Revolutionary Offensive

Last updated
Revolutionary Offensive
E10 963 (438797656).jpg
Poster of Fidel Castro chopping sugar cane promoting the push for a mass sugar harvest.
Date1968-1970
Location Cuba
Outcome
  • Economic focus on sugar production
  • Flight of entrepreneurs in the Freedom Flights
  • Militarization of the economy
  • Nationalization of all small businesses

The Revolutionary Offensive (Spanish: Ofensiva revolucionaria) was a political campaign in Cuba starting in 1968 to nationalize all remaining private small businesses, which at the time totaled to be about 58,000 small enterprises. [1] The campaign would spur industrialization in Cuba and focus the economy on sugar production, specifically to a deadline for an annual sugar harvest of 10 million tons by 1970. The economic focus on sugar production involved international volunteers and the mobilization of workers from all sectors of the Cuban economy. [2] Economic mobilization also coincided with greater militarization of Cuban political structures and society in general. [3]

Contents

By 1970 production in other sectors of the Cuban economy had fallen, and the predicted 10 million ton annual harvest fell short to only 8.5 million. The failure of the 1970 harvest caused officials to reassess the Cuban economy, sacrificing egalitarian measures and embracing Soviet influence. [2]

Background

By 1965, Cuba was officially a one-party state after a long period of political solidification by Fidel Castro after the Cuban Revolution. In September 1966, Fidel Castro gave a speech to representatives of the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution. In the speech, he gave his ruling that workers would no longer receive material bonuses for extra labor and instead be encouraged by "moral enthusiasm" alone, which distanced Cuba from the Soviet model of using material incentives. This independent approach to economic policy fell into a global trend during the Cold War in which Third World countries adopted independent economic strategies in relation to the industrialized dominant power blocs. [4]

Cuba had begun what was referred to as the "radical experiment", where the country was to be reorganized to promote revolutionary consciousness and an independent economy. Rural to urban migration was regulated, excess urban workers were sent to the countryside, and agricultural labor became common for students, soldiers, and convicts. The Military Units to Aid Production were established and used "anti-social" prisoners as penal laborers in agriculture. [5]

In February 1968, a group in the Communist Party of Cuba and other official organizations known as the "microfaction" was completely purged from the government. The group numbered almost forty officials who endorsed Soviet-style material incentives over moral enthusiasm to encourage workers. They were accused of conspiring against the state, and made to serve prison sentences. [6]

The Revolutionary Offensive drew on ideas articulated by Che Guevara during the Great Debate, a period of well-publicized economic debates in Cuba. [7] : 37 

Events

Implementation

In March 13, 1968 on the eleventh anniversary of the Havana Presidential Palace attack, Fidel Castro announced plans to nationalize all remaining private businesses in Cuba, thus ushering in the Revolutionary Offensive. The nationalizations would be the first step in the larger economic mobilization of the country, with a primary goal of attaining an annual sugar harvest of 10 million tons by 1970. [8] Alcohol sales would be outright banned. [9] Nightclubs and bars were closed and their closures would be justified via official accusations that they were epicenters of prostitution, homosexuality, and crime. [10] The Cuban government also issued blanket bans on self-employment, farmer's markets, and private gardens on state farms. In total the nationalized enterprises included 17,000 food retailers, 25,000 industrial product merchants, 11,300 bars and restaurants, 9,600 small workshops, and 14,000 barbers, laundries, and other small retail shops. [11]

All production in Cuba would henceforth be organized using civil defense structures, where workers would be organized into squadrons, platoons, and other military brackets and be commanded by the military command post in their region. Workers were often moved to temporarily live in work stations outside their cities. The government implemented the Youth Centennial Column, composed of volunteers from the Young Communist League, to work in the countryside. By August 1968, around 350,000 workers, soldiers, students, and peasants were deployed to work in agriculture. [8]

In April 1968, plans were implemented for CDRs to monitor parents and reward them for following official parenting protocols. During this time policies regarding Cuban youths began changing. Work programs and vocational schools for "maladjusted" students were created. Officials also warned that those embracing a "hippie lifestyle" could be rounded up and sent to jails or labor camps for lazy behavior. [12]

