The Origins and the Aftermaths of the Cuban Revolution

Shadman Noshin
Professor Kilkenny
AFPRL 390.10

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.

Everyone in this world has different opinion about different situation. The historians, too, analyze different incidents differently. Some historians view the Cuban Revolution as a successful revolution, which was able to accomplish its mission, on the other hand, others see this revolution as an unsuccessful attempt that was taken to bring a change in Cuban political system. The main motive of this revolution was to throw the Batista government out and end the tyranny in the country. However, this was not the only cause. Many other factors instructed this movement to turn into a revolution. Another significant cause was the inequality among the people. The poor workers used to work on the plantation for five months, and rest of the year, they had to be unemployed. Their sufferings did not end there, as their effort did not pay much. A huge part of the profit that used to be made from the exportation of sugar, was going in the hands of the rich people, who were not even working on the fields. After the revolution, the country faced with a crisis of how to make the economic system work better. The country confronted with some economic crisis, as it lost its investor, the United States. However, soon the economy started to flourish again, and once again in the 1990s, the economy saw another decline. There were other positive sides of this revolution, such as, growth in the education sector. Also, the Cuban Revolution worked as a huge motivation factor for other Latin American countries, who then started to become determined to change the condition of their countries as well. Every incident has its positive and negative impacts, and so does the Cuban Revolution. It had some negative effects on Cuba, however, mostly it was successful and spread its positive effects on other countries. This revolution set up an example for other countries to learn as to how to fight for your own rights, and speak up against the wrong doings of the society. The most important effect is that this revolution made Cuba stronger than ever, as from now on, the Cubans would not be afraid to stand up for their rights anymore, and would fight against all the discrimination and inequality.

After the victory of the Cuban Revolution

Endnotes:

          1. Hugh Thomas. “The Origins of the Cuban Revolution.” The World Today 19, no. 10. (October 1, 1963) October 27, 2013: 448-460. http://www.jstor.org.proxy.wexler.hunter.cuny.edu/stable/40393452

          2. John Foran. “Theorizing the Cuban Revolution.” Latin American Perspectives 36, no. 2 (March 1, 2009) October 21, 2013: 16–30. http://www.jstor.org.proxy.wexler.hunter.cuny.edu/stable/27648177

          3. Ibid. 18. 

          

          4. Ibid. 19.

          5. Russell H. Fitzgibbon. “The Revolution Next Door: Cuba.” Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Vol. 334 (March 1, 1961) October 3, 2013: 113-122. http://www.jstor.org.proxy.wexler.hunter.cuny.edu/stable/1034593

          6. "Browse Speeches from 1959." Latin American Network Information Center. November 5, 2013. http://lanic.utexas.edu/project/castro/1959/

          7. Ibid. 

          8. Pedro C. M. Teichert. "Latin America and the Socio-Economic Impact of the Cuban Revolution." Journal of Inter-American Studies 4, no. 1 (January 1, 1962) October 24, 2013: 105-120. http://www.jstor.org.proxy.wexler.hunter.cuny.edu/stable/164834

          9. Susan Eckstein. “The Impact of the Cuban Revolution: A Comparative Perspective." Studies in Society and History 28, no. 3 (July 1, 1986) October 27, 2013: 502–534. http://www.jstor.org.proxy.wexler.hunter.cuny.edu/stable/178861

          10. Ibid, 505. 

          11. Claes Brundenius. "Whither the Cuban Economy after Recovery? The Reform Process,  Upgrading Strategies and the Question of Transition." Journal of Latin American Studies 34, No. 2 (May, 2002) October 24, 2013: 365-395. http://www.jstor.org.proxy.wexler.hunter.cuny.edu/stable/3875793

          12. “On Celebrating the Cuban Revolution.” Latin American Perspectives 36, no. 1 (January 1, 2009) October 23, 2013: 5–16. http://www.jstor.org.proxy.wexler.hunter.cuny.edu/stable/27648154

          13. Claes Brundenius. "Whither the Cuban Economy after Recovery? The Reform Process,  Upgrading Strategies and the Question of Transition." Journal of Latin American Studies 34, No. 2 (May, 2002) October 24, 2013: 365-395. http://www.jstor.org.proxy.wexler.hunter.cuny.edu/stable/3875793

          14. Claes Brundenius. “Revolutionary Cuba at 50: Growth with Equity Revisited.” Latin American Perspectives 36, no. 2 (March 1, 2009) October 25, 2013: 31-48. http://www.jstor.org.proxy.wexler.hunter.cuny.edu/stable/27648178

          15. Eric Selbin . “Conjugating the Cuban Revolution: It Mattered, It Matters, It Will Matter.” Latin American Perspectives 36, No. 1. (January 1, 2009) October 21, 2013: 21-29. http://www.jstor.org.proxy.wexler.hunter.cuny.edu/stable/27648156

Bibliography: 

"Browse Speeches from 1959." Latin American Network Information Center. November 5, 2013. http://lanic.utexas.edu/project/castro/1959/

Brundenius, Claes. "Whither the Cuban Economy after Recovery? The Reform Process,  Upgrading  Strategies and the Question of Transition." Journal of Latin American Studies 34, No. 2 (May, 2002)      October 24, 2013: 365-395. http://www.jstor.org.proxy.wexler.hunter.cuny.edu/stable/3875793

Brundenius, Claes. “Revolutionary Cuba at 50: Growth with Equity Revisited.” Latin American Perspectives 36, no. 2 (March 1, 2009) October 25, 2013: 31-48. http://www.jstor.org.proxy.wexler.hunter.cuny.edu/stable/27648178

Eckstein, Susan. “The Impact of the Cuban Revolution: A Comparative Perspective." Studies in Society and History 28, no. 3 (July 1, 1986) October 27, 2013: 502–534. http://www.jstor.org.proxy.wexler.hunter.cuny.edu/stable/178861

Fitzgibbon, Russell H. “The Revolution Next Door: Cuba.” Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Vol. 334 (March 1, 1961) October 3, 2013: 113-122. http://www.jstor.org.proxy.wexler.hunter.cuny.edu/stable/1034593

Foran, John. “Theorizing the Cuban Revolution.” Latin American Perspectives 36, no. 2 (March 1, 2009) October 21, 2013: 16–30. http://www.jstor.org.proxy.wexler.hunter.cuny.edu/stable/27648177

“On Celebrating the Cuban Revolution.” Latin American Perspectives 36, no. 1 (January 1, 2009) October 23, 2013: 5–16. http://www.jstor.org.proxy.wexler.hunter.cuny.edu/stable/27648154

Selbin, Eric. “Conjugating the Cuban Revolution: It Mattered, It Matters, It Will Matter.” Latin American Perspectives 36, No. 1. (January 1, 2009) October 21, 2013: 21-29. http://www.jstor.org.proxy.wexler.hunter.cuny.edu/stable/27648156

Teichert, Pedro C. M. "Latin America and the Socio-Economic Impact of the Cuban Revolution." Journal of Inter-American Studies 4, no. 1 (January 1, 1962) October 24, 2013: 105-120. http://www.jstor.org.proxy.wexler.hunter.cuny.edu/stable/164834

Thomas, Hugh. “The Origins of the Cuban Revolution.” The World Today 19, no. 10. (October 1, 1963) October 27, 2013: 448-460. http://www.jstor.org.proxy.wexler.hunter.cuny.edu/stable/40393452