On April 16, 2021, Raúl Castro, the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba, officially announced at the Eighth National Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba that he would no longer hold the highest leadership position within the Party, thus withdrawing from the leadership of the Communist Party of Cuba. In this regard, the "post-Castro era" that began with Raul Castro's succession to Fidel Castro in 2011 has finally come to an end, and Cuban history has turned a new page.
The Cuban Revolution of 1959, while not a major event in the history of the international communist movement, is legendary enough. The socialist country that the Castro brothers built with indomitable will and hard work under the eyes of the United States has survived the tide of drastic changes in Eastern Europe and the shock of the collapse of the Soviet Union, and has stood tall in Central America to this day. Now that the Castro brothers have entrusted the future of the country to a new generation of leaders, where will Cuba's future go?
01
Castro: A brand of an era
If a name were to be used to support the history of the Republic of Cuba, there would never be a second word other than "Castro".
For the United States, Latin America is its back garden, and no matter how weeds grow in this garden, they cannot escape the gardener's ruthless removal. From sending Marines to occupy Haiti to invading Cuba and turning it into a quasi-colony, from overthrowing the democratically elected government of Dominica to broadly supporting military regimes in South America, the United States wields a Monroe Doctrine stick and extends gross intervention to every corner of Latin America.
And the latin American people, who had suffered from colonialism, certainly would not allow a new colonizer to put the reins on their necks, so in the revolutionary movement for independence and against intervention, vanguard fighters such as the Castro brothers emerged. Faced with the pro-American reactionary regime of Batista in the country, they went around, persisted in the struggle, led a group of only 12 people into the mountains and forests to guerrillas, and finally entered Havana, establishing the Republic of Cuba.
After the victory of the revolution, Castro abolished the old system, formulated new regulations, carried out a series of socialist transformations of the original production relations and political system, and completed the transformation of Cuba to a planned economy and the establishment of the people's congress system under the leadership of the Communist Party.
However, as the forefront of the socialist camp in the Americas, socialist Cuba is a thorn in the eye and a thorn in the flesh of the United States. From Eisenhower to George H.W. Bush, no U.S. president during the Cold War did not want to get rid of it quickly, and while continuing the high-intensity economic sanctions, he continued to formulate one assassination plan after another against the Castro brothers. It was only these means used by the United States to subvert the socialist regime in Cuba that they were eventually declared bankrupt in the face of the self-reliance and indomitability of the Castro brothers and the Cuban people.
What is even more valuable is that even if it once relied on the Soviet Union economically and militarily, Cuba did not blindly copy the Soviet Union's development model, but always built socialism based on its own national conditions and embarked on a socialist road of its own. Castro, the leader of Cuba for 52 years, continued his independence line from beginning to end, allowing Cuba's red flag to stand after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
In 2011, Fidel Castro handed over the baton to his younger brother Raúl Castro, who continued to advance the reforms that had begun in Cuba, and now Raúl has withdrawn from the center of the Cuban political scene, and the Castro era, which lasted for more than half a century, has finally come to an end. In any case, the name Castro has left an indelible mark on the memory of the Cuban people, and this is the banner and proof of the country's independence and invincibility.
02
Cuba at the turn of the times
If Cuba's "Castro era" represented revolution, independence and resistance, then the next era in Cuba heralded change, development and transformation.
Since 1993, Cuba has been carrying out reforms, and in 1997 it was first proposed to give priority to economic work at the Five Congresses of the Communist Party of Cuba. After Raul took over, he further relaxed the restrictions on the development of the non-public economy, encouraged more private economy, and expanded the forms of ownership such as self-employed, contracting, and foreign investment. However, the liberalization of the non-public economy does not mean that the Cuban economy has officially begun to transition to a market economy, Cuba is still based on the planned economy, Raul has said that "Cuba will not use the market economy to solve economic problems", telecommunications, energy, health, education and other major sectors are still "forbidden areas" and firmly controlled by the state.
Overall, Raúl's reforms were radical compared to Fidel Castro's long-term quiet, but in terms of actual progression was slow and cautious, and even gradual attempts at the private economy had caused problems in Cuba such as widening gap between rich and poor and increasing social discontent.
It can be said that Fidel Castro planted the seeds of reform in Cuba, while Raul Castro made the initial attempts at reform, so what about after that? How will the next generation of leadership continue the reforms?
Although Cuba has successfully passed the "big test" of the new crown epidemic with its excellent public health care system and the world's leading biotechnology sector, keeping the infection rate and mortality rate very low for a long time, the Cuban economy shrank by 11% in 2020 due to the sharp increase in U.S. sanctions against Cuba during the Trump era and the blow of the epidemic on Cuba's tourism industry. At present, with the continuation of the epidemic, the plight of domestic shortage of materials and economic weakness in Cuba is also increasing.
As a result, at the Eighth Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba, "continuity" became the slogan of the congress, and the new generation of leadership of the Ancient Communist Party, represented by Díaz-Canel, was preparing to take over the mantle of its predecessors and continue to advance along the line of socialist reform. What is certain is that the diversification of the economic sector and the expansion of opening up of the economy have become the main themes of reform under the premise that the leadership of the Cuban Communist Party remains, and the question before cubans is whether the Cuban planned economic system needs to be completely changed on the road of further stimulating economic vitality and promoting the development of the Cuban economy, and whether it is necessary to establish another model of "socialist market economy" in Cuba in the future. In any case, despite the relatively slow pace of reform in the Cuban leadership today, the Cuban people may one day have to make a choice. After all, under the perpetual economic oppression of the United States, Cuba must be flexible enough to escape its shackles.
On the other hand, Raul's transition of power to a new generation of leadership also means that the basis of the political legitimacy of the Cuban regime will shift from the revolutionary traditions and historical legacies of the Castro brothers to the talents and achievements of the leaders, and a complete political step into a new era. These new generation of leaders, who grew up after the victory of the Cuban Revolution, will look at Cuba from a new perspective and lead the direction of socialism in Cuba with different development concepts.
In the turning point of the times, the Castro brothers have forged the foundation of socialism in Cuba, and how to make the red flag of Cuba stand firm in the new era and break the shackles of Cuba's economy depends on the strategic courage and reform wisdom of these successors.
Author: Ichikai Putian Yiguang
Edited by: One Realm, One Heaven and One Light