In 1969 and 1970, Castro encouraged the Cuban people to do voluntary work in the countryside, particularly harvesting coffee and sugar cane. [7] : 37  From the state's perspective, voluntarism would develop the socialist economy while encouraging the ethos of the socialist New Man. [7] : 37  In 1970, Castro set the goal of using largely volunteer labor to harvest 10 million tons of sugar, a substantial increase over previous harvests. [7] : 37–38  The ten million ton harvest goal was not reached. [7] : 37–38  Other sectors of the Cuban economy were neglected when large amounts of urban labor mobilized to the countryside. [7] : 38 

During the 1970s, the ideas behind the Revolutionary Offensive lost support and the Cuban economic model re-oriented on the basis of the Soviet Union's Kosygin Reform. [7] : 38 

Reactions

Many Cubans were reportedly overcome with a fierce passion to accomplish the planned economic goals, and government officials saw this as evidence that moral enthusiasm alone could incentivize workers into better production. [8]

However, with the elimination of many niche artisans, the state failed to fill the void of their lost services and their economic sectors quickly became under-served. With this unexpected economic downturn, the Cuban government's response was to initiate new policies militarizing labor forces. [11] Some of the small merchants whose enterprises were nationalized chose to leave Cuba in the airlift active at the time. [13] With the total erasure of small enterprises, the black market was severely reduced; however, barter transactions still continued in the rural countryside where the state's presence was weaker. [4]

See also

Related Research Articles

The island of Cuba was inhabited by various Native American cultures prior to the arrival of the explorer Christopher Columbus in 1492. After his arrival, Spain conquered Cuba and appointed Spanish governors to rule in Havana. The administrators in Cuba were subject to the Viceroy of New Spain and the local authorities in Hispaniola. In 1762–63, Havana was briefly occupied by Britain, before being returned to Spain in exchange for Florida. A series of rebellions between 1868 and 1898, led by General Máximo Gómez, failed to end Spanish rule and claimed the lives of 49,000 Cuban guerrillas and 126,000 Spanish soldiers. However, the Spanish–American War resulted in a Spanish withdrawal from the island in 1898, and following three and a half years of subsequent US military rule, Cuba gained formal independence in 1902.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Economy of Cuba</span>

The economy of Cuba is a planned economy dominated by state-run enterprises. In the 1990s, the ruling Communist Party of Cuba encouraged the formation of worker co-operatives and self-employment. In the late 2010s, private property and free-market rights along with foreign direct investment were granted by the 2018 Cuban constitution. Foreign direct investment in various Cuban economic sectors increased before 2018. As of 2021, Cuba's private sector is allowed to operate in most sectors of the economy. As of 2023, public-sector employment was 65%, and private-sector employment was 35%, compared to the 2000 ratio of 76% to 23% and the 1981 ratio of 91% to 8%. Investment is restricted and requires approval by the government. In 2021, Cuba ranked 83rd out of 191 on the Human Development Index in the high human development category. As of 2012, the country's public debt comprised 35.3% of GDP, inflation (CDP) was 5.5%, and GDP growth was 3%. Housing and transportation costs are low. Cubans receive government-subsidized education, healthcare, and food subsidies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fidel Castro</span> Leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008 (1926–2016)

Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz was a Cuban revolutionary and politician who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and president from 1976 to 2008. Ideologically a Marxist–Leninist and Cuban nationalist, he also served as the first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from 1965 until 2011. Under his administration, Cuba became a one-party communist state; industry and business were nationalized, and socialist reforms were implemented throughout society.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Venceremos Brigade</span> Organization

The Venceremos Brigade is an international organization founded in 1969 by members of the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and officials of the Republic of Cuba. It was formed as a coalition of young people to show solidarity with the Cuban Revolution by working side by side with Cuban workers, challenging U.S. policies towards Cuba, including the United States embargo against Cuba. The yearly brigade trips, which as of 2010 have brought more than 9,000 people to Cuba, continue today and are coordinated with the Pastors For Peace Friendship Caravans to Cuba. The 48th Brigade travelled to Cuba in July 2017.

