‘A minimum of urbanism and a

maximum of ruralism’:
the Cuban experience7
by Josef Gugler

By rubbing his people’s noses in the countryside, Fidel Castro is smashing the class
distinctions and social relations of what was once a very Latin society. In all of Latin
America, only in Cuba are boots, rough hands, dirty clothes, first names, and agricultural
talk among the marks of honor and status-Richard Fagen (1969, 179).

The ‘urban explosion’ in third world countries is increasingly becoming a

matter of serious concern. Massive rural-urban migration and consequent
urban unemployment and underemployment, urban primacy and related
regional disequilibria, metropolitan growth and its attendant economic and
social costs, and the severe inequalities underlying these patterns appear as
unmanageable problems. How are socialist third world countries coping with
them?
Cuba presents social scientists with relatively good information on urban-
ization policies and their implementation in one developing country com-
mitted to socialism. The Cuban revolution has completed its second decade,
a census was taken in 1970, more than 11 years after the revolutionaries
took power, and has been published since (JUCEPLAN, 1g75b), the Cuban
government has occasionally allowed research by outsiders, and Fidel Castro
has a t times been quite candid in spelling out difficulties.
We will consider briefly the demographic context, before describing
Cuban efforts to eliminate the rural-urban contradiction and to redefine the
role of Havana. We will analyse the impact of these policies in terms of the
available data on urbanization patterns since the revolutionaries marched
into Havana in January 1959, taking into account prerevolutionary trends in
urbanization. We will conclude with-a provisional assessment of the effective-
ness of the equalizing policies and the efficiency of the allocation oflabour.

I The demographic context

Mortality has declined substantially in Cuba from the beginning of the
?The first part of our title is from a speech by Fidel Castro (I@, 29); the statement has been
repeated subsequently, e.g. by Carlos Rafael Rodriguez in Gramna Weekly aminU,24 January
‘97’.
This is a revised version of an article first published in Studies in Comparative Intmrotionul
Devclopmmt 1 5 ( 2 ) . I t was originally presented as a paper at the 9th World Congress ofSociology,
Uppsala, August 1978.
 Josef Gugler 5I 7

century to the present. Crude death rates decreased quite steadily from 23
per thousand per year in the 1905-1909 period to less than 6 per thousand in
the early 1970s.The only exceptions to this trend were a slight increase in
1915-19and in the 1960s,when the trend was arrested and even briefly
reversed: the rate that had been as low as 6.7in 1953climbed back to 7.5 in
I 962.
In contrast with the widening gap between fertility and mortality rates
that characterizes most third world countries, fertility in Cuba declined
simultaneously with mortality, and even more rapidly. Within one genera-
tion the crude birth rate dropped from 47 per thousand per year in the
1go5-1gogperiod to 31 per thousand in 1930-34.Thus the first generation to
experience a substantial decrease in mortality also witnessed a similarly
steady reduction in natural population growth from 2.4% annually in
1go5-1gog to 1.8% in 1930-34.' After 1934the crude birth rates stabilized
around 30, while the crude death rate continued to go down slowly; the
natural growth rate reached 2.2% in 1953(Landstreet, 1976,87).
The revolution had its 'baby boom'. The crude birth rate shot up from 28
per thousand in 1959 to 35 per thousand in 1963and 1964.In the latter year
the rate of natural population growth peaked at 2.9'30.The baby boom
compensated for the heavy outmigration that followed the establishment of
the revolutionary regime, a total net international migration loss of 574 000
from 1960to 1972.However, by 1976 the crude birth rate had dropped to 20
per thousand, and the medium variant of a recent projection to the year 2000
assumes that population growth will continue to decline from I -3% per year
in the 1975-80 period to 1.0%in the last quinquennium. On these assump-
tions the island's population will reach 12-7million by the end of the century
(Comit6. Estatal de Estadisticas, 1979,35, 38; 1978b,69).
Any guess as to the future trend in population growth must hinge on a
prognosis of general living conditions as well as specific government policies
concerning contraception, abortion, female labour force participation, and
child-care facilities. The fact that the revolutionary government has never
encouraged a reduction in fertility (Landstreet, 1976,224-32) suggests that
adoption of antinatalist policies would have a considerable effect. On the
other hand, more generous allocations of consumer goods, especially any
easing of the severe housing shortage, could be expected to result in higher
fertility.

