The 1940 Constitution of Cuba was implemented during the presidency of

Federico Laredo Brú Federico Laredo Brú (April 23, 1875, Remedios, Las Villas, Cuba – July 7, 1946, Havana, Cuba) was an attorney and served as President of Cuba from 1936 to 1940. He was married to Leonor Gomez-Montes. Laredo Bru was a Colonel in Cuba’s Lib ...

and took effect on 10 October 1940. It was primarily influenced by the collectivist ideas that inspired the

Cuban Revolution of 1933 The Cuban Revolution of 1933 ( es, Revolución cubana de 1933), also called the Revolt of the Sergeants, was a coup d'état that occurred in Cuba in September 1933. It began as a revolt of sergeants and enlisted men in the military, who soon all ...

. Widely considered one of the most progressive constitutions at the time, it provided for

land reform Land reform is a form of agrarian reform involving the changing of laws, regulations, or customs regarding land ownership. Land reform may consist of a government-initiated or government-backed property redistribution, generally of agricultura ...

public education State schools (in England, Wales, Australia and New Zealand) or public schools (Scottish English and North American English) are generally primary or secondary educational institution, schools that educate all students without charge. They are ...

, a

minimum wage A minimum wage is the lowest remuneration that employers can legally pay their employees—the price floor below which employees may not sell their labor. Most countries had introduced minimum wage legislation by the end of the 20th century. B ...

and other social programs. It had 286 articles in 19 sections.

Origins

Despite the fact that some political parties had refused to participate in some elections in anticipation of fraud by the government in power, all parties presented candidates for the election of a Constitutional Assembly in November 1939. Beneath the variety of parties, the two national leaders who had dominated Cuban politics since the ouster of

Gerardo Machado Gerardo Machado y Morales (28 September 1869 – 29 March 1939) was a general of the Cuban War of Independence and President of Cuba from 1925 to 1933. Machado entered the presidency with widespread popularity and support from the major polit ...

in 1933: former President

Ramón Grau Ramón Grau San Martín (13 September 1881 in La Palma, Pinar del Río Province, Spanish Cuba – 28 July 1969 in Havana, Cuba) was a Cuban physician who served as President of Cuba from 1933 to 1934 and from 1944 to 1948. He was the last pre ...

and

Fulgencio Batista Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar (; ; born Rubén Zaldívar, January 16, 1901 – August 6, 1973) was a Cuban military officer and politician who served as the elected president of Cuba from 1940 to 1944 and as its U.S.-backed military dictator ...

, a military leader who had dominated several recent presidents. Each maneuvered to form coalitions, but public interest was only sufficient to produce a turnout of 57% of the eligible voters. The 76 delegates from nine political parties first elected Grau chairman, but he was removed when the Conservative Party delegates, who had campaigned in opposition to Batista, switched sides and supported Batista's candidate for chairman,

Carlos Márquez Sterling Dr. Carlos Márquez Sterling y Guiral (September 8, 1898 – May 3, 1991) was a Cuban lawyer, writer, politician and diplomat. Political career Born Carlos Guiral y Márquez Sterling on September 8, 1898, in Camagüey, Cuba, Márquez Sterling ...

. The assembly debated publicly for six months and adopted the constitution at the

Capitol A capitol, named after the Capitoline Hill in Rome, is usually a legislative building where a legislature meets and makes laws for its respective political entity. Specific capitols include: * United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. * Numerous ...

Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

. It was signed on 1 July 1940, in

Guáimaro Guáimaro is a town and municipality in the southern part of Camagüey Province in Cuba. It is located between the cities of Camagüey and Las Tunas. History Guáimaro features prominently in Cuban history as the place where in 1869, at the begin ...

Camagüey Camagüey () is a city and municipality in central Cuba and is the nation's third-largest city with more than 321,000 inhabitants. It is the capital of the Camagüey Province. It was founded as Santa María del Puerto del Príncipe in 1514, by ...

, as a tribute to the anti-colonial revolutionaries who signed a draft of a proposed Cuban constitution there in 1869. A later U.S. Ambassador to Cuba,

Philip Bonsal Philip Wilson Bonsal (May 22, 1903 – June 28, 1995) was an American career diplomat with the U.S. Department of State. A specialist in Latin American affairs, he served as United States Ambassador to Cuba from February 1959 until October 1960, ...

assessed the outcome: For example, the Constitution established as national policy restrictions on the size of land holdings and an end to common ownership of sugar plantations and sugar mills, but these principles were never translated into legislation.

Provisions

The Constitution of 1940 (a) substantiated voting as a right, obligation and function of the people; (b) endorsed the previously established form of government, specifically republican, democratic and representative; (c) confirmed individual rights and privileges including private property rights; and (d) introduced the notion of collective rights. Under the Constitution of 1940, the separation between the three branches of government remained, but with obvious distinctions: (a) the role of the

prime minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...

was introduced; (b) the executive branch converted to semi-parliamentary form, where half of its ministers could also be

congressmen A Member of Congress (MOC) is a person who has been appointed or elected and inducted into an official body called a congress, typically to represent a particular constituency in a legislature. The term member of parliament (MP) is an equivalen ...

; and (c) Congress’ form was changed to one member in the house for every 35,000 citizens or greater fraction of 17,500, and nine

senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

s per

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions out ...

