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Castro In Power: Policies and their Impact (Economic Policies (The '…

- - - - the following events helped shape Castro's economic policies
        
        US Embargo
        
        stated aim: to bring democracy to Cuba by forcing the collapse of Castro's regime
        
        criticised for humanitarian reasons - affects the living conditions of Cuban population in a negative way
        
        embargo has given Castro a scapegoat on which to blame all economic and social problems
        
        economic dependence on the Soviets
        
        the impact of the subsequent collapse of USSR
    - - make Cuba an economically independent and industrialised nation
    - - but Cuba responded to internal and international challenges with different (at sometimes contradictory) instruments
  - - - he was President of the National Bank of Cuba and Minister of Industries
    - - transforming the Cuban economy into a communist economy continued after 1961
      - 1962:
        
        Cuban national currency changed
        
        anyone caught with their savings in banks that did not belong to the state lost them overnight
        
        in cities, rents (reduced by 50% in 1959) were abolished
        
        meant those living in a property that they did not own became property owners overnight
      - 1963: a second Agrarian law
        
        after 1963: the state owned 70% of the land. The rest belonged to small farms (which were expropriated in 1968)
        
        reduced (again) the amount of land that could be owned by a single person or entity
        
        to prevent the existence of 'rich' peasants
    - - Guevara favoured a centrally planned economy - with emphasis on moral incentives and self-sacrifice
        
        centrally planned economy: a system in which the state directs and controls all major economic areas and decides upon the distribution of resources and production, following a national plan
        
        he meant people should work fro the ideals and values of the revolution rather than for personal gains
        
        all workers:
        
        were to receive equal pay
        
        would not get paid overtime
        
        were expected to cover voluntarily as their personal contribution to the revolution
        
        moral incentives included:
        
        socialist emulation
        
        a term used in the USSR to refer to a competition among workers as a method to achieve set targets
        
        party membership
        
        state recognition
        
        Che Guevara, 'Socialism and Man in Cuba' 1965
        
        'we are doing everything possible to give labour this new status of social duty'
      - with revolution in power, Guevara believed Cuba should leave capitalism behind and adopt communism
    - - economic plans to increase productivity met several obstacles
        
        Cuba had a lack of specialised personnel and technicians - many had lost country since the revolution
        
        meant the assessment of problems and the implementation of solutions was limited
        
        moral incentives were not efficient in raising productivity levels and tackling poor-quality work and absenteeism
        
        farmers in collective farms were forced to sell their product to the state at very low prices
        
        they lost motivation to produce more than needed to survive
        
        as a result, sugar production levels were very low
        
        government plans to diversify away from the cultivation of sugar did not compensate for the drop in those levels
        
        Determined to advance the industrialisation programme, the government continued to buy machinery from the USSR and Eastern European nations
        
        increased its debt
        
        by 1964, Cuba had to return to intensive sugar production to reduce debt
        
        Cuba against trapped in trade relations of subsidised sugar in exchange for goods
  - - - the expropriation of all remaining privately owned enterprises
        
        e.g. family stores restaurants, handicraft stores, grocers, service shops and street vendors
        
        all were to be owned and managed by the state and put at the service of a centrally planned economy
      - farmers' markets were eliminated
      - self-employment was banned - it was seen as pursuing individualist aims
    - - the offensive did not achieve an increase in productivity
      - it produced administrative chaos
        
        because the number of government agencies needed to organise the different fields of production and sales grew exponentially
      - the return of the policy of moral incentives was met with high levels of absenteeism and vagrancy
    - - to move Cuba further towards a communist state and remove the last vestiges of capitalism from the island
        
        emphasised the idea of Guevara's 'new man'
        
        in which work was a social duty rather than a way to achieve personal aims
  - - - intended to show those who remained sceptical about the revolution that it could attain its dreams
        
        campaign became a crusade that mobilised the entire population and became a political test for Castro
    - - to solve the problems left by the 1969 Revolutionary Offensive
      - Castro: 'a liberation campaign'
    - - to obtain enough money from the harvest to pay off Cuban debts to the USSR
        
        announced that he intended Cuba to break its previous sugar production record
        
        reaching a 10 million ton output in 1970
        
        and to sell surplus sugar to make investments to achieve economic diversification
      - target: 10 million tons
    - - Castro appealed for the 'militarisation' of labour
        
        organised and disciplined like an army
        
        he was are that the appeal of voluntarism and solidarity had not guaranteed results in the past
        
