1) Origins, development and nature of the regime:
• What were the three main causes that produced the authoritarian state?
1) Batista & Corruption- Batista took over power from the former president, in a coup 3 months before the elections were to even happen. Batista wasn’t projected to win, so in order to verify that he would win, he fixed the polls in order to do so. However due to the amount of corruption within Cuba previously, the country was basically used to what Batista had done.
2) United States involvement with Cuba- United States President, Harry Truman, began to provide military and economic support in echange for Cuba’s support, due to Batista’s new rise to power. During this time, the US was very involved in Cuba’s economy. This progression towards capitalism led to the rise & revolution of Castro.
3) Castro’s Revolution- Overall, Castro was a strong advocate for the lower class and poor population of Cuba. By joining the Cuban People’s Party, Castro was able to begin changing the quality of life for the peasant community. Castro was able to convince members of this party that change needed to happen, and that Cuba’s government needed to be removed. This ultimately sparked a revolution, which eventually allowed Castro to take over power, force Batista out of office, and began to move away from Cuba becoming a capitalist type government.
• Describe the specific aims of the leader as they rose to power?
1) Fidel’s first and main belief was that he himself was not actually interested in power. Castro claimed that he became the leader of Cuba, not because of the position of power, but rather so he could help improve the life of the lower-class population as well as change the government for the improvement of the people. Right after Castro’s victory over Cuba, people were celebrating because the revolution was over. Castro wanted to improve the country as a whole, rather then just improve himself, and take a bunch of power. This is one reason that he was able to gain such a large support group.
2) Furthermore, Castro wanted to implement his socialist views throughout Cuba. This began when Castro singed the First Agrarian reform in to law, which put a cap upon the amount of land a certain person was allowed to own. The implementation of this reform, appealed to the peasant community, because they began to receive portions of land from wealthy owners, ultimately building up Castro’s support group. Furthermore, Castro declared Cuba a socialist state in 1961, which was a step towards communism, even though Castro himself was not considered to be completely communist.
Below is an interview with Castro that shows his opinion on communism.
Reporter: Comandante, what is the character of the Cuban revolution?
Castro: You newspapermen are crazy for definitions and neat schemes… You’re impossibly dogmatic. We are not dogmatic… At any rate, you wish to write that this is a socialist revolution, right? And write it, then… Yes, not only did we destroy a tyrannical system. We also destroyed the philoimperialistic bourgeois state apparatus, the bureaucracy, the police, and a mercenary army. We abolished privileges, annihilated the great landowners, threw out foreign monopolies for good, nationalized almost every industry, and collectivized the land. We are fighting now to liquidate once and for all the exploitation of man over man, and to build a completely new society, with a new class contents. The Americans (Cubans say just that, los americanos, to mean the United States) the Americans and the priests say that this is communism. We know very well that it is not. At any rates, the word does not frighten us. They can say whatever they wish. There is a song, which is popular among our peasants, that goes more or less like this: “Bird of ill omen — of treason and cowardice — that are throwing at my joy — the word: communism! — I know nothing about these ‘isms’ — Yet, if such a great welfare conquest — which can be been by my own eyes — is communism, then — you can even call me a communist!
Reporter: Comandante, what do you think about the Popular Socialist Party, which is the party of Castro communists?
Castro: It is the only Cuban party, which has consistently called for a radical change of social structures and relations. It is true that at the beginning the communists distrusted me and us rebels. Their distrust was justified, their position was absolutely correct, both ideologically and politically. They were right in being distrustful because we of the Sierra who were conducting the guerilla were still full of petit bourgeois prejudices and defects, in spite of our Marxist readings. Our ideas were not clear, although we wished to destroy tyranny and privileges with all out strength. Then, we met with each other, we understood one another, and started to work together. The communists have shed much blood and heroism for the Cuban cause. At present, we continue to work together in a loyal and brotherly way.
• Describe two - three of the main aspects describing the ideology of the leader?
