Castro's Cuba Policies

Social, Economic, Political & Cultural

Social #1: Education

• 1961 Literacy Campaign: Mobilized 271,000 brigadistas, converted barracks into schools, and illiteracy dropped from 24% to 4%

• Linked education with revolutionary values and youth politicization

• Post-1961: schools nationalized; curricula focused on revolutionary heroes, ideological training prioritized over neutrality

Social #2: Youth Policies

• children and teens enrolled in Jose Marti Pioneers & UJC( state-controlled organizations)

• Youth integrated into civic rituals, agricultural work, literacy campaigns; instilled loyalty & discipline

• blended ideology with productive labour

Jose Marti Pioneer Organization

• (1961) aimed to instill marxist-leninist values: obedience, collectivism, and sacrifice

• textbooks promoted revolutionary heroes & participation was near-universal

• noncompliance = academic penalties

Social #3: Healthcare Expansion

• dclared a univeral right; rural outreach + preventative care priuoritized

• doctors per capita rose from 1/1,000(1958 —> 6/1,000 (2000s)

• Major achievements: eradication of polito/malaria, mass vaccinations, strong primary care, global medical training (ELAM, 1999)

• WHO praised Cuba’s results (low infant mortality, high life expectancy)

• Problems: Special period (1990s) —> medicine shortages, hospital decline, two-tier system

Social #4: Housing & Living Standards

• rural gains: access to electricity increased 10-15% (1959)→ 69%+ (1980s); potable water & sewage systems expanded

• housing deficit persisted: fell from 27,000 homes/year (pre-1959) → 15,000(1960s)

Social #5: Housing & Living Standards

• INAV (1961) & micro brigades failed due to bureaucracy & shortages.

• Five-Year Plan (1976-80) with Soviet aid peaked at 40,000 units (1978) but was unsustained

• by late 1980s: deficit of 500,000+ units, and overcrowding in Havana worsened

General Economic Aims

1. Sugar dependency: export earnings from sugar left Cuba vulnerable to price fluctuations

2. U.S. dominance: industry & trade was controlled by U.S.

3. Inequality: rural poverty, concentrated landownership & underdevelopment

4. Castro’s goals: diversify production, industrialize, gain economic independence, & reduce inequality

5. Che Guevara’s vision: advocated for revolutionary ideals over money, equalized wages, & economy w/ moral incentives

Economic Policy #1: Radical Reforms

(1961-1968)

• Currency reform (1962): new currency eliminated capitalist influence

• Rent abolition: landlords lost income → reduced homelessness & boosted regime’s social justice image

• Agrarian Reform Law (1963): state controlled 70% of land → limited land ownership

• Revolutionary offensive (1968): nationalized private businesses, banned self-employment & expanded full state control of the economy

Economic Policies: Challenges

1. Nationalization: state took control of almost all sectors → rapid bureaucratic expansion

2. Inefficiency: slow decision-making, poor coordination & resource misallocation

3. Absenteeism: lack of material incentives → low productivity

4. Professional losses: 300,000+ professionals & skilled workers emigrated → shortages in expertise & management

Economic Policies #2: Post-1970 Reforms

• Reforms: reintroduced material incentives (bonuses, wage differentials), limited autonomy for state enterprises & reopened farmer’s markets

• Impact: some stabilization, but overall stagnation persisted

• Problems: Rising foreign debt, flat living standards, growing public frustration

Economic Policies #3: The Rectification Campaign

(1986)

• Aims: launched to reverse 1970s-80s market-oriented reforms related to economic stagnation

• Successes: reaffirmed party dominance, reinstated voluntarism & tigtened centralized control

• Results: worsened inefficiency, scarcity, & black-market growth → paved way for 1990s Special Period

Economic Policies #4: Ten Million Ton Harvest

• Goal: produce 10 million tons of sugar to earn foreign currency, repay debts & reduce reliance on USSR

• Mobilization: nearly 20% of cubans sent to rural areas for voluntary labor

• Impact: disrupted other sectors, drained economy, exposed inefficiencies, marked failure of centralized planning

• Failure: 8.5 million tons fell short -→ public setback, decline in enthusiasm, end of mass-mobilization drives

