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CUBAN REVOLUTION.
Term Paper ID:1810
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Essay Subject:
Contends that dynamics of Revolution were determined by conditions under Batista & not by any political theory adopted by Castro in Oriente.... More...
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Paper Abstract:
Contends that dynamics of Revolution were determined by conditions under Batista & not by any political theory adopted by Castro in Oriente.
Paper Introduction:
The Cuban Revolution did not begin with Fidel Castro; rather it began in the dire condition of the Cuban people and nation under the rule of Fulgencio Batista.
Uprisings, time and again, were crushed; slave revolts were overwhelmed by gun and cannon; the many wars for liberty in the nineteenth century were prelude to this armed landing and the contemporary brave work that had been going on underground since the Dictator Batista had overthrown the republic in 1953 in a palace revolt. He was aided by big-time American money that regarded him as the best guarantor of their enormous investments and profits - well over a billion dollars in holdings were the stake. And seven black years of a repression were clamped down upon the country by this Caribbean
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In this situation, it is difficult to judge precisely how popularCastro and the revolution were in Cuba. One group consistedof former Batista supporters (the most favored by the CIA); another was aleft-wing group of former Castro supporters (little trusted); and the thirdwas a divided group in the center. InOctober of 196 , the American government declared a virtual embargo on allshipments of supplies to Cuba - with the exceptions of medicine andfoodstuffs. It was in thelight of this over-estimation that permission was granted for the invasion- the Bay of Pigs - to proceed in 1961, under the control of the Kennedygovernment. 1 2 5 . B r e n n a n , p . New York: Frederick A. The economic condition of Cuba, either before or after therevolution, is rather difficult to determine precisely. New York: Monthly Review Press, 196 .North, Joseph. This lastrestriction was largely attributed to the drop in production, despite thisdrop, export quotes still had to be met. 1 3 . This is not true of Che Guevara.Guevara came to symbolize the revolution in ways that Castro could not.When Castro ascended to the leadership of the government, he found itmoderately necessary to remove himself from the field of theoretician forguerilla warfare. To a large extent, the peasantry - those who rented theirland - did not participate in Castro's 1952 movement. P r a e g e r , 1 9 6 5 ) , p . Garden City: Doubleday and Company, Inc., 1959.Franco, Victor. At the same time, he courted the friendship ofthe Soviet Union by allowing diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union. Praeger, 1965.Huberman, Leo and Paul M. It also served to turn the Cuban government fullyagainst the United States. The Morning After. In the meantime, the agricultural populationremained generally passive; as did the armed forces with theircorresponding pay raises. Praeger, 1963.Goldenberg, Boris. R a y B r e n n a n , C a s t r o , C u b a a n d J u s t i c e ( G a r d e n C i t y : D o u b l e d a y & C o m p a n y , I n c . The Castro governmentconcluded a more beneficial arrangement for the refining of Russian oil.When the American companies protested and refused to cooperate, they wereconfiscated. The action seemed doomed from thebeginning, especially since the Castro government seemed to expect the moveand had prepared for it. 2 7 8 .----------------------- 1 By the time of the planning and execution of theBay of Pigs, it can be safely stated that the American position had turneda full-circle from its tenuous position in 1958. 3 1 . Exactlyhow much this means to the average Cuban farmer is difficult to gage -especially since direct ownership of farm land was never a high priority inthe reforms demanded. Despite the presence of revolutionary rhetoric, the short statementdoes serve to summarize the condition of the average Cuban on the eve ofthe final revolution. In a rare moment of liberality, Castro's final speech, afterhis conviction on a charge of leading the rebellion, was permitted in theCuban press. G o l d e n b e r g , p . Thebreak - which is as much tied to the popularity of Castro and his followersas it is to the American position - came early in 196 , and it centered onoil refining. If the major cause can not be rested with extreme poverty - though itcertainly existed - then it would have to be with the general condition ofthe Batista regime. As the Castro revolution began to sweep the nation, feeding off thegeneral discontent of those whose conditions were sufficiently high forthem to realize that if control of the government passed to other