Communist Party of Cuba

Last updated

Communist Party of Cuba
Partido Comunista de Cuba
First Secretary Miguel Díaz-Canel
Founder Fidel Castro
Founded3 October 1965;58 years ago (1965-10-03)
Preceded by United Party of the Cuban Socialist Revolution [n 1]
Headquarters Palacio de la Revolución, Plaza de la Revolución, Havana
Newspaper Granma
Youth wing Young Communist League
Children's wing José Martí Pioneer Organization
Membership (2022 est.)Decrease2.svg <500,000 [1]
Ideology
Political position Far-left [6]
Regional affiliation COPPPAL
São Paulo Forum
International affiliation IMCWP
Colors  Red   Blue
Slogan¡Hasta la victoria siempre!
("Ever onward to victory!")
National Assembly [7]
470 / 470
Party flag
Flag of the Communist Party of Cuba.svg
Website
www.pcc.cu

The Communist Party of Cuba (Spanish : Partido Comunista de Cuba, PCC) is the sole ruling party of Cuba. It was founded on 3 October 1965 as the successor to the United Party of the Cuban Socialist Revolution, which was in turn made up of the 26th of July Movement and Popular Socialist Party that seized power in Cuba after the 1959 Cuban Revolution. The party governs Cuba as an authoritarian one-party state where dissidence and political opposition are prohibited and repressed. The Cuban constitution ascribes the role of the party to be the "leading force of society and of the state".

Contents

The highest body within the PCC is the Party Congress, which convenes every five years. When the Congress is not in session, the Central Committee is the highest body. Because the Central Committee meets twice a year, most day-to-day duties and responsibilities are vested in the Politburo. Since April 2021, the First Secretary of the Central Committee has been Miguel Díaz-Canel, who has been serving as President of Cuba since 2018.

Marxism–Leninism was gradually formalized as the party's guiding ideology and remains so to this day. The party pursued state socialism, under which all industries were nationalized, and a command economy was implemented throughout Cuba despite the long-term embargo by the United States. The PCC also supports Castroism and Guevarism and is a member of the International Meeting of Communist and Workers' Parties.

History

A billboard in Havana promoting the "ongoing socialist revolution" Cuba Banner.JPG
A billboard in Havana promoting the "ongoing socialist revolution"

Cuba had a number of communist and anarchist organizations from the early period of the Republic (founded in 1902). The original "internationalised" Communist Party of Cuba formed in the 1920s. In 1944, it renamed itself as the Popular Socialist Party for electoral reasons. In July 1961, two years after the successful overthrow of Fulgencio Batista and the creation of a revolutionary government, the Integrated Revolutionary Organizations (ORI) was formed from the merger of:

On 26 March 1962, the ORI became the United Party of the Cuban Socialist Revolution (PURSC), which in turn became the Communist Party of Cuba on 3 October 1965. In Article 5 of the Cuban constitution of 1976, the Communist Party is recognized as "the superior guiding force of society and of the State, that organizes and orients common efforts toward the high goals of the construction of socialism and the advancement toward communist society". [8] [9] All parties, including the Communist Party, are prohibited from publicly advertising their organizations.

For the first fifteen years of its formal existence, the Communist Party was almost completely inactive outside of the Politburo. The 100 person Central Committee rarely met and it was ten years after its founding that the first regular party Congress was held. In 1969, membership of the party was only 55,000 or 0.7% of the population, making the PCC the smallest ruling communist party in the world. In the 1970s, the party's apparatus began to develop. By the time of the first party Congress in 1975, the party had grown to just over two hundred thousand members, the Central Committee was meeting regularly and provided the organizational apparatus giving the party the leading role in society that ruling Communist parties generally hold. By 1980, the party had grown to over 430,000 members and it grew further to 520,000 by 1985. Apparatuses of the party had grown to ensure that its leading cadres were appointed to key government positions.[ citation needed ]

