Castro vs. the United States

             I found the film interesting to watch because I found myself very conflicted watching it. Castro was a very complicated man whose views shaped an entire country for four decades. Although Castro has been cast as a villan by the United States, and rightly so for a number of reasons including challenging our way of life, he also did many positive things for his country including giving education to every child in Cuba. The documentary on Castro helps depict the type of child he was and how he grew into the dictator that he was. I do not believe that Castro meant to be the benevolent dictator that he was, but he simply was doing what he thought was best for his country. I honestly believe that Castro simply put the United States as the scape goat for all of Cuba's problems because they were the epitome of democracy in the Western hemisphere.
             Another key fact that I found interesting that even once the Soviet Union fell in 1991, Castro is still running Cuba with an iron fist. Everyone thought that he would crumble, but he refused to yield. Even if the world despises Castro, he was truly a revolutionary figure, and man of the people. He was passionate to his country, and wanted what was best for it, and with this came socialism which was believed to help Cuba escape its state. Even though Castro is an old man now, and the US is waiting for him to die so we can befriend Cuba once again, I believe we need to acknowledge Castro's contributions to the 20th century. Without him, the Bay of Pigs Invasion and the Cuban Missile Crisis would never have taken place.

Why Castro is Unique

When one asks "why Castro? and Why Cuba?" one must start the procedure to finding the solution at this dictator's childhood. Castro had an interesting childhood mainly because of the rampant violent outbursts that occurred throughout his early years. I found a particular recollection particularly interesting because it told of Castro threatening to set his own house and family on fire if he was not allowed to return to his private schooling. After this was revealed in the film, I realized that Castro's incredible willingness to using any means possible to achieve his goal was what made him as powerful as he was/is. When Bautista was in power, Castro's attempt to run for a political position was ended by the military power of Bautista. From this moment on Castro realized that violence was a very effective way of gaining support.

Next, while Bautista's regime was in power, Castro was able to gain support of the public masses by leading a rebellion against the military base. Cuba was the ideal place for Castro to take over because the people were desperate for a change.

Unfortunately, once Castro became the "advocate" for the people he began to abuse his power. Castro soon became the cruel dictator who oversaw every little decision being made in Cuba and making the people regret the decision to ever follow him.

Fidel Castro, why did you do that

Yet another typical Communist story, full of youth the guerrillas beat the powerful machine guns and won all the hearts. I have always seen Communists betrayed the Socialist principle of pursuing true democracy, and turned the system into something oppressive. But it is this film that made me look into this matter deeper, for Fidel very much like other 1st generation revolutionaries have that kind of devotion to do good, but yet all of them turned into "dictators". Why? Why can't there be a Washington in the Socialist world? For there are so many "Marxist"(or more actually Soviet modeled) revolutions. Then I realize democracy, elections are way more complicated than what I previously thought. That era, I think we can agree, the capitalism in its rudimentary form was pretty bad(As we see in China today). The laws were not mature, people were not as protected. There is no way to fight for rights with votes in a jungle. How can you possibly not vote for your boss who pay you the very little wage that barely keep you alive? The rich always win, for both parties are backed by the rich, the only difference might be issues of stance on race. That point what people wanted to overthrow is the whole system. How can this capitalism be the final destination of humanity? Obviously we can build something much better. One can argue that people are fooled, but by that time in poor countries, especially those under imperial influences found Marxism a very appealing option, for it is full of international equality and other things that give people hope and dignity. Instead of mild civil disobedient they wanted to completely abolish capitalism, and that might really be the majority of the people. So there, you won, and I want to ask how can you abolish capitalism and build a Marxist world(which is what people at that point wants). Or just simply, how can you build schools in the remote areas and made medical care free for everyone? That is what the majority wants, and they voted by blood. Market don't need remote farmers to be educated and be engineers, for the US company only want cheap labors, which is the selling point. So when your boss say no, you kind of hard to really win it with election. Fidel and the people was disappointed by the coup before the revolution and they fought so hard to get the power, so why would they just release they rich and let them win another election and hand over the victory? The core of the problem is, in this stage of development, once you have a election, the chances are, riches are gonna win, because they had the most power and can easily get most votes, which might not be a bad thing for sure but that was not what the people wanted. So no you can't really use money and put schools everywhere and hospital everywhere, in that stage the market won't allow. What they did, sadly, all the Communist eliminated the multi-party election, for they thought everyone could live under the same dream and in the same party everyone's voice will be heard, and that had the very tragic consequence which destroyed communism and the associated socialism with dictatorship and terror.