<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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Agriculture in Cuba</span>

Agriculture in Cuba has played an important part in the economy for several hundred years. Today, it contributes less than 10% to the gross domestic product (GDP), but it employs about 20% of the working population. About 30% of the country's land is used for crop cultivation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cuba–Soviet Union relations</span> Bilateral relations

After the establishment of diplomatic ties with the Soviet Union after the Cuban Revolution of 1959, Cuba became increasingly dependent on Soviet markets and military aid and was an ally of the Soviet Union during the Cold War. In 1972 Cuba joined the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (Comecon), an economic organization of states designed to create co-operation among the communist planned economies, which was dominated by its largest economy, the Soviet Union. Moscow kept in regular contact with Havana and shared varying close relations until the end of the Soviet Union in 1991. Cuba then entered an era of serious economic hardship, the Special Period.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Che Guevara</span> Argentine revolutionary (1928–1967)

Ernesto "Che" Guevara was an Argentine Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, guerrilla leader, diplomat, and military theorist. A major figure of the Cuban Revolution, his stylized visage has become a ubiquitous countercultural symbol of rebellion and global insignia in popular culture.

The Cuban sugar economy is the principal agricultural economy in Cuba. Historically, the Cuban economy relied heavily on sugar exports, but sugar production has declined since the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991. In 2015, raw sugar accounted for $368 million of Cuba's $1.4 billion exports.

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

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">Communist Party of Cuba</span> Sole ruling party of Cuba

The Communist Party of Cuba 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".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Economic Policy</span> 1921–28 Soviet economic policy theorized by Lenin

The New Economic Policy (NEP) was an economic policy of the Soviet Union proposed by Vladimir Lenin in 1921 as a temporary expedient. Lenin characterized the NEP in 1922 as an economic system that would include "a free market and capitalism, both subject to state control", while socialized state enterprises would operate on "a profit basis".

Agrarian socialism is a political ideology that promotes social ownership of agrarian and agricultural production as opposed to private ownership. Agrarian socialism involves equally distributing agricultural land among collectivized peasant villages. Many agrarian socialist movements have tended to be rural, locally focused, and traditional. Governments and political parties seeking agrarian socialist policies have existed throughout the world, in regions including Europe, Asia, North America, Latin America, and Africa.

The political career of Fidel Castro saw Cuba undergo significant economic, political, and social changes. In the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro and an associated group of revolutionaries toppled the ruling government of Fulgencio Batista, forcing Batista out of power on 1 January 1959. Castro, who had already been an important figure in Cuban society, went on to serve as prime minister from 1959 to 1976. He was also the first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba, the most senior position in the communist state, from 1961 to 2011. In 1976, Castro officially became president of the Council of State and president of the Council of Ministers. He retained the title until 2008, when the presidency was transferred to his brother, Raúl Castro, who was vice president. Fidel Castro remained the first secretary of the Communist Party until 2011.

The following lists events that happened during 1971 in Chile.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dollarization of Cuba</span> Policies implemented for the Cuban economy after 1993

The dollarization of Cuba refer to macroeconomic policies implemented with the aim at stabilising the Cuban economy after 1993. They were initially enacted to offset the economic imbalances which was a result of the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. The main aspect of these reforms was to legalize the then illegal U.S. Dollar and regulate its usage in the island's economy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Consolidation of the Cuban Revolution</span> Period of Cuban history (1959–1970)

The consolidation of the Cuban Revolution is a period in Cuban history typically defined as starting in the aftermath of the revolution in 1959 and ending in 1962, after the total political consolidation of Fidel Castro as the maximum leader of Cuba. The period encompasses early domestic reforms, human rights violations, and the ousting of various political groups. This period of political consolidation climaxed with the resolution of the Cuban missile crisis in 1962, which then cooled much of the international contestation that arose alongside Castro's bolstering of power.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grey years</span> Period of stagnation in Cuban cultural history

The grey years were a loosely defined period in Cuban history, generally agreed to have started with the Padilla affair in 1971. It is often associated with the tenure of Luis Pavón Tamayo as the head of Cuba's National Cultural Council from 1971 to 1976. The period is also sometimes called the quinquenio gris, the trinquenio amargo, or the decada negra.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Great Debate (Cuba)</span> Cuban socialist economic debate (1962–1965)

