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The Rise of Fidel’s Campaign

Ronald Rothstein

History 454

Dr. John Rector

March 4, 2014

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The Caribbean island Cuba was first founded in 1492 by Christopher Columbus.

Over the course of a few centuries, Cuba then transformed and colonized into a

democratic state, until Fidel Castro overthrew the previous ruler Fulgencio Batista in

1959, and converted Cuba into a communist state. People around the world already know

this sort of information; however, it is left unclear whether or not people know if Cuba’s

decision to become a communist state was a good idea or not. The evidence gathered and

written will examine the course of Fidel Castro’s campaign from 1959-1965, and how

well his structure of government helped or deteriorated Cuba after it had overthrown the

previous dictator.

Cuba’s Foreign Relations

Fidel Castro and his Communist revolution could not, but should of came at

another time other then the 1960’s. As the Cold War was pushing on forward and the

thought of global imperialism was on the top of every countries mine, two countries in

particular stood out as the dominant figures: the United States and the Soviet Union.

Cuba’s new political affiliation was playing a crucial role in which political party was

going to have the outright or chance to gain the popular vote for South American and

Caribbean countries. After the military coup and overthrow of Fulgencio Batista in 1959,

Fidel Castro had called for a nationwide general strike, until Batista and his Colonel

Ramon Barquin ordered a seize-fire, and surrendered the command of Camp Columbia

and the military fortress at La Cabana to his comrades Che Guevara and Camilo

Cienfuegos.1 When Cuba had undergone the revolution that transformed them into a

Communist state, the Soviet Union joined forces with Cuba. However the commitment

1 Louis A Perez Jr. Cuba: Between Reform and Revolution, (New York City: Oxford University Press, 1988), 312.

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towards one another was delayed nearly three months, because the Soviet Union wanted

to show the United States that it operated by stages.2 “Progression from one stage to the

next was slow, and that the overall commitment remained limited”3. Fidel Castro’s reason

to adopting Communism was based off what political strategy was best as to defending

his country against foreign nations.

Once Cuba and the Soviet Union had joined alliances, the United States became

more conspicuous about the relations of each government. Communism was coming too

close to the U.S, which worried military and government officials of a possible attack if

diplomatic talks go south among each countries leader. In 1959, Castro spoke at the

United Nations and met with U.S Vice President Richard Nixon, who stood in place of

President Dwight Eisenhower who was “too busy”, however Eisenhower had no

intentions of meeting Castro4. The next occasion that sparked tension between both

countries occurred again in 1959, when Fidel ordered U.S oil refineries to process

Russian oil. The U.S refused to process the Soviet’s oil, which then led to the oil being

expropriated, meaning that the oil which was a private property, was now being

accessible to the public5. Without Fidel even counteracting the incidence of the Russian

being expropriated, U.S President Eisenhower then broke relations with Cuba in January

of 19616. In December of 1961, after a failed attempt by the U.S to overthrow Fidel

Castro and Cuba’s government in the Bay of Pigs Invasion, Castro had announced

2 Jacques Levesque, The USSR And The Cuban Revolution: Soviet Ideological and Strategical Perspectives, 1959-1977, (New York City: Praeger Publishers, 1978), 15.3 Ibid4 John Rector, "Cuban Revolution" (lecture, Western Oregon University, Monmouth, OR, February 24th, 2014).5 Ibid6 Ibid

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himself as a Marxist-Leninist7, meaning that Cuba was now officially a socialist country

and had the same idealizations as the Soviet Union.

One event that led to a spiral of increased tension and aggressive military pre-

actions was the Cuban Missile Crisis in October of 1962. When the United States had

received conformation of pictures from Cuba, that displayed nuclear weapons being

stationed and prepared for launch, the United States and Cuba were on the brink of

nuclear war. Soviet Union’s president Nikita Khrushchev placed the nuclear weapons in

Cuba for several reasons, differing that Cuba asked for protection8, that the Soviets

placed the weapons there to show their dominance as a communist country, the

placement of weapons was used as retaliation towards the U.S who placed missiles in

Turkey, etc. Fidel’s involvement was merely following in the shadows of Soviet Union

President Khrushchev, as the main source of conflict was between the two-superpower

countries, the Soviet Union and the U.S. While tensions built up, Fidel was still in the

action; one moment in particular was when a U-2 American aircraft was shot down on

October 27th by a Soviet SAM (Surface to Air Missile), killing the pilot9. Fidel was

visiting a Soviet SAM installation when the radar picked up the flight. Fidel then asked a

commander which button would shoot off a missile, and then pressed it and fired the

missile10.

