Communism in Cuba Essay Example

When Fidel Castro took control of Cuba he needed to adopt an ideology that would unite a people and a country, and place him in the role of sole leader and head of Cuba. While it is his millitant actions that gave him power, it was his adoption of communism which has kept Castro in power for so long. There have been many goverment’s overthrown in Latin America, but few if any coups have had the impact on world affairs than Castro coming into power in Cuba did. By bringing communism to the western hemisphere this small latin american country was presenting a challenge to the United States that only such “superpowers” as Russia and Germany had done in the past.

Castro was first introduced to the ideas of Marx and Lenin when he was in jail. When Castro first came into power he did not fully support communism, but his regime developed aspects of communism over time. Castro’s early ideas were not very extreme and did not differ from other opposers of Batista. Castro believed in a return to constitutional goverment, agarian reform, and profit sharing arrangments in industry. He recognized that Cuba had become a country of financial extrems. One’s class was either the elite or lower class, there was no middle class. While many Cuban leaders such as Che Guevera wanted the Cuban Revolution to serve as an example to other Latin American countries and create a revolution througjout Latin America, Castro was more concerned with establishing Cuba as independant and able to stand on it’s own. Castro wanted the people to accept three key principals. Accept himself as the leader and sole controler of Cuba and it’s citizens, to have a genuine love and respect for your fellow Cuban citizens and to have a love for Cuba as a nation and country. Castro attempted to accomplish these goals by ridding Cuba of an upper class that had benefitted from the Batista regime. By ridding himself of the upper class he hurt Cuba economically, but felt in the long run doing so would make Cuba