Rebellion and Revolution
in the Back Atlantic World Fall 2013
12/11/2013
A picture of the Cuban Revolution
Cuban flag
A short overview of the Cuban Revolution
In the poster, it says, "Free press, Batista flees"
The Cuban Revolution was mainly led
by Fidel Castro, a communist revolutionary, who was not in favor of Fulgencio
Batista's government. This revolution was fought in order to overthrow the
Batista government and end peoples' misery, as Batista, by that time, had
become a tyrant. This revolution was fought from 1953 to 1959, until the
Batista government was overthrown. Batista was elected as a president in
1940, however, he became a dictator in 1952. In July 26 of 1953, Castro and
the Communist Party formed a group, to make people realize the misery that
they were facing due to the Batista government. Along with Castro, there was
another important figure, Che Guevara, who helped Castro during the revolution.
There were various factors that led to the Cuban Revolution, and now after the
revolution, people are still facing the aftermath of the revolution, as some of
the effects are long term effects.
Fidel Castro
Ernesto Che Guevara
Fulgencio Batista
Just like other historical
revolution, the Cuban Revolution had many causes as well. According to the
A painting depicting the life of the sugar workers
historians, before the revolution, Cuba was doing well in terms of economy. In
"The origin of the Cuban revolution," the author claims that before
the revolution, Cuba's economic position among other Latin American countries
was remarkably good. In fact, Cuba ranked third position from the Latin
American economist' perspective. The author even mentioned, "Cuba was not
a country in the depths of poverty, but one extraordinarily frustrated, where
opportunities existed for economic and social progress but where these
[opportunities] were wasted..."1
From this one sentence, it is apparent that there were many economic
opportunities for people in Cuba, however, the system and the government were
not using these opportunities, but wasting them. One specific example that the
author described was the life of the sugar plantation workers. These workers
had to work for five months in year. While working, they used to earn $3.25 per
day, which was better, comparing to other neighboring countries. During those
five months, they could lead a good life with the money that they were earning.
However, they had to remain unemployed for the rest seven months of the year.
During these unemployed months, they could barely have food, clothes and other
necessary goods. They could not even save the money that they earned in those
five months, owing to their debts. According to the statistics that is
mentioned in the article, there were 500,000 people who fell under this
category. At one point, these peoples' frustration over the system and the
government reached its limit, and came out as a form of the revolution.
A revolution is usually initiated by
a particular frustrated group of people who want to bring a change in their
society. In the case of the Cuban Revolution, of course, the ultimate reason
was to overthrow
the Batista government. Nonetheless, the revolution was not
all about just throwing the Batista government out, also about bringing
equality in the society. Before the revolution took place, one group, the rich
upper class people, had a lot of money and living their lives happily. On the
other hand, the majority were poor, living in poverty, and were extremely
frustrated with their condition. John Foran, the author of "Theorizing the
Cuban Revolution," called this situation dependent development, which is a
process, through which a particular group gets privileged, whereas, most of the
population suffers from hardships. Most of the people who were suffering from
hardships were, of course, the sugar plantation workers. Although the condition
of the sugar supply was extremely good, the workers did suffer. In fact the
author claims, "...Cuba had been the world's largest producer since the
early 1900s and provided more than half the world market in sugar, amount to 80
percent of Cuba's export."2 From this piece of information, we
can understand how high the production of sugar was in Cuba. Also, in the
graph, we can see that the gross domestic product of Cuba was only increasing
before the revolution. Even though Cuba was doing well in terms of sugar
production, the author describes the unequal distribution of income through a
quote, where he states, "Estimates of income inequality suggest that the
poorest 20 percent got between 2 and 6 percent of income, the richest 20
percent taking 55 percent."3 From this data, inequality in
income distribution is clearly visible. This was one of the biggest factors
behind the revolution. The working class population was highly disappointed
with the income distribution, as they were working hard and giving their best
effort, however, most of the profit that was made from the sugar exportation
was going to the upper-class people.
The United States was also involved
in this revolution, as they were interested in the sugar. In fact, most of the
Cuban sugar was exported to the United States. According to the history, the
U.S.
