| United Party of the Socialist Revolution of Cuba | |
| Colorcode: | red |
| First Secretary: | Fidel Castro |
| Governing Body: | Politburo |
| Founded: | 26 March 1962 |
| Dissolved: | 3 October 1965 |
| Headquarters: | Havana |
| Ideology: | Communism Marxism-Leninism |
| Merged: | Communist Party of Cuba |
| Country: | Cuba |
The United Party of the Socialist Revolution of Cuba (Spanish: Partido Unido de la Revolución Socialista de Cuba: PURSC) was the sole political party of Cuba created on March 26, 1962.[1] The precursor to the Communist Party of Cuba, the party was a reorganization of the Integrated Revolutionary Organizations (ORI), which itself was the culmination of consolidation efforts of Cuba's various revolutionary forces-26th of July Movement, the Popular Socialist Party, and the Revolutionary Directorate 13th of March-[2] [3] following the 1959 Cuban Revolution. The party then finally evolved into the PCC in October 1965 under the leadership of Fidel Castro.[4]
Established in 1925 with roots tracing to the Cuban Revolutionary Party, which was proclaimed 130 years ago on April 10th, 1892, José Martí, the first ever communist party in Cuba[5] (initially named the Cuban Communist Party) was a Marxist-Leninist political party that faced political oppression for much of its existence, initially from 1925 until 1938, then renewed repression under Batista's regime from 1952 to 1959. After the successful overthrow of Fulgencio Batista with the Cuban Revolution of 1959, the political party (which was by then known as the Popular Socialist Party since 1944) was merged with other revolutionary forces to form the ORI in 1961. Due to perceived notions of sectarianism permeating within the ORI,[6] the organization experienced a mass purge of party membership with it being reorganized into the PURSC by March, 1962.[7] By 1965, the political vanguard had cemented itself across all facets of Cuba and key meetings in late September and early October of that year (from September 30 - October 1) resulted in the formation of the Political Bureau (Politburo), the Secretariat, and Work Commissions.[8] These top party meetings also led to the consolidation of newspapers Hoy and Revolución into Granma, the official newspaper of the party. On October 2, 1965, the decision to rename the PURSC into the PCC was ratified. By October 3, 1965, the Communist Party of Cuba was formed.
The PURSC was ran by a 6-person secretariat: Fidel Castro (First Secretary), Raúl Castro (Deputy Secretary), Ernesto Che Guevara, Osvaldo Dorticós Torrado, Blas Roca, and Emilio Aragonés. In addition to the Secretariat was the National Directory, which comprised all of the Secretariat and 25 other members (13 from M-26-7, 10 from the PSP, and 2 from the Revolutionary Directorate).[9]