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Until 1959 Cuba was a third-world country that served as a provider of sugar,
cigars and cattle for the benefit of a few large companies and landowners.
Its impoverished population was a reservoir of cheap labour. Due to its proximity
to the US it was also a playground for wealthy Americans who visited the island
for its casinos and brothels, largely owned by the Mafia.
On 1 January 1959 the revolutionary government took power with its policy
of freeing Cuba from the economic and political domination of the US and
of a few wealthy Cuban families. Since that time the island has been subjected
by the US to an increasingly severe blockade with trade restrictions and
prohibitions in addition to harassment, armed attacks, campaigns to demonise
the Cuban state and illegal interference in the country’s internal
affairs and infrastructure carried out by groups of Cuban exiles, fully aided
and abetted by the US. Despite the US’s attempts to ostracize and destroy
the Cuban state on the one hand, and the economic crisis the island suffered
in the 90s with the collapse of its main trading partners in Eastern Europe
on the other, socialist Cuba has managed to achieve advancements of which
the majority of Cubans living in 1959 and the present populations of other
Latin American countries could only dream.
It is by comparing Cuban society before 1959 and present-day Cuba that we
can see the benefits that socialism has brought for the population:
The population
- Before 1959 the Cuban population was just under 7 million and life expectancy
was 58 years.
In 2005 the population is 11 million and life expectancy is 77 (UNESCO’s
figure).
Distribution of wealth
- Before 1959 the wealthiest 20% of the population enjoyed 58% of the country’s
income. The poorest 20% received 2% of the country’s income.
In 2005 all Cubans are guaranteed their basic requirements of cheap food and
the right to employment, social security, free health care and education up
to and including university level.
Property and land ownership
- Before 1959 75% of the land was in the hands of 8% of the population. A
handful of wealthy families owned large estates – latifundios - where
they reared cattle or cultivated sugar cane. Other rural families often
lived in extreme poverty. In 1956-57 a survey carried out by the Agrupación
Católica Universitaria of 4000 rural families (10,000 people) revealed
that 66.35% of families lived in ‘bohíos’ – thatched
hovels with earthen floors.
In 2005 there is flexibility of ownership of land and property. Just over 75%
of homes in Cuba have been built since 1959. Housing is 85% privately owned.
The rest is let at minimal rents by the state. In 2002 just over 5% of homes
were ‘bohíos’.There is a maximum limit to the area of land
an individual can own. Some smallholdings are state owned, others are private
and there are different types of co-operative ventures.
Living conditions
- Before 1959 only 35.2% of the Cuban population had running water and 63%
had no WC facilities or latrines. 82.6% had no bathtub or shower. There
were 13 small reservoirs.
In 2005 94% of the population receives good-quality drinking water. Sanitation
has been a priority since the revolution and all Cubans now have WCs or latrines
and are able to attend to personal hygiene in their homes. There are 240 reservoirs.
- Before 1959 just 7% of homes had electricity.
Now 95.5% of Cubans have access to electricity. Solar panels and photovoltaic
cells have been installed in schools and clinics in isolated areas.
The economy
- At the time of the revolution US companies owned 56.3% of sugar cane production,
which was the mainstay of the economy. They also had major stakes in the
country’s oil and mining industries. The US controlled 60% of the
island’s foreign trade.
In 2005 the state is involved actively in the management of the economy. With
the development of tourism and the nickel industry in the 1990s and more recently
with the extraction of oil, the Cuban government has engaged in joint ventures
with foreign companies. However it is the Cuban government that sets the terms
on which these ventures are run. Cubans working for foreign companies enjoy
full rights to trade union membership and the same legal protection as other
workers concerning levels of pay, paid holidays, sick and maternity leave,
and so on. In addition firms have to contribute their knowledge of new technology
to the country.
A planned economy has meant that Cuba has been able to counteract the lower
prices of sugar on the world markets by a policy of diversification. More than
half of the sugar mills have been closed and land formerly used to cultivate
sugar cane is now used for livestock, reforestation, growing fruit trees, and
producing other fruit and vegetable crops.
Nickel is now Cuban’s main export.
In the field of biotechnology Cuba is earning income as well as international
acclaim from such discoveries as the anti-meningococcus vaccine and the vaccine
against Hepatitis B.
Employment
- The 1953 Population and Housing Census revealed that 51.5% of the active
population in Cuba had a job.
The present Constitution guarantees permanent employment to all Cubans who
wish to work.
- Before 1959 Cuban peasants often could only find work for just 4-6 months
of the year and had to maintain their families for the rest of the year on
the money earned during those months. In the cities, low pay and job insecurity
were common and begging and prostitution were rife.
In 2005 all Cubans who wish to work have the right to a job. If a worker becomes
unemployed he or she is entitled to re-training and unemployment benefit of
60% of previous earnings.
