Continuing response to changing circumstances

Cuba in Revolution. A History Since the Fifties
Antoni Kapcia
London: Reaktion Books, 2008
208pp, £15.95

This is a lucid, cogently argued and well-structured volume, although the material is very condensed. It will provide excellent background and context for more specialist studies and constitutes a good teaching aid for undergraduates. The author's contention is that since the 1959 Revolution, one of the Cuban state's greatest assets has been its adaptability and its capacity to frame and shape policies in response to changing circumstances. This has enabled it to maintain legitimacy, and in many instances recreate it, in even the most dangerous situations. The Revolution's ability to withstand the challenges of the Bay of Pigs, the Missile Crisis, the failure of the 10 million ton sugar harvest in 1970, the threat that institutionalisation of the political system posed to the ethos of mobilisation and participation in the 1980s and the impact of the end of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s was complemented by its ability to maintain the loyalty of the population through its continued commitment to social progress and egalitarianism.

Kapcia argues that one third of the Cuban people have remained 'loyal activists', another third have been 'passive loyalists' and the remainder have ranged from the passive disaffected to those seeking to leave the country. The Revolution has managed to keep the support of the activists and the loyalists albeit sometimes in a precarious manner. He recognises that this has been done not only by policy shifts but also because the iconic themes of the Revolution - morality, egalitarianism, independence, internationalism - have been kept fresh and the political system has constantly adapted itself to the sensibility of being Cuban (what he describes as 'Cubanising socialism'). In its treatment of the dissenting one third of the population, the Revolution has trod a difficult path of tolerating disagreement but within recognisable parameters. Attempts to control criticism and to ensure political conformity have always intensified at times of perceived external threat or internal crisis. The government has often been heavy handed (for example, its forays into cinema censorship) and has sometimes mistaken positive criticism for anti - systemic diatribe. It has undoubtedly benefited from the absence of an organised opposition.

Intrinsic to the domestic evolution of the Revolution has been the importance it has placed upon its international role, whether it be supporting anti-imperialist struggles, participating in the war against apartheid (the Cuban-Angolan victory over South Africa at the Battle of Cuito Cuanvale in 1988 was hailed by Nelson Mandela as the beginning of the end of that heinous institution), offering free humanitarian aid across the Global South or playing a leading role in the Non Aligned Movement. Such international solidarity has not been without its domestic detractors with many Cubans arguing that money and expertise sent abroad could be more effectively invested in infrastructure at home. It is certain, however, that Cuban involvement in contemporary development strategies - for example the creation of the Latin American School of Medicine outside Havana and initiatives such as 'Operacíon Milagro' (Cuban doctors restoring the sight of thousands in free operations) - have contributed to reinserting Cuba in regional politics and thus reducing the isolation represented by the US embargo.

Perhaps the most interesting discussion is that found in Chapter 7, which deals with the crisis of the 1990s. It demonstrates how the government struggled to ensure Cuba's survival at a time when critics were predicting its imminent downfall. In what appeared to be calamitous economic circumstances, the Revolution's commitment to basic service provision was maintained while at the same time, it acknowledged the need to incorporate new elements such as racial identity and religion into the definition of cubanía (which Kapcia understands as 'the belief in Cuban-ness'). This deepening of revolutionary ideology and morality had already been embarked upon by acknowledgement of the necessity of expanding the parameters of political representation. This came in the shape of earlier reforms, which pushed for greater visibility for women and the young at all levels of the political system but especially in the top tiers. These reforms saw some progress but much more is needed, particularly given the evidence of alienation on the part of many young people.

Finishing with a fair assessment of Fidel Castro's contribution to the revolutionary process, Kapcia makes the significant point that Castro's retirement did not cause the political meltdown predicted by hostile commentators but that the uneventful nature of that transition reflected the obvious point that it had been planned for and was effectively realised. What is to be hoped is that Raúl Castro's tenure at the helm of government will be an interim one and that a younger leadership team will soon take over - a team that has been ably handling the business of government for a considerable period. Above all, it is vital - and this is inferred in the text but perhaps not sufficiently developed - that the Cuban state will continue to develop and deepen its dialogue with Cuban civil society and thus facilitate greater participation and empowerment, as well as promoting regional (particularly through the ALBA) and South to South initiatives which will maintain Cuba's proud reputation for international solidarity.

Geraldine Lievesley is Senior Lecturer in Politics at Manchester Metropolitan University and author of The Cuban Revolution: Past, Present and Future Perspectives (Macmillan, 2004).

Copyright
Copyright for this work is held jointly between Geraldine Lievesley and the International Journal of Cuban Studies under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative 3.0 Licence http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/

IJCS Volume 1 Issue 2 December 2008