History...Socialism in Cuba

1. “By the Middle of the 18th Century Cuba had become a
Socialist State”
Candidates Name: Jamol Augustine Ferdinand
Candidates Number: 1500196115
Centre Number: 150019
Date Submitted: February 25th 2013
Subject: History
Name of College: St Vincent Community College

2. Table of Contents
Study Area .....................................................................................................................................3
Rationale…………………………………………………………………………………………………...4
Methodology ..................................................................................................................................5
Thesis ........................................................................................................................................................... 6
Argument…………………………………………………………………………………………………..7
Bibliography ..............................................................................................................................................15

3. Area of Research
―After the 1959 Cuban Revolution the regime was forced to adopt socialist economic policies‖

4. Rationale
―To identify the causes and effects of Cuba emerging into a socialist state‖

5. Methodology
The findings for this assessment derived from interaction with historians and complemented with
literature from texts on Socialism in Cuba as well as online resources.

6. Thesis
However though, to determine whether the 1959 Cuban Revolution the regime was forced to
adopt socialist economic policies, one must first look at the economic, social and political
conditions that existed prior the revolution of 1959. Prior to the revolution in 1959, there was
social, political and economic disorder that existed. These were mainly inequalities in
distribution of wealth, political corruption, mass poverty among Cubans divisiveness among
society. However these causes created many effects which made Cuba to emerge in a
communist state. These are the abolishment of private ownership of property nationally, radical
change in economic and governmental system and furthermore the socio cultural aspect of the
Cuban society.

7. Argument
State socialism is an economic system with limited socialist characteristics, such as public
ownership of major industries, remedial measures to benefit the proleteriats, and a gradual
process of developing socialism through state action. State socialism may also be used to clarify
any variety of socialism that relies on, or advocates, control of the means of production by the
state apparatus, either through state ownership or state management. Cuba is a Caribbean island
east of Haiti : Its history is very rich and diverse, having been first spotted by European
Christopher Columbus in 1492 while it was inhabited by Tainos, has Undergone the period of
colonization by Spain in 1511, period of enslavement and being once upon a time a large sugar
and tobacco producing island. The island of Cuba attained its informal independence by Spain in
1898 and formal independence by America in 1902.However though, in 1902, never mind Cuba
was an independent nation, The American government overseer both its internal and external
affairs due to the implementation of the Platt Amendment of 1902.Cuba was a Republic state
based on principles of democracy however that was in writing. From the period of 1902 until
1959, Cuba had undergone social unrest, revolts, corruption, and overthrowing of dictatorship
regimes never mind it held general elections. It was used in the early half of the twentieth
century as an American monopoly and economic play ground as many goods and services
produced in Cuba was owned by American companies and so mainly the American investors and
friends benefitted until all that came to an end when the Cuban revolutionaries ousted the
dictatorship regime of President Fulgencio Batista who was favored by the American and they
then took control of Cuba from 1959 until current.
Before the revolution, Cuba was a paradise for the rich a playground particularly for American
tourists – but a nightmare for the workers and peasants. In 1950-54 the average per capita

8. income in Delaware, the richest state in the United States of America, was two thousand, two
hundred and seventy nine dollars while in Cuba it was only three hundred and twelve, example
six dollars a week. Even in Mississippi, the poorest state in the USA, average per capita income
stood at eight hundred and twenty nine dollars. Fifty-four per cent of the rural population had no
toilets at all – not even a privy, and malaria, tuberculosis and syphilis were rampant. There was
twenty five percent illiteracy and similar percentages were unemployed at any one time, example
one in four of the population. Fewer children proportionately of school age went to school in the
1950s than in the 1920s, yet Havana in 1954 had more Cadillac’s than any other city in the
world. At the same time, the land was concentrated in a few hands. One hundred and fourteen
farms, or less than zero point one per cent of the total number, encompassed twenty point one per
cent of the land. Eight per cent of the total number made up seventy one point one per cent of the
land while at the other end of the scale thirty nine per cent of the total numbers of farms were
made up of small peasant holdings of less than one acre but they encompassed only three point
three percent of the land that President J.F Kennedy said in congress ―At the beginning of 1959
United States companies owned about 40 percent of the Cuban sugar lands—almost all the cattle
ranches—90 percent of the mines and mineral concessions—80 percent of the utilities—
practically all the oil industry—and supplied two-thirds of Cuba's imports‖.
1 J.F Kennedy, who said ―At the beginning of 1959 United States companies owned about 40
percent of the Cuban sugar lands—almost all the cattle ranches—90 percent of the mines and
mineral concessions—80 percent of the utilities—practically all the oil industry—and supplied
two-thirds of Cuba's imports‖.

