When you speak of Fidel Castro, what do you speak of? The Cuban Leader is notyour everyday leader. To fully understand Fidel Castro you must have a firmfoundation with which to work from. I will explore the political ideology ofFidel Castro by explaining what is in an ideology, Fidel Castros background,and his political position both before the Cuban revolution and presently. Anideology is a number of action-oriented, materialistic, popular, and simplisticpolitical theories that were originally developed as an accommodation to thesocial and economic conditions created by the Industrial Revolution (Baradat13). The action can be broken into a five-part definition for idealisticpurposes. To begin, the term ideology can be used in many contexts, but unlessotherwise specified it is proper to give it a political meaning.
All ideologiesprovide an interpretation of the present and a view of the desired future. Thisdesirable future is thought to be attainable in a single lifetime. Each ideologyincludes a list of specific steps that can be taken to accomplish its goals. Ideologies are oriented towards the masses, and finally, ideologies are simplystated and presented in motivational terms.
In speaking of Fidel Castro and hisideologies I will apply these five definitional segments. Many theorists believeCuban Leader Fidel Castro was directed in his political thought from an earlyage. He was born on May 13, 1927, on his families sugar plantation in the townof Mayari, Cuba. As a boy, Castro worked on the family plantation, and at age 6was able to persuade his parents to send him to school. He attended two Jesuitinstitutions, eventually entering a Jesuit preparatory school; a member of theRoman Catholic Society of Jesus founded by Saint Ignatius Loyola in 1534 anddevoted to missionary and educational work.
Both through his first hand look atthe oppression of individuals and the importance of education help to shapeFidel Castro, and differentiate what was right and wrong. Three years later, in1945 Castro attended the University of Havana Faculty of Law. That same year hewas so fed up with the oppressed working class that he unionized the workers ofhis fathers plantation to fight for a voice in exercising their rights. Aftergraduation from Law School in 1950 be began practicing in Havana with twopartners. As a lawyer he devoted himself to helping the poor.
Although veryactive in politics throughout his college career, it was in 1952 that Castrofirst attempted to run for national politics. Just as Castro intended tocampaign for a parliamentary seat, General Fuligenico Batista overthrew thegovernment of President Carlos Prio Socarras in a coup and cancelled theelection. Trying to oppose the military dictatorship through peaceful means andfailing led Castro to head an armed attack of 165 men, calling themselves the26th of July Revolutionary Movement. Failing completely through his violentattack, Castro and his brother Raul were taken prisoner until May 1955.
Aftermuch recruiting, on New Years Day in 1959 he succeeded in overthrowing thedictatorship of Batista. It was one week later that the United States officiallyrecognized Castros new government. It was shortly after this time in 1961,and now in power, that Fidel Castro announced to the world that he was a MarxistLeninist and would remain so until the last day of his life. The questionthat arises when you first hear this is what is a Marxist-Leninist ideology anddoes Fidel Castro qualify to call himself such a thinker. Many theorists arguethat Fidel Castro isnt attached to any particular ideology.
His only goal issurvival and power. Strong evidence pointing to this fact is that Fidel Castrosurvived the fall of Communism in the Soviet Union. In the case of Castro,however, if you dig enough in search for an underlying ideology, you will findthat his thought and action is closer to that of a Marxist- Leninist than to anyother ideology. It is for certain that he was a young revolutionist in hispreliminary political life. Remember it was he who led the country of Cuba intoa revolution against the political power, President Batista, in 1959, believingthat change would only happen if he burnt down the political system and rebuilton its ashes. After the rebellion was over the entire population had to beradicalized, attitudes changed, traditions destroyed, the popular supportmaintained and deepened, viable organizations and institutions created, andsocial justice distributed.
Fidel Castro in 1967, “The most difficult task wasnot exactly
