COMMUNISM, CASTRO AND CUBA

Communist Party of Cuba is the ruling party of that country. Cuba is headed by the President Miguel Diaz Canel who succeeded Raul Castro as first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba in 2021. As per the existing political system of Cuba, a single party regime is allowed where political opposition is not permitted. Elections in Cuba is not considered democratic because the government does not allow free and fair voting. Before the Cuban revolution it was Fulgecio Batista ruled Cuba from 1940 to 1944. Fidel Castro ruled the country as Prime Minister from 1959 to 1976 and then as President from 1976 to 2008. He temporarily gave power to his brother Raul Castro at the end period due to medical reasons.

Fidel Castro was the first secretary of Communist Party of Cuba from 1965 to 2011. During his tenure he made Cuba a one party Communist state. Industry and business were nationalised and socialist reforms were implemented. During the regime of Castro Cuba had economic support from USSR. The economy of Cuba is a mixed planned economy dominated by state run enterprises. Communism was brought into Cuba and established there by Fidel Castro and he is the one responsible for all the reformation taken place in the country. 

We may find below the present economic status of Cuba. By the end of 2024 the GDP is expected to reach USD 646.11 billion. Cuba ranked 96 among 168 countries in GDP in 2020. 9,499.59 USD is GDP PCI of 2020. Cuba has a GDP PCI nominal ranking of 68 in 2023. According to Cuban Human Rights Observatory report of 2022,  72 per cent of population of Cuba live below poverty line.The total area according to the economic zone of Cuba is 3,50,730 km² and the population is 11.19 million (2023). Unemployment was 1.39% in 2022  and 1.47% in 2021. A dangerous situation prevail now is that use of cocaine and marijuana is rising among youth of the country.

Nickel, chromite, copper and iron ore are the prime natural resources available in Cuba. Cuba has proven oil reserves equivalent to 2.2 times of its annual consumption. Agriculture has played an important part in the economy of Cuba for several hundred years. Today it contributes 10% of the GDP and absorbed 20% of the working force. About 30% of the country's land is used for agriculture. The Island Country is still importing about 70 to 80% of its food requirements.

The present US government has offered plenty of assistance to electronic and other business in the private sector of Cuba. According to recent media reports US entrepreneurs have offered large investments in Cuba. At present US has considerable investment in Cuba. Many  US citizens are residing in that country and there are large trade relations with the two countries now. We may slowly watch the development.

As happened in all other Communist ruled countries Cuba too could not gain anything from the Marxist Theories. Why Communism has failed in the whole world? The prime reason is that Communists always preferred for authoritarian rule. They never supported democracy or multi party government. The right of the people were always suppressed by power. The estimated total number of people killed during the Communist regime in different countries were 94 million.  These include death through execution, artificial hunger, famine, war, deportation and forced labour. Despite teaching a good number of Communist theories, ideologies and philosophy, they could not make a single country prosper among the 42 countries they ruled. The economic gain of the people of the top countries may be noted below (GDP PCI of 2022)

Luxembourg - $142,214

Singapore - $127,565

Ireland - $126,905

Norway - $114,899

Qatar - $114,648

UAE - $87,729

USA - $76,343

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Russia - $15,646

Russia being former Communist ruled country with good amount of natural resources, large area of arable land and much less population than USA has only about 20% of the GDP PCI of USA. The reason is nothing but Communism and its failure. 

Let us understand the fact, therefore, that Communism has never succeeded in any countries in the world. Communists are a group of people who want to earn without investment and hard work. Communism never give incentives for hard work and intelligent returns. When time comes every worker is promoted without evaluating the contributions of each worker. Laziness and hardwork get similar returns in Communism. We must atleast study the socio-economic concepts and theories of Communism well before lifting the red flag.

K V George