The U.S. ambassador Earl Smith and Batista
government never really liked Batista, however, were forced to support
him, as Batista was seemingly the only person who could hold Cuba together at
that time. However, as Batista government started to shake in 1958, the United
States suggested a renewal of arms to Batista, as The U.S. was cunningly seeing
their own advantage.4 During that time, different people were having
different views about the situation, some wanted a free election under Batista,
while others wanted Batista to be permanently out of the Cuban political
system. As the political situation deteriorated, many groups arose with their
different opinions, and the economy of Cuba started to have a decline. The
sugar plantation was in a serious jeopardy during that time. This decline in
economy created a chaos in peoples' life, as well.
Another reason of the revolution was
the lack of the freedom of expression. This freedom specially
Crowd supporting Castro
lacked among the
middle class and working class people. The people were oppressed, as they had
to work hard in the sugar plantation, and also be discriminated while getting
paid. In "The revolution next door: Cuba," the author argues, "A
major defect [during the revolution] is the increasing lack of freedom of
expression through all normal channels of communication."5 From
here, it is apparent that before the revolution, people had lost all the rights
to speak up or to defend their own rights. The author also points out one
frustrated group of people, who already declared Castro as their leader.
However, the author criticizes this thought. According to him, this was not a
wise decision to make, because during that time, people did not know if Castro
would actually return the power to the common people or not. By having the
ultimate power from the people, Castro could, as well, turn out to be a
power-hungry dictator, just like Batista.
Just after the Cuban revolution,
there was a "cold war" going on between the United States and Castro,
as Castro was supporting communism more and more. Being a capitalist country,
this fact did not go
Castro with Richard Nixon (vice president at that time)
down well with the United States. After the revolution
ended, Castro thought of getting the ruffians back from the United States and
punish them. Not just the ruffians, Castro even thought of getting the money
back which was stolen by the U.S. These things instigated the U.S. further
against Cuba. The speech that Castro delivered in the presidential palace at
Havana, was mainly focused on how to unite people to achieve their motive. In
his speech, he asked people from different places to get together and show the
whole world as to what the Cubans can do. He told everyone that people need to
be united, and ask the United States to give them the war criminals back so
that these criminals can be punished and justice can be served. However, he
asked people to walk on the righteous path and not to be violent. In the
speech, he stated, "We will not have atomic bombs, but we are in the
right... and we are going to demonstrate... the support of the Cuban people in
graphic fashion here, not by paying anyone, as the false government did, ...
but by urging the people to come on foot."6 From his speech, it
can be concluded that he was definitely asking for peoples' help so that he
could punish the war criminals, and at the same time, was asking people to be
righteous. As the United States was a powerful country, Castro alone could not
do anything. However, he was not asking people to act aggressively. In fact, he
was urging people to work hard, come to him and stand up with him. In order to
explain the importance of unity, Castro voiced that "The most important
thing of all is that if they [the United States] see that we are weak they
attack us, if they see that we are strong and united, they are afraid of
us."7 From this claim, it is clear, how much Castro motivated
and emphasized on being together. Castro believed that he was right, and he
should always choose the right path. If he does not choose the right path, then
there would be no difference between his regime and the Batista government,
whom he refers as the false government. He also assured people that if everyone
shakes their hands, then the U.S. would not be able to oppose them.
After the revolution took place, one
of the main concerns of the Cubans was the economic condition of Cuba. The
revolution had not only shaken the political system of the country, but had
certainly shaken
Graph of different Latin American countries' GDP per capita
(Cuba in blue line)
the economy, as well. After the Cuban Revolution, not just
Cuba, but other Latin American countries were determined to change their
political and economic system, which upset the United States. Also, it was
expected that the deteriorated relationship between Latin American countries
and the United States would create a disturbing situation, as these countries
export more than half of their good to the U.S. In the graph above, it is
indicated that right after the revolution, the gross domestic product of Cuba
was stable, although not great, but did not decline much either. However,
fortunately, the gross domestic product per capita started to increase as days
passed. In "Latin America and the Socio-Economic Impact of the Cuban
Revolution," the author Pedro C.M. Teichert claims that during the Cuban
Revolution, the U.S. did not care much about Cuba, or more appropriately, they
did not even support the revolution. In fact, the author evens angrily states,
"...The U.S. has been claiming its disgust for dictators and its
understanding of the aspirations of the Latin America masses, its complete
rejection of the Cuban Revolution is an absolute denial of such
pronouncements."8 From the author's words, it is apparent that
the U.S. was not supporting the revolution, although they constantly showed
that the dictatorship of Batista was evoking disgust in them. The main reason
behind pretending to care about Cuba was, of course, the products of Cuba. The
U.S. did not want to lose the products that they were importing from Cuba. On
the other hand, the Latin American countries, especially Cuba, did not care if
the United States was supporting their revolution or not. In fact, the
revolution itself proves the same. Although the U.S. did not approve the
revolution, Cuba went ahead with the revolution. Although the immediate economic
effects of the revolution was negative, since they lost their investor country,
in the long run, the economy of Cuba started to prosper day by day.
