The Impact of Fidel Castro on the Society and International Position of Cuba

Fidel Castro took a small satellite nation of the United States of America and turned it into one of the most successful communist states in the world. His policies and charisma have caused him to be one of the most beloved communist leaders in the world. Castro created a Communist nation that, while European communists were failing and falling victim to corruption and Asian communists were starving and oppressed, it was still going strong.

His personal strengths turned schemes that were designed to weaken him, such as United States trade embargos and the Bay of Pigs invasion, into propaganda events that strengthened his control over Cuba.

Castro s impact on society was incredible, he turned a nation with a well defined, almost feudal, class structure into a functioning communist state where the citizens would regard work not as a means of personal enrichment, but as a commitment to social change. He attempted to set up an effective welfare system in which education and medical benefits were evenly spread around, not just given to the rich.

Castro rejected both prominent ideologies of the time, communism and democracy, during the beginning his regime saying that he did not believe in the democratic freedom without bread or the communist bread without freedom. He soon realised the need to ally himself with one of the ideologies of the time so his country would have a strong bond with one of the superpowers during his countries time of need.

He flatly rejected president Dwight D. Eisenhower s overtures for a treaty because of the United States support of the Batista regime, so the only other superpower available for an alliance was the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

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With reluctance Castro accepted this ideology and became communist.

The type of communism in Cuba was a far cry from the Warsaw pact countries grey drab communism, this was communism to a Latin beat Unlike Stalin and other single party communist leaders Castro refrained from mass purges but did partake in state trials and the execution of Batista s henchmen. Overall Castro s impact on society was for the better and restored freedom and equality to Cuba.

Castro attempts at diversification of the economy, however, were a complete failure. During the fist part of his reign he focused on improving the production of previously imported goods However, Cuban products were impractical and of poor quality. At the same time, traditional agricultural production declined, and sugar output, upon which the economy depended, fell nearly 50 percent. Castro noticed this and performed a policy back flip, He reinvented his economic plan and focused the production almost entirely on sugar. He set the unrealistic goal of a 10 million ton sugar harvest.

This, like the early plan, fell flat on it s face bringing in only 8.5 million tons and costing Cuba s ally the Soviet Union millions of dollars in financial aid. After this fiasco the Soviet Union insisted that Castro implement a five-year plan. The influx of Soviet Union money put Cuba in much the same position as it was before the revolution, except it relied on the Soviet Union s economy instead of the U.S.A. s. From 1975 to 1985, Castro drifted away from communism and towards Lenin s new economic policy by permitting private farmers to market their excess agricultural produce.

In 1986, however, he reversed his direction and again prohibited private sales, on the grounds that such capitalist policies disturbed the even distribution of wealth. Individuals and government officials who had profited too much from private trade were arrested and fined. Policy reversals such as these sent ripples of discontent throughout the island.

Castro s steadfast stance in foreign policy was to oppose the United States on every issue, He refused to believe Cuba was any one nation s pawn despite the Soviet Unions influence over his economic policies. He established Cuba as a major player in the cold war politics managing to achieve what even Stalin failed by spreading the revolution around Latin America, Asia and Africa. Cuba provided many military advisers to countries attempting to break from colonial powers such as Ghana in 1961, Algeria in 1962, Angola in 1965, Bolivia in 1967 and Nicaragua in 1979.

He also participated in one of the major events in the Cold War, the Cuban Missile crises, which almost resulted in nuclear war between the superpowers, this crises culminated in three weeks on intense negotiation between the United States and Russia. Russia decided to pull out of Cuba without consulting Castro, after this Castro realised that he was just a pawn of the USSR not a major leader like he believed.

In 1980 Castro became a leader in the Non-Aligned Nations Association a group a nations determined to see out the cold war without allies themselves with either NATO or he Warsaw pact countries, despite his obvious ties to the Soviet Union. Castro saw himself as a leader amongst nations seeking independence from the domination of the worlds richest and most powerful nations.

In conclusion much like Stalin Castro s will and determination turned the backward nation of Cuba into a cold war power. While he started with a small number of revolutionaries his power grew until he became one of the longest lasting Communist dictators.