ABSTRACT
This essay explains the transformation of Cuba’s popular revolutionary state into a Communist autocracy directed by Fidel Castro over the course of the first 20 years of his nearly six-decade rule. Castro’s provisional government, which took power in 1959 after the toppling of the Batista regime, became increasingly radical and did its best to undermine the influence and role of civil society. Fidel Castro secretly allied with members of Cuba’s historic Communist Party, known as the Partido Socialista Popular (PSP). Eliminating the autonomy of the press and liberal freedoms of assembly, speech and protest proved essential to the centralization of power and authority in Castro’s hands. Its validity was based on the Cuban citizens’ belief that surrendering their own rights was essential to consolidating national sovereignty and blocking US aggression. Loyalty to Fidel Castro and unanimous support for his policies, whatever their goals or content, ultimately enabled the rise of Soviet-style Communism and a security state in which surveillance of oneself and one’s neighbors was an essential fact of national life, culture, and Cuban identity.
