To Cuba and Back · Theme
Economic Exploitation and Sugar Monoculture
How To Cuba and Back develops Economic Exploitation and Sugar Monoculture.
The narrative highlights how Cuba's economy is dominated by sugar production for export, with enormous wealth generated for a few while the island is heavily taxed by Spain and lacks industrial or intellectual diversity.
Where it surfaces
- VII
The narrator reflects on the Coolie trade as a manifestation of capital dominating labor, linking it to broader economic exploitation in Cuba.
- X
The narrator's journey to Matanzas is motivated by the desire to see sugar plantations in operation, and the description of Coolie labor highlights the exploitative economic system.
- XI
The chapter describes the vast cane fields, the sugar mill, and the labor of slaves and coolies, highlighting the plantation economy.
- First Day on a Sugar Estate
The chapter details the economics of sugar production, including profits, risks, and the harsh labor system that underpins the plantation's success.
- XIII
The chapter details the sugar production process, the plantation's daily routine, and the sacrifice of coffee trees to sugarcane, illustrating the dominance of sugar monoculture.
- XIV
The narrator contrasts the peaceful coffee estate with the 'life consuming toil' of sugar ingenios, highlighting the economic pressures on planters.
- XVI
The chapter highlights the sugar monoculture's dominance and the heavy taxation that enriches Spain while limiting Cuban economic diversity.
- XIX
The prison's use of money to determine treatment reflects economic exploitation and class-based justice.
- Habits of the Cubans, Visit to the Bishop, and the Coolie Mart
The Coolie market illustrates the economic exploitation of Chinese laborers, sold into servitude for eight years with minimal pay and poor conditions.
- XXII
The visit to the Almacen de azúcar highlights the scale of sugar storage, and the breakfast discussion covers slave counts and tax evasion by planters.
- XXIII
Focus on material resources, sugar crop, and the wealth generated by commerce and production.
- Slavery
Coolie labor is described as a system of forced labor for sugar estates, with masters motivated only by labor value and neglect after usefulness ends.
- Material Resources—Education
Cuba's economy is dominated by sugar production, with little diversification, making it vulnerable and dependent on a single staple.
- Endnotes
The fire's destruction of sugar mills, cane, and stored sugar highlights the vulnerability and central economic role of the sugar industry.