The Eighth Congress took place from 16 to 19 April 2021, [10] [11] during which Miguel Díaz-Canel was elected as the First Secretary of the Central Committee, taking over from Raúl Castro. [12] José Ramón Machado Ventura was Second Secretary from 2011 to 2021. [12] [13] Abelardo Álvarez Gil also remains Head of the Department of Organization and Staff Policy. [12]

Organization

The PCC governs Cuba as an authoritarian one-party state [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] where dissidence and political opposition are prohibited and repressed. [19] [20] [21]

Congresses

The Communist Party of Cuba held its first party Congress in 1975 and has had additional congresses in 1980, 1986, 1991, [22] 1997 and 2011. The Seventh Congress took place from 19 to 22 April 2016, [23] around the 55th anniversary of the Bay of Pigs Invasion, [24] concluding with remarks by Fidel Castro. [25]

Central Committee

Party headquarters Comite Central PCC.jpg
Party headquarters

The leading bodies of the party were the Politburo and the Secretariat until 1991 when the two bodies were merged into an expanded Politburo with over twenty members. However, the Secretariat was re-introduced in 2002. There is also a Central Committee which meets between party congresses. At the Fifth Congress, the size of the Central Committee was reduced to 150 members from the previous membership of 225. Fidel Castro was the party's First Secretary (or leader) since its inception while Raúl Castro was the Second Secretary. Upon Fidel Castro's 2008 resignation from the party and Cuban government, Raúl Castro became First Secretary.

Politburo

A 14-strong Politburo was elected by the 1st Plenary Session of the Central Committee on 19 April 2021 following the 8th Congress.

Secretariat

A 6-strong Secretariat was elected by the 1st Plenary Session of the Central Committee on 19 April 2021 following the 8th Congress.

Youth

The Communist Party of Cuba has a youth wing, the Young Communist League (Unión de Jóvenes Comunistas, UJC) which is a member organization of the World Federation of Democratic Youth. It also has a children's group, the José Martí Pioneer Organization.

Ideology

The PCC is officially a Marxist–Leninist [26] party that is dedicated to the establishment of communism. [27] [28] [29] Since the Cuban Revolution, the party has also followed the doctrines of Castroism (the ideology of Fidel Castro, including inspiration from José Martí) and Guevarism.

Economy

The party has been more reluctant in engaging in market reforms, though it has been forced to accept some market measures in its economy due to the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the resultant loss of economic subsidies. Raúl Castro, after becoming the leader of the party, campaigned to "renew" Cuba's socialist economy through incorporating new exchange and distribution systems that have been traditionally seen as "market" oriented. This has led to some speculation that Cuba may transition towards a model more similar to a socialist market economy like that of China or a socialist-oriented market economy like that of Vietnam. [30] Private property and the need for foreign investment were recognized in the new constitution approved via a popular referendum in 2019. [31]

Foreign relations

The Communist Party of Cuba has often pursued an interventionist foreign policy, actively assisting left-wing revolutionary movements and governments abroad, including the ELN in Colombia, the FMLN in El Salvador, the Sandinistas in Nicaragua, and Maurice Bishop's New Jewel Movement in Grenada.[ citation needed ] The party's most significant international role was in the civil war in Angola, where Cuba directed a joint Angolan/Soviet/Cuban force in the Battle of Cuito Cuanavale. [32] [33] More recently, the party has sought to support Pink Tide leaders across Latin America, such as Hugo Chávez and later Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela and Evo Morales in Bolivia.

