COMMUNIST PARTY OF CUBA

Spanish Partido Comunista de Cuba (PCC) Cuban communist party organized by Fidel Castro and others in 1965 but historically dating from communist activity begun in Cuba in 1923. Under the constitution of 1976, it is the only party permitted to function in Cuba. The Cuban Communist Party (Partido Comunista Cubano) was founded in 1925 by Moscow-trained members of the Third International (Comintern). For three decades it adhered to the Stalinist line but, nevertheless, opportunistically collaborated with the regime of Fulgencio Batista in the 1940s and early '50s, its members even being rewarded with posts in government and labour. From 1954 to 1959, however, the Communists were a target of government suppression. In 1944 the party had been renamed the People's Socialist Party (Partido Socialista Popular; PSP); it retained this name until 1961, when, after Castro's overthrow of Batista and the victory of the revolution, the party was merged with Castro's 26th of July Movement (Movimiento 26 de Julio) and Revolutionary Directorate (Directorio Revolucionario) to form the Integrated Revolutionary Organizations (Organizaciones Revolucionarias Integradas; ORI). The next year, after a wide purge of members, the ORI was reorganized into the United Party of the Socialist Revolution (Partido Unificado de la Revolucin Socialista). This in turn was dissolved on Oct. 5, 1965, and replaced by the Communist Party of Cuba, organized along more orthodox Soviet lines. Its first congress was held in Havana in 1975. Throughout its history the new party was dominated by Fidel Castro and his brother Ral Castro.