The Cuban Revolution: Where It’s Been, and Where It’s Going

On July 26, 1953 the working class of Cuba began a revolution that would overthrow both capitalism and the brutal dictatorship of the Batista regime. The government under Castro nationalized key levers of the Cuban economy. Under the planned economy, the Cuban working class have been able to maintain one of the highest literacy rates in the world, unprecedented advances in medicine, and other relative leaps in living standards. Attempts by imperialist nations to strangle the revolution are nothing new. Protests have sprouted up calling for an “end to communism” in Cuba. However, simultaneous counter protests calling for a defense of the planned economy and an end to government corruption dwarf these demonstrations of largely confused and heterogeneous social elements, led by astroturfed counterrevolutionaries. As this conflict plays out it is important to understand what the Cuban revolution has achieved, where it stands today, and where it may go from here.