9. The Social disorder was in disarray; the stratification was that reality peasants and workers were
receiving low wages and were basically working under harsh conditions. Because of the low
wages and unemployment there were mass crimes and revolts. Additionally , fewer children
attended schools and this caused an illiteracy problem in Cuba especially where twenty five
percent of the population was illiterate. There was racism existing in the Republic state which
comprised of mainly persons from white, Spanish and African descent but further more creoles
because of the hybridization in race. This occurred because the white population was made up of
whites mainly from the United States, pure breed Cubans from Spanish ethnicity and African and
creoles from the system of enslavement that the racial barriers were very strong between the
locals and the whites due to the factor of skin color and wealth. Moreover, there was an ever
increasing impoverish state due to the fact that there was low wages allotted to workers in
American based companies, the state government only employed persons in favor of their
regime.
Moreover politically, the government which came to power in 1940 to which President
Fulgencio Batista led was cruel. This same government was endorsed by the United States of
America because it supported the ―American Interest‖ in Cuba instead of its people and
furthermore it brutally crushed its political opponents and also its citizens that criticized it by
having its Police Force ―Gang Squad‖ to brutally suppress/execute them. However corruption
did not only stay there, the Batista government had relationships with organized crimes in Cuba
with American mobsters Meyer Lansky and Lucky Luciano, and under his rule Havana became
known as "the Latin Las Vegas‖. It was soo rampant under Batista that David Detzer, American
journalist, said ―Brothels flourished. A major industry grew up around them; government
officials received bribes, policemen collected protection money. Prostitutes could be seen

10. standing in doorways, strolling the streets, or leaning from windows. One report estimated that
11,500 of them worked their trade in Havana. Beyond the outskirts of the capital, beyond the slot
machines, was one of the poorest and most beautiful countries in the Western world‖.Crowning
the whole system was the dictatorship of the gangster Batista. It was estimated that between his
second seizure of power in 1953 and his overthrow in 1959, upwards of 20,000 died at the hands
of his soldiers and torturers.
However though economically, Batista inherited a country that was relatively prosperous for
Latin America. Although a third of the population still lived in poverty, Cuba was one of the five
most developed countries in the region. In the 1950s, Cuba's gross domestic product (GDP) per
capita was roughly equal to that of Italy at the time, although Cuba's gross domestic product per
capita was still only a sixth as large as that of the United States. Moreover, despite the fact that
corruption and inequality were rife under Batista, Cuban industrial worker's wages rose
significantly. The average industrial salary in Cuba was the world's eighth-highest in 1958, and
the average agricultural wage was higher than some European nations. However, despite an array
of positive indicators, in 1953, the average Cuban family only had an income of six dollars a
week, while fifteen to twenty percent of the labor forces were chronically unemployed, and only
a third of the homes had running water.
2 David Detzer, American journalist after visiting Havana in the 1950s said that ―Brothels
flourished. A major industry grew up around them; government officials received bribes,
policemen collected protection money. Prostitutes could be seen standing in doorways, strolling
the streets, or leaning from windows. One report estimated that 11,500 of them worked their
trade in Havana. Beyond the outskirts of the capital, beyond the slot machines, was one of the
poorest and most beautiful countries in the Western world‖.