        armed forces occupied sugar-producing regions and were put in charge of the sugar mills
      - students, conscripts, law breakers, emigrants who were awaiting their turn to leave the island all worker as 'volunteers' cutting cane
      - Castro himself was seen cutting cane in street posters
        
        to motivate people to work
      - bars an theatres were closed. Christmas and New Year celebrations were cancelled
        
        to increase productivity
    - - the entire nation had been put at the service of the campaign and a record harvest of 8.5 million tons was achieved
        
        however they had been unable to reach the 10 million ton target
      - deep harm had been inflicted on the economy
        
        agricultural machines had been over-used
        
        agricultural production of crops that were not sugar had suffered
        
        other economic areas (e.g. forestry and fishing) had seen important losses
      - exhausted Cubans and made hem sceptical - rather than raise morale
        
        soldiers who had been mobilised to oversee operations felt that their status had been diminished
        
        had been used to cut cane when they have been trained to defend the nation
      - its failure was a terrible blow for Castro at both and economic and political level
        
        because the campaign had been given so much importance
        
        he addressed the nation on 26th July 1970 - admitted that campaign's failure was due to the administrative apparatus rather than citizens' commitment
        
        by offering his resignation to a crowd which cheered his name he was able to survive the political effects of the failure
        
        he had to abandon Guevara's ideas of solidarity, voluntarism and self-sacrifice and accept a greater economic dependency on the USSR
      - counter policies:
        
        Farmers' markets were reinstated
        
        state-owned companies were given enough autonomy to make daily decisions without having to go through state bureaucracy
        
        material incentives introduced:
        
        paid overtime
        
        despite this, Cuba continued to suffer similar economic problems
        
        the end of the 1970s brought new levels of recession
        
        Cuba hit badly by international economic situation - USSR cut price it paid for Cuban sugar
        
        unemployment, debt and policies that limited consumption led to discontent
        
        contributed to the 1980 Mariel exodus (125,000 Cubans left for the USA)
        
        Mariel was one of Cuba's emigration ports - a deepwater port integral to the country's economy
  - - - advocated a return to the values of solidarity and voluntarism under the 'Rectification Campaign'
    - - to 'rectify errors and negative tendencies' linked to the relaxation of communist principles after 1970
    - - farmers' markets banned (again)
      - bonuses and extra pay abolished
      - self-employment discouraged
      - farm cooperatives were given new emphasis
        
        under a new Agrarian Reform Act, the % of land managed by independent farmers dropped to 2%
      - labour discipline enforced
      - workers lost many union rights
    - - poor economic results
        
        productivity fell
        
        absenteeism at work increased
        
        reduced supplies of milk, oil textiles and sugar led to an increase in their prices
        
        parallel/black markets reappeared - to offer goods that were difficult to obtain or had been added to the list of rationed products
        
        transport and electricity rates increased - affected the population's living standards
  - - - 'the most unfavourable international economic juncture ever faced by the Cuban economy in the entire history of the revolution' [Castro]
    - - Soviet technicians left Cuba - hundreds of projects were abandoned
      - subsidised goods, oil, access to international loans ended
        
        anything USSR had provided to Cuba
      - as a result: Castro announced that Cuba had entered a 'special period in peacetime'
        
        Cubans faced new levels of rationing at basic goods disappeared from the market
        
        Mona Rosenkohl, Inside the Revolution: Everyday Life in Socialist Cuba, 1997: 'a disease was spreading that affected the eyes and legs of many people and that was later diagnosed as caused by the drastic drop in food intake't
        
        Soviet oil gone - needed to save energy
        
        working hours of population limited
        
        long black-outs imposed
        
        public transport restricted
    - - to adjust to the new scenarios and respond to growing unrest, new policies were implemented:
        
        large % of state-owned farms began to be run as worker-managed cooperatives
        
        to increase levels of productivity
        
        Cuba was opened to international businesses
        
        to attract capital and diversify economic activites
        
        Foreigners were invited to join the state in the development of certain areas of the economy (e.g. tourism, mining and energy)
        
        tourism in particular developed positively
        
        in 1993, legal for Cubans to buy and sell US dollars
        
        to attract dollars from the relatives of Cubans overseas
        
        had a positive impact on the demand for goods and contributed to the reactivation of the economy
        
        Farmers' and handcraft markets reappeared, some level of self-employment and private businesses allowed
        
        state aimed at saving money by reducing some subsidies and increasing taxes
    - - by 1994, those who had predicated the collapse of the regime were proved wrong
        