The Great Debate was an era in Cuban history retroactively named by historians, that was defined by public debate about the future of Cuban economic policy that took place from 1962 to 1965. The debate began after Cuba fell into an economic crisis in 1962 after years of internal economic complications, United States sanctions, and the flight of professionals from Cuba. In 1962 Fidel Castro invited Marxist economists around the world to debate two main propositions. One proposition proposed by Che Guevara was that Cuba could bypass any capitalist then "socialist" transition period and immediately become an industrialized "communist" society if "subjective conditions" like public consciousness and vanguard action are perfected. The other proposition held by the Popular Socialist Party was that Cuba required a transitionary period as a mixed economy in which Cuba's sugar economy was maximized for profit before a "communist" society could be established. Eventually Fidel Castro would implement ideas of both and use the moral incentives proposed by Guevara but also focusing on developing the sugar economy rather than industrialization.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rectification process</span>

The rectification process was a series of economic reforms in Cuba, officially titled the Rectification of Errors and Negative Tendencies. The process began in 1986, and lasted until 1992. The reforms were aimed at eliminating private businesses, trade markets, that had been introduced into the Cuban law and Cuban culture, during the 1970s. The new reforms aimed to nationalize more of the economy and eliminate material incentives for extra labor, instead relying on moral enthusiasm alone. Castro often justified this return to moral incentives by mentioning the moral incentives championed by Che Guevara, and often alluded to Guevarism when promoting reforms.

References

  1. ↑ Henken, Ted; Vignoli, Gabriel (2015). "ENTERPRISING CUBA: CITIZEN EMPOWERMENT, STATE ABANDONMENT, OR U.S. BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY?" (PDF). american.edu. Center for Latin American and Latino Studies. Retrieved August 19, 2020.
  2. 1 2 Prevost, Grey (2007). "Fidel Castro and the Cuban Revolution". Headwaters. 24 (1): 25–26. Retrieved August 19, 2020.
  3. ↑ Cuba's Forgotten Decade How the 1970s Shaped the Revolution. Lexington Books. 2018. pp. 72–73. ISBN   9781498568746.
  4. 1 2 Mesa-Lago, Carmelo (1972). Revolutionary Change in Cuba. University of Pittsburgh Press. pp. 37–39. ISBN   9780822974130.
  5. ↑ Henken, Ted (2008). Cuba A Global Studies Handbook. ABC-CLIO. p. 139. ISBN   978-1-85109-984-9.
  6. ↑ Mesa-Lago, Carmelo (1972). "Ideological, Political, and Economic Factors in the Cuban Controversy on Material Versus Moral Incentives". Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs. 14 (1): 71. doi:10.2307/174981. JSTOR   174981.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Cederlöf, Gustav (2023). The Low-Carbon Contradiction: Energy Transition, Geopolitics, and the Infrastructural State in Cuba. Critical environments: nature, science, and politics. Oakland, California: University of California Press. ISBN   978-0-520-39313-4.
  8. 1 2 3 Cuban Communism 9th Edition. Transaction Publishers. 1998. pp. 62–65. ISBN   9781412820882.
  9. ↑ Guerra, Lillian (2012). Visions of Power in Cuba Revolution, Redemption, and Resistance, 1959-1971. University of North Carolina Press. p. 13. ISBN   9780807837368.
  10. ↑ Hamilton, Carrie (2012). Sexual Revolutions in Cuba Passion, Politics, and Memory. University of North Carolina Press. pp. 41–42. ISBN   9780807882511.
  11. 1 2 Henken, Ted; Celaya, Miriam; Castellanos, Dimas (2013). Cuba. ABC-CLIO. pp. 153–154. ISBN   9781610690126.
  12. ↑ Bunck, Julie Marie (2010). Fidel Castro and the Quest for a Revolutionary Culture in Cuba. Pennsylvania State University Press. pp. 44–47. ISBN   978-0271040271.
  13. ↑ Pedraza, Silvia (1998). "Cuba's Revolution and Exodus". The Journal of the International Institute. 5 (2). Retrieved August 19, 2020.
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.