handsthat condition would improve, it became obvious that Batista wouldinevitably loose control of the situation. Cuba Anatomy of a Revolution, 2nd ed. With the revolution afact in Cuba, Guevara became Castro's Trotsky - that is he became almost asmuch of a liability as he was an asset. Endnotes BibliographyBrennan, Ray. While the CIA had control of the operation, there was adefinite division in the Cuban forces (all emigres). This was coupled with a general disregard for the mass ofthe population. He did so in order tosave what was left of the Cuban experiment with democracy, or he claimed atthe time. Opposition to Castro can also be traced to the economic sector.Despite the harshness of life under Batista, wages had never been cut morethan five percent during his rule. By 1953, organized opposition to the Batista regime appeared in thecountryside. Castro, Cuba and Justice. By the early195 's, Cuba was, indeed, the most highly capitalized country in LatinAmerica. However large this opposition was,it is sure that the American government over-estimated it. The country was also under-developed in a most curious manner.Despite the fact that it was physically wealthy, when this wealth, both inland and mineral deposits, was exploited, it was usually for the benefit offoreign financiers. The amount of blood shed after the first attempt of revolutionin 1953 is indicative of precisely how secure Batista felt in his palace.He bargained for the support of his army; and up to a certain point he wassuccessful. The regime existed in a sea of corruption - in fact,Castro's original plan for revolution in 1953 centered on the ease ofgaining information about fort defenses from officers willing to allow mento enter the compound for a promise of a bit of graft from food sales tothe garrison. How one would judge the social benefits of the revolution demands onhow much one favors the ideology involved; and whether one chooses toaccept the claims made by the Cuban government. Unrest, when it occurred as in the case of Castro and his originalband, centered on those areas of the country which were the best offeconomically. In fact, studiesdone at approximately this time reveal that "the demand for ownership ofland came only sixth"[iv] among people in the rural areas. By the end of that year, Fidel himself was in prison for hispart in an attempt to seize control of a fort -and hundreds had beenslaughtered as a reprisal for the act. He was an idol for those whodesired revolution in their own nations; but, like Trotsky before him, hefound the role of a government official a bit too restraining. The role which the United States played in the drama is a bit simplerto understand. By 1958, even the U.S.Department of State had come to this realization. The Cuban Revolution and Latin America. So long as he could convince Washingtonthat he retained complete control of the nation, he could still command afair share of aid. This meant that the tenant-farm system was largely broken up; andthat money gained in the economic sphere remained on the island. We would rather see this island sink into the oceanthan to become any man's slave."[ii] It was Batista's gravest fault that all of his early considerationsto the Cuban laborer were handed out only in direct regard to his ownsecurity. Under the first few years of Castro,they fell an average of fifteen percent in most of the industries. At this point, Cuba owed such American companies as Esso aconsiderable sum of money - all tied to the idea that Venezuelan oil wasbrought to Cuba at a high price to be refined. "The State Departmentawakened at last, and declared an embargo against sending death weapons ofany kind to Cuba."[v] This action hardly cut off Batista's line of supply. Batista seized control of the country with relative ease, and nobloodshed, in the early hours of March 1 , 1952. Even Che Guevara hadto admit, in the years after the revolution, that the lot of the peasantand the agricultural worker was far better, in comparison, to others in thesame position in other Latin American countries. 1 2 3 . This is, of course, coupled with thefact that the mass of the population knew little of their rights. The American government responded by cutting Cuban sugarimports. The negative facts of Cuban life under Castro can best be seen ineconomics. The amount of blood shed in the aftermath of 1953 served toturn even a number of army officers against him, and into the camp of therebels. Despite the fact that protective laws had been enactedduring the 194 's, and even during Batista's rule, those with money foundgreat ease in circumventing them. By 1963, the sugar crop, the main staple of Cuban exports, haddropped drastically to 3.8 million tons.