I1 The d - u r b a n contradiction
If population growth in Cuba has been substantial but less dramatic than in
many other third world countries, urban growth presents a similar picture.
T h e highest rate of growth of the population living in urban centres with a
1 Immigration boosted total population growth by up to a full percentage point annually until
the Great Depressionyears which were characterized by net emigration (Landstreet, 1976,95).
5I 8 ‘A minimum of urbanism and a maximum of ruralism’: the Cuban experience
population over 2 0 ooo in any intercensal period this century was 4. I % per
year for 1943-53; it dropped to 3.0% in 1953-70 (Table I ) .
Government policies thus had a measure of success in stemming the tide of
rural-urban migration. But the aims of the revolutionary leadership went
further: urban dwellers were to be involved in agriculture, and the living
standards of the rural population were to be raised to approximate those of
the city dwellem2
Rural conditions were fundamentally improved through the full
employment that made widespread seasonal unemployment among
agricultural workers a thing of the past. In addition, the wage scales
established in 1963 were characterized by rather small differentials between
rural and urban wages, e.g. the minimum monthly wage was set at 64 and 85
pesos, respectively (Hernindez and Mesa-Lago, 197I , 226-28). By 1968this
particular differential was erased altogether as the rural minimum wage had
been raised to equal the urban (Bonachea and ValdCs, 1972, 362). The
rationing system introduced in 1962 also reduced rural-urban inequalities.
Finally, free social services became of considerable importance with the
implementation of revolutionary goals, and such services were expanded
dramatically in the rural areas, e.g. the number of elementary schools in
rural areas had increased by a factor of 2.5 by the late 1960s, the teaching
personnel by a factor of 3.5, and the number of pupils had nearly tripled
(Amaro and Mesa-Lago, 1971,345). Still, much less use was made of both
preventive and curative health services by rural than urban people in 1971
according to the report of a Pan American Health Organization consultant
(Roemer, 1976, 76).
T h e goal of ‘urbanizing’ the countryside found expression in a programme
for the construction of new small towns that could be more easily provided
with services. In 1977 a model state farm presented itself to the visitor as an
agglomeration of apartment houses, shops, and offices; there was a swimming
. ~ 1975,335such
poor, garbage collection, and even a lonely street ~ w e e p e rBy
new towns had been established, with a total of 135 594 inhabitants
(Hamberg, ‘977, 9 ) .
The Cuban census considers any agglomeration, however small, as urban,
provided it has a t least four of the following: street lighting, paved streets, a
piped water supply, a sewer system, medical services, an educational centre.
If this is taken as the standard of urbanization of the rural areas, then the
process was only in its early stages by 1970. According to the census of that
year less than 6% of the three and a half million people living in
agglomerations with fewer than 2000 inhabitants enjoyed public amenities to
such an extent (calculated from JUCEPLAN, 1g75c, 38, 42, 44).4

* For a survey of prerevolutionary living conditions among rural workers, see Agrupaci6n
Cat6lica Universitaria (1958).
3 The author made brief visits to Cuba in 1977 and 1978.
In recent years farmers have been encouraged to form cooperatives. Eventually they are to
form building brigades to construct their own new towns (Hamberg, 1977, 1 1 ) .
 al, urban, and Havana populations, and intercensal growth rates, 1907-70
~
1907 1919 1931 1943 1953 1970
2 048 980 2 889 004 3 962 344 4 778 583 5 829 029 8 569 121
ate % 2.9 2.7 1.6 2.0 2.2
th more
itants
462 634 672088 1 078375 1491 922 2 214 642 3 684 707
ate % 3.2 4.0 2.7 4.1 3.0
297 159 363 506 673 902 868426 1 210 920 1 751 216
ate % 2.0 5.3 2.1 3.4 2.1.
ulation in
th more than
s living
a% 64 54 62 58 55 48
th fewer than
, defined as
743 816 1484713
ate YO 4.1
us defined as urban
2000 or more inhabitants;
00 to fewer than 2000 inhabitants that had at least four of the following characteristics: electricity, paved streets, a
upply, a sewer system, medical services, an educational centre; and
s built under the revolutionary regime thatmd the listed conditions (JUCFPLAN, 1975c,34 fn 1).
s figures were recalculated according to these criteria.
on figures from Comite Estatal de Estadisticas (1 979,28,41),
JUCEPLAN (1975c, and Morejon Seijas
38,42,52),
Growth rates (annually compounded) and proportions calculated from these figures.
520 ‘A minimum of urbanism and a maximum ofruralism’: the Cuban experience

The counterpart to the goal to ‘urbanize’ the countryside is the attempt to

‘ruralize’ the urban population. Substantial numbers of urban dwellers
worked temporarily in agriculture. Major mobilization campaigns were
mounted to recruit voluntary labour for planting and harvesting, especially
for the sugar harvests, and most of this unpaid labour came from urban
areas. Some 58 ooo volunteers were reported to have worked in the 1965
sugar harvest, 71 ooo in the 1966 harvest, and 170 ooo in the 1970 harvest
(Mesa-Lago, 1969, 395; 1978, 50). In addition, periurban land was put to
agricultural use; green belts were designed around each of the larger cities to
supply vegetables and other foods for the urban population (Barkin, 1978,
328-29). In the Havana Green Belt, 32 ooo hectares were developed in less
than two years and 4 million fruit trees, 2 600 ooo ornamental trees, and 40
million coffee seedlings were planted (Garnier, 1973, 164-65).~ In April 1968
halfa million inhabitants of Havana were mobilized, at the rateof 125 ooo a
week, to work in the Green Belt or elsewhere in rural areas (Garnier, 1973,
185-86). Since 1970 much less has been heard of such mobilization
campaigns6 However, a policy is being implemented whereby students in
grades 7-10 learn and work in rural boarding schools. 28% of students in the
‘secundaria’ and 42% in the ‘preuniversitaria’ sector were enrolled in such
‘schools in the countryside’ by the 1975-76 school year (Figueroa et al., 1974;
Leiner, 1975;Anon, 1975;Comitt Estatal de Estadisticas, 1979, Ig7).’