Political Policies #1:The 1976 Constitution

• Aims: to institutionalize a one-party rule → declared Cuba a Marxist-Leninist State

• Results: Castro concentrated power

  • (head of state, head of government, etc..),

  • created the National Assembly of People’s Power → legislative body

  • Membership was strictly for PCC-endorsed candidates

  • electoral system functioned as a legitimacy for the regime, rather than true democratic participation

Political Policies #2: The Special Period

• 1992 constitutional reform: legalized freedom of religion, allowed believers to join the PCC; sparked a modest religious revival

• Political reforms: direct elections for National Assembly deputies introduced → all candidates required PCC approval → no multiparty democracy

• Authoritarian continuity: PCC retained monoply control; Castro maintained emergency powers → overrided the constitution

Political Policies #3: The Special Period

• Restrictions: freedom of assembly, protest & press curtailed; all media state-controlled; independent political activity banned

• Castro’s Leadership: retained personal control of military, executive, & PCC despite constitutional structures; cult of personality prevented institutional autonomy

Cuba’s National Assembly of People’s Power

• Cuba’s sole legislature → formerly allowed to pass laws, amend the constitution & approve budgets/plans

• assembly meets twice a year; assembly has 470 deputies

• Despite elections, no political pluralism exists; the PCC is the only legal party, & opposition is banned

Cultural Policy #1

National Ballet of Cuba (BNC)

• Castro saw ballet as a symbol of national pride & cultural sovereignity after 1959

• State funded fre ballet schools, opened elite art to all → promoted social mobility thro

Cultural Policy #2

UNEAC (1961) (National Union of Writers & Artists of Cuba)

• founded to align writers/artists with revolutionary goals

  • treated arts as a political struggle

Cultural Policy #3

“Words to the Intellectuals” (1961)

• Castro declared cultural work must serve the revolution, prioritizing ideology over artistic freedom

• culture was institutionalized as a weapon to strengthen the revolution and fight enemies, not as an independent sphere

Reinaldo Arenas

• Joined Castro’s rebels in 1959; studied at Havana’s National Library

• openly gay & critical of the regime → faced harassment, censorship, & imprisonment

• Memoir—”Before Night Falls” exposed repression in Castro’s Cuba & became a key work in the exile

Impact of Policies on Women #1

Cuban Women’s Federation (1960)

• organized literacy, health and vaccination campaigns

• trained women for workforce participation across sectors

• promoted education & ideological training → depicted women as workers & revolutionaries in texbooks

Structure & Role of the FMC

• Organization: organized at national & grassroots levels through secretariats & community committees

• Early Achievements: 1961 literacy campaign, eradication of rural prostitution & expansion of childcare centers (Circulos Infantos)

• Key Influence on Reforms: 1975 Family Code, workplace equality, health, and disaster planning

Impact of Policies on Women #2

1975 Family Code

• General Summary: mandated gender equality at home & work, condemning men’s refusal to share domestic duties as exploitation

  • replaced patriarchal norms with a socialist framework, → granted legal equality to spouses and children

• Aim: to link women’s liberation with both state support and legal guarantees of equality at home

Impact of Policies on Women #3

1. Revolution encouraged women’s work to support modernization, especially in agriculture & technical fields

2. Laws opened male-dominated professions; daycare centers eased dual roles

3. Women mobilized in “Agricultural Legions” → balanced labor, politics & family

Impact of Policies on Homosexuals

1. UMAP camps (1965-68): thousands of gay men sent to brutal “re-education” centers

2. “Grey Years" (1970s): cultural purges; homosexuals barred from teaching, media, arts

3. Reform: 1979 decriminalization of same-sex relations; 1980s creation of CENESEX, promoting LGBTQ rights

Marxism-Leninism & Homophobia

• Homosexuality = bourgeois perversion: Soviet ideology linked same-sex relations to Western capitalism & moral decay

• Conformity: authoritarian regimes demanded strict ideological and behavioural alignment; LGBTQ+ identities were seen as subversive

• “Ideal revolutionary man”: heterosexual, militant, productive & masculine; LGBTQ+ individuals = failure of model

• Cuba’s machismo: institutional conservatism & patriarchal culture reinforced homophobia → despite revolutionary promises of liberation

Impact of Policies on Black People

• Equal Access to Services: implemented social reforms that improved access to housing, education & healthcare

• Increased Social Mobility: mass exodus of wealthy white professional opened job opportunities for marginalized Afro-Cubans.

