Dahomey to Yoruba slaves exported through the port of Whydah. Throughout Cuba, it is possible to hold conversations in Yoruba, which finds its principal use, however, in the widespread cults known as Santería (see ch. 11, Religion).

Fon (in Haiti, the principal language of voodoo) is called Arará. As with Efik (Carabalíe), its use is probably largely restricted to the rituals of the religious cults, Arará and Carabalíe.

Chinese

The Chinese spoken in Cuba is a composite version of the many subdialects of Canton. The Cantonese dialect itself is the most important of the several non-Mandarin dialects of South China. The Chinese colony in Havana has in the past supported several newspapers as well as theatrical productions and movies. Few Chinese words have been accepted into general Cuban usage.

Yiddish

Since their arrival in Cuba, Yiddish-speaking European Jews have maintained a vigorous educational and cultural program. A Yiddish press printed poetry, novels, and periodicals; Yiddish was the principal language used in Jewish schools, tehaters, and lecture halls. The continued use of Yiddish by Jews of European origin strengthened the cultural barrier between them and the Sephardim, Spanish Jews whose own language was Ladino, a form of medieval Spanish. After arriving in Cuba, the Sephardim adopted Spanish instead of using Ladino. Items of interest to Sephardim in Yiddish papers were printed in Spanish.

Yiddish, from the German Jüdish (Jewish), originated in Germany in the ninth century and subsequently became the principal language of Jews in Eastern Europe. It includes elements of Hebrew, Aramaic, Romance, Slavonic, and other languages; it now differs markedly from German in form, word order, and style, although words of German origin are distinguishable. In Cuba, Yiddish-speaking immigrants of the 1920s were generally known as Germans. Yiddish is written in Hebrew characters and has an extensive literature.

LANGUAGE AND SOCIETY

The personal loyalty shown by the people to their leaders, rather than to the institutions of government, give speechmaking and other forms of personal communication particular importance. Command of language, especially spoken language, is the mark of the educated and able man of affairs; and above all it is the mark of the politician. Scholars are respected as men who understand the

world, and their eloquence is regarded as an indication of their ability to master not only ideas but facts. Rhetoric and power are thus closely related. Fidel Castro is considered to be the best speaker in Cuba, and his four to seven-hour speeches are followed by vast audiences.

Training in rhetorical skills is an important part of education at all levels. Schoolchildren are frequently required to give recitations, and university examinations are largely oral, especially in the popular field of law. A student is expected to convince his professors of his ability as much by his eloquence as by his knowledge. In ordinary life, speaking ability is an essential part of the public bearing of every successful man and most women. Declamation is more persuasive than statement, and some distrust is felt for taciturn individuals and those who express themselves simply, without repetition or flourish. Poetry is frequently quoted by people in all walks of life, and many of Cuba's best-known political heroes have been noted poets.

CHAPTER 6

SOCIAL STRUCTURE

By 1970 the lines on which social division had been drawn before the Revolution had largely disappeared although a new elite had been developing. Class distinctions had been officially abolished. The principal social division lay between managers of state-owned industries and farms and between members of the many government-sponsored national organizations and the rest of the population. Persons who belonged to such groups had higher social status and more privileges than others. They also had greater access to educational and other opportunities, as well as certain privileges and benefits. By 1971 political orientation and membership in the Communist Party of Cuba usually determined who was chosen for leading roles in the mass organizations and as managers of the state enterprises.

The government's official policy was to replace both the economic and social basis of class distinctions with political ones. Before the Revolution urban upper and middle classes not only controlled all major domestic business interests but also held the great majority of administrative, managerial, and professional positions. They also determined who had access to certain social, recreational, and housing facilities. In the countryside the upper class owned large landholdings. With the implementation of the agrarian and urban reform laws in the early 1960s, members of the old upper and middle classes lost all of the economic and social advantages by which they had previously been set apart.

The Revolutionary government also initiated plans to reduce the difference in living conditions between urban and rural populations. Rural inhabitants were mainly unskilled laborers or small farmers and were largely illiterate. Chronic seasonal or annual unemployment was widespread in rural areas, and recreational and sanitary facilities were lacking.

