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Silié, Fidel Castro and the Youth Revolution of the 50s and 60s

Reporters Without Borders, 2006 was a year of danger for journalists in the Americas

The Greater Caribbean This Week

The Youth Revolution

by Rubén Silié

Fidel Castro is fighting to survive and this will undoubtedly be one of his last battles, after a life devoted to combat, against social injustice. This legendary figure entered the arena establishing a new type of leadership within the region. He became the symbol of the youth revolution.

The fifties were politically marked by the surge in dictatorial governments together with movements fighting for freedom, political rights and democracy. In those days, the United States was not the champion of democracy it claims to be today, and to be more precise, in some cases it tolerated those authoritarian regimes and supported them in others.

The people felt oppressed and there were different factions involved in the political battles being forged, on one hand there were the laborers, firmly rooted in the trade union organizations, who promoted the development of the labour movement, challenging the repression. Given their class characteristics, those groups were organized based on demands for improved working conditions, higher salaries and the trade unions’ freedom of expression against state repression.

Although the trade unions were an important focus of the political struggle, being an essentially classist movement, they did not independently bring together all sectors of the population. It could be said that only the groups with greater political awareness leaned toward the trade unions.

Students constituted another faction that was of prime importance. In light of the reduced access to education being experienced at that time, this group was created by the youth belonging to the upper and middle classes. They formed themselves into local associations and national federations. The professional progressives, who also came from the same social sectors, but from one generation higher than that of the students, must be added to that group of young people. The progressives were an intellectual reference that established a battlefront of vital importance.

Unlike the laborers, those groups were not known for their material demands; nor in principle did they propose highly radical changes to the ruling system; thus their battle in itself had a higher civic expression, since they were invested in more lofty ideals, and the strong ethical content of their political beliefs contributed to that.

Among other reasons, this explains why they enjoyed greater acceptance from the other sectors of the population, which also saw in the youth, the purest expression of their respective societies. This also contributed to the fact that in many countries, students became the vanguard of the fight against dictatorships.

Even though young people still form part of our countries’ work force today, the movement recognized as that of the youth was the student movement and not the movement of laborers. The former certainly had more generational overtones, but it also involved the children of the wealthiest and most recognized social sectors within the society.

That’s why it was common among those students to refer to their associates as young people and certainly the adult population, which was less active in those days, also saw in those political activists their own children; therefore the term “youth” was also used among those adults.

The discourse at that time was collectivist, rejecting all individualism and based on the notions that “the motherland is the altar and not the pedestal” and “dulce et decorum est pro patria mori” (it is sweet and glorious to die for one’s country). Thus, sacrifice and immolation became the very standards of heroism and battles were considered as real triumphs, filled with a strong epic sense.

Fidel Castro’s leadership emerged precisely in that context of demand for change and decisive devotion to native ideals. That great process of civic struggle was clamoring for a symbolic figure who would represent abnegation in the fight for freedom. The Fidelista discourse, based essentially on the philosophy and vision of José Martí, fulfilled the aspirations of the Latin American and Caribbean youth who were in tune with the revolutionary wave.

There is no doubt that the great audacity, courage and personal bravery displayed in the fight against the Fulgencio Batista dictatorship served as the stimulus for the youth of the region, and that is one of the factors that elevated the Cuban Revolution, since it became the paradigm and example to follow.

The strength of that leadership, four decades later, explains to a large extent, why its main leader has managed to cling to the discourse of the youth, based on an ethical notion that is faithful to the values and principles that steered its action since the onset of the political battle during the fifties.

The historical importance of Fidel Castro is based on the fact that even though the world has changed, he has been able to preserve the ideals of his youth, setting an example of coherence and honesty; he therefore continues to be the personification of revolutionary movements, though no longer called the Youth Revolution.

Dr. Rubén Silié Valdez is the Secretary General of the Association of Caribbean States. The opinions expressed are not necessarily the official views of the ACS. Comments and reactions can be sent to mail@acs-aec.org

Sirias, Daniel Ortega in retrospect
Jackson, The late great Molly Ivins
Bernal, About authorities
Gutman, The danger in the Middle East
Lerner, The "New Anti-Semitism"
Donovan, Uruguayan pulp fiction
Henke, Is Cuba really at a crossroads?
Pilgrim, The Iraq War from a Caribbean perspective

Silié, Fidel Castro and the Youth Revolution of the 50s and 60s

Reporters Without Borders, 2006 was a year of danger for journalists in the Americas