Use of legal methods, force, charismatic leadership, and propaganda Communist Cuba

List the use of legal methods

• established a single party authoritarian government

• Purged the judiciary

• institutionalising a new constitution

Describe how Castro initially established a single party government

Despite promising a return to constitutional democracy after seizing power on 1 January 1959…

• consolidated authority by bypassing institutions.

• suspended Batista’s 1940 Constitution

• dissolved Congress in 1959

• by 1961 all opposition parties were banned or merged into the United Party of the Socialist Revolution (PURS), later the Cuban Communist Party (1965).

Describe the purging of the judiciary

• The judiciary was purged

• revolutionary tribunals tried over 1,000 Batista officials for crimes

  • hundreds executed in 1959

  • demonstrating “revolutionary justice”

  • alarmed moderates.

Describe the institutionalisation of a one party state

• By 1976, a new socialist constitution institutionalised the one-party state

• gave the Communist Party the “leading role in society and state.”

List uses of force

• Revolutionary Armed Forces

• Committees for the Defense of the Revolution

• Political prisoners

• Crushing of dissident groups

Describe the Revolutionary Armed Forces

Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR)

• replaced Batista’s military

• integrated guerrilla fighters into a professional army loyal to Castro

• By the mid-1960s, it had over 200,000 troops

• became one of Latin America’s strongest military

Describe Committees for the Defense of the Revolution

The Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDRs)

• founded in 1960

• mobilised millions of Cubans to monitor neighbourhoods, report dissent, and spread propaganda

• By the 1970s, over 80% of Cubans belonged to a CDR

  • embedding surveillance in daily life.

Describe political prisoners

• Political opponents were imprisoned or exiled

• estimates suggest 20,000–30,000 political prisoners were held in the 1960s

• over 200,000 Cubans fled to the US in the first decade of Castro’s rule.

Describe crushing of dissidence

• Dissident groups attempting armed resistance in the Escambray Mountains (1960–65)

• crushed through military campaigns,

• thousands killed or imprisoned.

List charismatic leadership

• speeches

• tireless leader

• consolidated personal power

• equated loyalty to the revolution as loyalty to Fidel

Describe speeches

• Castro embodied the revolution

• appeared in public in fatigues

• gave marathon speeches (often 4–6 hours long)

  • mixed ideology, nationalism, and personal connection.

Describe the image of a tireless leader

• He cultivated the image of a tireless leader

• 1961, he declared Cuba a socialist state before a cheering crowd

• presented himself as defender of Cuban sovereignty

Describe the consolidation of his personal power

• His personal decision-making style centralised power

• Became Prime Minister (1959–76) and later President (1976–2008)

• chaired the Council of Ministers and Council of State

• ensured no rival emerged.

Describe public view of Castro as symbolic of the revolution

• Castro’s charisma enabled him to retain legitimacy even after setbacks

• many Cubans equated loyalty to the revolution with loyalty to Fidel personally

List dissemination of propaganda

• Nationalisation of the media

• Education reform

• Revolutionary unity

• Rallies

Describe nationalisation of the media

• Media was nationalised in 1960

• eliminated private newspapers and radio stations

• State media praised the revolution, attacked imperialism, and broadcast Castro’s speeches.

Describe education reform

• Education reform expanded literacy and spread ideology

• 1961 Literacy Campaign mobilised 250,000 volunteers

  • cut illiteracy from 20% to 4% in a year

  • instilled revolutionary values.

Describe the propagandisation of the revolutionary spirit

• Posters, slogans, and murals emphasised revolutionary unity

  • “Socialism or Death”

  • “Fidel is the Revolution”

• reinforced the cult of personality.

Describe rallies

• Mass rallies, often with hundreds of thousands in Havana’s Plaza de la Revolución

• showcased regime strength

• projected Castro as the embodiment of Cuban socialism.