Revolution first, elections later

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The slogan "revolution first, elections later" was coined by Fidel Castro in a speech given on April 9, 1959. The speech famously announced the postponement of the elections promised by Fidel Castro, which were scheduled to occur after the overthrow of Fulgencio Batista. The announcement was the beginning of an electoral delay that culminated in the solidification of Fidel Castro's rule over Cuba. On May Day, 1960, Fidel Castro would outright condemn elections as corrupt, and cancel all future elections. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]

Contents

Background

On March 10, 1952, three months before the Cuban elections, presidential candidate Fulgencio Batista, with army backing, staged a coup and seized power. He ousted outgoing President Carlos Prío Socarrás, canceled the elections and took control of the government as a provisional president. [6]

On July 26, 1953, just over a year after Batista's second coup, a small group of revolutionaries attacked the Moncada Barracks in Santiago. Government forces easily defeated the assault and jailed its leaders, while many others fled the country. The primary leader of the attack, Fidel Castro, was a young attorney who had run for parliament in the canceled 1952 elections. Although Castro was never officially nominated, he felt that Batista's coup had sidetracked what would have been a promising political career for him. [7] In the wake of the Moncada assault, Batista suspended constitutional guarantees and increasingly relied on police tactics in an attempt to "frighten the population through open displays of brutality." [8]

Castro was imprisoned for his role in the Moncada Barracks attack, and in a famed speech, colloquially titled "History Will Absolve Me", [9] which he made during his court trial, Castro gave out a list of demands which included the reinstatement of the 1940 Constitution of Cuba. [10]

After Castro founded the 26th of July Movement, and it began engaging in combat in 1956, the organization issued the Sierra Maestra Manifesto in 1957. The manifesto demanded multi-party elections to be held in Cuba. [11]

History

Establishing provisional government

After the Triumph of the Revolution, Castro held de facto veto power during the process of establishing a provisional government. This de facto power came from his position as commander-in-chief of the rebel army. Immediately after the rebel army seized power, Castro and other rebels agreed to place Manuel Urrutia Lleó as President of Cuba. [12]

On January 8, 1959, Fidel Castro announced that elections would occur within 18 months. In a speech a few days later, it was announced elections would take place in 15 months. A month later he said elections would be unfair because he'd win in a landslide. Over the coming months, crowds would boo and hiss when Castro would allude to coming elections. [13]

In February 1959, Castro asked President Urrutia to make him prime minister, which Urrutia granted. [12] As prime minister, Castro banned all political parties except the Popular Socialist Party. Castro also had the ability to order retrials of people who juries found not guilty. [14]

Political positions in the first two years after the Cuban Revolution were extremely fluid, and poorly defined in legal terms. It was often loyalty that was the determining factor in being appointed to a government position. [15]

Electoral delay

On April 9, 1959, Fidel Castro announced that elections would be delayed for fifteen months. [14] While traveling to New York, Fidel Castro announced that elections may enable the return of an oligarchy to control Cuba society. Despite his skepticism, he assured that elections would be held within four years. [16]

In a television interview on June 10, 1959, Fidel Castro was asked about plans for elections. He responded: [17]

The Revolution needs time to accomplish its purpose, and the less it is interrupted, the sooner this will be possible. If one can work without interruptions, the time needed will be considerably less. It seems to me that once the Agrarian Reform is completed, which is the basic point of the Revolution, elections can be held at any time.

In July 1959, Castro accused President Urrutia of corruption and resigned. In the aftermath of Castro's resignation, angry mobs surrounded the Presidential Palace, and Urrutia resigned. Castro was reinstated into his position, and a growing political sentiment in Cuba associated Fidel Castro with the only source of legitimate power [18] Fidel Castro soon replaced Manuel Urrutia with Osvaldo Dorticós Torrado as President of Cuba. Dorticós was a member of the Popular Socialist Party. [1]

The ousting of Urrutia would start a wave of resignations by moderates and anti-communists in the provisional government. In October, military officer Huber Matos resigned from his post, citing fears of a communist takeover. Matos was arrested for his protest. [19]

Electoral cancelation and censorship

At a May Day celebration in 1960, Fidel Castro finally cancelled all elections, announcing in a speech: [20]

Our enemies, our detractors, are calling for elections. Even a Latin American government leader stated recently that only those governments which are the product of an electoral process should be accepted into the OAS, as if a true revolution, like that in Cuba, could come to power without the people, as if a true revolution, like that in Cuba, could come to power against the will of the people, as if the only democratic way of gaining power were through the electoral process, which has so often been prostituted in order to falsify the will and the interests of the people, and to bring to power those who were often the most inapt and the most cunning, not the most competent and the most honest.