        Cuba was showing some signs of economic recovery
      - Sugar had been replaced by tourism
- - - - some of these reforms clashed with Cuban traditions and culture
        
        therefore, the arts played a fundamental role in designing a new Cuban culture - in which the role of women as workers was promoted
  - - - 1934: women were given the right to vote
      - 1940 constitution granted women equality before the law
        
        they could not be discriminated against at work
        
        will receive equal pay for equal work
      - women allowed to vote, study, work and sue for divorce
    - - there remained in many ways a traditional society
      - only a few occupations (e.g. teaching and nursing) were considered to be appropriate for women
      - women faced discrimination at work
        
        jobs with greater responsibility went to men
      - in middle and upper classes, men preferred women to stay at home to look after their families rather than join the workforce
    - - to achieve modernisation, and produce record harvests, women needed to become an active part of the workforce
        
        to do this had to overcome:
        
        discrimination against women at work
        
        new legislation was passed reinforcing the equal rights of men and women to access all types of jobs
        
        women offered training at technical and professional levels to prepare themselves for posts with greater responsibility
        
        women entered fields that had previously been all-male (e.g. construction, biotechnology and IT)
        
        Agrarian Reform acts opened up opportunity for women to work in areas previously limited to men (e.g. driving and repairing tractors)
        
        how to make women's role in the workforce and household compatible
        
        in towns and cities, an increasing number of daycare centres for working mothers available - so women could become part of workforce
        
        pressure put on women to become efficient workers, participate in political life, volunteer to serve revolution whilst fulfilling their responsibilities as wives, mothers and housewives
        
        despite reforms, Cuba remained a patriarchal society - women expected to fulfil role as housewife but men refused to share household responsibilities or live with potentially economic independent women
        
        this conflict was difficult to manage - resulted in many women giving up work and entire families leaving Cuba
    - - new 'Family Code' put in place
        
        it stipulated quality of sexes both at home and at work
        
        Men were to share in the household duties and the education of children
        
        not doing so was seen as the exploitation of women
        
        presence of women in workforce remained lower than government expected - Castro admitted
    - - created in 1960 by Vilma Espín (wife of Raúl Castro)
      - trained women to take up new jobs in farming, construction and teaching
      - aimed to help women integrate into the revolution
      - organised many aspects of the campaign against illiteracy
      - created and ran successful health programmes
      - FMC women joined 'Sanitary Brigades' that travelled to the rural areas to deliver vaccination campaigns
      - FMC women served as social workers
      - FMC worked with Ministry of Education in the design of new textbooks for revolutionary Cuba
        
        women were portrayed as committed workers and soldiers
      - former domestic workers were trained to work as seamstresses or cooks
        
        received education in history, geography and the new laws of revolutionary Cuba
      - housewives taught in FMC headquarters so that they could complete their schooling
    - - Successes
        
        more than 600,000 Cubans (many middle-class professionals) left the island in 1960s
        
        to fill up these vacancies, Cuban women trained for jobs and professions denied to them in the past
        
        women played an important role in the success of literacy and health campaigns
      - Failures
        
        policies aimed towards encouraging equality of women appeared to be more geared towards increasing the size of the Cuban workforce than towards gender equality
        
        despite the work of the FMC, the government could not achieve the levels of female employment it had hoped for
        
        low numbers of women in decsision making positions and in the higher levels of the PCC lead us to question whether the government really intended to obtain equality between the sexes or was merely creating policies to ensure their economic goals
  - - - access to education varied significantly across geographical regions
        
        more restricted in rural areas
        
        limited by economic status
      - Cuba had one of the highest illiteracy rates in Latin America
        
        24% among children under 10
        
        high in the adult population too
      - Public education was poor
      - access to university was limited to those who could afford it and lived near one of the few universities in Cuba
    - - as he rose to power, Castro promised Cubans improvements in Education
      - during the years in Sierra Maestra, the Rebel Army taught children and adults to read and write
      - 1961 declared 'The Year of Education'
        
        under the slogan 'if you do not know, learn; if you know, teach'
        
        Castro promised to end illiteracy within the year
        
        to do this he needed to solve 2 initial problems:
        
        lack of schools
        
        to solve, military barracks were turned into educational complexes
        
        new schools were built all across the country (particularly in rural areas)
        
