The Cuban Revolutionary Alternative

Max Cameron

Poli 332

Cuba• Pop. 11.4 million• Sugar cane• Ethnicity: 40% black

(slavery lasted until 1886); 30% white; 30% mixed (including Oriental and Indian)

• Main crops: sugar, tobacco

• Literacy: 99.8%• GNP: $55 billion• Per capita $9,700• Gini index .22

Themes

• Imperialism and nationalism

• Revolution and the creation of a communist system

From Colony to “Independence” and Protectorate

• Columbus arrived at Cuba 1492, became staging ground

• Spanish control lasted into 19th century• Even under Spanish control, Cuba traded

heavily with the US• Rebellion against Spain draws in the US.

1898 USS Maine exploded, Congress declared war

• Cuba granted independence in 1898, under US occupation

US Role• Pattern of repeated

interventions by the US: 1906-09, 1917

• “Enlightened” intervention? Big social investments– Schools– Roads & communications– Sanitation

• Platt amendment makes Cuba a protectorate until 1934

Platt Amendment - Legal Protectorate

• "I… Cuba shall never enter into any treaty…or permit any foreign power … control over any portion of [the] island."

• "III. … consents that the United States may exercise the right to intervene for the preservation of Cuban independence, the maintenance of a government adequate for the protection of life, property, and individual liberty…

• "VII. That to enable the United States to maintain the independence nof Cuba, and to protect the people thereof, as well as for its own defense, the government of Cuba will sell or lease to the United States lands necessary for coaling or naval stations at certain specified points to be agreed upon with the President of the United States.” [E.g. Guantanamo].

Plantation Economy

• Monocrop production of sugar– Concentration of wealth, absentee upper class– Rural proletariat (not peasantry)– Slums (llega y pon)

• US ownership, integration with US economy• Cuba has special quota with US up to 1960

Batista Dictatorship

• Fraud and repression• Backed by Washington, Fulgencio Batista

stops the leftward turn in 1930s• 1934-1959 Batista rules Cuba, directly or

indirectly• Corrupt regime with close ties to mafia

Rise of Fidel Castro

• Attack on Moncada barracks (1953)

• Trial and release

• 1956 returns in Granma

• Fights guerrilla war in Sierra Maestra

• November 1958 election ignored by electorate

• 1959 Fidel triumphs

A Revolution Unfolds

• Collision with the US• Revolutionary justice leads to hundreds of

executions• Agrarian reform (land expropriated with

compensation according to declared value!)• Control over the means of production:

sweeping nationalizations• Alignment with Soviet bloc• General elections indefinitely postponed

Communism and its Problems

• Public ownership and management of the means of production

• Mobilization of supporters through the Communist Party, which monopolizes the political system.

• A comprehensive ideology emphasizing collective values and interests

Three problems

• An incentives problem (social vs individual returns)

• A succession and alternation problem (a coordination problem)

• A cognitive problem (growing cynicism and hypocrisy in face of demands for sacrifice)

Embargo

• Embargo (1960-?) pushes Cuba toward USSR

• Bay of Pigs: CIA organizes an exile invasion, April 1961.

• October 1962 the Cuban missile crisis

Incentive Problems: The New Man

• Che’s idealistic strategy: the “new man”, emphasis on public spirit and sacrifice based on conscience

• Mobilization to cut cane, a “revolutionary offensive”.

• Storming the plan fails, a more bureaucratic approach is adopted in 1970s

1970s-1980s

• More pragmatic approach– Decentralization– More private involvement– Pay incentives

• Loss of revolutionary elan– More repressive– Closer ties to USSR

• Social gains– Health, education, equality, gender, housing

“The Special Period”

• Collapse of USSR, end of subsidies and aid

• Spread of black market• Opening to foreign (non-US) investment

and tourism• New inequalities, erosion of

revolutionary values, growing cynicism

Cuba Today

• Relations with Venezuela under Chavez• Fidel withdraws from power in 2008

following an operation. Raul Castro, commander of armed forces, assumes control.

• Latin America pushes for normalization of relations between the US and Cuba

• Is Cuba still a viable model?