Communist Party of Cuba facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Communist Party of Cuba Partido Comunista de Cuba
First Secretary	Raúl Castro
Second Secretary	José Ramón Machado
Founder	Fidel Castro
Founded	3 October 1965; 58 years ago (1965-10-03)
Preceded by	26th of July Movement Popular Socialist Party
Headquarters	Havana, Cuba
Newspaper	Granma
Youth wing	Young Communist League
Pioneer wing	José Martí Pioneer Organization
Membership (2016)	670,000
Ideology	Communism Marxism–Leninism Revolutionary socialism Anti-capitalism Castroism Guevarism Socialism of the 21st century
Political position	Far-left
International affiliation	International Meeting of Communist and Workers' Parties
Regional affiliation	COPPPAL Foro de São Paulo
Colors	Red      Blue
Slogan	¡Hasta la victoria siempre!

The Communist Party of Cuba 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 2011, the First Secretary of the Central Committee has been Raúl Castro, younger brother of the previous First Secretary Fidel Castro, who died on 25 November 2016. The Second Secretary has been José Ramón Machado Ventura.

History

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:

• Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement
• The Popular Socialist Party led by Blas Roca
• The student-based Revolutionary Directory led by Faure Chomón

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". 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

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

The 7th Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba was elected by the Central Committee on 19 April 2016 following the 7th Congress.

Youth

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

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

National Assembly of People's Power

Images for kids

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  A billboard in Havana promoting the "ongoing socialist revolution"

See also

In Spanish: Partido Comunista de Cuba para niños