11. However, because of these causes there were need for drastic measures. The poor and working
class needed change and therefore took up in arms against the Batista regime. They were too
long oppressed under the dictatorship regime of Batista, where soldiers brutally killed opponents
of the regime and the United States controlled most of the productive economy. These therefore
give rise to a revolution which was spearheaded by a lawyer Fidel Castro and Physician Che
Guevara along with other guerillas, Militants, the poor and working class and Opposition to the
Batista regime to overthrow the Batista government and end its dictatorial rule. The revolution
was successful when the rebels overcame the military power of the Batista regime which then
forced President Batista to flee Cuba in nearby Dominican Republic and seek for exile in Spain
taking with over three hundred million US dollars. This then made it possible on the eve on
February 16th 1959 when Fidel Castro along with his guerilla comrades to take control of the
country and Fidel was declared Prime Minister of Cuba and President from 1976 to 2008 when
he demitted office and the Presidency was passed onto his Brother Raul Castro. By 1960,
the Cold War raged between two superpowers: the United States, a capitalist liberal, and the
Soviet Union (USSR), a Marxist-Leninist socialist state ruled by the Communist Party.
Expressing contempt for the U.S., Castro shared the ideological views of the USSR, establishing
relations with several Marxist-Leninist states meeting with Soviet First Deputy Premier, Castro
agreed to provide the USSR with sugar, fruit, fibers, and hides, in return for crude oil, fertilizers,
industrial goods, and a $100 million loan. Cuba's government ordered the country's refineries –
then controlled by the U.S. corporations Shell, Esso and Standard Oil – to process Soviet oil, but
under pressure from the U.S. government, they refused. Castro responded by expropriating
and nationalizing the refineries. In retaliation, the U.S. cancelled its import of Cuban sugar,
provoking Castro to nationalize most U.S.-owned assets on the island, including banks and sugar

12. mills. In 1961 Castro proclaimed the socialist nature of the Cuban revolution, for Castro
publicly declared himself a Marxist-Leninist. By that time, Cuba was becoming increasingly
dependent on the Soviet Union for economic and military support. with Cuba becoming a one-
party state under Communist Party governance. Ideologically-based reforms introducing central
economic planning and expanding healthcare and education were accompanied by state control
of the press and the suppression of internal dissent. This prompted the United States headed by
President J.F Kennedy to end diplomatic relations and impose a trade embargo that still stands
today. In response to this Fidel Castro said "The revolution has no time for elections. There is no
more democratic government in Latin America than the revolutionary government. ... If Mr.
Kennedy does not like Socialism, we do not like imperialism. We do not like capitalism‖. This
then spurred the American government headed by President J.F Kennedy to spur the ―Bay of
Pigs invasion‖ by American troops/ Navy who also would have killed seven airmen in April
became a disaster and a slap in the face to the American government for Fidel Castro’s military
overcome the American troops by sending ballistic missiles off the coast of Cuba that resulted in
a loss to the United States that made Cuba and Fidel Castro’s government triumphant. At the
funeral of the dead airmen on 16th April, he publicly proclaimed that "What the imperialists
cannot forgive us, is that we have made a Socialist revolution under their noses ,a revolution of
the humble, with the humble, for the humble, democratic and Socialist."
After taking power, Castro abolished legal discrimination, brought electricity to the countryside,
provided for full employment and advanced the causes of education and health care, in part by
building new schools and medical facilities. But he also closed down opposition newspapers,
jailed thousands of political opponents and made no move toward elections. Moreover, he
limited the amount of land a person could own, abolished private business and presided over

