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 Outline on the  Cuban Revolution
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  During the 1800's, many Cubans began to call for independence from Spain
 
  In 1898, the US helped defeat Spain, which then gave up all claims to Cuba
 
  A US military govt ruled Cuba from 1899 until 1902, when the island became a republic
 
  But the US maintained close ties with Cuba & often intervened in the island's internal affairs
 
  The Cuban people elected Machado president in 1924  
  During his campaign, Machado had attacked the Platt Amendment & had promised reforms, but after becoming president, he ruled as a dictator  
  In August 1933, a general strike & an army revolt forced Machado out of office  
  They named a five-man govt, headed by a former university professor named San Martin, to rule Cuba  
  The Grau govt wanted to reduce U.S. influence in Cuba & make far-reaching changes  
  The govt passed a number of measures, including laws that established an eight-hour workday & required all Cuban businesses to employ Cubans for at least half of their total work force  
  The US & many Cubans refused to recognize the Grau govt  
  A month later, an army sergeant named Zaldivar and a group of university students & professors led a military revolt that overthrew the new govt  
  Batista forced Grau to resign from office in 1934.  Until 1940, Batista ruled Cuba as dictator through presidents who served in name only  
  In 1934, the US & Cuba signed a treaty that canceled the Platt Amendment, except for the Guantanamo Bay lease  
 
 During most of the period from the 1930's to the 1950's, Cuba was controlled by a dictator, Zaldivar
 
  The US recognized & supported Batista's govt  
  US investments in Cuba continued to expand during the 1940s & 1950s  
  Many Cubans remained unemployed & in poverty, & political conflict expanded across the island where strikes & demonstrations became common  
  In July of 1953, Castro, a young lawyer, tried to start a revolution against Batista by attacking the Moncada army barracks in Santiago  
  Castro was captured & imprisoned & many of his followers were either imprisoned or murdered  
  Castro was released from prison in 1955 & went to Mexico where in 1956, he organized the 26th of July Movement, which was named after the date of his first revolt  
  Castro's forces landed in Oriente Province in December 1956 but most of the rebels were imprisoned or killed  
  However, Castro & about a dozen of his followers escaped to the Sierra Maestra  
  In 1957, Castro's forces began to wage a guerrilla war against the Cuban govt  
  In 1957, university students stormed the presidential palace in an attempt to assassinate Batista  
  Attempts by the govt to crush the rev increased the people's support of the rebels  
  Continued poor econ conditions also led to growing support for the rebels, particularly among workers, peasants, students, & the middle class  
  By mid 1958, Batista's govt had lost the support & confidence of both the US and the Cubans  
 
 In 1959, Fidel Castro led a rev that overthrew Batista
 
  On Jan. 1, 1959, Batista fled the country & Castro's forces then took control of the government  
 
 The rebels later set up a Communist govt with Castro as its head
 
 
 Relations between Cuba and the US became tense soon after the rev
 
 
 The Castro govt developed close ties w/ the Soviet Union ( SU ), then the main rival of the US in a struggle for international power
 
 
 The rev leaders did away w/ the political & military structure of Batista's govt
 
 
 Many former political officials & military officers of the Batista govt were tried & executed
 
 
 A large number of middle & upper class Cubans went into exile in Florida
 
 
 The new Cuban govt immediately set out to change Cuban relations with the United States
 
 
 In particular, it sought to reduce US influence on Cuban national affairs
 
 
 In 1960, for example, the Cuban govt seized US owned businesses, including sugar estates & as a result, relations btwn Cuba & the US quickly became strained
 
 
 As relations w/ the US declined, Cuba developed stronger ties w/ the SU & became a Communist country
 
 
 In early 1960, Castro's govt signed a broad econ pact with the SU
 
  In June 1960, the Castro govt took over Am & British oil refineries in Cuba after the refineries refused to process crude oil imported from the SU  
  In 1961, the US ended diplomatic relations with Cuba  
  In April 1961, Cuban exiles sponsored by the US CIA invaded Cuba at the Bay of Pigs on the south coast  
  Castro's forces crushed the invasion & captured most of the exiles & Castro later released many of the exiles to the US in exchange for nonmilitary supplies  
  Cuban leaders feared another direct US invasion & the SU offered military aid to Cuba, & Cuba agreed to let the SU send missiles & materials to build launch sites  
  In October 1962, the US learned that Cuba had nuclear missiles in place that could be launched toward Am cities  
 
 President Kennedy demanded that the SU remove all missiles from the island & dismantle the remaining missile bases
 
  Finally, the SU removed the weapons under protest from Castro  
  The Soviet action came after Kennedy privately agreed not to invade Cuba & Kennedy also agreed to remove US nuclear missiles from Turkey, which the Soviets considered to be a threat  
  Social Programs in Cuba  
  The Castro govt built many new schools & improved old ones, & school enrollments & literacy rates increased dramatically  
  Health conditions improved, & life expectancy increased & social reforms also led to more opportunities for minorities  
  On the other hand, many opponents of the govt were jailed, & Cuba came under sharp criticism from int'l human rights groups  
  In addition, the Cuban people were denied many political & econ freedoms  
 
 The Cuban econ declined under Castro, & the people suffered from shortages of food & housing
 
  Analysis of the Cuban Rev:  
  The Cuban Rev is seen as historically important because it overthrew a capitalist state, an ally of the US, & occurred in the backyard of the US  
  The Cuban Rev validates many of Farley's necessary conditions for rev in that  
  -  the Cuban people were dissatisfied because of exploitation by foreigners, esp the US, exploitation of the Batista & other govts which were puppets of the US, oppression by the military, etc., & general poverty   
  -  while communications were difficult in the 20th century Cuba, it was still possible given the mail, newspapers, etc. & the small size of the Cuban island  
  -  the Cuban people & leaders had survived centuries of repression by the foreign occupiers & puppet & corrupt govts  
  -  while the Cuban people feared the Cuban puppet govts, & the colonizers, esp the US, Castro & Che Gueverra inspired them w/ their visions of socialism, equality & freedom from colonialism & corrupt govts  
  -  the Cuban people had barely adequate resources, but were bolstered by the support from the Soviet Union ( SU )  
  The Cuban Rev validates many of Marx's factors affecting rev in that  
  -  the Cuban peasants experienced the contradiction of & colonial capitalism  
  -  the Cuban peasants had class consciousness in that they understood the contradiction of colonial feudalism & colonial capitalism because they had lived under it for centuries   
  -  the historical circumstances of the Cuban Rev included the historic colonial exploitation of the nation, the puppet, corrupt regimes, the rise of leaders who supported socialism, the Cold War, & support from the SU  
  -  the Cuban peasants had a strong political org in the form socialist revolutionary cells  
  -  there was a high level of class conflict btwn the peasant, local bourgeoisie, local feudal land barons, & foreign colonists  
  The Cuban Rev validates Johnson's theory in that 20th century Cuba was in disequilibrium because of the contradiction btwn peasants value of freedom & the elimination of poverty, the values of the local bourgeoisie, local feudal land barons, & foreign colonists of maintaining what they saw as free-mkt capitalism  
  Johnson notes that loss in a war sets the old regime up for rev, & in the case of the Cuban Rev, they had 
-  lost several wars of independence from earlier colonizing powers 
-  but had lost no wars prior to the Cuban Rev other than the rev war itself
-  however, there had been several internal strikes, & protests which had weakened all puppet regimes		  

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