Medical diplomacy has also been a prominent feature of the Party's foreign policy. The party maintains a policy of sending thousands of Cuban doctors, agricultural technicians, and other professionals to other countries throughout the developing world. The party also supports Latin American integration. [34]

Electoral history

National Assembly elections

ElectionParty leaderVotes%Seats+/–PositionResult
1976 Fidel Castro Elected by the Municipal Assemblies
489 / 489
Increase2.svg 489Increase2.svg 1stSole legal party
1981 Elected by the Municipal Assemblies
499 / 499
Increase2.svg 10Steady2.svg 1stSole legal party
1986 Elected by the Municipal Assemblies
510 / 510
Increase2.svg 11Steady2.svg 1stSole legal party
1993 Full list6,939,89494.67%
589 / 589
Increase2.svg 79Steady2.svg 1stSole legal party
Selective vote360,7355.33%
1998 Full list7,533,222100%
601 / 601
Increase2.svg 12Steady2.svg 1stSole legal party
Selective vote
2003 Full list7,128,86091.35%
609 / 609
Increase2.svg 8Steady2.svg 1stSole legal party
Selective vote675,0388.65%
2008 Full list7,125,75290.90%
614 / 614
Increase2.svg 5Steady2.svg 1stSole legal party
Selective vote713,6069.10%
2013 Raúl Castro Full list6,031,21581.30%
612 / 612
Decrease2.svg 2Steady2.svg 1stSole legal party
Selective vote1,387,30718.70%
2018 Full list5,620,71380.44%
605 / 605
Decrease2.svg 7Steady2.svg 1stSole legal party
Selective vote1,366,32819.56%
2023 Miguel Díaz-Canel Full list4,012,86472.10%
470 / 470
Decrease2.svg 135Steady2.svg 1stSole legal party
Selective vote1,552,77627.90%

Notes

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Politics of Cuba</span> Overview of the politics of Cuba

Cuba has had a socialist political system since 1961 based on the "one state – one party" principle. Cuba is constitutionally defined as a single party Marxist–Leninist socialist republic with semi-presidential powers. The present Constitution of Cuba, which was passed in a 2019 referendum, also describes the role of the Communist Party of Cuba to be the "leading force of society and of the state" and as having the capability of setting national policy, and First Secretary of the Communist Party is the most powerful position in Cuba. The 2019 Constitution of Cuba identifies the ideals represented by Cuban independence hero José Martí and revolutionary leader Fidel Castro as the primary foundation of Cuba's political system, while also stressing the importance of the influence of the ideas of Marx, Engels, and Lenin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Raúl Castro</span> Leader of Cuba from 2011 to 2021

Raúl Modesto Castro Ruz is a Cuban retired politician and general who served as the first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba, the most senior position in the one-party communist state, from 2011 to 2021, and President of Cuba between 2008 and 2018, succeeding his brother Fidel Castro.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">26th of July Movement</span> Cuban political organization

The 26th of July Movement was a Cuban vanguard revolutionary organization and later a political party led by Fidel Castro. The movement's name commemorates the failed 1953 attack on the Moncada Barracks in Santiago de Cuba, part of an attempt to overthrow the dictator Fulgencio Batista.

Corps General Abelardo Colomé Ibarra was a Vice President of the Council of State of Cuba and the Cuban Minister of the Interior, serving in the latter position from 1989, until his retirement in October, 2015. Known as Furry he first laid the foundations of State Security in 1959.

Granma is the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba. It was formed in 1965 by the merger of two previous papers, Revolución and Hoy ("Today"). Publication of the newspaper began in February 1966. Its name comes from the yacht Granma that carried Fidel Castro and 81 other rebels to Cuba's shores in 1956, launching the Cuban Revolution. The newspaper has been a way for the Cuban Communist Party to communicate their ideology to the world, especially regarding the United States. Marta Rojas worked for the paper since its founding.

Ramiro Valdés Menéndez is a Cuban politician. He became a Government Vice President in the 2009 shake-up by Raúl Castro.

The Cuban Revolution was the overthrow of Fulgencio Batista's regime by the 26th of July Movement and the establishment of a new Cuban government led by Fidel Castro in 1959.

Fabio Grobart was a Marxist-Leninist revolutionary and politician who played an important role in the 1959 Cuban Revolution that overthrew Fulgencio Batista and led to Fidel Castro's rise to power.