All efforts to raise the standard of living or increase production are the responsibility of government organizations or specific groups working in coordination with each other. Chief among them are the Communist Youth Organization (Unión de Jóvenes Comunistas-UJC), the Pioneers Union, and the Federation of Cuban Women.

In early 1970 the UJC was responsible for the mobilization of

youth. At the schools and universities, members controlled the political orientation of the students and assured student loyalty toward the government. They deployed students and other youth to voluntary work brigades and sent graduates in technical fields where they were needed. Technical brigades were sent to administrative and teaching posts in various industries including agriculture. In sparsely populated areas, the farming-youth brigades were responsible for agricultural production, voluntary labor, and signing up of individuals for the rural militia.

Another subordinate group of the UJC was the Pioneers Union, whose members were taught the uses of natural resources, the implementation of efficient production methods, the importance of national ceremonies and symbols, and the importance of loyalty to Marxist-Leninist ideals. Both groups were steppingstones to membership in the Communist Party.

Mobilization of women into the labor force was the responsibility of the Federation of Cuban Women. Women who joined the organization first worked in teaching and sanitary brigades in rural and urban areas. As membership increased, they branched out into other fields including social work. In early 1970 members were working in agriculture, government, and industry.

BACKGROUND

Before the Revolution Cuban society was divided, according to sociologists, into upper, middle, and lower classes. According to the majority of the people, however, there were simply the rich and the poor. Although there were a number of other differences between the classes, the main criterion was economic.

Three classes could be distinguished on the basis of the economic criterion: a lower class, consisting mainly of urban and rural unskilled wage workers; a middle class, almost entirely urban, consisting of skilled workers, self-employed and salaried persons, and small proprietors and landowners; and an upper class made up of those in the upper ranks of government service, in professions, and owners of large estates, mills, and businesses.

Rural Society

Rural structure differed considerably from that of urban areas. The vast expansion of the largest enterprises, partly at the expense of smaller ones, and a shift from individual to corporate ownership rendered the rural upper class insignificant. Most of the rural upper class had been replaced by professional managers, and the rural landowners either sold out to corporations or became absentee landowners residing in urban areas.

The rural middle class consisted of owners and operators of farms large enough to require hired labor, and of managers, schoolteachers, and shopkeepers. At the bottom level were the wageworkers and the peasants who made up the bulk of the rural population. The lives of these people either depended on employment in one of the large enterprises or on familial initiative as applied to smallholdings.

A number of other differences between the classes coincided with the economic one. Members of the upper class had a degree of political power and were in responsible administrative positions on the largest estates. They were better educated and often lighter skinned than the lower classes (see ch. 5, Ethnic Groups and Languages). One of the differences between the rural middle and lower classes was that the former imitated the social conventions and ideals of the upper class, whereas the latter did not. The ability of the middle class to hire labor, however, was the principal criterion dividing the two classes.

Although many members of the rural lower class owned their own land (generally twenty-five acres or less), standards of living and education were low. Politically and culturally, they were marginal to the rest of the society. Within the lower class, Negroes were more often laborers and sharecroppers than were persons of mixed origins, who generally owned some land.

In most rural areas the population was very widely dispersed rather than concentrated in villages. Poorly developed roads and other communications facilities contributed to rural isolation and hindered access to whatever social and educational opportunities were available in the towns. The social advancement of individuals began with their emigration to the cities and abandonment of the rural economy.

Urban Society

In 1902, at the beginning of the republican era, urban society already revealed the chief features that characterized it until the Revolution. It included almost all of the national upper class, which was further concentrated principally in the capital city, and the bulk of the middle class.

The upper class consisted of the wealthiest landowners and professional people, the higher ranking government employees, and a number of representatives of foreign commercial and industrial interests. In their political activity members of the upper class dealt directly with the government in power rather than with the political parties.

Many of the upper class were families claiming direct Spanish descent who had lived in Cuba for centuries; some claimed Spanish