7 Aviva Chomsky, A History of the Cuban Revolution, (Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, 2011), 78.8 Jacques Levesque, The USSR And The Cuban Revolution: Soviet Ideological and Strategical Perspectives, 1959-1977, (New York City: Praeger Publishers, 1978), 38.9 Leycester Coltman, The Real Fidel Castro, (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2003), 198.10 Ibid

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The Cuban Missile Crisis ended thirteen days into the confrontation, where the

U.S and Soviet Union compromised a deal. Unbeknownst to Fidel, he received a phone

call about the actions that just taken place, and Fidel exploded into uncontrollable rage11.

“He felt betrayed by Khrushchev […] he had been prepared to sacrifice himself and his

country”12. Fidel then accepted the deal negotiated between the U.S and the Soviet Union,

with the condition of several other actions that would take place.

Cuba’s Economy Around Sugar

When Cuba revolutionized into a communist state, the entire infrastructure within

Cuba’s government had to go through a change that would formulate better revenue and

spending in Cuba. Primarily, there were four economic changes that transpired over

Castro’s reorganization of government: enforcing a land reform regime called the

“INRA”, elimination of private property, industrialization, and change in trade networks.

What started off as a working progress to stabilize the country, ended up costing millions

in revenue for Cuban citizens as well as the country.

In a segment of Robert Freeman’s book, Background to Revolution: The

Development of Modern Cuba, Fernando Ortiz described Cuba as:

The marriage of tobacco and sugar, and the birth of alcohol, conceived of the Unholy Ghost, the devil, who is the father of tobacco, in the sweet womb of wanton sugar. The Cuban Trinity, tobacco, sugar, and alcohol.13

Cuba’s resources of sugar had been at a halt for sometime due to the Jones-Costigan Act

of 1934, which determined each year the quantity of sugar needed to supply nation’s

11 Ibid12 Ibid13 Robert Freeman Smith, Background To Revolution, (Toronto: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1966), 169.

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requirements at prices reasonable to consumers and fair to producers14, as well as other

conditions that exploit any chance of over compensating of profits flowing through

trading countries. Fidel Castro had first exchanged trades of sugar with the Soviet Union

in 1959, which Soviet officials bought up to half a million tons of sugar that year, more

than it had originally bought in 1956, 1957, and 195815.

For most of the 1950s Cuba’s raw sugar output was hence restricted to levels significantly below her productive potential and incentives to invest in technical improvements in either industrial or agricultural operations were consequentially weak.

It wasn’t until after Fidel’s first year as prime minister that his plan about agricultural

productivity and profit showed a much different result than what had been expected.

In the picture below, a table is shown from the book Cuba: Between Reform and

Revolution, which depicts from 1960 to 1965 the amount of millions of pounds per

14 Brian H. Pollitt, "The Rise and Fall of the Cuban Sugar Economy," Journal of Latin American Studies, 36, no. 2 (2004): 321,15 Andres Suarez, Cuba: Castroism and Communism, 1959-1966, (Worchester, MA: Heffernan Press Inc., 1967), 83.

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product were decreased significantly over the span of five years.

16

16 Louis A Perez Jr. Cuba: Between Reform and Revolution, (New York City: Oxford University Press, 1988), 338.

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“Within four years, Cuban efforts at industrialization and diversification were

abandoned”17.

As part of the economic boost for Cuba, Fidel Castro and the new government of

Cuba passed the First Agrarian Reform Law, which called for profit sharing among

farmers and the division of unused lands. All real estates holdings were restricted in size

to 1,000 acres, with the exception of land engaged in the production of sugar, rice, and

livestock18. The law also came along with the Agrarian Reform Institute (INRA), which

was designed to supervise the reorganization of land systems and the transfer of land19.