Is it possible that after so many fraudulent elections, and the repeated policy of betrayal and corruption, that the people could believe that the only democratic procedure is elections? It is not only with a pencil marking a ballot, but also with blood that a people can take part in a patriotic life.

The general ethos of this announcement was that elections were useless, because citizens legitimized his rule by defending his government. [21]

Around this same time, "coletillas" ("tag lines" in English) were being added to newspapers. These taglines often condemned the contents of certain articles. This condemnation was done through the effort of the communist controlled printers union. [22] After the seizure of newspapers by the government in late 1960, coletillas were no longer applied. [23]

Aftermath

In July 1961, Castro officially merged the 26th of July Movement, the Popular Socialist Party, and a smaller third party, to form one group called the Integrated Revolutionary Organization. In December 1961, Castro declared that he was personally a Marxist–Leninist. [1]

Cuba had no constitutional government for 16 years, from 1959 to 1976. After this non-constitutional period, the revolutionary government of Cuba sought to institutionalize the revolution by putting a new constitution to a popular vote. The Constitution of 1976, modeled after the 1936 Soviet Constitution, was adopted by referendum on 15 February 1976, in which it was approved by 99.02% of voters, in a 98% turnout. [24] [25]

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 3 Wright, Thomas (2022). Democracy in Latin America A History Since Independence. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. p. 88. ISBN   9781538149355.
  2. ↑ Martinez-Fernandez, Luis (2014). Revolutionary Cuba A History. University Press of Flordia. p. 52. ISBN   9780813048765.
  3. ↑ Dominguez, Jorge (2009). Cuba Order and Revolution. Harvard University Press. p. 144. ISBN   9780674034280.
  4. ↑ The Department of State Bulletin. Michigan State University. p. 322.
  5. ↑ Buckman, Robert (2013). Latin America 2013. Stryker Post. p. 147. ISBN   9781475804812.
  6. ↑ This date is given in many sources although there is none that seemed to be clearly definitive. The closest is a recommendation from US Secretary of State Dean Acheson to President Truman on March 24 recommending recognition on that date: Acheson, Dean (March 24, 1952). "Continuation of Diplomatic Relations with Cuba". Office of the Historian of the United States Department of State. United States Department of State. Retrieved March 9, 2017.
  7. ↑ Walsh, Daniel C. (2012). An Air War with Cuba. North Carolina: McFarland. p. 5. ISBN   978-0-7864-6506-4. Archived from the original on 2013-01-28.
  8. ↑ American Experience: Fulgencio Batista by PBS.
  9. ↑ Thomas (1986), p. 111.
  10. ↑ Thomas (1986), p. 170.
  11. ↑ Immel, Myra (2013). The Cuban Revolution. Greenhaven Press. pp. 100–105. ISBN   9780737763669.
  12. 1 2 Latin America in the Era of the Cuban Revolution and Beyond. 1991. p. "A Communist Revolution" section.
  13. ↑ Ferrer, Ada (2021). Cuba: An American History. Scribner. p. 325-326. ISBN   9781501154553.
  14. 1 2 A Companion to Latin American History. Wiley. 2011. p. 369. ISBN   9781444391640.
  15. ↑ Explaining Political Judgement. p. 252.
  16. ↑ Horowitz, Irving. Cuban Communism. Transaction Books. p. 26. ISBN   9781412820851.
  17. ↑ "Revolucion". lanic.utexas.edu. University of Texas. 1959.
  18. ↑ Guerra, Lillian (2012). Visions of Power in Cuba Revolution, Redemption, and Resistance, 1959-1971. University of North Carolina Press. pp. 66–70. ISBN   9780807835630.
  19. ↑ Orme, John (1989). Political Instability and American Foreign Policy The Middle Options. Palgrave Macmillan UK. p. 177. ISBN   9781349103966.
  20. ↑ "CASTRO SPEAKS TO THRONGS ON MAY DAY". lanic.utexas.edu. University of Texas.
  21. ↑ Leonard, Thomas (2004). Fidel Castro A Biography. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 57. ISBN   9780313058462.
  22. ↑ Goldenberg, Boris (2022). The Cuban Revolution and Latin America. Taylor and Francis.
  23. ↑ Verdeja, Sam; Martinez, Guillermo (2011). Cubans, an Epic Journey The Struggle of Exiles for Truth and Freedom. Facts About Cuban Exiles. ISBN   9781935806202.
  24. ↑ Nohlen, p197
  25. ↑ "Kuba, 15. Februar 1976 : Verfassung -- [in German]". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 25 June 2012.
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