[vi] The planned-for advances inindustrialization had not yet taken place; and the amount of Russian aidcoming into the country was turned to stop-gap measures of shoring up theeconomy. In 1955, the government ended a strike infavor of these same workers. At the same time, with the nationalization of foreign-owned propertyon the island, the means of Cuban production finally reverted to Cubancontrol. , 1 9 5 9 ) , p . New York: Frederick A. It now fully opposed theCastro government. B o r i s G o l d e n b e r g , T h e C u b a n R e v o l u t i o n a n d L a t i n A m e r i c a ( N e w Y o r k : F r e d e r i c k A . New York: International Publishers, 1961.----------------------- J o s e p h N o r t h , C u b a : H o p e o f a H e m i s p h e r e ( N e w Y o r k : I n t e r n a t i o n a l P u b l i s h e r s , 1 9 6 1 ) , p . Despite this, shortages appeared and restrictions had to beplaced on the consumption of clothing, coffee, and even sugar. Since this amounted to a declaration of economic war, Castroreplied by nationalizing the rest of the American owned concerns. In1953, in spite of a drop in the world prices for sugar, the governmentdecreed that the workers' wages should not suffer - and they weremaintained at the 1952 level. He was aided by big-time American money that regarded him as the best guarantor of their enormous investments and profits - well over a billion dollars in holdings were the stake. It wasprobably the American assumption that things would continue pretty muchaccording to plan, despite Castro's early mouthing of marxist phrases. In essence, Guevara became the man who mouthed the means forrevolution, a role that Castro no longer desired. Cuba: Hope of a Hemisphere. The Cuban Revolution did not begin with Fidel Castro; rather it beganin the dire condition of the Cuban people and nation under the rule ofFulgencio Batista. Whatis significant about this action is that it serves as an early indicationthat the American government recognized the fact that Batista would fall;in a sense the State Department was preparing to shift its allegiance tothe new government when it finally came to power. When Castro came to power in 1959, it was with the general goodwillof the United States (though with the reservations that both sides knewfully the reasons for the American change of heart in 1958). Sweezy. Castro's position as to his own popularity is best judged through adelineation of whether life in revolutionary Cuba shows any improvementover life in pre-revolutionary Cuba. Batista was immediately careful to insure his own position. Just as Batista was the best guarantor of the security ofthe American investments, so was the United States Batista's single bestguarantee of his own security. 1 7 7 . It was Guevara who filled this void. It was a void notso much felt by the Cubans themselves as by other Latin Americanrevolutionary parties. Also in this light, it should be noted that despite the model ofmost Western nations (and Japan), the lower classes of the society didbenefit - though to a proportionately smaller measure than the moneyedclasses - from this expansion: In 195 an International Bank mission pointed out that "living levels of the farmers, agricultural labourers, industrial workers, storekeepers and other, are higher all along the line than for corresponding groups in other tropical countries and in nearly all other Latin American countries." This does not mean that there is no dire poverty in Cuba, but simply that in comparative terms Cubans are better off, on the average, than the people of these other areas.[iii] The picture of the pre-revolutionary Cuban economy certainly does notgive a full idea of why the revolution occurred here. It should be noted that a largepart of the weapons used in these reprisals were obtained from the Americangovernment which still saw in Batista a means to protect its owninvestments. These included not only American interests; but anentire class of Spaniards who had adopted cuban citizenship as aconvenience in business matters. And seven black years of a repression were clamped down upon the country by this Caribbean Hitler.[i] It can then be seen that the dynamics of the Cuban Revolution werenot determined by any concept of political theory which Fidel Castro hadadopted in the mountains of Oriente province; rather it was determined bythe condition of the nation under the rule of Batista. "Cuba's nine hundred thousand farmers and workersare miserably exploited, with work their only miserable future and thegrave their only rest. G o l d e n b e r g , p . So many yearshad passed when American aid had flowed into the country, that he had anample stockpile of rather sophisticated weaponry still at his command. Uprisings, time and again, were crushed; slave revolts were overwhelmed by gun and cannon; the many wars for liberty in the nineteenth century were prelude to this armed landing and the contemporary brave work that had been going on underground since the Dictator Batista had overthrown the republic in 1953 in a palace revolt.
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