Osmany Cienfuegos Gorriarán is a Cuban politician and older brother of Camilo Cienfuegos. He has served in various roles in the Cuban government.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">José Ramón Machado Ventura</span> Cuban revolutionary and politician (1930-)

José Ramón Machado Ventura is a Cuban revolutionary and politician who was the First Vice President of the Council of State of Cuba from 2008 to 2013. With the election of Raúl Castro as President of Cuba on 24 February 2008, Machado was elected to succeed him as First Vice President, serving until 2013. He was elected Second Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba in 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Popular Socialist Party (Cuba)</span> Communist party active in Cuba from 1925 to 1961

The Popular Socialist Party was a communist party in Cuba. It was founded in 1925 as the Cuban Communist Party by Blas Roca Calderio, Anibal Escalante, Fabio Grobart, Alfonso Bernal del Riesgo, and Julio Antonio Mella. Mella acted as the party's leader until his assassination in Mexico in 1929. The party later merged with the Revolutionary Union to form the Communist Revolutionary Union on 13 August 1939. The party was renamed on 22 January 1944, but with the Auténticos' victory in the 1944 elections, the party went into decline.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blas Roca Calderio</span> Cuban politician

Blas Roca Calderio was a Cuban politician and Marxist theorist who served as President of the National Assembly of People's Power in Cuba from 1976 to 1981. He was also head of the pre-1959 revolution Communist Party of Cuba for 28 years and editor of the communist newspaper Hoy. He was a signatory of the Cuban Constitution of 1940 and chaired the committee that wrote the country's first socialist constitution in 1976.

The Popular Socialist Youth was a youth organization in Cuba, the youth wing of the Popular Socialist Party. Raúl Valdés Vivó was the general secretary of the organization. By 1960, the organization was estimated to have around 13,000 members. Raúl Castro was a member of the organization for some time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">6th Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba</span>

The 6th Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba, the governing political party of Cuba, took place on April 16 – 19, 2011, in Havana at the Palacio de las Convenciones. The main focus of the congress was to introduce economic, social, and political reforms in order to modernize the country's socialist system. The Congress also elected Raúl Castro as First Secretary, the position vacant since Fidel Castro's stepping down in 2006.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Politics of Fidel Castro</span> Castroism

Fidel Castro proclaimed himself to be "a socialist, and Marxist–Leninist". As a Marxist–Leninist, Castro believed strongly in converting Cuba, and the wider world, from a capitalist system in which individuals own the means of production into a socialist system in which the means of production are owned by the workers. In the former, there is a class divide between the wealthy classes who control the means of production and the poorer working classes who labor on them, whilst in the latter, there is a decreasing class divide as the government redistributes the means of production leading to communism. Castro used Leninist thought as a model upon which to convert the Cuban state and society into a socialist form.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Miguel Díaz-Canel</span> First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba and 17th president of Cuba

Miguel Mario Díaz-Canel y Bermúdez Larjiq Zada is a Cuban politician and engineer who is the 3rd and current First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba. As First Secretary, he is the most powerful person in the Cuban government. Díaz-Canel succeeds the brothers Fidel and Raúl Castro, making him the first non-Castro leader of Cuba since the revolution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba</span> Highest-standing official of the Communist Party of Cuba

The First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba is the top leader of Cuba. The First Secretary is the highest office within the Communist Party of Cuba as well as ranking first in the Politburo, the highest decision-making body in Cuba, which makes the office holder the most powerful person in the Cuban government. In communist states the First or General Secretary of the Communist Party is typically the de facto leader of the country and a more powerful position than state offices such as President or Prime Minister, when those positions are held by different individuals.

The 9th Congress of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party (LPRP) was held in Vientiane from 17–21 March 2011. The congress occurs once every five years. A total of 576 delegates represented the party's 191,700 card-carrying members.

