Planning for the New Society

The Notion of Public Health in the Thought of Fidel Castro Ruz (1963-1969)

Abstract

This article addresses the notion of public health in the thought of Fidel Castro Ruz in the period 1963-1969, years when a deep debate was held about the role that should be given to the law of value and the market in the conditions of socialism. The main objective is to analyze the notion of public health of the Cuban leader, in order to contribute for a deeper understanding of his theory about the overcoming of socialism in communism that allows us to understand his place in the sixties debate. To achieve this purpose, a critical analysis of the discourse is carried out, taking as a primary source the speeches made at public events between 1963 and 1969. As a result, a conception of public health is observed that, strongly influenced by a humanist vision of Marxism, encompasses almost all dimensions of social life, serving as a non-mercantile transition model towards communism. It can be concluded that, in the first place, his notion of public health is valid, although it is subject to the question of socialism, since it is inseparable from its ideology, and that, secondly, the synthesis carried out around health serves to place Fidel Castro in the debate of the sixties - specifically against the pro-mercantile libermanism that dominated European socialism after de-Stalinization -