I11 The position of Havana

T h e population of Greater Havana reached I 750 ooo in 1970. Its average

annual growth rate since 1953 had been of the order of 2.1%, about that of
the national population, and considerably lower than total urban population
growth (Table I ) . The very modest increments between 1953and 1970could
be seen as a gradual slowdown in the growth of the country’s capital city. In
fact, two distinct trends mark the intercensal period.
Between 1958 and 1963, Havana’s annual growth rate has been estimated
at 3.4O/0, i.e. a heavy influx into Havana more than compensated for the
emigration of Cubans who went into exile. After 1965, however, the rate
dipped to about I % (Landstreet, 1976, 157). If we allow that natural
population growth in the capital is below the national level (ComitC Estatal de
Estadisticas, 1979, 38), it still appears that net internal migration to Havana
did not fully replace emigration in the latter half of the decade.s

Some of the projects reportedly turned out costly failures (Garnier, 1973, 173-74, 187).
T h e number of volunteers working in the sugar harvest dropped steadily from some 170 000
men in 1970 to a little over 2 0 ooo in 1974 (Mesa-Lago, 1978, 50).
’ Recently Castro ( 1978a, 34) indicated that the programme may not be fully implemented.
* T h e loss through emigration into exile can be estimated (on the basis of data provided by
Landstreet “976, go, 1831) at less than 2% per year; migration to Havana would then appear to
have been a little over I % per year.
 Josef Gugler 52 I

I n 1969 Castro announced that industrialization projects would be

concentrated in Havana and in the two other heavily populated and highly
urban provinces, Las Villas and Oriente. New industries were to be located in
the capital because the city had good port facilities,infrastructure to support the
new industries, a concentrated consumer market, an abundant supply of
labour-especially of skilled domestic labour and foreign technicians-and a
disciplined and experienced labour force (Eckstein 1977, 451-52). The
expansion of international tousism in the 1970s may be assumed to have
added further to Havana-centred activities. However, a population of
I 960 ooo reported at the end of 1976 indicates that Havana has grown only
slowly, on the order of 1.8% per year, since the census (Table z ) . ~If this
suggests little net migration to Havana, a recent projection assumes net
immigration ofonly 0.4% per year in the 1975-80period and net emigration of
0.I YOper year in subsequent quinquennia, so that the city's population will
still be under 2.3 million by the end of the century (Comitk Estatal de
Estadisticas, 1978b, 75).
Throughout this century urban primacy has been pronounced in Cuba, as
in a number of other third world countries, especially in Latin America.
While the primate position of Havana has been reduced, the pattern remains
striking, whatever measure is used. Between 1907 and 1953 the proportion
of the population in agglomerations over 20 ooo inhabitants that lived in
Havana fluctuated considerably, but never fell below 54%. Only in the last
intercensal period did it drop from 55% in 1953 to 48% in 1970 (Table I ) .
If we take the most commonly used measure of urban primacy, the
two-city index, then it appears that Havana was 7.0 times larger than
Santiago, the country's second largest city in 1953; by 1976 the index
had dropped to 6.0. If the four-city index is used, the ratio of the
population of the largest city to the combined populations of the three
next-largest cities, then the index moved from 3.2 in 1953 to 2 . 7 in 1976
(Table 2 ) . Elected local government, Poder Popular, was established in 1976
(Dominguez, 1978, 282-91;Harnecker, 1g77).lo It has brought a measure of
decentralization and may Rrove to be part of a continuing process of
curtailing the dominant role of Havana in the island's political, economic
and cultural affairs.
T h e slowdown in the growth of Havana, and the concomitant weakening
of its dominant position, was clearly intended by the revolutionary leader-
ship, to whom Havana represented the evils of the old society (Gamier, 1973,
124-33, 161-62).The deliberate neglect of Havana, the deterioration of its
infrastructure, and the dilapidated state of its buildings have been much
commented upon. In 1978 we saw repairs being carried out on selected