The Progressive Action Party was a Cuban political party led by Fulgencio Batista. The party was founded on 1 April 1949, in the aftermath of the 1948 general elections, under the name of Unitary Action Party. It presented its first manifesto a few months later, on 1 August. In 1952, certain to lose the election, Batista made a coup d'etat by seizing the Presidency.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Secretariat of the Communist Party of Cuba</span>

The Secretariat is the highest executive organ of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba.

References

  1. ↑ "Cuba: El PCC y la UJC se desinflan sin remedio". 16 March 2022.
  2. ↑ Johnson, Elliott; Walker, David; Gray, Daniel (2014). Historical Dictionary of Marxism (2nd ed.). Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 69–70. ISBN   978-1-4422-3798-8.
  3. ↑ Hansing, Katrin (2002). Rasta, Race and Revolution: The Emergence and Development of the Rastafari Movement in Socialist Cuba. LIT Verlag Münster. pp. 41–42. ISBN   3-8258-9600-5.
  4. ↑ Hennessy, C. A. M. (1963). "The Roots of Cuban Nationalism". International Affairs. 39 (3): 345–359. doi:10.2307/2611204. ISSN   0020-5850. JSTOR   2611204.
  5. ↑ Benjamin, Jules R. (1 February 1975). "The Machadato and Cuban Nationalism, 1928-1932". Hispanic American Historical Review. 55 (1): 66–91. doi: 10.1215/00182168-55.1.66 . ISSN   0018-2168.
  6. ↑ "Parti communiste de Cuba (extrême gauche) (créé en 1965, seul parti légal)" [Communist Party of Cuba (extreme left) (established in 1965, only legal party)]. Le Monde diplomatique (in French).
  7. ↑ "IPU PARLINE database: CUBA (Asamblea nacional del Poder popular), Last elections". ipu.org. Inter-Parliamentary Union. 2013. Retrieved 20 March 2015.
  8. ↑ "Cuba: Constitución". pdba.georgetown.edu. Retrieved 14 October 2017.
  9. ↑ Luebbers, Matthias (2009). "Cuba y el Socialismo" [Cuba and socialism]. El comunismo cubano y su desarrollo dependiente [Cuban communism and its dependent development]. GRIN Verlag. p. 3. ISBN   9783640336272 . Retrieved 14 August 2015– via Google Books.
  10. ↑ "Led by Raúl, the 11th Plenum of the Communist Party Central Committee held". en.granma.cu. 20 December 2019. Retrieved 4 September 2021.
  11. ↑ "Central Report to the Eighth Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba". 22 April 2021.
  12. 1 2 3 Meneses, Yaima Puig (21 April 2021). "Díaz-Canel chairs the Extraordinary Plenary of the Party in Havana (+ Video)" . Retrieved 21 April 2021.
  13. ↑ Darlington, Shasta (19 April 2011). "Raul Castro to lead Cuba's Communist Party". CNN . Retrieved 23 April 2018.
  14. ↑ Svolik, Milan W. (17 September 2012). The Politics of Authoritarian Rule. Cambridge University Press. pp. 7, 43. ISBN   978-1-139-56107-5 – via Google Books.
  15. ↑ Hawkins, Darren (2001). "Democratization Theory and Nontransitions: Insights from Cuba". Comparative Politics. 33 (4): 441–461. doi:10.2307/422443. ISSN   0010-4159. JSTOR   422443.
  16. ↑ Levitsky, Steven; Way, Lucan A. (16 August 2010). Competitive Authoritarianism: Hybrid Regimes after the Cold War. Cambridge University Press. pp. 6–7, 361–363. ISBN   978-1-139-49148-8 – via Google Books.
  17. ↑ Whitehead, Laurence (29 July 2016). "The 'puzzle' of autocratic resilience/regime collapse: the case of Cuba". Third World Quarterly . 37 (9). Routledge: 1666–1682. doi:10.1080/01436597.2016.1188661. ISSN   0143-6597. S2CID   156308152.