        1959-1962, more schools were built than in the previous 58 years of Cuban history
        
        lack of teachers
        
        implemented a training programmes for 271,000 teachers
        
        sent across the country to teach people in theirs homes (to reach all areas)
        
        wore olive-green uniform
        
        sent to countryside to teach the peasants
        
        known as brigadistas
        
        lived with rural families during the campaign
        
        Literate citizens were expected to act as 'literacy volunteers' in their free time
        
        by 1962, illiteracy had dropped to 4%
        
        Success of campaign was spectacular (despite not achieving 0% illiteracy)
        
        it increased the hopes in the revolution
        
        brought the entire Cuban population into a joint patriotic effort
      - Aims:
        
        to eradicate illiteracy
        
        fight illiteracy among the poor
        
        illiterate peasants learnt what the revolution could do for them and were given another reason to support it
        
        make the middle-class youth familiarise themselves with the living conditions and hardships of the poor
        
        and to act in response to the values of the revolution: service and self-sacrifice
        
        opened their eyes to the 'other Cuba'
        
        thousands of volunteers emerged from the experience transformed
      - Historiography
        
        Julie Marie Bunck,:
        
        '[The aim] was no longer simply to raise the level of basic knowledge and skills, but to foster the creation of a new man; a socialist man, honest, selfless, devoted to the community, and freed from greedy and corrupt bourgeois inclinations'
        
        'The overall purpose of education at all levels is to produce better Communists, men and women, unconditionally loyal to the party and party leadership'
    - - the shift towards communism in 1961 affected education
        
        all private schools were nationalised
        
        boarding schools were opened
        
        large scholarship programmes for gifted and committed students were established
        
        participants were selected by the government, who often decided the subject areas in which particular students should specialise
        
        Free time had to be used in 'intellectually valuable choice' (e.g. volunteer work)
      - teachers
        
        students acted as spies
        
        who did not support the revolution lost their jobs
        
        who supported the regime were rewarded with training the USSR and Eastern Europe (where communist values were reinforced)
      - resources
        
        new textbooks used
        
        heavy focus on the history of the revolution and the lives of heroes: Fidel, Che and Camilo (on first name terms)
        
        libraries purged of what was considered to be inappropriate material
      - Castro: 'the task of the schools... is the ideological formation of revolutionaries, and then, by means of the revolutionaries, the ideological formation of the rest of the people'
      - Luis M. Garcia. Child of the Revolution: Growing Up in Castro's Cuba, 2006
        
        'it doesn't take me long to discover that despite my initial reservations, I am going to enjoy school after all'
        
        'we sit at our uncomfortable wooden desks learning to recite an alphabet where the F is for Fidel, the R for rifles and the Y is for the Yankees
        
        'learning about Fidel and rifles and why we should hate the Americans can sometimes take up a fair amount of the school day, even in primary school'
        
        'as were get older, more and more time is taken out for what my par tents describe with growing alarm as indoctrination'
  - - - Castro believed that Cuban culture before the revolution had been marked by foreign influence and that truly nationalist values had not been established
        
        therefore, he founded many organisations aimed at developing a Cuban culture based on nationalist and revolutionary values
        
        these organisations coordinated the different policies to ensure the arts reflected and encouraged these values
      - needed to adapt culture to prove that women did fit in the workforce
    - - such as wrappers and labels
      - 'struggle', 'battle', 'victory' and 'enemy'
        
        used to explain different events (from campaign against illiteracy to the harvest season)
    - - it's declaration stated that: 'the writer must contribute to the revolution through his work, and this involved conceiving of literature as a means of combat, a weapon against weaknesses and the problem that, directly or indirectly, could hinder this adnvace'
    - - PM (1961) was a short documentary depicting Afro-Cubans dancing and enjoying themselves
        
        considered to show a decadent aspect of Cuba - accused of being counter-revolutionary and eventually censored
        
        Censorship of PM (a truly apolitical film) angered many Cuban writers and artists who had ben enthusiastic supporters of the revolution
        
        they feared that the government (particularly Castro) would direct culture by dictating the themes and content of their work
        
        in response, Castro organised the First Congress of Cuban Writers and Artists - from which the UNEAC emerged
        
        at this congress, Castro gave a speech (30 June 1961) that has become an essential document in the study of history of the arts in the revolution
        