9 Industrialization without much additional urbanization is conceivable to the extent that it is

capital intensive and/or that labour is released from existing service or manufacturing
establishments.
"JPoder Popular was first introduced on an experimental basis in 1974 in what was then
Matanzas P r o h c e .
522 ‘Aminimum of urbanism and a maximum of ruralism’: the Cuban experience
buildings on main thoroughfares, but parts of Old Havana remained in very
poor condition.ll The only data available refer to what until 1976 was
Havana Province.12 O n one hand, these data show that the provincial
proportion of the total value of work done in 1962-72 by the construction
sector (which covered 60% of the country’s construction) was higher than
the provincial proportion of the national population throughout the period;
the proportion reached about 40% in 1971 and 1972,when about 27% of
Cuba’s population lived in the province. On the other hand, the province
received only 15% of the new housing built from 1964to 1972 (Landstreet,
1976, 150-51). By 1970, only 13% of the urban housing in the province had
been built after 1959,a proportion substantially lower than that in other
provinces, as then delimited, where it ranged from 22% to as high as 37% in
Oriente and Pinar del Rio. Close to half the urban housing deficit was
estimated to be in Havana Province in 1970,and the province had a similarly
high proportion of the replacement requirement projected for 1970-85
(JUCEPLAN, 1976,20, 56, 58).
Still, in 1970, a larger proportion of, the urban population of Havana
Province enjoyed piped water, electricity, an indoor toilet, a bath or shower,
kerosene or gas cooking, a refrigerator or a freezer, and a radio set than in
any other province (JUCEPLAN, 1976, 32-41, especially table 24, related to
population figures in JUCEPLAN, 1g75c,42). In any case, there occurred a
policy reversal in the early 1970s: Havana Province received 30% of the new
housing built in 1971-75 (Comitt Estatal de Estadisticas, 1977,203).
The implementation of regional growth strategies represented the counter-
part of the effort to reduce the dominant role of Havana. The main
beneficiary was the region that until 1976 constituted Oriente Province. Its
population increased at 2.7% per year in the 1953-70 period, considerably
faster than in any other province. Even the population in agglomerations
with fewer than 10 000 inhabitants increased at 2.3% annually, i.e. slightly

l1 Typhoid broke out in Old Havana during the summer of 1977because sewage had con-
taminated the water supply (Hamberg, 1977, 15).
l* We are limiting our discussion here to Havana, relative to the rest of the country.
Countrywide, housing has remained a low priority area in spite of various announcements of
ambitious building plans. During 1 9 5 ~average4 construction amounted to less than 1 7 000
housing units per year, then it dropped to less than 6000 units per year from 1965to I971 (Roca,
1980). The housing deficit has been estimated at slightly over one million units in 1970,
replacement need for the 1970-75 quinquennium at 230 000 units, and new requirements for the
same period at 162 ooo to 186 000 units, depending on population projections (JUCEPLAN 1976,
54-60). However, only slightly less than 80 000 housing units were completed during the years
1971-75. In 1972,production of 50 000 to 70 ooo housing units per year had been projected for
1974-75, but fewer than 19000 units were built in each of these years, and only an average
1 7 300 units were completed in the years 1976-78 (Anon, 1972, 193;Roca, 1g80).The housing
shortage was apparently discussed at great length in the newly established National Assembly.
In his closing speech to its second session Castro (1978a, 7, 33) acknowledged the magnitude
and importance of the problem. Subsequently he indicated plans for 50 ooo housing units to be
built in 1980and expressed the hope that construction would continue to rise to reach 100 000
units in 1985 (Castro, 1978b,8). For an account of how some families were affected by the
housing shortage see Lewis el af. (1978, 542-44).
Table 2 Population of largest Cuban cities and measures of urban primacy, censuses 1919-70 and estimate 1976
1919 1931 1943 1953 1970 1976
Greater Havana 466 188 720 739 868 426 1 139 579 1 751 216 1961 674
Santiago 62 083 101 508 118266 163 237 277 600 326 066
Carnaguey 41 909 62 081 80 509 110388 197 720 230 891
Holguin 35 865 58 776 131 656 160 965
Guantanamo 42 423 64 671 129 005 155 217
Santa Clara 53981 77 398 130 241 152 361
Matanzas 41 574 49 778 54 864 63 916 86 596 99 003
Two-city index 7.5 7.1 7.3 7.0 6.3 60
Four-city index 3.2 3.4 3.4 3.2 2.9 2.7
Sources: Populationfigures from Centro de Estudios Demograficos(1976, 162) and Comite Estatalde Estadisticas (1979,41). indices
calculated from these figures.
Table 3 The ten most rapidly growing Cuban towns, 1953-70, with over 2 0 000 inhabitants in 1970
% Annual % Annual
growth Population growth Population
Town Province 1943-53 1953 1953-70 1970
Bayamo Oriente 2.32 20 I78 6.36 71 484
Victoria de las
Tunas Oriente 4.86 20 431 5.10 53 734
Holguin Oriente 4.88 57 573 4.45 131 656
Guantanamo Oriente 4.36 64 671 3.77 129 005
Pinardel Rio Pinardel Rio 4.08 38 885 3.55 74 287
Baracoa Oriente 1.02 1 1 459 3.30 20 856
Camaguey Camaguey 3.29 110388 3.22 197 720
Manzanillo Oriente 1.59 42 252 3.21 75 565
Artemisa La Habana 3.01 17 461 3.06 30 357
Santiagode Cuba Oriente 3.36 163 237 2.95 277 600
Source: JUCEPLAN (197% 52,56).
 n
1 Population 11
l00,000-499,999
0 5Q000-%999
I Son Anlonio d8 lo8 Bolos
2 Son J o d da I08 Laioi
-.-
da Cuba
0

SCALE
100km.
Source: JUCEPLAN ( 1 9 7 5 ~53)
: Redrawn by James D. Stockmal. University of Connecticut