- 1) Castro’s love for Cuba. Fidel Castro can be considered an extreme nationalist. Once in power, this helped him motivate the population of Cuba against the US. By referring to the quality of past treatment of Cubans by the US, he was able to convince the majority of the population to remain as far away from the US as they could. The majority of Castro’s basis for the revolution was created based of his nationalism and support for those who could not support themselves.
- 2) Castro’s foreign policy. Castro’s foreign policy consisted of support from multiple different support groups throughout other Latin American countries. (Bolivia, Venezuela, Nicaragua) In addition, Castro obtained support from the USSR, who shipped goods and materials to Cuba to help the country out. Castro’s main foreign goal however, was to promote the freedom of smaller countries from their much more powerful and wealthier controllers. In addition, since the United states attempted to cripple the Cuban government through a trade barricade, many other countries that were against the US, began to support Castro’s regime.
- 3) “New mans theory”- this theory was an idea that Castro and Che Guevara created, that regulated work and employment throughout Cuba. It consisted of the idea that all Cubans should no longer work for the benefit of themselves, but rather for the good of everyone in society. This increased benefits for Cubans, such as education. From this, Castro aimed to improve the entire society as a whole, rather then just certain individuals.
• To what extent did the leader achieve totalitarian rule?
- Fidel Castro acheieved totalitarian rule to a certain extent, due to some policies he implemented; however due to his socialist principles, Cuba cannot be considered a totalitarian ruled country.
- First off, at the beginning of Castro’s regime, he implemented new policies that took care of the poor community, by taking away money and land form the rich, and distributing it to the peasants. Creating social equality, in the sense that there was no personal gain on jobs, everyone gets paid the same amount, no matter what they had been previously paid, created a world of equality, and hard working people. This ideology can be considered extremely communist, however Castro was still considered a socialist, and therefore did not implement complete communist ideology.
- Castro improved many problems within cuba, through implementation of communist ideology. For example, the literacy rate began to increase drastically throughout his rule, and quality free health care was accessible to almost everyone. These economic policies and importance of such, somewhat reflect that of a totalitarian ruled nation.
- Furthermore, Castro controlled the propaganda throughout Cuba. From controlling the media, to banning certain books to be public accessible, Castro was able to create a totalitarian ruled state to some extent, however not completely.
2) Establishment of Power:
• Describe three specific methods that were used to establish power? (force and/or legal)
1) First off, Castro used the corruption of Batista and other government officials, as well as his distaste for the US, to gain power through the Cuban Peoples Party and gain a large support group in order to spark a revolution. The Cuban revolution was based off the support for the peasant population, and how their voices and opinions needed to be heard within the new government. Thus, if Castro won the revolution, he would make sure that this would happen.
2) Castro’s personality and intelligence was a major factor in gaining supporters for the revolution. Additionally, if they had won the revolution, and Batista were to be taken from power, it would only make sense, for Castro, the leader of the revolution to become the new leader. Yet, even after Castro won, he put a different leader in power, which showed to the public that he himself wasn’t after the power, rather he just wanted to improve the social situation of the country.
3) Ultimately, when Castro became Prime Minister of Cuba, he began to focus upon the poor community and population of Cuba. By highlighting the importance of education, making it accessible, redistribution of land to all people of Cuba, so that all members of Cuban society had equal income and land, he was able to gain a massive support group that agreed and wanted his ideology.
• Would you describe the authoritarian leader as left wing or right wing? Explain.
- Castro’s ideology and the implementation of such, reflects those of a left wing authoritarian leader. Communism in general is considered to be left wing ideology. Once Castro came into power, his main goal was to create a sense of equality, making everyone live with the same rights, and income. In addition, the implementation of his New Agrarian Reform and other reforms, reflect those of a left wing leader. However, Castro cannot be considered as extreme as some other rulers, such as Stalin, because his methodology was somewhat forgiving. Castro did not kill his opposition or force anyone to believe in what he did. He highlighted, that through implementation of new laws that he wanted to improve Cuba in a peaceful way. Although he sometimes did imprison those who opposed his ideals, which reflects some right wing ideology, Castro can be considered a left wing ruler.
