Revolutionary Cuba The Challenge Of Economic Growth With Equity

Analysis of economic and social development trends in Cuba and the impact of the socialist revolution on economic growth, employment, consumption, income distribution and socio-economic conditions - examines the historical background, production indexes, economic indicators and estimates of gross domestic product, 1946-1981; studies dependence, structural change, basic needs, labour force and unemployment; includes statistical tables on foreign investment, industrial production, wages, growth rate, etc. Graphs.

Monograph comprising an evaluation of economic growth, basic needs satisfaction and income distribution after the 1959 revolution in Cuba - discusses historical trends, growth rate measurement problems, economic structure changes, trade, industrial production, agricultural production, successes in reducing unemployment, poverty and regional disparities, etc. Bibliography pp. 212 to 232, graphs, map, references and statistical tables.

The book argues that the Cuban Revolution warrants a closer look as a model of socialist human development. A re-reading of the Cuban Revolution from this angle engages unresolved issues in the theory of socialist humanism and the notion of human development popularized by the United Nations Development Programme (i.e., predicated on capitalism). UNDP economists and other agencies of international cooperation for development give a human face to a capitalist development process that is anything but humane. Socialism in Cuba has taken a very different form (socialist human development) than it did elsewhere in the twentieth century. The Cuban Revolution's unique characteristics enabled it to survive adverse conditions - a 'near-perfect storm' - that still threaten its evolution.

This book is a study of Cuba’s economic development under communism over the last fifty-five years. The authors find that Cuba’s socioeconomic development has gone backward since the Cuban Revolution in 1959. The authors conclude that Fidel Castro’s revolution has been an economic disaster for Cuba. The book first outlines Cuba’s economic position prior to the revolution. It reviews Cuba’s rankings with respect to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita in the 1950s and examines the strength of pre-Castro Cuba’s foreign reserves and the health of its monetary system. It also presents pre-Castro Cuba’s investments in health care and education and documents the island’s development potential in the 1950s. The last few chapters describe the precipitous decline in all of these areas of Cuba’s economy under Castro. Despite the socioeconomic catastrophe of the Castro years, the authors envision a post-Castro Cuba, where this book can provide a benchmark to measure the developmental success that the Cuban work-ethic and entrepreneurial spirit can generate in a free-market system.

This work addresses the whole spectrum of analyses of the Cuban experience and covers the entire period from the Revolutionary victory of 1959 to the present day. It attempts to anticipate future development of Cuban society.

Revolutionary Cuba today faces challenges and perils greater than at any time since the defeat of the US-backed 'Bay of Pigs' invasion in 1961. The Soviet Union, Cuba's main ally, is both weakened and divided, the Sandinistas are now in opposition, and remaining Communist governments are everywhere in crisis. These developments have combined with Cuba's domestic problems to place the revolution under threat. In this thorough but critical study, Janette Habel shows that, despite great achievements in public health and education, a malaise has developed in Cuban society. Detailing the arbitrary limits set upon popular participation and the absence of a properly functioning socialist democracy, she reveals a dangerous ossification of Cuba's once innovative and radical order, and a growing alienation of youth. This scrupulous account of the perils facing the Cuban revolution never forgets the appalling external pressures under which this small state labours. But it insists that only a bold new policy of revolutionary democracy offers the prospect of conserving--and building upon--the gains of the revolution.