Research Question: To what extent did Fidel Castro implement Marxist-Leninism into Cuba?
IB subject: Contemporary History
The investigation will evaluate Fidel Castro's role in implementing Marxist-Leninism into Cuba, thus creating the ideology of Castroism. Marxist-Leninism, also known as Castroism or Fidelism in Cuba, is the political, economic, and social principles of Fidel Castro. By analyzing the ways in which Marxist theories and Leninists beliefs influenced Castros advocated policies, it will ultimately determine to what extent did Fidel Castro implement Marxist-Leninism in Cuba? Although the self-proclaimed leader had transformed his country into the first communist state in the western hemisphere, it may not have been possible without his influence on Marxism-Leninism, whose main goal was to advance Cuba from a capitalist state into a socialist state. Fidel's strong belief in class divisions along with insights from Marx led to the formulation of a radical strategy for bringing about a social uprising in Cuba. The basic principles of Marxism include restriction to a monetary framework based on the misuse of the larger part (the working class), participation and free distribution of goods, and internationalism. This system's tenacity is to acquire benefits for a few people as opposed to fulfilling the requirements of all. Castros strong influence derived from these beliefs, overall, caused a fundamental change in Cuban society. When seeking to further understand how to develop the Cuban revolution, his formulated revolutionary strategies led to an overpowering social revolution.
Source: Soviet Marxism-Leninism: The Decline of an Ideology by Alfred B. Evans.
This source was written in 1993, decades after the official political theory of the Soviet regime
first appeared in the mid-1930s. The purpose of this book is to provide a clear understanding of the developments in Soviet Marxism-Leninism from the 1930s until the dissolution of the USSR. It gives an in-depth analysis of financial improvement developed under communism and Marxs consideration of capitalism to be a historically progressive economic formation. This document is valuable because it was written decades after Castros' implementation of Marxist-Leninism, so it has the benefit of hindsight in order to analyze Castros' influence on Cuba. The purpose of this source is valuable because it provides the reader with an in-depth overview of concepts under Stalin such as that capitalism can only thrive on the exploitation of the working class. It assesses the soviet ideologies, along with evaluations of post-Stalin changes decades after.
Source: Back from the Future: Cuba under Castro
This source was written by Susan Eckstein and was published in 2006. The purpose of this book was to analyze the extent to which socialist regimes are based on Marxist-Leninist moral principles, as well as how Castro had been using Marx's beliefs to push his influenced ideas of commun...
