The Cuban Revolution Origins, Course, and Legacy

by Perez-Stable, Marifeli

• ISBN13: 9780195127492
• ISBN10: 0195127498
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1998-12-03
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

This timely and provocative study provides a reexamination of the achievements and failures of the Cuban revolution, placing it firmly within the context of twentieth century Cuban history. Beginning with the inauguration of the republic in 1902 and addressing Castro's triumphant entry intoSantiago de Cuba in 1959, The Cuban Revolution highlights the factors which made Cuba susceptible to revolution, including its one-crop (sugar) economy and U.S. interference in Cuban affairs. While identifying nationalism and the struggle for social justice as the legitimate forces behind therevolution, Perez-Stable also provides insight into the problems facing Castro's Cuba. Arguing that the revolution actually ended in 1970, she blames its defeat on the regime's profitable yet doomed dependence on the Soviet Union. She further charges that Cuba's leaders failed to diversify thecountry's economy, to sustain development, or to create democratic institutions. Now in its second edition, The Cuban Revolution has been updated to include an entirely new chapter on the changes affecting Cuba's policies and economy since the disintegration of the Soviet Union, and the failure of communism in general. The second edition also includes a new preface, anup-to-date bibliography, and a thoroughly revised concluding chapter summing up the prospects and possibilities of Cuba's future in the twenty-first century. Ideal for advanced undergraduate and graduate courses in Latin American history and politics, The Cuban Revolution offers students freshinsights into the successes and failures of the Cuban Revolution.

Table of Contents

Tables	ix	(1)
Preface	x	(3)
Preface to the First Edition	xiii	(3)
Acronyms	xvi
Introduction	3	(11)
1. Mediated Sovereignty, Monoculture, and Development	14	(22)
Classic Dependence in Crisis	15	(2)
Reformism in the Making, 1927-1958	17	(7)
State and Society	24	(3)
Standards of Living	27	(5)
Women in Prerevolutionary Cuba	32	(1)
The Cuba That Might Have Been	33	(3)
2. Politics and Society, 1902-1958	36	(25)
Mediated Sovereignty and Fragile Hegemony	37	(6)
Representative Democracy, the Working Class, and the Emergent Logic	43	(9)
The Batista Dictatorship, the Working Class, and Radical Nationalism	52	(9)
3. Revolution and Radical Nationalism, 1959-1961	61	(21)
Reformism, the Clases Economicas, and the Revolution	62	(5)
The Working Class and the Revolutionary Government	67	(7)
Revolutionary Politics and the Clases Populares	74	(8)
4. Revolution and Inclusive Development	82	(16)
Development Strategies and Economic Performance	83	(7)
Standards of Living after the Revolution	90	(4)
Socialist Visions and Inclusive Development	94	(4)
5. Politics and Society, 1961-1970	98	(23)
The Incipient Institutional Order, 1961-1965	99	(10)
The Formation of a Vanguard Party	100	(2)
Unions, Workers, and Conciencia	102	(5)
The Federation of Cuban Women	107	(2)
The Origins of the Radical Experiment	109	(2)
The Parallel Construction of Communism and Socialism	111	(10)
The Withering Away of Trade Unions	114	(2)
The Politics of Mobilization	116	(2)
The 1970 Watershed	118	(3)
6. Politics and Society, 1971-1986	121	(32)
Revolution and Institutionalization	122	(5)
The Trade Unions as Mass Organizations	127	(8)
Workers and the Economy	130	(1)
Workers and Management	131	(4)
The Federation of Cuban Women and Gender Equality	135	(7)
Women and Work	139	(3)
The PCC as a Vanguard Party	142	(6)
Crossroads at Three Party Congresses	148	(5)
7. Revolution, Rectification, and Contemporary Socialism	153	(21)
The Process of Rectification	154	(12)
The Economics of Rectification	155	(5)
The Politics of Rectification	160	(6)
The Cuban Communist Party and the Future of Cuban Socialism	166	(8)
The CTC and the FMC in the Rectification Process	166	(3)
The Fourth Party Congress	169	(5)
8. The Invisible Crisis: Stability and Change in 1990s Cuba	174	(28)
Mobilizational Politics and the Cuban Economy	176	(3)
Political Trends of the Special Period (1992-1998)	179	(19)
The Character of Cuban Elites	180	(3)
The Reform of Popular Power Assemblies	183	(5)
The Role of the Military	188	(3)
The Dynamics of Popular Support, Quiescence, and Opposition	191	(6)
Transition, Transformation, and Democracy: Comparative Perspectives	197	(1)
Three Settings: Latin America, Eastern Europe, and Asia	198	(4)
Conclusion	202	(9)
Notes	211	(38)
Select Bibliography	249	(19)
Index	268