4
Figure 1 Urban centres with more than 20 ooo inhabitants, 1970
526 ‘Aminimum ofurbanism and a muximum ofruralism ’:th Cuban exfierime
more than the national population growth and a pattern quite unique among
the provinces (JUCEPW, 1g75c,50). If we take towns with more than 20 000
inhabitants in 1970, the four that had grown most rapidly were all in what
was then Oriente Province, as were seven out of the ten showing the greatest
expansion in the intercensal period (Table 3).
T h e towns that grew fastest between 1953 and 1970 were Bayamo, with a
population increase of 250%; Victoria de la Tunas, 160%; and Holguin,
130%. All three are located in the interior of the former Oriente Province,
away from the coast (Figure I),which suggests increased integration of the
island’s urban system. According to Acosta and Hardoy ([1g71]1973,
34-35), in Bayamo the country’s principal centre for milk products was being
expanded, and refrigeration industries and food-processing industries in
general were being established; in Holguin there were going to be new food
and textile industries.
In effect, Oriente Province had been chosen for integrated urban-rural
development, which was to be based on the exploitation of local natural
resources, both in agriculture and in minerals, in Nicaro and Mao on the
northern coast. Apart from its resources base, Oriente, the province farthest
from Havana, was seen as a particularly suitable location to create a
counterweight to the concentration of activities and population in and
around the capital (Acosta and Hardoy [I9711 1973, 30-35). However, a
comparison of growth rates for the 1943-53 and 1953-70 periods shows that
for many cities the high growth rates of the latter are a continuation of an
established trend. Only Bayamo, Baracoa, and Manzanillo grew at a
substantially accelerated rate (Table 3).

IV Elements for an assessment

Concern about third world urbanization focuses on inequality and economic
inefficiency. Heavy rural-urban migration is seen as an indication of wide
disparities between rural and urban living standards; it also raises questions
as to the loss of potential rural output and the low productivity of
unemployed and underemployed urban labour; vast bureaucracies,
numerous hangers-on, prostitutes and beggars make a doubtful contribution
to national development and suggest the label of ‘misemployment’. Primate
cities stand as symbols of regional inequality. Metropolitan agglomerations
can be seen to put an inordinate burden on the scarce resources of poor
countries. And within most third world cities the inequalities are glaring; in
many countries a large proportion of the urban population is squatting, at
considerable costs in terms of the effects on urban land allocation, settlement
planning and the quality of house design (Gugler and Flanagan, 1977).
How to assess the Cuban experience since the revolution? We have seen
that urban growth slowed down considerably in the last intercensal period.
More detailed data for Havana show considerably accelerated immigration
 Josef Gugler 527

after the revolution, followed by very slow growth after 1965. The heavy
influx of the early 1960s can be taken as an indication of better conditions
prevailing in Havana than elsewhere in the country: positions were vacated
by emigrants and their assets distributed, the government bureaucracy
expanded, industrialization required personnel, scholarships brought
students to Havana. Whether the subsequent very low level of immigration
was a function of improved conditions elsewhere in the country or whether the
system of residence permits, ration cards, and workers’ identity cards
introduced in 1962 (Amaro and Mesa-Lago, 1971,343-44) was used to this
effect, is difficult to tell.13
Disparities in earned income in Cuba have been sharply curtailed,
unearned income has nearly disappeared, house rent represents a low fixed
proportion of income, education and health care are free, and rationing
introduces a further equalizing effect. While the Cuban economy experienced
major crises and aggregate output declined at times, not only in per cupitu, but
even in absolute terms (Mesa-Lago, 1979), the various equalizing policies
might be expected to have increased the well-being of the population at
large.
Infant mortality can be argued to be the most satisfactory index of social
welfare; it is a particularly appropriate indicator for assessing the success of
policies aimed a t providing basic necessities for an entire population. Data on
Cuban infant mortality fail to reflect the increased equality that is the goal of
the revolution. I n the first I 2 years following the establishment of the revolu-
tionary regime the infant mortality rate was invariably higher than in 1958;
the increase was substantial in 1962,and especially in 1969.Only in 1972did
the rate drop below the I 958 level (Table 4) .14Thebaby boom ofthe early I 960s
presumably put considerable pressure on the existing facilities; at the same
time, the ranks of medical personnel were depleted through emigration (close
to half the qualified physicians went into exile [Landstreet, 1976, 129-301);
finally, the trade embargo affected the importation of drugs and of supplies
for local drug production. If these three factors may be taken to account for
the increase in infant mortality in the early 1960s, then the continued high

l3 According to Lehmann (1978) leaving a job in the provinces for one in Havana requires
authorization from a minister.
Theseverehousingshortagepresumablyalso impedesmobility.Sincerentsarelow, usually 10%
of family income, people can be expected to cling to such housing as they have secured. Relatives
and friends, frequently living in crowded conditions already, will be reluctant to extend
hospitality to a newcomer when the prospects of him/her being able to move on are dim. Urban
squatting, the last resort for all too many in other third world countries, does not appear to be an
option in the Cuban context.
l4 In the late 1950s Cuba had the lowest infant mortality rates in the Caribbean and Latin
America, except for some small dependencies: the Cayman Islands, the Netherlands Antilles,
and Surinam (United Nations, 1967, 285, 287, 289). In the 1970s infant mortality rates of less
than 30 per thousand were reported from the Bahamas, Barbados, Costa R i a , Guadeloupe,
Jamaica, Martinique, Panama, Puerto Rico, and Trinidad and Tobago. In Jamaica the rate
averaged 23.4 for the 1974-76 period (United Nations, 1979, 286-87).
528 ‘A minimum of urbanism and a maximum of ruralism ’:the Cuban experience

Table 4 Infant mortality in Cuba, 1958-78

Infant mprtality rate$.

