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6 Rev. Socialist L. 183 (1980)
The Cuban Family Code: Some Observations on Its Innovations and Continuities

handle is hein.journals/rsl6 and id is 185 raw text is: The Cuban Family Code: Some Observations on its Innovations and Continuities Max Azicri Professor of Political Science, Edinboro State College Edinboro, Pennsylvania Before and after its enactment, the 1975 Cuban Family Code has been subjected to careful examination by analysts who seemingly arrived at quite different, even contradictory conclusions. The Family Code has been characterized as being revolutionary, as well as conservative; as being innovative, as well as traditional; and as being under the influence of socialist (particularly Soviet) legal experience, as well as being a continuation of the latest modifications in prerevolutionary Cuban civil law. There also seem to be built-in tensions within the Code itself, particularly from the perspective of being the main statute regulating contemporary family life and relations in a society that has undergone a thorough process of revolutionary change. While safeguarding the nuclear family as a central (fundamental) primary social institution, its structural ar- rangements are expected to function as a conduit, facilitating full and equal participatory opportunities to both spouses and to their offspring. Integration into the revolutionary process demands just that-a kind of life-style that could be rewarding while still being (extremely) demanding; once the tasks and obliga- tions imposed by a highly politically charged and mobilized society are rec- ognized as such, then a citizen, acting out his/her own level of revolutionary conciencia (consciousness), becomes deeply involved in social and political ac- tivism in order to fulfill what is expected from him/her.' The Family Code, Law Number 1289, was promulgated on 14 February 1975, but significantly enough it was not enforced until 8 March, the International Women's Day in the International Women's Year. In recognition of its strong ideological and legal emphasis on women's equality, the President of the na- tional women's organization-the Federation of Cuban Women (FMC)- received in an historical and formal ceremony a copy of the Code from the chairman of the Juridical Committee of the Cuban Communist Party (PCC). This Committee had been responsible for the drafting of the original version of the Code and for accepting or rejecting the recommendations made by jurists, lawyers, Communist Party members, the different mass organizations (in this case the FMC was particularly active, mobilizing its membership from its rank- and-file to its highest leadership level), and citizens in general meetings in hundreds of specially called assemblies. The PCC Juridical Committee followed next, acting as a legislative arbiter which decided the fate of the massive output U Sijthoff & Noordhoff, Alphen aan den Rijn, The Netherlands 6 Rev. Soc. Law 1980 No. 2, pp. 183-191 0165-0300/ 80/02 /0183-09$00.20 /0

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