  18. ↑ Domínguez, Jorge I.; Galvis, Ángela Fonseca; Superti, Chiara (2 January 2018). "Authoritarian Regimes and Their Permitted Oppositions: Election Day Outcomes in Cuba". Latin American Politics and Society . 59 (2). Cambridge University Press: 27–52. doi:10.1111/laps.12017. ISSN   1531-426X. S2CID   157677498.
  19. ↑ Miller, Nicola (1 January 2003). "The Absolution of History: Uses of the Past in Castro's Cuba". Journal of Contemporary History . 38 (1): 147–162. doi:10.1177/0022009403038001969. ISSN   0022-0094. S2CID   153348631.
  20. ↑ Schedler, Andreas; Hoffmann, Bert (2015). "Communicating authoritarian elite cohesion". Democratization. 23: 93–117. doi:10.1080/13510347.2015.1095181. ISSN   1351-0347. S2CID   146645252.
  21. ↑ Roberg, Jeffrey L.; Kuttruff, Alyson (2007). "Cuba: Ideological Success or Ideological Failure?". Human Rights Quarterly . 29 (3). Johns Hopkins University Press: 779–795. doi:10.1353/hrq.2007.0033. ISSN   1085-794X. S2CID   143642998 – via HeinOnline.
  22. ↑ Mesa-Lago, Carmelo (15 August 1993). "Cuba and the crisis of the South American Left". Cuba After the Cold War. University of Pittsburgh Pre. p. 313. ISBN   9780822974567 . Retrieved 14 August 2015.
  23. ↑ "Cuba's Communist Party Congress wants change, but also more of the same". Miami Herald . Retrieved 14 October 2017.
  24. ↑ "7th Cuba Communist Party Congress Summoned for 2016". Escambray. 16 July 2015. Retrieved 14 October 2017.
  25. ↑ Carroll, Rory (19 April 2016). "Fidel Castro bids farewell to Cuba's Communist party congress". The Guardian . Retrieved 14 October 2017.
  26. ↑ Riff, Michael A. (1990). "Communism since 1917". Dictionary of Modern Political Ideologies. Manchester University Press. ISBN   9780719032899 . Retrieved 14 August 2015.
  27. ↑ "Cuba's New Constitution explained". 27 February 2019. Retrieved 23 May 2020.
  28. ↑ Backer, Larry Catá (30 July 2014). "The Cuban Communist Party at the Center of Political and Economic Reform: Current Status and Future Reform". Working Papers (7–2). Coalition for Peace & Ethics. SSRN   2473351 . Retrieved 23 May 2020.
  29. ↑ "The Cuban Communist Party: Current Status and Future Reform". 30 November 2014. Archived from the original on 1 June 2017. Retrieved 23 May 2020.
  30. ↑ "Gǔbā gǎigé:"Shèhuì zhǔyì gēngxīn"wèiwán dài xù" 古巴改革："社会主义更新"未完待续 [Cuban reforms: "Socialist renewal" to be continued] (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 29 April 2014. Retrieved 22 April 2014.
  31. ↑ Díaz-Canel, Miguel (10 April 2019). "Así es la Constitución que estrena Cuba en tiempos de crisis" [This is the Constitution that Cuba launches in times of crisis]. El Tiempo (in Spanish). Retrieved 12 October 2022.
  32. ↑ Michael Evans. "Secret Cuban Documents on History of Africa Involvement". Gwu.edu. Retrieved 13 January 2010.
  33. ↑ "Cuba: Angolan War Memories Live On". 16 June 2007. Archived from the original on 16 June 2007. Retrieved 23 April 2018.
  34. ↑ Gómez, Gabriela Ávila (2017). "Cuba: capital de la integración latinoamericana y caribeña" [Cuba: capital of Latin American and Caribbean integration] (in Spanish). Retrieved 15 December 2017.

Further reading

20°59′27.7″N77°25′41.5″W / 20.991028°N 77.428194°W / 20.991028; -77.428194

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.