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      - arts came under even closer supervision after the Revolutionary Offensive was launched in 1968
        
        several factors demanded an even greater control of intellectuals and artists
        
        the economic problems
        
        demoralising effect of the death of Che Guevara
        
        the need to stimulate people to achieve the 10 million tons sugar target
    - - the 1971 conflict between the writers and the government broke out (agains) over the work of Herbert Padilla
      - Padilla had become disappointed with the revolution
        
        in 1968, Padilla was awarded the UNEAC poetry prize for his work Puera del juego (Out of the Game)
        
        which contained poems critical of the revolution
        
        appeared at a sensitive time in Cuba
        
        10 million tons harvest programme had just failed
        
        Castro was prepared to be less tolerant towards dissent
        
        Padilla arrested and tortured - given a confession he had to learn and deliver in a staged public trial
        
        confession admitted to the charges of being an enemy of the revolution
        
        Padilla was made to accuse his wife and friends of being counter-revolutionaries
        
        Padillas arrest and trial had a large impact (not only in Cuba but also worldwide on intellectuals who had supported the revolution)
        
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      - The Padilla Affair was followed by the 'grey period'
        
        in which artists were afraid to produce anything that could be interpreted as counter-revolutionary
        
        closer surveillance of their actions and work was carried out by the state
        
        surveillance was extended to other forms of academic and scientific activities
        
        little has changed in Cuba since - the 1976 constitution established that 'there is freedom of artistic creation as long as its content is not contrary to the revolution'
        
        echos Castro's 'Words to the Intellectuals' speech
        
        there has been times when censorship appeared to loosen but most Cuban writers who dissented from the revolution found the only way to publish their work was to have it smuggled out of the island
        
        in 1998, Castro accursed film makers who criticised Cuba's social and economic conditions of being counter-revolutionaries
  - - - along with Catholicism, Afro-Cuban religions also have a great influence
        
        racial relations
        
        in the years before the revolution Afro-Cubas (approx. 50% of the population) were discriminated against in education, work opportunities, shops and restaurants
        
        supporters of the revolution claim it has eradicated racial discrimination
        
        others would disagree, they maintain that the revolution raised the living standards of the poor (which included a significant number of non-whites) but inequality between aces continued to exist
        
        evidence of this is found int he limited number of non-whites who occupy positions of power within the PCC or decision-making posts in the Cuban government
      - also minorities of Protestants and Jews
    - - when the revolution triumphed in 1959,:
        
        some sectors of the Catholic Church welcomed the opportunity to achieve social justice
        
        others looked at it with suspicion - particularly when the revolution began to move to the left
    - - the nationalisation of schools following the Bay of Pigs incident
      - the government's decision that religious education could only take place in churches
    - - as invisible groups with limited or no influence
    - - they joined the zafra, health campaigns and other form of voluntary labour
    - - 'it is illegal and punishable by law to oppose one's faith or religious belief to the Revolution, education or the fulfilment of the duty to work, defend the homeland with arms, show reverence for its symbols and other duties established by the constitution'
    - - hardships experienced during this time strengthened attendance of people to churches
        
        these hardships also seemed to augur (predict) the end of the revolution
      - 1998, Pope John Paul II paid an historic visit to Cuba
        
        the Pope was a strong anti-communist and he addressed the lack of political freedom in Cuba
        
        he also criticised the US economic embargo
      - as a sign of improved relations, the government modified the PCC statute and allowed religious people to join
        
        the separation between the state and the Church remained and religious education was still forbidden in all schools
- - - - after Cuba had replaced Batista's doctoral system with revolution
    - - but the only party allowed to campaign was the PCC
      - all nominees to elections at any level were chosen by the party
    - - states: 'it is the highest leading force of society and of the state, which organises and guides the common effort towards the goals of the construction of socialism and the progress towards a communist society'
    - - head of State (replacing Dorticós)
      - Head of the Government
      - President of the Executive Committee of the Council of Ministers
      - First Secretary of the Central Committee of the PCC
      - Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces
      - as before 1976, Castro remained personally involved in all governmental decisions
        
        1976 constitution changed be very little in practice, despite the establishment of:
        
        a legislative body (the National Assembly)
        
        met twice a year for a period of 4-5 days
        
        elected provincial and municipal authorities
    - - the contents of the laws passed reflect this (to an extent)
      - but freedom of association to protest against government policies does not exist
        
        all mass media controlled by state since 1960s
    - - an excessive level of bureaucratisation
        
        different social, political and economic plans launched led to the creation of a large public sector
        
        which employs a vast proportion of the workforce in an inefficient bureaucracy - as seen with the implementation of policies such as the Revolutionary Offensive
  - - - show trials (Padilla affair)
      - restrictions placed on people's freedom to express their views
      - role played by CDR (Committees for the Defence of the Revolution) set up in 1960
        
