Cuban Literacy Campaign
Encyclopedia
The Cuban Literacy Campaign (Spanish
: Campaña Nacional de Alfabetización en Cuba) was a year-long effort to abolish illiteracy in Cuba after the triumph of the Cuban Revolution
. It began on January 1 and ended on December 22, 1961, becoming the world's most ambitious and organized literacy campaign.
Before 1959 the official literacy rate for Cuba was between 60-76 %, with educational access in rural areas and a lack of instructors the main determining factor. As a result, the Cuban government of Fidel Castro
at Che Guevara
's behest dubbed 1961 the "year of education", and sent "literacy brigades" out into the countryside to construct schools, train new educators, and teach the predominately illiterate Guajiros (peasants) to read and write. The campaign was "a remarkable success", and by the completion of the campaign, 707,212 adults were taught to read and write, raising the national literacy rate to 96 %.
was overthrown by an armed guerrilla movement known as the 26th of July Movement
(Movimiento 26, de Julio) on January 1, 1959. The new revolutionary government, led by Fidel Castro
, immediately began a series of social and economic reforms. Among these were agrarian reform, health-care reform, and educational reform, all of which dramatically improved the quality of life among the lowest sectors of Cuban society. During the turmoil of the first several years of the revolution, the flight of many skilled workers caused what is known as a “brain drain
.” This loss of human capital sparked a renovation of the Cuban educational system that was needed in order to accommodate the instruction of new workers, who would take the place of those who had emigrated from the country.
In addition to the renewal of Cuba’s infrastructure
, there were also strong ideological reasons for educational reform. In pre-Revolutionary Cuba, there was a dichotomy between urban citizens and rural citizens (who were often agricultural workers). The Cuban Revolution was driven by the need for equality, particularly among these classes. Before the Campaign, the rate of illiteracy among city dwellers was 11%, compared to 41.7% in the countryside.
The Literacy Campaign was designed to force contact between sectors of society that would not usually interact. As Fidel Castro put it in 1961 while addressing literacy teachers, “You will teach, and you will learn.” Volunteers from the city were often ignorant of the poor conditions of rural citizens until their experiences during the literacy campaign. Besides literacy, the campaign aimed to create a collective identity of “unity, [an] attitude of combat, courage, intelligence, and a sense of history.” Politicized educational materials were used to further these ideals. The effort was labeled a movement of “the people”, and gave citizens a common goal to work towards, increasing solidarity.
The government provided teaching supplies to volunteers, and workers that traveled to rural locations to teach received: a standard grey uniform, a warm blanket, a hammock, two textbooks We Shall Read and We Shall Conquer – and a gas-powered lantern, so that lessons could be given at night after work ended.
. From 1960 to 1965, it is reported that at least 681 acts of terrorism were committed against the Cuban people. Supporters of the revolution who were too young or otherwise unable to participate in the downfall of Fulgencio Batista saw the Campaign as an opportunity to contribute to the success of the new government, and hoped to instill a revolutionary consciousness in their students. Many of the instructional texts used during the Literacy Campaign focused on the history of the Revolution and had strong political messages, which made the movement a target of opposition. Counter-revolutionaries used violent acts of terrorism to destabilize Cuba and create an atmosphere of fear. Several acts were committed on public property, notably the bombing of the country’s largest department store, El Encanto, on April 13, 1961. That year, teachers, students, and peasants were tortured and murdered in order to terrorize the farming community and reduce support for the literacy campaign. Young teachers were shot, lynched, and stabbed by terrorist groups who were collectively known as Los Banditos. There are numerous accusations that these terrorist groups were backed by the United States Government. It is well known that the CIA embarked on "Operation Mongoose" (a.k.a. The Cuban Project) during these years, which attempted to remove Castro’s government from power through a campaign of propaganda
, psychological warfare
, and sabotage
against Cuba
It is estimated that 268,000 Cubans worked to eliminate illiteracy during the Year of Education, and around 707,000 Cubans became literate by December 22, 1961. By 1962, the country’s literacy rate was 96%, one of the highest in the world.
Cuban literacy educators trained during the campaign later went on to assist in literacy campaigns in fifteen other countries, for which a Cuban organization was awarded the King Sejong Literacy Prize by UNESCO
. Additionally, over the past 50 years, thousands of Cuban literacy teachers have volunteered in countries such as Haiti
, Nicaragua
and Mozambique
.
, used by Unesco
to evaluate the success of the campaign in 1964, are kept along with photographs and details of all 100,000 volunteers in a museum in La Ciudad Libertad (City of Liberty), which is situated in Fulgencio Batista
's vast former headquarters in the western suburbs of Havana
.
