From Pioneers to Young Communists: Constructing Childhood in Revolutionary Cuba

In 1962 the Unión de Pioneros de Cuba (UPC), a budding childhood organization in revolutionary Cuba, was placed under the jurisdiction of the youth organization, the Union of Young Communists (UJC). Yet in a moment of autocrítica in 1965, the UJC berated itself for failing to provide leadership to the Pioneer movement and determined to attempt to remedy this failing. Underlying this circumstance is the problematic of the link between - and transition from - childhood to youth. The UPC went on to follow a completely different route to the UJC, becoming, instead of a selective organization, a mass organization for all Cuban children, based in the classroom rather than around extracurricular activities. This paper will explore the reasons for and implications of this development, arguing that the construction of childhood in revolutionary Cuba followed a distinct model to the construction of youth. The latter depended on the myth of the historical radicalism of young heroes and martyrs, whilst the construction of childhood within the Revolution, this paper will argue, was based around the ideology of education. This link with education led to an enduring, stable and popular construction of childhood which remains a powerful symbol of revolutionary Cuba.