Managing Socialism: From Old Cadres to New Professionals in Revolutionary Cuba

Managing Socialism challenges the theoretical underpinnings of Cuban Studies - the elite/mass perspective. It offers a major reinterpretation of the revolutionary process which focuses on the rise and fall of different types of social actors at the intermediate level of Cuban society. Frank Fitzgerald identifies intermediate level types: the pre-revolutionary middle class; the old cadres who in the 1960s attained administrative positions with political credentials; and the new professionals who, since 1970, primarily enter these same occupations on the basis of education. Fitzgerald focuses on the transitions from one type to the next and uncovers conflict/co-operation patterns between the three strata of Cuban society. His study offers new insight into the early exodus from Cuba, the problem of scarce skills, and Cuba’s educational expansion.