Agrarian History of the Cuban Revolution

Joana Salm Vasconcelos, has a Ph.D. on Economic History at University of So Paulo and a Masters Degree on Economic Development at State University of Campinas. She is coordinating editor of Latin American Perspectives (US) and associated researcher of Centro de Estudios de Historia Agraria en Amrica Latina (CEHAL).

• AcknowledgmentsForeword—English Edition Cuba’s Present and a Specter Haunting the SpectatorsForeword—Brazilian EditionList of Tables, Charts, and MapsCuban Provinces from 1940 to 1976Introduction Dilemmas of Peripheral Socialism1 Modernization of Cuban Plantation (1902–1958)1 Latifundium-Minifundium Land Tenure Structure1.1 Between Latifundium and Minifundium 1.2 Origins of Structural Heterogeneity1.3 Social Actors of Modern Plantation2 Cropping Regimes: Sugarcane Fields in Wall Street2.1 Military Order No.62 and Primitive Accumulation2.2 Dance of the Millions2.3 Reciprocal Trade Agreement Act of 1934 and the Jones-Costigan Amendment2.4 Ascension of Cuban Saccharocracy3 Labor Regime: the Curse of the Crowds3.1 Statistics Cover-Up3.2 A Portrait of Rural Misery3.3 Structural Unemployment and tiempo muerto4 The World Seen from Above4.1 Batista and the Rockefeller-Sullivan  4.2 A Portrait of Saccharocracy5 Revolution against Underdevelopment5.1 The Moncada Program5.2 Revolutionary Democratic Nationalism5.3 Sierra Maestra Law No.32 First Agrarian Reform, Impulses and Impasses (1958–1963)1 Transformation of the Land Tenure System1.1 The Agrarian Reform Law of 19591.2 Nationalization Laws1.3 A Portrait of Structural Transformation2 Cooperatives or State Farms?2.1 The Proletarian Peasant and the Scale Preservation2.2 Agricultural Cooperatives2.3 Granjas del Pueblo (People’s Farm)2.4 Converting Cooperatives into Granjas3 Peasantry: Principle of Voluntarism and anap3.1 anap Foundation and Its Principles3.2 Mistakes Made with the Peasantry3.3 anap’s “Administrativism”3.4 Politics of Voluntary Collectivism4 Agricultural Diversification: Disruption of the Double Articulation4.1 Neocolonial Insertion Crisis: the Search for National Sovereignty4.2 Increase of Internal Demand: Searching for Social Equity4.3 Diversification: Searching for Economic Development4.4 Structural Problems of Diversification: Extensive, Disorganized, and Inefficient4.5 Intensification of Class Struggle and General Economic Trends in 19633 Second Agrarian Reform and the Sugar Paradox (1963–1967)1 Transformation of the Land Tenure System1.1 The Agrarian Reform Law of October 19631.2 Cyclone Flora1.3 The Social Structure of the New Agriculture1.4 A Combined Strategy: Sugar, Diversification and Technology2 The Soviet Union and the Sugar Paradox2.1 The 1964 Agreement2.2 Back to Sugar2.3 Inserted Revolution and the Paradox of the New Dependency2.4 Third World: Arena for National Sovereignty 3 Agrarian Management: between Relative Autonomy and Centralization3.1 Agrupamientos, Departamentos, Lotes (Grouping, Departments, Allotments)3.2 Aspects of the Great Debate in Agriculture4 Specialized Diversification and Technology-Intensive Model4.1 Crop Performance between 1964 and 19704.2 Combinados and Special Plans: Modes of Diversification4.3 Peasantry and Special Plans5 Technological Dependency and Sugarcane Mechanization5.1 Investment and Consumption5.2 Tiempo Muerto in Reverse: Unemployment in Disguise5.3 Paths and Detours of Technological Choice4 The 1970 Harvest and Development Strategy (1967–1970)1 Agrarian Structure and Development Strategy1.1 Import Substituting Industrialization1.2 Turnpike Strategy: the Return of “Comparative Advantages”?1.3 Why Ten Million?2 Revolutionary Offensive and Moral Economy2.1 Moral Economy and Ideological Centralization2.2 Collective Wage Agreement and Lack of Accounting Control2.3 The Shrinking of the Peasantry3 The 1970 Harvest: Plan and Reality3.1 Simultaneous Battles3.2 The Harvest in Numbers3.3 Causes of Failure3.4 Structural Distortions4 Voluntary Work: between Consciousness and Coercion4.1 Drop in Productivity and Elimination of the Foreman4.2 Criticism of Volunteer Labor4.3 The Militarization of Labor4.4 Self-Criticism5 Conclusion Dilemmas of Peripheral Socialism1 Geopolitical Implications: the Source of Surplus1.1 The Transfer of Soviet Resource1.2 Multilateral Payment Agreement1.3 Cold War and Geopolitical Advantages1.4 Joining the comecon2 Peripheral Socialism and Rationality of the Possible2.1 From Segregation to Egalitarianism2.2 Development of the Productive Forces2.3 Peripheral Socialism and Rationality of the PossibleBibliographyIndex