Conditions in which Communist Cuba emerged

List economic factors

• dependence on sugar exports

• US domination

• seasonal unemployment

• Regional inequality

Describe dependence on sugar exports

• sugar exports made up around 80% of export earnings in the 1950s.

• economy collapsed whenever sugar prices fell on world markets.

• This monoculture created deep vulnerability —

• fuelling cycles of boom and bust.

Describe US domination

• By 1952, US firms owned

  • 90% of utilities

  • 80% of imports

  • 40% of sugar production

  • 25% of Cuban land was in foreign hands

• fuelling nationalist anger.

Describe seasonal unemployment

• Seasonal unemployment was endemic

• during the off-season for sugar, 20% of workers were jobless

• leaving hundreds of thousands without stable incomes.

• creating widespread hardship and political discontent.

Describe regional inequality

• Rural poverty contrasted sharply with Havana’s prosperity

• 1950s

  • 40% of rural homes had no electricity

  • half had no running water

  • illiteracy rates reached 40% in rural areas

• exposing inequality under Batista’s regime.

Evaluate economic factors 

Economic weakness and dependency were central to the rise of Castro — sugar monoculture and US dominance created both material hardship and nationalist grievance.

Yet, while economic discontent explains the breadth of popular support, it was Castro’s ability to channel these conditions into a revolutionary programme that transformed grievance into political power.

List social division

• Income inequality

• Racial inequality

• Isolation of education groups

• Corruption

Describe income inequality

• Cuban society was split between a wealthy urban elite linked to US investors and the impoverished majority of peasants and workers.

• The contrast between Havana’s casinos and rural deprivation radicalised youth and intellectuals.

Describe racial inequality

• Afro-Cubans faced structural discrimination in jobs and education, despite constituting a large share of the rural poor

• this exclusion made promises of equality appealing.

Describe isolation of the education sector

• Students, middle-class professionals, and unions were alienated by corruption and repression

• student organisations like the Federation of University Students (FEU) provided early opposition.

Describe corruption

• Corruption and patronage dominated public life

• Batista’s allies enriched themselves through contracts, smuggling, and links with the US mafia

• discrediting the state and widening divisions.

Evaluate social factors

Social divisions created broad reservoirs of discontent that Castro was able to mobilise — from students and professionals demanding reform to Afro-Cubans and peasants seeking equality.

Yet, these grievances alone did not guarantee revolution; it was the failure of the Batista regime to manage discontent that allowed Castro’s movement to unify diverse groups under a common revolutionary cause.

List impacts of war

• incomplete sovereignty

• Batista’s dictatorship

• Guerrilla warfare

• Defeats of Batista in Santa Clara

Describe incomplete sovereignty

• Cuba’s history of anti-colonial struggle gave Castro’s revolution a nationalist narrative

• The Cuban War of Independence (1895–98) against Spain, followed by the Platt Amendment (1901) allowing US intervention

• reinforced perceptions of incomplete sovereignty.

Describe Batista’s dictatorship

The failure of democratic politics after Batista’s coup (1952) gave the revolution the legitimacy of a “second war of independence” against dictatorship and foreign domination.

Describe guerilla warfare in Sierra Maestra

Guerrilla warfare in the Sierra Maestra (1956–59)

• recalled nationalist struggles, as small rebel forces defeated Batista’s larger but demoralised army.

Describe defeats of Batista’s army in Santa Clara

Defeats of Batista’s troops in battles like Santa Clara (Dec 1958)

• outsized symbolic impact

• portraying Castro’s forces as liberators continuing Cuba’s unfinished war for independence.

Evaluate impacts of war

Castro successfully framed his revolution as part of Cuba’s nationalist tradition, which gave it powerful symbolic legitimacy.

Yet this was more a narrative than a direct cause — the decisive factor lay in the regime’s failures and Castro’s skill in turning historical memory into revolutionary momentum.

List weaknesses of the political system

• Batista’s coup (undemocratic)

• Batista’s repression

• Corruption

• Army loyalty

Describe Batista’s coup

Batista’s coup of 10 March 1952

• cancelled elections, suspending constitutional democracy and discrediting the political system.

• convinced many Cubans that reform could only come through revolution.

Describe Batista’s repression

• Batista’s regime relied on repression rather than legitimacy

• censorship silenced criticism

• torture and executions of political opponents alienated moderate support.

Describe corruption

Corruption was endemic:

• Batista personally profited from US-backed casinos, gambling, and mafia ties in Havana, exposing the state as self-serving.

Describe army disloyalty

• The army, though numbering 30,000 soldiers in the 1950s

• poorly trained, corrupt, and demoralised

• desertions rose sharply in 1958, allowing Castro’s guerrillas to expand their influence

Evaluate weakness of the political system

The collapse of democratic legitimacy and the corruption of Batista’s regime meant that institutions designed to uphold the state instead fuelled revolutionary sentiment.

However, the weakness of the army in particular was decisive, as it transformed discontent into a military opportunity for Castro’s forces.