An important set of local bodies that provided the government with an extrajudicial means of controlling the population were the CDRs. They provided a form of communal activity intended to consolidate the revolution by giving the people a sense of identity with the regime. Functioning ostensibly as social clubs, the committees were organized by the Communist Party and were supposedly meant to illustrate how well the people pulled together under Castro. The government's effectiveness in promoting the CDRs as a social instrument for uniting the people behind the regime, whether willingly or under duress, could be seen in their numerical growth (see Source F).
Membership totals in Committees for the Defence of the Revolution.
What do the figures in Source F suggest about the popularity and influence of the CDRs?
Since the population of Cuba was around 12 million in 1976, the figures show that well over a third of the people belonged to CDRs. Clearly, this provided the regime with a formidable mechanism for maintaining control.
The ‘exemplary parenthood’ programme
An interesting example of the social role the CDRs were called upon to play was the 'exemplary parenthood' programme started under their direction in the late 1960s. Under this parents had to show that they were actively involved in their children's education. They were required to:
• make regular parental visits to the school.
• supervise their children's learning and explain such failings as bad behaviour and low marks
• ensure their children missed school no more than 5 days in a 100.
Other prominent aspects of the 'exemplary parenthood' programme were schemes aimed at:
• increasing the number of blood donors
• encouraging people to recycle glass and plastic as a means of meeting Cuba's commodity shortages.
World History