        significant in understanding how Castro treated opposition
        
        responsible for social projects
        
        primary role was to report counter-revolutionary activity
        
        members instructed to identify 'enemies of the revolution' and report on their activities
        
        an important tool in government surveillance
        
        CDR in operation in every workplace, street block and inside residential buildings
        
        by the end of its first year, more than 800,000 members
        
        by 1963, one-third of the Cuban population worked for a CDR
        
        levels of peer surveillance high - intimidated people
        
        many Cubans believed that being members of a CDR was a way to contribute to the goals of the revolution and to ensure what they had gained would not be lost
    - - 1965-1968, approx. 25,000 young men sent to UMAP labour camps
      - 'offenders' included:
        
        anyone opposing military service was sent to these camps
        
        children of political prisoners
        
        youngsters imitating US dress codes and tastes
        
        homosexuals
        
        political dissenters
      - sent to these labour camps to be 're-educated through the liberating effects of collective work'
      - camps closed in 1968 due to domestic and international pressure of Castro
        
        Castro claims he made the decision himself
    - - he has allowed the exodus of Cubans from the island at times
        
        helped him consolidate his power 1959-1962
        
        decreased internal opposition, but potentially increased external opposition
        
        these Cubans went to America where they were trained and sent back during Bay of Pigs incident
        
        he tolerated and to some extent encouraged them to leave
      - The Peruvian Embassy
        
        economic problems in Cuba made 1980 a year of political change for Castro's leadership
        
        in April, a bus full of Cubans crashed the gates outside the Peruvian embassy in Havana
        
        occupants of Peruvian embassy were seeking asylum
        
        Peruvian embassy refused to hand over the asylum seekers
        
        in response:
        
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        a Cuban guard was shot
        
        Castro announced that anyone who wanted to was free to leave the island
        
        Castro at a rally in his support in Havana: 'let them all go!'
        
        The Mariel Boatlift
        
        hundreds of boats, rented by Cubans living in Florida arrived to assist in the emigration
        
        125,000 Cubans emigrated from Cuba
        
        these marielitos were not only opponents to Castro or people wanting to be reunited with their relatives
        
        thousands of prisoners and mentally ill people were released by the government and forced to board the arriving boats
        
        showed the discontent that had been unheard of in Cuba before
        
        despite demonstrations in support of Castro - it put into question the level of commitment of the people towards the revolution and its legitimacy
        
        the readiness to tolerate hardship in the name of the revolution was coming to an end
        
        the relaxation of the legislation allowing Cubans living overseas to return to visit their relatives
        
        1 more item...
        
        treatment of asylum seekers
        
        Cuban press treated asylum seekers with disdain
        
        hundreds of supporters of Castro and the PCC stages demonstrations outside the Peruvian embassy to express their rejection of those seeking asylum
        
        Castro supporters referred to asylum seekers as 'scum'
        
        Cubans wished to leave the island - held in Peruvian embassy who offered them diplomatic protection - refused to release them back to Cuba - Castro removed guards - allowed Cubans protesting their exodus to enter the building - event led to Mariel Boatlift
        
        crisis unique in other aspects
        
        not the first time Castro had used emigration as a value to diffuse conflict
        
        in the early days of the revolution, thousands of Cubans (mainly middle-class and professionals) left the islands because early manifestation of a communist state
        
        but unlike other times, those leaving gin 198- were more economic than political emigrants
  - - - and later television
        
        to make the revolution a permanent presence in Cuban homes
    - - raise awareness of the ideals and actions of the government
      - increase commitment to its policies
      - written propaganda was a very effective tool in Cuba because educational levels had increased so much
    - - created the image of an engaged leader who fought for the ideals of the revolution:
        
        on the shores of Bay of Pigs
        
        in the Sierras
        
        at international and diplomatic conferences
      - his nationalistic speech appealed to the idea that Cuba's integrity was threatened by imperialism
        
        therefore, it was essential for Cubans to remain united and follow the directives of the government
        
        fundamental in shaping the political system with which Castro has remained in power with since 1959
      - Robert E. Quirk:
        
        'he spoke almost daily, and on some days more than once'
        
        'he lectured soliders on military matters, schoolteachers on education, physicians on medicine, agronomists on plant cultivation, coaches on athletics, filmmakers on the art of the cinema, master chess players on the best opening gambits, poets and novelists on the guidelines of acceptable writing'
        
        'he instructed, explaining the workings of the revolution to the Cuban people