Castro: A Beginner's Guide

Connolly, Sean. Castro: A Beginner's Guide. 2002. 85p. ISBN 0-340-84612-7. Available at B CAS on the library shelves.

Born in Cuba in 1926, Fidel Castro joined a successful and wealthy family. Growing up, he became disillusioned with the way the Cuban society was organized. Even in his early teens he tried to organize his father's workers so they could advocate for better work conditions. Castro came of age during the Second World War and found two massive ideological blocks starring at each other. On the one hand were the United States, western democracies, and other capitalist countries, while on the other was the Soviet Union and communist states. Castro found himself straddling both of these blocs in the early 1950s.

Cuba's wealth at the time depended on sugar, and most of the population was poor. Freed from colonial Spain in 1898, Cuba did not achieve full independence but remained limited in its abilities to govern itself from the United States, whose businessmen dominated the Cuban economy. Castro thus found himself in a nation dominated by a dictator, and he pledged to overthrow the government that, in his opinion, was oppressing the Cuban people. Through luck and sheer will, Castro assembled a motley crew and conducted a guerilla war, leading to the departure of the dictator in 1959. Castro soon assumed control of the Cuban state and implemented marxist policies, aligning the country with the Soviet Union. These antagonized the United States, which sought to depose him in coups and assassination attempts, none of which were successful. 

Over the course of the next forty years, the Cuban people benefited from better medical care and universal literacy. Their civil rights were strongly curtailed, however, and they did not have the ability to express political opinions. The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 left Cuba bereft of a sponsor, and the society had to adapt. Through it all, Castro remained firmly in control, guiding the Cuban nation for better or for worse towards an unknown future.