Ratio of
Former Havana Ratio of
Havana Province Havana
Cuba Province to Cuba Havana to Cuba

1958 36.2 30.4 0.84

1959 37.3
1960 39.8 35.1 0.88
1961 41.3 45.5 1.10
1962 I 43.6 46.7 1.07
1963 41.1 45.0 1.09
1964 40.3 38.3 0.95
1965 40.3 33.2 0.82
1966 39.5 32.8 0.83
1967 40.5
1968 41.3
1969 48.2
1970 38.7 39.5 1.02
1971 37.4 26.4 0.71
1972 28.3 23.9 0.84
1973 28.9 21.7 0.75
1974 27.9 24.7 0.89
1975 27.3 24.6 0.90
1976 22.9 19.9 0.87
1977 24.6
1978 22.3 17.6 0.79
~~

“Number of deaths of infants under one year of age per 1000 live births. The figures for
1958-66 have been adjusted upward for underregistration.For a discussion of the reliability
of these data see Landstreet (1 976,107-1 08,124-29).

Sources: Infant mortality rates from Roca (1 979,3748)

and Landstreet(1976,90-91).Ratios
calculated from these rates.

rate of infant mortality in the late 1960s, and especially the sudden upsurge
in 1969, remain to be e x ~ 1 a i n e d . l ~
If the equalizing policies are not reflected in a decline in infant mortality
until 1972, a comparison between Havana and the country at large promises
more direct evidence of the results of efforts to improve conditions in
formerly neglected regions (Table 4). Most striking is the fact that the
increase in infant mortality in the early 1960s was considerably less dramatic
for the entire country than in the former Havana Province which may be
l5 Roemer (1976, 68) does not discuss the startling rise, indeed he omits the 1968 and ~r$g
d a t a on infant mortality from a time series, even though he uses the 1969 figure subsequently
(Roemer, 1976, 74). Danielson (1979,207, rgo), in his book-length account ofCuban medicine,
makes no mention of the increase in infant mortality in the early 1960s and provides a n infant
mortality chart that starts only in 1962. His comment on the 17% increase in the infant
mortality rate in 1969 over 1968 is limited to ‘the trend in decreasing infant mortality reversed
itself and registered a small but definite increase’.
 Jostf Gugler 529

taken as a proxy for Havana in as much as threequarters of the province’s

population were living in the city.16 Indeed, the conventional pattern was
reversed and infant mortality rates were higher in this most highly urbanized
province than in the country at large. A repetition ofthis situation in 1970 may
indicate that the sharp increase in infant mortality in the late 1960s was
again more pronounced in the capital city. It appears then that Havana has
been more severely affected than the rest of the country in times of stress, but
there is no indication of a general tendency for the gap between the country
and its capital city to narrow over the last 20 years.
An assessment of the efficiency of the allocation of labour between the
rural and the urban sector, within the urban sector, and among economic
sectors encounters great difficulties. Clearly, substantial unemployment is a
thing of the past.17 In addition, labour has been transferred out of activities
that we would characterize as misemployment. Domestic service absorbed
more than a third of the female labour force in 1953; by 1970 it was virtually
non-existent (’JUCEPLAN,1g75a, 6). An estimated I I 500 Cubans earned their
living directly or indirectly from prostitution in 1958 (Guilbert, 1961,55);
they have now found another livelihood, even if prostitution itself has not
disappeared altogether.l8 In 1958 there were some 5000 beggars, even
though begging was unlawful (MacGaffey and Barnett, [1962] 1965, 1 7 2 ) ;
they too have found another occupation.
Major campaigns have aimed at transferring underemployed urban labour
to agriculture, temporarily or permanently. The years 1966-67 saw an effort
to cut the bureaucracy, considerably expanded in the early years of the
revolutionary regime, down to size. In Greater Havana alone, 25 ooo
employees in public administration and certain state enterprises were let go
(Gamier, 1973, I 15-13, 129-33). In 1968 small retail trade and workshops
were nationalized. In 1953 17.9% of the economically active labour force in
Havana had been in commerce; with the introduction of rationing and the
emergence of a black market the sector had expanded; but by 1968 the
proportion of the labour force in commerce had declined to I 1.5% (Gamier,
1973, 135-52, 233). Still, a visitor’s casual impressions are ofexcess labour in
a variety of service employments in Havana.
There can be no doubt that a considerable proportion of the urban labour
force has been released from the service sector. In Havana the proportion of

