Communist Party of Cuba

Coordinates: 20°59′27.7″N 77°25′41.5″W / 20.991028°N 77.428194°W / 20.991028; -77.428194

Communist Party of Cuba Partido Comunista de Cuba
First Secretary	Raúl Castro
Second Secretary	José Ramón Machado
Founder	Fidel Castro
Slogan	Hasta la victoria siempre
Founded	October 3, 1965 (1965-10-03)
Preceded by	26th of July Movement Popular Socialist Party
Headquarters	Havana, Cuba
Newspaper	Granma
Youth wing	Young Communist League
Membership  (2011)	800,000
Ideology	Communism Marxism–Leninism Castroism Guevarism Socialist patriotism
Political position	Far-left
International affiliation	International Meeting of Communist and Workers' Parties International Communist Seminar
Regional affiliation	Foro de São Paulo, COPPPAL
Colors	Red      Blue
National Assembly	612 / 612 [1]
Website
www.pcc.cu
Politics of Cuba Political parties Elections

The Communist Party of Cuba (Spanish: Partido Comunista de Cuba, PCC) is the only political party permitted to rule in the Republic of Cuba, although others exist. It is a Communist party of the Marxist-Leninist model. The Cuban constitution ascribes the role of the Party to be the "leading force of society and of the state." As of April 2011, the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba is Raúl Castro, the President of Cuba, younger brother of the previous First Secretary and President of Cuba, Fidel Castro, and the Second Secretary is José Ramón Machado Ventura.^[2]

History

A billboard in Havana promoting the ongoing socialist revolution

Cuba had a number of communist and anarchist organizations from the early period of the Republic (founded in 1902). The original "internationalised" Communist Party of Cuba formed in the 1920s. In 1944 it renamed itself as the Popular Socialist Party for electoral reasons. In July 1961, two years after the successful overthrow of Batista and the creation of a revolutionary government, the Integrated Revolutionary Organizations (ORI) was formed from the merger of:

• Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement
• the Popular Socialist Party led by Blas Roca
• the student-based Revolutionary Directory led by Faure Chomón

On March 26, 1962, the ORI became the United Party of the Cuban Socialist Revolution (PURSC) which, in turn, became the Communist Party of Cuba on October 3, 1965. According to Article 5 of the Cuban constitution of 1976, the Communist Party is "the superior guiding force of society and of the State, that organizes and orients common efforts toward the high goals of the construction of socialism and the advancement toward communist society."^[3] The Communist Party is the only recognized political party in Cuba. Other parties, though not illegal, are unable to campaign or conduct any activities on the island that could be deemed counter-revolutionary.

For the first fifteen years of its formal existence, the Communist Party was almost completely inactive outside of the Politburo. The 100 person Central Committee rarely met and it was ten years after its founding that the first regular Party Congress was held. In 1969, membership of the party was only 55,000 or 0.7% of the population, making the PCC the smallest ruling Communist party in the world. In the 1970s, the party's apparatus began to develop. By the time of the first Party Congress in 1975 the party had grown to just over two hundred thousand members, the Central Committee was meeting regularly and provided the organizational apparatus giving the party the leading role in society that ruling Communist parties generally hold. By 1980 the party had grown to over 430,000 members; it grew further to 520,000 by 1985. Apparatuses of the party had grown to ensure that its leading cadres were appointed to key government positions.

Structure

Congress

The Communist Party of Cuba held its first Party Congress in 1975 and has had additional congresses in 1980, 1986, 1991, 1997, and 2011. The Seventh Party Congress is scheduled to take place around the 55th anniversary of the Bay of Pigs invasion.^[4]

• 1st Congress (17–22 December 1975)
• 2nd Congress (17–20 December 1980)
• 3rd Congress (4–7 February 1986)
• 4th Congress (10–14 October 1991)
• 5th Congress (8–10 October 1997)
• 6th Congress (16–19 April 2011)

Central Committee

Communist Party of Cuba Headquarters

The leading bodies of the party were the Politburo and the Secretariat until 1991 when the two bodies were merged into an expanded Politburo with over twenty members. The Secretariat, however, was re-introduced in 2002. There is also a Central Committee which meets between party congresses. At the Fifth Party Congress the size of the Central Committee was reduced to 150 members from the previous membership of 225. Fidel Castro was the party's First Secretary (or leader) since its inception, while Raúl Castro was the Second Secretary. Upon Fidel's 2008 resignation from the Party and Cuban government, Raúl became First Secretary.

Politburo

The 6th Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba was elected by the Men'sCentral Committee on 19 April 2011 in the aftermath of the 6th Party Congress.

Secretariat

The 6th Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba was elected by the Central Committee on 19 April 2011 in the aftermath of the 6th Party Congress.

Others

The Communist Party of Cuba has a youth wing, the Young Communist League (Unión de Jóvenes Comunistas, UJC) which is a member organization of the World Federation of Democratic Youth. It also has a children's group, the José Martí Pioneer Organization.

Ideology

Compared with other ruling Communist Parties, such as the Communist Party of Vietnam, the Communist Party of China and the Lao People's Revolutionary Party, the Communist Party of Cuba retains a stricter adherence to the tradition of Marxism-Leninism and the traditional Soviet model.

The Cuban party is more deeply committed to the concept of socialism than other ruling parties and has been more reluctant in engaging in market reforms though it has been forced to accept some market measures in its economy due to the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the resultant loss of economic subsidies. The Communist Party of Cuba has favored supporting revolutions abroad and was active in assisting the ELN in Colombia, the FMLN in El Salvador, the Sandinistas in Nicaragua and Maurice Bishop's New Jewel Movement in Grenada. Their most significant international role was in Angola where the Cuban direction of a joint Angolan/Soviet/Cuban force that was involved in the Battle of Cuito Cuanavale.^[5][6] This led to the withdrawal of intervening forces and, in the following peace agreement, the independence of Namibia from South African rule.^[7]

Despite the end of the Cold War, the party maintains a policy of sending thousands of Cuban doctors, agricultural technicians, and other professionals to other countries throughout the developing world. More recently the party has sought to support left wing leaders such as Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela and Evo Morales in Bolivia.

Raúl Castro is campaigning to "renew" Cuba's socialist economy through incorporating new exchange and distribution systems that have been traditionally seen as "market" oriented. This has led to some speculation that Cuba may transition towards a model more similar to that of China.^[8]

See also

• List of political parties in Cuba

Footnotes

Further reading

• Barry Carr, "From Caribbean Backwater to Revolutionary Opportunity: Cuba's Evolving Relationship with the Comintern, 1925-34," in Tim Rees and Andrew Thorpe (eds.), International Communism and the Communist International, 1919-43. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1998.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Communist Party of Cuba.

• (Spanish) PCC official website

Political parties in Cuba In government Communist Party of Cuba Opposition Christian Democratic Party of Cuba Cuban Democratic Socialist Current Cuban Liberal Union Democratic Social-Revolutionary Party of Cuba Democratic Solidarity Party National Liberal Party of Cuba Orthodox Renovation Party Social Democratic Co-ordination of Cuba Historical Cuban National Party Democratic Union Party Independent Republican Party Liberal Party National Action Party Partido Auténtico Partido Ortodoxo People's Labour Party Popular Socialist Party United Action Party Progressive Action Party People's Party Socialist Worker Party Socialist Party of Manzanillo Cuban National League Democratic Federal Republican Party of Santiago de Cuba Republican Party of Havana Politics List of political parties Politics of Cuba

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