Women
- Before 1959 women were just 17% of the labour force in Cuba. About one
half
of working women lived in Havana.
In 2005 women constitute 44% of the active population.
- In the 1950s women worked mainly as domestics or were manual workers,
producing cigars or clothing. Many worked as prostitutes. Qualified female
workers could only aspire to be nurses, teachers or secretaries.
The Constitution introduced after the Revolution guarantees women equal rights
with men in all aspects of their lives, including the right to equal opportunities
in all areas of employment, as well as equal pay and equal labour rights. Just
under 28% of deputies in the National Assembly are women. Only Sweden, Denmark,
Finland and Norway have higher percentages of women parliamentarians. (The
US occupies the 60th place.)
Trades Unions
- During the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista the trade union movement was
controlled by people who worked with the government and the unions did
not, in the main, engage in the struggle to improve working conditions.
In 2005 the major role of the 19 trades unions, together with the central union
organisation (the CTC), is to safeguard workers’ rights. They are frequently
consulted by government during regular meetings with different ministers of
state.
By law all workplaces must have collective bargaining agreements with respect
to pay and conditions of work. Although membership of a trade union is voluntary,
98% of the work force are members of a union.
Health Facilities
- Before 1959 there was just one medical school in Cuba.
In 2005 there are 21 faculties of medicine, 4 faculties of stomatology and
4 higher
institutes of medical sciences.
- Before the revolution there were 1076 inhabitants per doctor. However the
numbers of inhabitants per doctor differed greatly in different parts of the
country. Medical assistance was found mainly in the cities, particularly in
the capital, home to 22% of the population but which had 65% of the country’s
physicians. Just 8% of the rural population received free medical attention.
In 2005 there are 165 inhabitants per doctor (the lowest number in the world).
All Cubans receive free medical care and 99.1% of the population is registered
with a GP. The Cuban health system is recognised by the World Health Organisation
as being the best out of all those existing in third-world countries and as
being one of the best in the world by international standards.
- In 1958 there were 250 dentists in the country: one for 27,052 inhabitants.
In 2003 there were 10,219 dentists – one for every 1,098 inhabitants.
- In 1958 there was just one rural hospital, which had 10 beds.
In 2001 (last figures available), there were 62 rural hospitals as well as
267 general hospitals, 33 specialist hospitals, 444 polyclinics as well as
other medical institutions such as maternity and paediatric hospitals.
Health of the population
- In 1958 infant mortality was 60/1,000 live births and 98% of births took
place at home.
In 2004 infant mortality was 5.8/1,000 live births and 100% of births receive
medical attention.
- Before 1959 TB affected just under 14% of the population and 30% of Cubans
suffered from malaria. 36% suffered from diseases caused by parasites.
In 2005 all babies and young children are vaccinated against TB, as well
as
against 12 other illnesses. Malaria has been eradicated, in addition to polio,
neonatal tetanus, diptheria and congenital German measles, rubella, mumps
and parotitis meningoencephalitis.
Education
- In 1959 23.6% of the population over the age of 10 was illiterate.
In 2005 illiteracy affects just 3.8% of the population.
- Before 1959 there were 7,679 schools in Cuba and 55.6% of children between
the ages of 6 and 14 attended school. Secondary and higher education had to
be paid for and was the preserve of the wealthy minority, mainly concentrated
in the cities.
In 2002-3 there were 12,615 schools in the country, including in the most isolated
rural areas. Schooling is free up to and including university level and is
compulsory for all Cuban children between the ages of 6 and 18 years of age.
In primary schools no class has more than 20 pupils. There are two educational
TV channels.
- Before 1959 there were three universities in the country.
There is now a university in each of the 169 municipalities of the country.
There is also a University of the Third Age with branches throughout Cuba.
- Prior to the revolution the average educational level of young people over
the age of 15 was lower than third grade (the level attained by 9-10 year olds).
In 2005 one in every five Cubans has a university degree. Vocational courses
are offered to young people not engaged in academic study. Workers are frequently
offered training courses to update skills. Cuba has the most qualified work
force in Latin America.
Clearly, the achievements made by the people of Cuba as a result of socialism
are not simply material. Socialism has enabled Cubans to determine their
own future and to decide their own destiny, rather than having to rely on
conditions set by the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund or on policies
imposed by large global companies. Ordinary Cubans, rather than foreign companies
and institutions, take part in decision-making processes and this in turn
has fosters a sense of pride, solidarity and dignity in the population. Their
awareness of the strength and justice of socialist values has led to a firm
sense of solidarity with other oppressed populations, with the result that
many Cubans are found in 2005 in countries all over the world bringing to
impoverished communities the benefits that socialism has brought to them.
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