• What was the nature of the treatment (give specific examples) of opposition and to what extent was it successful
1) The main rival throughout Castro’s regime was the United States. Even throughout his own party, there was hardly any opposition, due to the fact that almost everyone believed in what he was doing. As for the US, Castro used every possible way to get rid of US involvement in the Cuban government and in the country in general. As an example, Castro re-took control over US owned land in Cuba, so that the US had no means to be involved with Cuba what so ever.
2) Castro’s opposition with middle to upper class members of Cuban Society- throughout the first couple decades of Castro’s regime, most of Cuba’s upper class members migrated into the US. Many of these people were doctors, teacher, businessmen etc.. all people with money. Many of them left due to the fact that they did not want to abide by Castro’s new social policies, which would “down grade “ there income and land, creating over all equality. In this sense, Castro did not force out the people that didn’t agree with him, like Stalin did, in fact, Castro left them to decide for themselves, whether they wanted to leave or not, making it very successful. Below is a graph that shows demographics of Cuban migration into the United States:
| Official Immigration to the U.S[25][26] | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year of Immigration | White | Black | Other | Asian | Number |
| 1959-64 | 93.3 | 1.2 | 5.3 | 0.2 | 144,732 |
| 1965-74 | 87.7 | 2.0 | 9.1 | 0.2 | 247,726 |
| 1975-79 | 82.6 | 4.0 | 13.3 | 0.1 | 29,508 |
| 1980 | 80.9 | 5.3 | 13.7 | 0.1 | 94,095 |
| 1981-89 | 85.7 | 3.1 | 10.9 | 0.3 | 77,835 |
| 1990-93 | 84.7 | 3.2 | 11.9 | 0.2 | 60,244 |
| 1994–2000 | 85.8 | 3.7 | 10.4 | 0.7 | 174,437 |
| Total | 87.2 | 2.9 | 9.6 | 0.2 | 828,577 |
| Race by Cuban national Origin, 2000 [3] | |||||
| Country of Origin | White | Black | Other | ||
| Cuba | 85.0% | 3.6% | 7.1% | ||
| Total: 1,241,685 | 1,055,432 | 44,700 | 88,159 | ||
3) Domestic Policies and Impact:
• How did the the structure and organization of the government assist the rule of the authoritarian ruler.
- The way that the government was set up, at the time Castro came into power, made it achievable for Castro to create an authoritarian state. First, the structure of the government before Castro came into power, began to look very similar to that of the capitalist United States, thus, the reason Castro wanted to start a revolution. The people of Cuba wanted someone to look up to, as well as someone who supported the poor community. At this time, a large majority of Cuba’s population was in financial trouble.
- Additionally, Castro eliminated all government officials that did not agree with his ideology, which created a government that reflected his socialist views and ideology. Even though Batista’s government was turning towards Capitalism, the base for it was still based on communism, which allowed Castro to easily alter the government in order to create a new socialist government, fit best for Cuba.
Describe the one of the following: the main political, social and religious policies used to maintain power.
- Social Policies – Castro used his popularity, and his focus upon the importance of education, as a means to maintain power. As for popularity, Castro used this as his main tactic to maintain power. By highlighting the importance of the people of Cuba, and how he wanted to help improve the lives of Cuban society, through equality, he was able to maintain a large support group, which ultimately allowed him to maintain power. Furthermore, Castro stressed the importance of education. By making education easily accessible for a majority of the population, Castro was able to improve the educational situation in Cuba drastically. The literacy rate increased momentously. Here is a url to a website that shows the increasing literacy rate within cuba : http://www.indexmundi.com/g/g.aspx?v=39&c=cu&l=en
Describe how the leader used education, arts, media or propaganda (choose one) as a means of impacting or influencing the population.
Propaganda – Throughout his regime, Castro controlled all propaganda throughout Cuba, in order to make sure that no one had a negative view or opinion of him. Castro allowed certain propaganda murals, ones that depicted him fighting for Cuba along with all the other revolutionaries, or as the overall leader of the revolution. His overall objective with propaganda was to paint the idea within the population that he himself, was like everyone else within Cuba.