16The substantial immigration into Havana in the early 1g6os probably contributed to
the deterioration of conditions there.
l7 In 1956-57 unemployment was estimated to range from 9.0% of the labour force in the
middle of the sugar harvest to as high as 20.7% during the off-season, for an average annual rate
of unemployment of 16.4%. People working without pay for relatives and those working fewer
than 30 hours per week constituted another 13.8% that could be considered underemployed.
Unemployment was estimated at 12.4% in 1958, I 1.8% in 1959; underemployment at 7.6 and
7.z0%, respectively (Mesa-Lago, 1972, 2 4 1 8 ) .
18 For a summary of interviews with Armando Torres, who was instrumental in establishing
the rehabilitation programme for prostitutes, and an account of the retraining of one former
prostitute, see Lewis et al. (1977, 279319).
530 ‘A minimum of urbanism and a maximum of ruralism’: the Cuban experience

the economically active population in services dropped from 41.9%in 1953

to 27.2% in 1968 (Garnier, 1973, 232). Additional campaigns, as we have
seen, brought urban dwellers to help in agriculture at planting and especially
at harvest time for periods ranging from a day to half a year. The fact
remains that the drive to surpass the prerevolutionary level of sugar
production, to harvest ten million tons in 1970,ended in failure. In a famous
speech, on 26 July 1970, Castro gave an accounting.19 Not only had the
target not been reached by a wide margin but the costs had been heavy. The
mobilizations for agricultural work in particular had resulted in substantial
losses in industrial production (Castro, 1970, 1-12).
The Cuban approach to housing construction may be seen as a model of
efficiency in contrast to the squatter settlements that characterize many
third world cities. Here we have centralized allocation of urban land,
planned layout of settlements, provision of community facilities and public
amenities, construction designs by specialists, mass production of pre-
fabricated elements, and large-scale building.20 In addition, the oppor-
tunity cost of labour was argued to be low in many construction projects, such
as the famous Alamar housing project on the outskirts of Havana, that were
built by ‘microbrigades’, workers temporarily released from their production
centre on the understanding that the centre will maintain its level of output
and that the new dwelling units will be allocated to workers at the centre
(Schuman, 1975, 13-17; Eckstein, 1977,456-58; Mace, 1979, 126-28; Ward,
1978, 36-38).21 Recently, however, Castro (1978b, 8) indicated that state
construction brigades are to play a major role in housebuilding.

V Conclusion
More information on aspects of urbanization is available for Cuba than for
any other socialist developing country, but that information is still severely
limited. The paucity of data needs no emphasis. In making comparisons
between the 1953 and the 1970 censuses a major difficulty arises from the fact
that the long intercensal period may well mask significant changes in trends
immediately following on the victory of the revolution in 1959 as well as in
the 1960s. We have seen this to be the case for the growth of Havana, but
have no intracensal data to disaggregate other trends. Finally, we have only
limited data on developments since 1970.
Official policies have been enunciated that interconnect the reduction in
the dominance of Havana, the slowdown in urban growth, and the urban-
ization of the countryside. The evidence we have suggests achievements in all

l9 The &
.u campaign is portrayed and excerpts from Castro’s speech are presented in Cuba:the
babe of the I0 (XEO OOo, a film directed by Chris Marker.
2oFor photographs of contemporary Cuban architecture, see Segre (1970)and N6iiez (1976).
21Over the 1971-75 period 57% of all housing units built were the work of microbrigades
(ComitC Estatal de Estadisticas, 1977, 202).
 Josef Gugler 53 I

these dimensions, but by I970 they were as yet quite limited. These
observations bring home the profound truth in Fidel Castro's (1970, 19)
reflection:
This isn't the first time we have said this. We said it when we arrived here on January 6 or 7
[ 19591;we said that we realized the task was great and we had to learn a lot. We said it in
all sincerity, just as we say that the learning process of revolutionaries in the field of
economic construction is much more difficult than we had imagined; the problems are more
complex than we had imagined; and the learning process much longer and harder than we
had imagined.

Department of Sociology, University of Connectinrt, USA

Acknowledgments

At various stages cmments were received from Larry S. Carney, Susan

Eckstein, Alan G. Gilbert, Dieter Goetze, Louis Wolf Goodman, Jill
Hamberg and David Lehmann. While I did not accept all their criticisms
and felt unable to follow through on some of the suggestions made, I wish to
express my appreciation of the help proferred.

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Cuba transmet B la communautt sociologique des renseignements relativement bons sur ses
politiques d’urbanisation et leur application dans un pays en dtveloppement vout au socialisme.
Cet article traite sptcifiquement des efforts en vue d’tliminer les contradictions rurales/urbaines
et de redtfinir le r6le de la capitale nationale et principale ville, La Havane.
La croissance urbaine, qui n’a jamais CtC tlevte comparte B de nombreux autres pays du
tiers-monde, a ralenti au cours de la dernihe ptriode entre recensements. Ce changement a t t t
accompagnt d’amtliorations des conditions de la population rurale grice B une politique de
plein emploi, aux augmentations de salaire, aux prestations sociales gratuites, et B la
construction de nouvelles petites villes. Cette tentative ‘d’urbanisation’ de la campagne ttait
accornpagnie d’efforts en vuc de ‘ruraliser’ la population urbaine grice B des campagnes de
mobilisation men& vers la fin des anntes 60 pour recruter de la main d’oeuvre volontaire pour
les plantations et les ricoltes. Dans les anntes 70, ces efforts se sont portts sur les ttablissements
scolaires ruraux.
Aprks la victoire d e la rtvolution, La Havane dut faire face B un amux considtrable de
population, suivi d’une croissance trhs lente a p r h 1965. Les efforts faits en vue de rtduire le d e
dominant d e La Havane ont t t t accompagnts de plans de croissance rtgionaux. Le principal
btntficiaire en a CtC I’ancienne province d’oriente, les quatre villes ayant enregistre la
croissance la plus rapide durant la dernitre ptriode entre recensements Ctant toutes situCes dans
cette rtgion.
Toute tvaluation d e l’exptrience cubaine doit tenir compte des tendances de I’urbanisation
avant la rtvolution ainsi que du contexte dtmographique. I1 faut Cgalement faire la part des crises
majeures qu’a subi I’tconomie cubaine. L’auteur offre une evaluation provisoire qui ttudie plus
particuliirement l’efficacitt des politiques de nivellement social et d’allocation du travail.