Fidel then handed the responsibility of the INRA over to his comrade Che Guevara. Due

to Fidel buying off the land and not staying with U.S capitalist during this transition,

Cuba had nationalized up to 2.5 million acres in the summer of 1959. Towards the end of

the year, U.S officials alluded to the possibility of cutting the Cuban sugar quota as a sort

of retaliation20. However, Fidel was helping his people, “Workers, peasants, the

unemployed received benefits that were immediate and direct. Labor received wage

increases, the unemployed received jobs”21.

With Cuba’s new economy, the problems that occurred were due to two factors:

capital flight and social capital flight. Aviva Chomsky reiterates in her book A History of

the Cuban Revolution, that capital flight is when capitalists place their money into foreign

banks, or invest in enterprises overseas, due to governments start to raise wages or place

17 Ibid18 Louis A Perez Jr. Cuba: Between Reform and Revolution, (New York City: Oxford University Press, 1988), 320.19 Ibid20 Louis A Perez Jr. Cuba: Between Reform and Revolution, (New York City: Oxford University Press, 1988), 322.21 Louis A Perez Jr. Cuba: Between Reform and Revolution, (New York City: Oxford University Press, 1988), 321.

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restrictions on businesses22. Social capital is when a collective group of skills, levels of

education, business contacts, and more tend to leave the current state they are in when

they see their privileges dissipating23. Throughout the course of Cuba’s economy, 80

percent of its exports were from sugar. Fidel never really had a grasp of his own countries

financial state; which a good example is how U.S companies controlled forty percent of

the farms and fifty-five percent of the mills24.

Industrialization during the early 1960’s had not expanded far south to the

Caribbean islands like it had to other countries around the world. Fidel was able to have

Cuba receive importations of textile machinery, in order to deploy new jobs, which

helped diminish the poverty level at the time25. Due to being a communist state, where in

retrospect the government owns property, possessions, etc., Fidel felt it was in the best

interest of the country to eliminate private property for everyone?

How Well Did Fidel Do

So what do people think about Fidel Castro? Did he succeed or fail in his first five

years or so in his campaign? Difficult question still to answer; even after listening to this

huge chunk of realistic events and statistics that identifies what he has done. First off, he

overthrew a government that had a dictator who was abusing his powers, and the system

for the people in Cuba. Although he did become some sort of a dictator on his own. Fidel

was a diplomatic person, although he had a bad temper, and partnered up with a country

22 Aviva Chomsky, A History of the Cuban Revolution, (Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, 2011), 49.23 Ibid24 Aviva Chomsky, A History of the Cuban Revolution, (Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, 2011), 46.25 John Rector, "Cuban Revolution" (lecture, Western Oregon University, Monmouth, OR, February 25th, 2014).

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that betrayed them. Also, Fidel did reinvent a whole new economic structure for Cuba’s

government; though it took longer than five years to see results, especially after Cuba

tried to sway off of sugar development as their main resource. After going over all the

recent facts and notes reiterated in this paper, Fidel Castro did have a good run as prime

minister in his first five years in office. Although it is not stated, Fidel did help significant

social demographic events transpire and adapt over time. For instance, Castro founded

the Federation for Cuban Women, help establish the INRA, and deploy a long lasting

government.

Bibliography:

Coltman, Leycester. The Real Fidel Castro. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2003. “198”

Levesque, Jacques. The USSR And The Cuban Revolution: Soviet Ideological and Strategical Perspectives, 1959-1977. New York City: Praeger Publishers, 1978. “15 and 38”

Perez Jr., Louis A. Cuba: Between Reform and Revolution. New York City: Oxford University Press, 1988.

Pollitt, Brian H. "The Rise and Fall of the Cuban Sugar Economy." Journal of Latin American Studies. No. 2 (2004): “321”.

Rector, John "Cuban Revolution" (Lecture, Western Oregon University, Monmouth, OR, February 25th, 2014).

Smith, Robert Freeman. Background To Revolution. Toronto: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1966. “169”

Suarez, Andres. Cuba: Castroism and Communism, 1959-1966. Worchester, MA: Heffernan Press Inc., 1967.