Although the revolution might have helped
Cuba to prosper in other sectors, the sugar exportation to the United States
saw a decline. In 1958, just before the revolution, Cuba had the second most
investment
People working in the sugar plantation
in the U.S., among all the Latin American countries. The problem
increased even more during the "dead season." In "The impact of
the Cuban Revolution: a comparative perspective," the author, Susan
Eckstein refers the season as "dead season," when the workers of
sugar plantation had nothing to do. As it is mentioned earlier, these plantation
workers used to work in the plantation for five months, and the rest of the
year, they used to be unemployed. A country's standard depends on its economy.
Therefore, upon realizing this fact, the Castro Regime started to promote their
economic diversification to many other foreign countries.9 Even
though the sugar production saw a decline, Cuba's national product saw an
increase of about 2.5-fold between 1955 and 1980. Also, in 1980, when most of
the Latin American countries were seeing a decline in their gross domestic
product rate, Cuba saw an increase of 23 percent.10 Some people
argue that after the revolution, the Cubans did not see an immediate positive
effect on economy, hence, this revolution was merely an unsuccessful attempt to
make things better. However, I would claim that even though the growth in Cuban
economy came after a few decades of the revolution, the revolution is
considered a successful revolution, in terms of the economic situation of Cuba.
After the revolution, the growth of
private sectors were ignored, in fact, people were not even inspired
or
emphasized to develop their own private businesses. Post the revolutionary era,
the government was busy with reform process, however, they never included the
growth of the private sectors in their reform list even after 25 years of the
revolution. The Cubans as well were not interested in opening their own
business, as it was very costly, and they were not getting any help from the
government in this matter. In "Whither the Cuban People working in the
sugar plantation economy after recovery? The reform process, upgrading
strategies and the question of transition," the author, Claes
Brundenius, mentioned that between 1989 and 1999, the
Small private businesses
private sector grew from
4.3 to 13 percent labor force, which was not much significant.11
There were other problems as well which worked as barriers in opening their
private businesses, one such problem was the high tax that was imposed on them.
The Cubans who were living in Cuba did not possess enough money to open up
their own business. The people, who were living in foreign countries, had money and could afford to open a business of their own, however, they were not interested in opening up a business
in Cuba.12 Although not many private sectors were in Cuba during
that time, the country still did well. The same author published another
article during the 50th anniversary of the revolution, "Revolutionary Cuba
at 50: growth with equity revisited," where he claimed that 1985 was the
best year of Cuba in terms of economy, after which the economy of the country
started to collapse. The author claims with displeasure that, "During the
first 25 years [after the revolution] Cuba experienced a much better growth
performance than during the last 25 years."13 The gross
domestic product growth was seeing a decline and the unemployment rate
increased. In 1959, Cuba was at fourth position in terms of gross domestic
product rate, however, in 2007, Cuba lost its
Growth of education in Cuba
fourth position and fallen into
eleventh position among the Latin American countries.14 With the decline
of the economic growth, the author also noted down a positive fact, which was
an increase in education sector. After the revolution, the people were offered
and encouraged to go for higher studies. Adult education was offered as well to
the older people. The time was set up according to their convenience, and
mostly at night, since they were free at night. The people were even able to
get education in their own farms, factories and offices.15 From the
small table above, it is visible as to how much Cuba has progressed in
education after the revolution. In 1953, only 12.4% people had lower secondary
education, whereas, if we compare it with the percentage of 2007, then it is a
huge number. Almost 92% people of Cuba had at least a lower secondary education
in 2007. Not just in lower secondary education, but the number of people
pursued upper secondary education or higher education have also increased
tremendously. The growth in education sector is one of the most significant
long term effects of the Cuban Revolution.
