILL AND OIL.

Forward with Pragmatism

Until 1970s Castro continued to rule in direct manner.

In 1970s revolution was institutionalized on Soviet Model.

Communist Party assigned role as supreme organ of state.

Economic management in hands of communist planners.

1976 Soviet style constitution approved by plebiscite.

Regime of Austerity

Criticisms of lack of political freedom and civil rights

The Padilla AffairGrowing dissastifaction with political controls (and

rationing).11,000 at Peruvian Embassy,1980 seeking asylum125,000 embarked including mental patients.Counter demonstrations organised.ECONOMIC PERMONANCE CONTINUED TO

DEGENERATE IN 1980s DUE TO THE ‘TRADITIONAL PROBLEM’ Which was?

The Revolutionary Achievement

Eliminated grave social and economic inequality.

Rents low.Excellent Health Service.Free Education.FORGING OF A COMMON NATIONAL

SPIRIT.

The unresolved Impasse

Collapse of Communism laid bare the fact that Cuba had not overcome its dependence on a foreign power for its sugar exports.

Winning economic autonomy seemed as distant as it ever had.