So my conclusion is, you can't really jump over the stage of capitalism and go straight for socialism. Reforms have to come naturally and slowly. Without the material and productivity, a socialist society can not function. Productivity determines everything, as Marx said, and I thing there is some truth in it. All the oldest capitalistic countries and empires have become the most socialistic, for the have reached that stage naturally. When people had enough material, their ideology will change. They had the ability to pursue something higher, and could afford helping people and found it is beneficial to society as a whole. Capitalism have the tendency of creating monopolies, but with a stronger and stronger middle class, ordinary people won't allow it to happen anymore and won't let the monopolies take controls, so then a more, I guess I can call it, socialistic/democratic system will be created. How can you prevent monopoly? With laws. What do you get? A more socialistic system. The power will truly shift from wallets to ballot. So now we know, a unnatural abrupt change of the system without the back of the development in productivity(like in Soviet, majority was pleasant so how can you get a Socialistic country?) will lead to the elimination of election which is the only way to keep capitalism and imperialism out. The only way to achieve it might be walk through the whole capitalistic era. Simply I feel, this country in 20 years will be far more socialistic(or liberal if you like) than today, and today's US is way more socialistic than the US 50 years ago. All the Chinese will tell you that, US is more socialistic than China, you have more benefits and cares from states(some of you might hate it). Again, without the back of productivity, a system will fall back to its place, like China fall back into the brutal union of bureaucracy and capitalism, a jungle. So Fidel and all of the Communist revolution failed for the same reason. The method was wrong. But as stated, I believe a socialistic society and even a world is achievable. But crusading is never in our culture so whatever, we will naturally get there, unless you stop your development.

Fidel Castro: "Why Cuba, Why Castro?"

Fidel Castro's rise to power is very interesting and his determination and will to do what he sets his mind to (even at his own expense), ended up being both his curse and his key to success (in the terms of how he has managed to stay in power for over four decades). The film showed how Fidel was, and acted, as a child, and it talked about how he was willing to do anything to prove a point and get what he wanted (threatening to set his own house on fire and running his bike into a wall for five dollars). I can see how a strong and independent man with a strong sense of will and determinedness can win over the country of Cuba, but I was frustrated by the end of the movie because the "anything is possible" attitude that many people had at the time of the revolution and overtake of Batista's regime was so quickly turned into another harmful and destructive dictatorship. It is always interesting to think about the "whys?" and "what ifs?" when dealing with history, so naturally I found your comment very interesting on how Castro may not have been so radical if it had not been for his not having the chance to be elected by the people because of Batista's military takeover. Castro knew what it took to stand up for what he believes in and that is what has made him such a controversial and powerful person in the world.

Castro in Cuba

Fidel Castro was so successful in Cuba because he was a man of the people. When he over took the government he immediately went to work on helping people with social justice. He called for free education for those who could not afford it, and also free health care for everybody. He was a hit with the lower class, as well as the middle class, and gained support from the upper class as well. He then took over and made Cuba a socialist country. People all believed he was helping Cuba surface as a prominent country, but to outside countries against communism like the United States, he was an enemy. Slowly but surely his reign turned into a full blown dictatorship. I believe that people were not alarmed at this because it was a slow, gradual move from socialism, with not that much change. As long as he kept fighting for social justice, he would remain popular with the Cuban people. The reason he will go down in history as a great leader in Cuba, despite what the rest of the world thinks, is because the benefits he did provide like free education and health care were so progressive that it made him look great.

Fidel Castro

While watching the Fidel Castro video, I thought it was interesting to see how Castro was just as strong and determined when he was a child as he was as an adult. When he was younger, he and his brothers were expelled from school for being bad but Castro did not care. He told his mom that if he did not go to that school he would burn the house down. Why would you burn your house down? These actions as a boy are a direct reflection of what he did later in life when he told the Russians that he would put the whole country of Cuba at stake in order to affect the United States. Although this does not sounds like he was a man of the people, he was. He was liked by the majority of Cuba when he first began the revolution because he, like the other rebels and many other people in Cuba, did not like how the government was operating. He gained support from the people as he began to take over the old government. Once he was on top, he kept his power by limiting what was said in the newspapers and by detaining the people who spoke out against him. He also gained many fans because he stood up against the powerful United States and got away with it/lived. He was a man of the people as he worked to help the poor and focus on social justice.

Fidel Castro Movie

I found that the most interesting part of the film was describing the process of how Castro came to power. His speeches and opinions from the beginning when he was first speaking really showed why people followed him. He was very much liked by the people-, which was really interesting to watch. Some of the things he was saying that he wanted to accomplish (like helping the poor), were things that I would agree with. I didn’t think that I would ever agree to what Castro would ever say. The movie almost shone a new light on the issue. Even though we didn’t finish the movie, I feel like the new perspective on Castro was something to be shared. Although he did many things later on during his rule that we don’t see as right- he did start off well.

Why Cuba? Why Castro?

As you watch the PBS documentary Fidel Castro, reflect on why his revolution in Cuba was successful while many similar movements elsewhere in Latin America failed.  Perhaps an answer to this question should include a discussion of Castro, himself.