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
: Campaña Nacional de Alfabetización en Cuba) was a year-long effort to abolish illiteracy in Cuba after the triumph of the Cuban Revolution
Cuban Revolution
The Cuban Revolution was an armed revolt by Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement against the regime of Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista between 1953 and 1959. Batista was finally ousted on 1 January 1959, and was replaced by a revolutionary government led by Castro...
. It began on January 1 and ended on December 22, 1961, becoming the world's most ambitious and organized literacy campaign.
Before 1959 the official literacy rate for Cuba was between 60-76 %, with educational access in rural areas and a lack of instructors the main determining factor. As a result, the Cuban government of Fidel Castro
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary and politician, having held the position of Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and then President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party's foundation in 1961 until 2011...
at Che Guevara
Che Guevara
Ernesto "Che" Guevara , commonly known as el Che or simply Che, was an Argentine Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, intellectual, guerrilla leader, diplomat and military theorist...
's behest dubbed 1961 the "year of education", and sent "literacy brigades" out into the countryside to construct schools, train new educators, and teach the predominately illiterate Guajiros (peasants) to read and write. The campaign was "a remarkable success", and by the completion of the campaign, 707,212 adults were taught to read and write, raising the national literacy rate to 96 %.
Background
The dictator Fulgencio BatistaFulgencio Batista
Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar was the United States-aligned Cuban President, dictator and military leader who served as the leader of Cuba from 1933 to 1944 and from 1952 to 1959, before being overthrown as a result of the Cuban Revolution....
was overthrown by an armed guerrilla movement known as the 26th of July Movement
26th of July Movement
The 26th of July Movement was the revolutionary organization planned and led by Fidel Castro that in 1959 overthrew the Fulgencio Batista government in Cuba...
(Movimiento 26, de Julio) on January 1, 1959. The new revolutionary government, led by Fidel Castro
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary and politician, having held the position of Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and then President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party's foundation in 1961 until 2011...
, immediately began a series of social and economic reforms. Among these were agrarian reform, health-care reform, and educational reform, all of which dramatically improved the quality of life among the lowest sectors of Cuban society. During the turmoil of the first several years of the revolution, the flight of many skilled workers caused what is known as a “brain drain
Brain drain
Human capital flight, more commonly referred to as "brain drain", is the large-scale emigration of a large group of individuals with technical skills or knowledge. The reasons usually include two aspects which respectively come from countries and individuals...
.” This loss of human capital sparked a renovation of the Cuban educational system that was needed in order to accommodate the instruction of new workers, who would take the place of those who had emigrated from the country.
In addition to the renewal of Cuba’s infrastructure
Infrastructure
Infrastructure is basic physical and organizational structures needed for the operation of a society or enterprise, or the services and facilities necessary for an economy to function...
, there were also strong ideological reasons for educational reform. In pre-Revolutionary Cuba, there was a dichotomy between urban citizens and rural citizens (who were often agricultural workers). The Cuban Revolution was driven by the need for equality, particularly among these classes. Before the Campaign, the rate of illiteracy among city dwellers was 11%, compared to 41.7% in the countryside.
The Literacy Campaign was designed to force contact between sectors of society that would not usually interact. As Fidel Castro put it in 1961 while addressing literacy teachers, “You will teach, and you will learn.” Volunteers from the city were often ignorant of the poor conditions of rural citizens until their experiences during the literacy campaign. Besides literacy, the campaign aimed to create a collective identity of “unity, [an] attitude of combat, courage, intelligence, and a sense of history.” Politicized educational materials were used to further these ideals. The effort was labeled a movement of “the people”, and gave citizens a common goal to work towards, increasing solidarity.
Organization
It is estimated that 1,000,000 Cubans were directly involved (as teachers or students) in the Literacy Campaign (Fagen B). There were four categories of workers:- “Conrado BenitezConrado BenitezConrado Benitez was a former dean of the University of the Philippines. He was also the first president, as well as chairman, and one of the original incorporators of the Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement.-References:...
” Brigade (Conrado Benetiz Brigadistas)—100,000 young volunteers (ages 10–19) who left school to live and work along with their students in the countryside. The number of students leaving schools to volunteer was so great that an alternative education was put in place for 8 months of the 1961 school year. - Popular Alphabetizers (Alfabetizadores populares)—Adults who volunteered to teach in cities or towns. It is documented that 13,000 factory workers held classes for their illiterate co-workers after hours. This group also includes the numerous individuals who taught friends, neighbors, or family members out of their own homes.
