DBWI: Cuba a single party marxist dictatorship?

[Kayin Dreemurr]

Elections are over in Cuba, and their's a slew of results good and bad for Cuba and those in the international community who care. The Anarchists picked up another few seats to some folks annoyance, the hard-core Stalinists are thankfully down to only one representative, but the old-guard Castroists have managed to narrowly regain the majority.

Looking over Cuba's history, I've noticed that, aside from some wild swings every so often, for the most part Castro's nationalistic Communist party has usually been dominant, even if it doesn't have every single seat. This made me wonder...

How different would Cuba be if it'd followed the examples of so many other Communist countries, and become just a single party dictatorship? Granted, it's still more authoritarian then most western democracies, but it's several leagues better then the Soviets were and defintively above North Korea.

What do folks think?

 

[Miss Teri]

Worse relations with the US to be sure. Castro visiting Kennedy in 1962, after stepping down, and having multiparty elections, really helped smooth things over between the two.

 

[Pyramus]

Cuba would stay in the Soviet block instead of becoming non-aligned.
Which probably butterflies away the Grenadan missile crisis.

 

[West]

Cubas economy tanks, they have three main pillars for their economy.

Sugar, Tobacco, and gambling, get rid of their access to the american market and american tourists and they simply would not be able to afford all their social programs.

 

[Pyramus]

Cubas economy tanks, they have three main pillars for their economy.

Sugar, Tobacco, and gambling, get rid of their access to the american market and american tourists and they simply would not be able to afford all their social programs.

I don't know about that.
The soviets kept their economy afloat when they were still allied.
Remember the first few years after Castro stepped down, the economy was devastated.

 

[Baron Steakpuncher]

We should note that Castro despite stepping down, did get "re-elected" in the 1980's during the Communist collapse. So perhaps he just stays on during that period?

 

[John Fredrick Parker]

Aren't the Castroists a Social Democratic party? (Or similar to the Cardenasist faction in Mexico?) Why do they get referred to as "communist", especially when they've long made a habit of explicitly rejecting Leninism?

 

[Lost Freeway]

Aren't the Castroists a Social Democratic party? (Or similar to the Cardenasist faction in Mexico?) Why do they get referred to as "communist", especially when they've long made a habit of explicitly rejecting Leninism?

That's just an American thing.

 

[Galba Otho Vitelius]

Since Raul Castro's brother was a star pitcher for the Washington Senators when he took power, its hard to see his government going in such an anti-American direction. Though obviously you can get another leader for the Communists.

Someone here posted an entertaining timeline where Fidel Castro's career in baseball never gets off the ground, it turns out to be him and not Raul Castro who leads the revolution in Cuba, he allies with the Soviet Union and stays in power for decades despite American attempts to overthrow him. At one point he even gets Soviet nuclear weapons on the island and almost gets World War III started. It wasn't the most believable timeline posted on this site, but it was very entertaining. It even covered the effects on major league baseball, for example the Senators move to Minnesota because without Castro playing for them you don't get those legendary pennant races with the Yankees.

 

[Kayin Dreemurr]

It's too bad Cuba hasn't served as too much of an example until recently. China makes whispers and mutters of maybe going that way but the CCP seems to want to maintain their grip. I have heard though that Cuba's been sending political advisors to Vietnam to help them look over a transition to a Marxist Multi-party state. Hope it goes well.

And I've read that timeline, it was quite whacky. The Soviets would have to be insane to try something like that that close to the US!

 

[Osakadave]

Since Raul Castro's brother was a star pitcher for the Washington Senators when he took power, its hard to see his government going in such an anti-American direction. Though obviously you can get another leader for the Communists.

Someone here posted an entertaining timeline where Fidel Castro's career in baseball never gets off the ground, it turns out to be him and not Raul Castro who leads the revolution in Cuba, he allies with the Soviet Union and stays in power for decades despite American attempts to overthrow him. At one point he even gets Soviet nuclear weapons on the island and almost gets World War III started. It wasn't the most believable timeline posted on this site, but it was very entertaining. It even covered the effects on major league baseball, for example the Senators move to Minnesota because without Castro playing for them you don't get those legendary pennant races with the Yankees.

What is it with the facination with athletes and actors becoming politicians. How many Reagan, Kemp, Ventura, whoever becomes president TLs do we really need? Yeah, Ben Nighthorse Campbell went from Olympian to president, but that doesn't mean every meathead jock can...

 

[Osakadave]

It's too bad Cuba hasn't served as too much of an example until recently. China makes whispers and mutters of maybe going that way but the CCP seems to want to maintain their grip. I have heard though that Cuba's been sending political advisors to Vietnam to help them look over a transition to a Marxist Multi-party state. Hope it goes well.

And I've read that timeline, it was quite whacky. The Soviets would have to be insane to try something like that that close to the US!

Don't forget their bit in Bolivia and Zimbabwei. Those seved as labs for what's happening in Vietnam, even if things didn't work out all that well in Africa. (Who can forget the election advisors getting run out?)

 

[comrade cat]

I don't think the Americans would let a communist regime right in their backyard. I mean, the U.S. fought in faraway land to stem communist tides, why shouldn't they do the same on their backyard? So I think Cuba went communist will guarantee a U.S. invasion.

 

[Kayin Dreemurr]

I don't think the Americans would let a communist regime right in their backyard. I mean, the U.S. fought in faraway land to stem communist tides, why shouldn't they do the same on their backyard? So I think Cuba went communist will guarantee a U.S. invasion.

Heh, it's funny how some in the US still view Cuba as an outright Communist of the same clothe as the Soviets and China. At least the Democrats stopped demonizing them so much, and even some Republicans are slowly moving away from it. Hard to argue given the many successes they've had compared to the others. Most of the rest of the world sees Cuba as a mostly Democratic Socialist state rather then a communist.

Course, the GOP probably demonizes them as much as they do because they look at it and don't want to see it manage to take root here.

 

[theg*ddam*hoi2fan]

Cubas economy tanks, they have three main pillars for their economy.

Sugar, Tobacco, and gambling, get rid of their access to the american market and american tourists and they simply would not be able to afford all their social programs.

Which would have been awful. The Cuban people are one of the most well-educated populaces in the world, and their national healthcare system is the envy of so many countries. If they hadn't had the money to pay for all that...

Plus, their non-aligned nature allowed them to build support in Latin America. Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru have all imitated the Cuban way of doing things, and their trade bloc has allowed those countries to become leaders in the region. And with Chile now looking to join...

 

[basileus]

Cuba? CUBA? The Western hemisphere's brothel-casino? Be serious, how could they ever go Communist!