Communist Party of Cuba - Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

20°59′27.7″N 77°25′41.5″W / 20.991028°N 77.428194°W / 20.991028; -77.428194

Communist Party of Cuba
Partido Comunista de Cuba
First SecretaryMiguel Díaz-Canel
Second SecretaryJosé Ramón Machado
FounderFidel Castro
Founded3 October 1965; 58 years ago (1965-10-03)
Preceded by26th of July Movement
Popular Socialist Party
HeadquartersHavana, Cuba
NewspaperGranma
Youth wingYoung Communist League
Pioneer wingJosé Martí Pioneer Organization
Membership (2010)Increase 1,054,000[1]
IdeologyCommunism
Marxism–Leninism
Revolutionary socialism
Anti-capitalism
Castroism
Guevarism
Socialism of the 21st century
Political positionFar-left
International affiliationInternational Meeting of Communist and Workers' Parties
Regional affiliationCOPPPAL
Foro de São Paulo
Colors  Red   Blue
Slogan¡Hasta la victoria siempre!
Website
www.pcc.cu

The Communist Party of Cuba[a] is the ruling political party in Cuba. It is a Marxist–Leninist communist party. The Cuban constitution describes the role of the party to be the "leading force of society and of the state". Since April 2021, the First Secretary of the Central Committee has been Miguel Díaz-Canel. The Second Secretary has been José Ramón Machado Ventura.[3]

History[change | change source]

Cuba had a number of communist and anarchist organizations from the early period of the Republic. The original "internationalised" Communist Party of Cuba formed in the 1920s. In 1944, it was renamed as the Popular Socialist Party for electoral reasons. In July 1961, two years after the successful overthrow of Fulgencio Batista and the creation of a revolutionary government, the Integrated Revolutionary Organizations (ORI) was formed. It was a merger of:

On 26 March 1962, the ORI became the United Party of the Cuban Socialist Revolution (PURSC), which became the Communist Party of Cuba on 3 October 1965. In Article 5 of the Cuban constitution of 1976, the Communist Party is recognized as "the superior guiding force of society and of the State, that organizes and orients common efforts toward the high goals of the construction of socialism and the advancement toward communist society".[4] All parties, including the Communist Party, are prohibited from advertizing their organizations.

For the first fifteen years of its existence, the Communist Party was almost completely inactive outside of the Politburo. The 100 person Central Committee rarely met and the first regular party Congress was held ten years after its founding. In 1969, membership of the party was only 55,000 (0.7% of the population), making the PCC the smallest ruling communist party in the world. By the time of the first party Congress in 1975, the party had grown to just over two hundred thousand members. By 1980, the party had grown to over 430,000 members and it grew further to 520,000 by 1985.

Central Committee[change | change source]

Party headquarters

The leading bodies of the party were the Politburo and the Secretariat until 1991. In 1991 the two bodies were merged into an expanded Politburo with over twenty members. However, the Secretariat was re-introduced in 2002. There is also a Central Committee which meets between party congresses. At the Fifth Congress, the size of the Central Committee was reduced to 150 members from the previous membership of 225. Fidel Castro was the party's First Secretary (or leader) since its creation while Raúl Castro was the Second Secretary. Upon Fidel Castro's 2008 resignation from the party and Cuban government, Raúl Castro became First Secretary.

Politburo[change | change source]

The 8th Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba was elected by the Central Committee following the 8mth Congress.

Rank Name 7th POL Birth Gender
1 Miguel Díaz-Canel Old 1961 Male
2 Juan Esteban Lazo Hernández Old 1944 Male
3 Salvador Antonio Valdés Mesa Old 1945 Male
4 Roberto Morales Ojeda Old 1967 Male
5 Álvaro López Miera Old 1943 Male
6 Bruno Eduardo Rodríguez Parrilla Old 1958 Male
7 Ulises Guilarte de Nacimiento Old 1964 Male
8 Marta Ayala Ávila Old 1966 Female
9 Manuel Marrero Cruz New 1963 Male
10 Teresa María Amarelle Boué Old 1963 Female
11 José Amado Ricardo Guerra New 1965 Male
12 Luis Alberto Rodríguez López-Calleja New 1961 Male
13 Lázaro Alberto Álvarez Casas New 1963 Male
14 Gladys Martínez Verdecia New 19?? Female
References:
[5][6]

Youth[change | change source]

The Communist Party of Cuba has a youth wing, the Young Communist League (Unión de Jóvenes Comunistas, UJC) which is a member organization of the World Federation of Democratic Youth. It also has a children's group, the José Martí Pioneer Organization.

Ideology[change | change source]

Compared with other ruling Communist Parties, the Communist Party of Cuba retains a stricter adherence to the tradition of Marxism–Leninism and the traditional Soviet model.

Electoral History[change | change source]

National Assembly of People's Power[change | change source]

Election year Number of

votes

Percentage of votes Number of seats
1976 Elected by the members of the Municipal Assemblies
489 / 489
1981 Elected by the members of the Municipal Assemblies
499 / 499
1993 Full list 6,939,894 95.1%
589 / 589
Selective vote 360,735 4.9%
1998 Full list 7,533,222 100%
601 / 601
Selective vote
2008 Full list 7,125,752 91%
614 / 614
Selective vote 713,606 9%
2013 Full list 6,031,215 81.30%
612 / 612
Selective vote 1,387,307 18.70%
2018 Full list 5,620,713 80.44%
605 / 605
Selective vote 1,366,328 19.56%

References[change | change source]

  1. "7th PCC Congress Central Report, presented by First Secretary Raúl Castro Ruz". en.cubadebate.cu. Retrieved 21 September 2017.
  2. "IPU PARLINE database: CUBA (Asamblea nacional del Poder popular), Last elections". ipu.org. Inter-Parliamentary Union. 2013. Retrieved 20 March 2015.
  3. "End of the Castro era: Diaz-Canel becomes Cuban Communist Party chief".
  4. "Cuba: Constitución". pdba.georgetown.edu. Retrieved 14 October 2017.
  5. "Cuban Communist Party's Political Bureau". The Caribbean Council. Archived from the original on 27 April 2021. Retrieved 27 April 2021.
  6. "Nuevo Buró Político, Secretariado y miembros del Comité Central del Partido Comunista de Cuba" [New members of the Political Bureau, Secretariat and the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba announced]. Granma. Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba. 19 April 2021. Archived from the original on 22 April 2021. Retrieved 22 April 2021 – via Granma.
  1. Spanish: Partido Comunista de Cuba (PCC)

Other websites[change | change source]