• Outlawed Formal Discrimination: Castro’s regime repealed pre-1959 laws that allowed or enforced racial discrimination & institutional racism

  • dismantled segregation of public spaces

• International Stance: actively supported anti-apartheid & anti-racist movements (e.g, Angola & Namibia)

Impact of Policies on Religious Groups #1

1959-1991: State Atheism

• influenced by Marxist-Leninist ideology; religion seen as threat

• church properties nationalized, schools closed, clergy surveilled or exiled

• secularization campaigns promoted socialism overe faith; participation dropped sharply

Impact of Policies on Religious Groups #2

1990’s shift:

• Post-Soviet “Special Period” → pragmatic relaxation of restrictions

• 1992 constitution removed state atheism → guranteed religious freedom (under state surveillance)

• 1998: Pope John Paul II’s visit opened dialogue with the Catholic Church

Was Castro able to secure power through charismatic leadership? #1

1. Charism & Oratory: powerful speaker → speeches were long, theatrical & tied to anti-colonial traditions

   1. e.g. “History Will Absolve Me (1953) → transformed him into a national figure

2. Political Skill: marginalized rivals & secured loyalty in the military & bureaucracy

   1. united diverse groups → consolidated them into the PCC

3. Control mechanisms: relied on state security & CDRs for surveillance & suppression of dissent

Was Castro able to secure power through charismatic leadership?#2

• Cult of Personality: media, education & propaganda portrayed him as Father of the nation; censorship enforced only official narratives reinforced his narrative

• Turning Setbacks into Victories:

  • Moncada attack (1953) → symbol of revolutioon

  • Bay of Pigs (1961) → framed as triumph over U.S. imperialism; declared socialism

  • Special Period (1991-2000) → cast as a test of sacrifice & endurance

Was Castro able to control the population through appealing policies?

• Free universal healthcare & education: increased life expectancy & literacy above 97% by early 1980s

• Land reform & nationalization: redistributed wealth → benefited peasants & workers

• FMC: policies expanded women’s access to education, employment & childcare

• Centralized economic planning: causes inefficiencies, shortages & reliance on Soviet subsidies

Was Castro able to elimiate opposition?

Political Repression: included censorship, imprisonment & suppression of dissidents through CDRs (committees for defense of revolution)

• LGTQ+ people & religious groups faced harsh treatment →undermined egalitarian claims

• Mass emigration: revealed dissatisfaction & challenge image of universal support

  • Mariel boatlift (1980) & 1990’s migration waves

Was Castro able to eliminate opposition

• Early Repression: executions, exiles, mass arrests & show trials targeted Batista loyalists, former allies & dissenters

• CDRs (1960): enabled neighborhood surveillance & reporting of “counterrevolutionary” activity

• Anti-Castro groups: resistance persisted through covert religious groups & exile communities in Miami → hubs of anti-Castro organizing & lobbying

Was Castro able to impose his ideology?

• 1961 Campaign: 70,000+ Cubans learned to read & write while installing anti-imperialist & collectivist values

• UJC & Jose Marti Pioneers: indoctrinated children & youth groups in loyalty to the revolution

• Arts & Culture: politicized → UNEAC promoted socialist values while policing ideological conformity

• The “Grey Years”: censorship & coercion were needed to maintain conformity → limits to Castro’s ideological control

Aims & Results: Historiography

• hard to prove indoctrination without plural expression

• Arendt (1951): success = citizens think & speak in regime’s language

• Signs of Sucess: schools, youth groups & media spread revolutionary discourse; pride in health & education; mass rallies drew real support

• Signs of Failure: mass emigration (1980 -1994); religion revived once tolerated; dissident art & exile literature persisted

• Overall: indoctrination partly worked, never fully controlled Cuban society