Kuba liefert Sozialwissenschaftlern relativ gute Informationen uber die Urbanisierungspolitik

und ihre Verwirklichung in einem sozialistischen Entwicklungsland. Diese Abhandlung konzen-
triert sicb aufdie Bemiihungen, den Widerspruch zwischen Land und Stadt auszumerzen und die
Rolle der Hauptstadt und ersten Stadt des Landes, Havana, neu zu definieren.
Das Wachstum der Stadte, das verglichen mit anderen Landern der Dritten .Welt nie sehr
hoch war, verlangsamte sich im Zeitraum zwischen den beiden letzten Volkszahlungen weiter.
Mit dieser Veranderung gingen Verbesserungen im landlichen Bereich durch eine Vollbeschiift-
igungspolitik, Lohnerhohungen, kostenlose Sozialfursorge und den Bau neuer Kleinstadte
 Josef Gugler 535
einher. Diese Bemiihungen um die ‘Ventadterung’ der landlichen Gebiete wurden auf der
anderen Seite durch Bemiihungen um eine ‘Verlandlichung’ der Stadtbevolkerung erganzt, und
zwar durch Kampagnen zur Rekrutierung Freiwilliger fir Anbau- und Erntearbeiten Ende der
h e r Jahre und durch Internate auf dem Land in den 70er Jahren.
Auf das betriichtliche Ansteigen der Zuwanderungsquote von Havana im AnschluB an die
siegreiche Revolution folgte a b 1965 ein nur sehr langsames Wachstum. Die Bestrebungen um
einen Abbau der beherrschenden Rolle Havanas wurden durch Strategien zur Forderung der
Regionalentwicklung erganzt. Den grollten Nutzen hieraus zog die ehemalige Oriente Provinz,
in der die vier Stadte liegen, die zwischen den beiden letzten Volkszahlungen den grollten
Zuwachs aufwiesen.
I
Bei jeder Beurteilung der kubanischen Erfahrung sind die vorrevolutionaren Trends im
Bereich der Verstadterung und der demographische Zusammenhang zu beriicksichtigen.
Aullerdem diirfen auch die grollen Krisen, die die kubanische Wirtschaft erlebt hat, nicht a d e r
acht gelassen werden. Es wird eine vorlaufige Beurteilung abgegeben, die sich auf die
Wirksamkeit der Ausgleichspolitik und der Arbeitskraftezuteilung konzentriert.

Cuba ofrece a 10s soci6logos relativamente buena informaci6n sobre politicas de urbanizaci6n y
su implementaci6n en un pais en desarrollo socialista. Esta ponencia enfoca las tentativas
hechas para eliminar la contradicci6n rural-urbana y para definir de nuevo el papel de la capital
nacional y la primera ciudad, La Habana.
El crecimiento urbano, nunca muy alto en comparaci6n con muchos otros paises del Tercer
Mundo, fue disminuyendo en el hltimo period0 entre un censo y otro. Este cambio fue
acompaiiado de mejoras en las condiciones rurales, debido a una politica de pleno empleo,
aumentos en 10s jornales, servicios swiales gratuitos y la construccidn de nuevas ciudades
pequeiias. La tentativa de ‘urbanizar’ el campo fue complementada por otra para ‘ruralizar’ la
poblacidn urbana, a travts de campaiias de mobilizaci6n para alistar mano de obra voluntaria
para plantar y recogr la cosecha en 10s hltimos aEos de la dCcada de 10s 60, y por medio de
internados rurales en 10s 1970s.
La Habana experiment6 una inmigraci6n bastante acelerada despuCs de la victoria de la
revolucibn, seguida de un aumento muy lento desputs de 1965. La tentativa para disminuir el
papel dominante de La Habana fue complementada con estrategias de crecimiento regional. La
antigua Provincia de Oriente fue la que sac6 mayor provecho, y las cuatro ciudades que
crecieron m i s rapidamente durante el hltimo period0 entre censos estaban todas ubicadas alli.
Cualquier evaluacidn de la experiencia cubana tiene que tomar en cuenta las tendencias en
urhanizacidn de antes de la revolucidn y el context0 demogrifico. Tambitn tiene que considerar
las importantes crisis sufridas por la economia cubana. Se ofrece un asesoramiento provisional
que enfoca sobre la eficacia de las politicas de igualacibn y de la asignacidn de la mano de obra.