13. housing and consumer goods shortages. The first and greatest of revolutionary Cuba’s
achievements in education was the abolition of illiteracy, which stood at 23% in 1958. A mass
literacy campaign, led by 280,000 volunteers teaching some 100,000 students, eliminated
illiteracy in just one year .Not long after, free education was established for all Cubans. From
preschool to PhD, free education was guaranteed both in the Cuban constitution and in practice,
with the socialization of the cost of tutoring, books, pencils and pens that as a result, Cuba
moved from 5th place in Latin America in terms of literacy and school enrolment in 1970 to 1st
in 2007.
Before 1959, the vast majority of Cubans had very limited access to health care. The capitalist
elite had their private physicians but the poor had only a handful of rundown hospitals, and
medicines were mostly unaffordable. In the countryside it was even worse; health care was
virtually non-existent. The revolution established health care as a basic right of all Cuban
citizens, making it completely free for every Cuban. It established a new ethic in health care —
not for profit, but for service to the people. The Cuban revolution has risen up the country’s most
downtrodden, its black citizens. The radical redistribution of land from May 1959 and the
reduction of housing rents — to a maximum of 10% of a person’s income — were the among the
most important measures in undermining racism. Black Cubans were also assisted with
affirmative action programs, and the discriminatory private health and education systems were
abolished. Free health care and free education benefited blacks the most. Cuban women were
also at the bottom of the social pyramid in pre-revolution Cuba. They made up the majority of
illiterates and the unemployed. When Castro regime took over the situation of Cuban women is
worlds apart. By 2002, 62% of university graduates were women, many of whom were studying
in non-traditional areas, such as the sciences and economics. Women constitute 65% of Cuba’s

14. professional and technical workers, while 51% of scientific researchers and 72% of doctors are
women.
Therefore in Conclusion, it can be said that the 1959 Cuban Revolution regime was not forced to
adopt socialist economic policies for Fidel Castro who was its leader declared socialism in Cuba
had a Socialist agenda in his revolution for it have been seen in his quotes such as that "What the
imperialists cannot forgive us, is that we have made a Socialist revolution under their noses."
This was his first ever declaration that the Cuban revolutionary movement was socialist in
character, and he proceeded to declare that his movement was "a revolution of the humble, with
the humble, for the humble, democratic and Socialist." Furthermore where he have said ―The
revolution has no time for elections. There is no more democratic government in Latin America
than the revolutionary government. ... If Mr. Kennedy does not like Socialism, we do not like
imperialism. We do not like capitalism". The nationalization of industries and where the
government now had total control over Cuba’s economy were all part of his socialist agenda to
drive out American influence out of Cuba, give back Cuba to Cubans and this helped in building
nationalism and pride among the Cuban people .
3 Fidel Castro said that ―The revolution has no time for elections. There is no more democratic
government in Latin America than the revolutionary government. ... If Mr. Kennedy does not
like Socialism, we do not like imperialism. We do not like capitalism‖.
4 Fidel Castro "What the imperialists cannot forgive us, is that we have made a Socialist
revolution under their noses, a revolution of the humble, with the humble, for the humble,
democratic and Socialist."

15. Bibliography
Long Road to Socialism in Cuba: March 16th 2012 Available
Campos Pedro . Havana Times: The
at http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=64562 [Accessed: 15th January 2013]
March Aleida, Che Guevara Studies Center and Ocean. Socialism and man in Cuba: March
12, 1965 Available at http://www.marxists.org/archive/guevara/1965/03/man-
socialism.htm [Accessed: 22 January 2013]
Taaffe Peter . Cuba Socialism and Democracy: February 10th 1978 Available at
http://www.socialistworld.net/pubs/Cuba/cuapp1.html [Accessed: 25 January 2013]
Tablada Carlos . Che Guevara, Economics and Politics in the Transition to Socialism, published
th
by Pathfinder Press (NY) (1998) [Accessed: 17 January 2013]
Baggins Brian. L'Unita Interview with Fidel Castro: The Nature of Cuban Socialism:
February 1st 1961 Available at
http://www.marxists.org/history/cuba/archive/castro/1961/02/01.htm [Accessed: 5th February
2013]