Neo Marxism In Cuba

The economy, as both Marxists and neo-Marxists would argue, was dominated by the elites of the country “exploiting social groups of the nation” (https://vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/bitstream/handle/10919/35351/Rausch_JA_T_2011.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y ). The elites, essentially, constructed the identities of the people inhabiting the island creating various marginalized groups. These marginalized groups consisted of landowners, farmers, cattle breeders that controlled the countryside and was the “bread and butter” of the island. The middle classes were made up of farmers and small landowners in rural areas while professionals, small entrepreneurs, and merchants lived in urban settings (Nelson R. Amaro, “Mass and Class in the Origins of the Cuban …show more content…
The economy of Cuba was dominated by the United States. This was due to the massive investments by US businesses and the large degree by which they determined Cuba’s economic structure, as mentioned with the Teller and Platt Amendments that both took place in the early 19th century (https://vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/bitstream/handle/10919/35351/Rausch_JA_T_2011.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y ). Batista had allowed the United States to control Cuban banking and for US companies to “own a large percentage of the sugar mills, tobacco companies, railroads, and utilities” (Gregory Tozian, Fidel’s Cuba: A Revolution in Pictures, 46). The Americans flourished in Cuba by controlling gambling and prostitution on the island, specifically Havana – a huge and profitable tourist attraction. All this was occurring while Cubans suffered from increasing unemployment, a recession, and an unconcerned president (Tozian). This is a perfect interpretation of the Neo-Marxist economic dependency theory, where a nation at the bottom of the “development” chain gives to all others while being stuck as a raw-materials’ bearing nation, whilst never accumulating the wealth needed to progress. Negative sentiment soon arose in the Cuban