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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
Founded	3 October 1965; 53 years ago (1965-10-03)
Preceded by	26th of July Movement Popular Socialist Party
Headquarters	Havana, Cuba
Newspaper	Granma
Youth wing	Young Communist League
Pioneer wing	José Martí Pioneer Organization
Membership (2016)	670,000[1]
Ideology	Communism Marxism–Leninism Revolutionary socialism Anti-capitalism Castroism Guevarism Socialism of the 21st century
Political position	Far-left
International affiliation	International Meeting of Communist and Workers' Parties
Regional affiliation	COPPPAL Foro de São Paulo
Colors	Red      Blue
Slogan	¡Hasta la victoria siempre!
Website
www.pcc.cu
Politics of Cuba Political parties Elections

The Communist Party of Cuba^[a] is the ruling political party in the Republic of Cuba. 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". Since April 2011, the First Secretary of the Central Committee has been Raúl Castro, younger brother of the previous First Secretary Fidel Castro, who died on 25 November 2016. The Second Secretary has been José Ramón Machado Ventura.^[3]

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 Fulgencio 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 26 March 1962, the ORI became the United Party of the Cuban Socialist Revolution (PURSC), which in turn became the Communist Party of Cuba on 3 October 1965. In Article 5 of the Cuban constitution of 1976, the Communist Party is recognized as "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".^[4] All parties, including the Communist Party, are prohibited from publicly advertizing their organizations.

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 and 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.^{[citation needed]}

Congresses

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 Congress took place from 19 April to 22 April 2016,^[5] around the 55th anniversary of the Bay of Pigs Invasion,^[6] concluding with remarks by Fidel Castro.^[7]

Central Committee

See also: List of members of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba [es]

Party 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. However, the Secretariat was re-introduced in 2002. There is also a Central Committee which meets between party congresses. At the Fifth 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 Castro's 2008 resignation from the party and Cuban government, Raúl Castro became First Secretary.

Politburo

The 7th Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba was elected by the Central Committee on 19 April 2016 following the 7th 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 following the 6th Congress.

Youth

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 in Vietnam, China, and Laos, the Communist Party of Cuba retains a stricter adherence to the tradition of Marxism–Leninism and the traditional Soviet model.^{[citation needed]} The party 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.^{[citation needed]} Their most significant international role was in the civil war in Angola, where there was Cuban direction of a joint Angolan/Soviet/Cuban force that was involved in the Battle of Cuito Cuanavale.^[8][9] This led to the withdrawal of intervening forces and in the following peace agreement the independence of Namibia from South African rule.^[10]

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 Hugo Chávez and later Nicolás 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.^[11]

Electoral History

National Assembly of People's Power

See also

• List of political parties in Cuba

Footnotes

Citations

Further reading

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


• 
  "First Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba: Havana, December 17-22, 1975 (Collection of Documents)".


• Fidel Castro. "Main Report, Second Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba" (December 1980).

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Communist Party of Cuba.

• 
  Official website (in Spanish)