Survivor: Cuba; the Cuban Revolution at 50

Abstract

Cuba’s history subsequent to Spanish colonization can be divided into 50 years of republican capitalist government (1902-1952) and 50 years of socialist revolutionary government (1959-2009), with an intervening 7 years of dictatorship (1952-1958). The revolutionary period was the result of and grew from the first, capitalist, period, including the Batista dictatorship, within the larger context of the Cold War. Immediately after coming to power, the revolution met a determined reaction from the United States, setting the stage for 50 years of struggle for its survival, with and without the support of the former Soviet bloc. Far from representing a static tableau of abstract capitalism versus socialism, relations between the two countries followed a tortuous map of events and changes around the world in which both were protagonists, each with victories and defeats. The essential merit of the revolution is to have survived for the past half century.

Keywords: Cuban Revolution, Imperialism, Capitalism, Socialism, US–Cuba relations