- “Fatherland or Death” Brigade (Patria o Muerte Brigadistas)—A group of 15,000 adult workers who were paid to teach in remote rural locations through an arrangement that their co-workers would fill in for them, so that the workforce of Cuba remained strong.
- Schoolteacher Brigades—A group of 15,000 professional teachers who oversaw the technical and organizational aspects of the campaign. As 1961 progressed, their involvement grew to the extent that most teachers participated full-time for a majority of the campaign. The fatherland or death brigade, along with the schoolteacher brigade, is sometimes simply referred to as the Worker Brigade (Brigadistas Obreros).
The government provided teaching supplies to volunteers, and workers that traveled to rural locations to teach received: a standard grey uniform, a warm blanket, a hammock, two textbooks We Shall Read and We Shall Conquer – and a gas-powered lantern, so that lessons could be given at night after work ended.
Challenges
One of the difficulties Revolutionary Cuba faced was the prevalence of terrorismTerrorism
Terrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition...
. From 1960 to 1965, it is reported that at least 681 acts of terrorism were committed against the Cuban people. Supporters of the revolution who were too young or otherwise unable to participate in the downfall of Fulgencio Batista saw the Campaign as an opportunity to contribute to the success of the new government, and hoped to instill a revolutionary consciousness in their students. Many of the instructional texts used during the Literacy Campaign focused on the history of the Revolution and had strong political messages, which made the movement a target of opposition. Counter-revolutionaries used violent acts of terrorism to destabilize Cuba and create an atmosphere of fear. Several acts were committed on public property, notably the bombing of the country’s largest department store, El Encanto, on April 13, 1961. That year, teachers, students, and peasants were tortured and murdered in order to terrorize the farming community and reduce support for the literacy campaign. Young teachers were shot, lynched, and stabbed by terrorist groups who were collectively known as Los Banditos. There are numerous accusations that these terrorist groups were backed by the United States Government. It is well known that the CIA embarked on "Operation Mongoose" (a.k.a. The Cuban Project) during these years, which attempted to remove Castro’s government from power through a campaign of propaganda
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
, psychological warfare
Psychological warfare
Psychological warfare , or the basic aspects of modern psychological operations , have been known by many other names or terms, including Psy Ops, Political Warfare, “Hearts and Minds,” and Propaganda...
, and sabotage
Sabotage
Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening another entity through subversion, obstruction, disruption, or destruction. In a workplace setting, sabotage is the conscious withdrawal of efficiency generally directed at causing some change in workplace conditions. One who engages in sabotage is...
against Cuba
Results
Many of the Literacy Campaign’s volunteers went on to pursue teaching careers, and the rate of teachers is now 11 times higher than it was before the revolution. Before the revolutionary government nationalized schools, private institutions often excluded large segments of society; wealthy Cubans often received exemplary instruction in private schools, while children of the working class received low-quality education, or did not attend school at all. Education became accessible to a much larger segment of the population after 1959. The percentage of children enrolled in school in Cuba(ages 6–12) increased dramatically over the years:- 1953—56%
- 1970—88%
- 1986—nearly 100%
It is estimated that 268,000 Cubans worked to eliminate illiteracy during the Year of Education, and around 707,000 Cubans became literate by December 22, 1961. By 1962, the country’s literacy rate was 96%, one of the highest in the world.
Cuban literacy educators trained during the campaign later went on to assist in literacy campaigns in fifteen other countries, for which a Cuban organization was awarded the King Sejong Literacy Prize by UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
. Additionally, over the past 50 years, thousands of Cuban literacy teachers have volunteered in countries such as Haiti
Haiti
Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...
, Nicaragua
Nicaragua
Nicaragua is the largest country in the Central American American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean...
and Mozambique
Mozambique
Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique , is a country in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west and Swaziland and South Africa to the southwest...
.
Museum
The thank-you letters to Fidel CastroFidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary and politician, having held the position of Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and then President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party's foundation in 1961 until 2011...
, used by Unesco
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
to evaluate the success of the campaign in 1964, are kept along with photographs and details of all 100,000 volunteers in a museum in La Ciudad Libertad (City of Liberty), which is situated in Fulgencio Batista
Fulgencio Batista
Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar was the United States-aligned Cuban President, dictator and military leader who served as the leader of Cuba from 1933 to 1944 and from 1952 to 1959, before being overthrown as a result of the Cuban Revolution....
's vast former headquarters in the western suburbs of Havana
Havana
Havana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...
.