preview

Cuban Revolution Research Paper

Decent Essays

“Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.” Mao Zedong, the dictator of China during the Chinese revolution, stated. Mao Zedong and Fidel Castro were both very monumental believers in war tactics, especially guerilla warfare which is a tactic in which smaller, irregular armies or civilians use military tactics to go against a larger army.. The Cuban and Chinese revolutions consisted of blood, famine, abuse of power, and, on contrast, unity. Fidel Castro led the Cuban revolution as a substantial declaration of independence from dictatorship. However, many historians debate on what accelerators of the revolutions were most impactful. The Chinese and Cuban Revolutions were both heavily rooted by substandard economic state where the government …show more content…

This, in China, caused many rebellions from the lower classes and the destitute factory workers as they felt unequally treated. Poor factory workers mainly pushed the Chinese revolution with their rebellions against the lack of food and money. The Chinese governement wanted to emphasize industrialization and control over industry. (Capitalism, Socialism, and the 1949 Chinese Revolution). The economy in China was industrialized while Cubans were agriculturalized, but both shared the similarity of poor economy and abundance of poverty stricken people. Fidel Castro, who was raised up in poverty by a father who worked on a sugar plantation, fought for the poor. He, along with his supporters, used successful guerrilla warfare to overthrow the Cuban leader at the time, Batista. Castro’s first hand experience with poverty allowed him to effectively fight for the impecunious. Castro states, “Why should we be miserably poor, so that others can be hugely rich? I speak on the behalf of the children of the world who do not even have a piece of bread. I speak on the behalf of the sick who have no medicine, of those whose rights to life and dignity have been denied.” (A Biography of Fidel Castro). In China, the poor, who made up the majority of China’s population, were forced to work in factories only to receive unsubstantial pay. The Chinese Communist revolution …show more content…

With this destitute economic status, lower classes in both China and Cuba got little to no money and were unable to support their families. At this time, communism was starting to emerge and communist parties in both Cuba and China began to spark rebellions and protests. In China, women were oppressed and dominated by men. They were forced to work in factories and treated as inferior, but, men also were forced to work in factories and were resented by higher class men.. Lower classes, due to the lingering belief in Confucianism, where women were expected to obey and serve their fathers, brothers, and men, were working hours on end to feed their families, or at least try to, while the higher class was enjoying themselves until lower classes did not stand for inferiority. (Sources of Chinese Tradition: From 1600 Through the Twentieth Century) In Cuba, abundant class divisions were also due to racism. Freed slaves, or men and women of color were oppressed as Fidel Castro did not fight in favor of slaves, but more in favor of Cubans in poverty. (“Theorizing the Cuban Revolution”. Latin American Perspectives 36 ). However, in China, the working class grew wealthier and wealthier. Despite the destitute working conditions, economy proceeded to improve. In Cuba, the countryside residents lived in extreme poverty. Sugar production was abundant, and the macheteros, sugarcane cutters who only worked four months a year, formed

Get Access