Culture Matters to Authoritarians

Fidel Castro giving a speech in response to the P.M. affair. Wikimedia Commons

This module explores why authoritarian states seek to control cultural institutions.

The setting is Cuba in the early 1960s after the victory of revolutionary forces led by Fidel Castro.  He told Cuban intellectuals and artists they would enjoy the freedom to express themselves so long as they did not challenge the new regime. But soon all newspaper and magazines were put under state control. The source is P.M., a short 1961 film depicting a multi-racial crowd dancing, drinking and playing rumba music in Havana.  Filmed outside of official channels, it was the first film to be banned by the Castro regime as “counter-revolutionary.” Professor Patrick Iber provides a teaching plan that enables teachers to use the film to help students understand the complex reasons for banning what at first glance looks like a non-political film, including a desire for unity and control in the face of what the regime perceived as internal and foreign threats. At the same time, Iber introduces selected clips from a propaganda film made by the government in 1967 that traveled to remote villages designed to advertise the successes of the regime to illustrate the ways in which carefully produced cultural products became an essential part of the Cuban authoritarian playbook. As part of Authoritarianism 101, this module enables teachers to explore the theme of authoritarian practice by examining the cultural tools of authoritarian control and the nature of everyday life under authoritarianism.