ABSTRACT
WHILE THE RECTIFICATION process of the 1980s left many economic and political problems unresolved, with the collapse of East European Communism conditions in Cuba went from bad to worse. The collapse of Soviet-bloc Communism made the government’s vulnerability to global market forces greater than ever. Castro did not passively acquiesce to the “new world order.” He implemented reforms consistent with socialist ideological and organizational principles, but more than in years past he “reverted” also to market measures and even to precapitalist survival strategies. He implemented political reforms as well. But the populace did not passively acquiesce either, even if they did not take to the streets to bring down the state as did their former Soviet-bloc comrades.