. The Constitution of 1940 ratified the authority and independence of the judiciary. Specifically, the judicial branch remained autonomous and empowered to nominate judges and magistrates. Like the Constitution of 1901, and the U.S. Constitution,

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

justices were appointed by the president and confirmed by the senate. In addition, the Constitution of 1940 instituted a Court of Constitutional and Social Guarantees, known as the Constitutional Court, under the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court. The Constitutional Court was empowered to hear labor and constitutional law disputes and to set remedies for violations. Under the Constitution of 1940, provincial government was terminated. The provincial councils endured, but were now composed of the mayors of various municipalities incorporated into each province. The governor’s power to suspend mayors ceased, while the municipalities gained the right to impose local taxes. Public expenses and budgeting at all levels became subject to a ministerial officer under the auspices of a new Court of Public Administration. A Court of Public Works was instituted. The constitutional amendment clause was strictly enforced in the Constitution of 1940. A constitutional convention was required to modify the language of the Constitution. Congress was authorized to make minor reforms to the document, provided that the following requirements were adhered to: (a) quorum (joint session); (b) two thirds vote of the total number of legislators; and (c) proposed amendments needed to be approved at two consecutive legislative sessions. The Constitution of 1940 could also be modified via referendum. The most notable difference between the Constitution of 1901 and the Constitution of 1940 was the addition of constitutional protection for issues relating to family, culture, property and labor. Without constitutional antecedents and expertise in the area of protection of

social rights Economic, social and cultural rights, (ESCR) are socio-economic human rights, such as the right to education, right to housing, right to an adequate standard of living, right to health, victims' rights and the right to science and culture. Econo ...

, the drafters of the Constitution of 1940 used as models the

Second Spanish Republic The Spanish Republic (), commonly known as the Second Spanish Republic (), was the form of government in Spain from 1931 to 1939. The Republic was proclaimed on 14 April 1931, after the deposition of King Alfonso XIII, and was dissolved on 1 ...

's Constitution of 1931 and

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

Weimar Constitution The Constitution of the German Reich (german: Die Verfassung des Deutschen Reichs), usually known as the Weimar Constitution (''Weimarer Verfassung''), was the constitution that governed Germany during the Weimar Republic era (1919–1933). The c ...

History

The Constitution of 1940 was in effect for 12 years until, in 1952, following a coup d'état by

, parts of it were suspended. In 1953,

Fidel Castro Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (; ; 13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban revolutionary and politician who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and president from 1976 to 20 ...

's manifesto " History Will Absolve Me" declared the restoration of the 1940 Constitution one of the principal aims of his revolutionary movement. In 1957, he and two of his fellow revolutionaries in the "Manifesto of Sierra Maestra" announced their intention to restore the 1940 Constitution should they succeed in defeating the Batista dictatorship. They delayed doing so until 1976. A referendum that year approved the adoption of a new constitution, the 1976 Constitution of Cuba, which defined the country as a

one-party state A one-party state, single-party state, one-party system, or single-party system is a type of sovereign state in which only one political party has the right to form the government, usually based on the existing constitution. All other partie ...

under the

Communist Party of Cuba The Communist Party of Cuba ( es, Partido Comunista de Cuba, PCC) is the sole ruling party of Cuba. It was founded on 3 October 1965 as the successor to the United Party of the Cuban Socialist Revolution, which was in turn made up of the 26 ...

and replaced the office of

Prime Minister of Cuba The Prime Minister of Cuba ( es, Primer Ministro de Cuba), officially known as the President of the Council of Ministers ( es, Presidente del Consejo de Ministros de Cuba) between 1976 and 2019, is the head of government of Cuba and the chairma ...

with the executive office of the president.

Signatories

The signers were:Sterling, Carlos Márquez and Sterling, Manuel Márquez. 'Historia de La Isla De Cuba" Regents Publishing Company, Inc. New York, NY, 1975 *Antonio Bravo Acosta *Salvador García Agüero *César Vilar Aguilar *Alieda Hernández de la Barca *Eusebio Mujal Barniol *Nicolás Duarte Cajides *

Blas Roca Calderio Blas Roca Calderio (24 July 1908 – 25 April 1987) was a Cuban politician and Marxist theorist who served as President of the National Assembly of People's Power in Cuba from 1976 to 1981. He was also head of the pre-1959 revolution Communist ...

*Francisco Alomí y Álvarez de la Campa *Manuel A. Orizondo Caraballé *Mario Robau Cartaya *Salvador Acosta Casares *José A. Fernández de Castro *Antonio Bravo Correoso *Mario E. Díhigo *José Manuel Casanova Diviño *Emilio A. Laurent Dubet * Manuel Dorta-Duque *Ramón Granda Fernández * Miguel A. Suárez Fernández *Antonio Martínez Fraga *Romárico Cordero Garcés * José Manuel Cortina García, President of the Comisión Coordinadora de la Convención Constituyente *Ramón Corona García *Rafael Álvarez González *Manuel Benítez González *Ramiro Capablanca Graupera *Juan Cabrera Hernández * Rafael Guas Inclán *Juan B. Pons Jané *Gustavo Moreno Lastres *María Esther Villoch Leyva *Miguel Covula Llaguno *Francisco José Prieto Llera *Mariano Esteva Lora *Francisco Ichiazo Macias * Orestes Ferrara Marino * Ramón Grau San Martín *José R. Andréu Martínez *Fernando del Busto Martínez *Simeón Ferro Martínez *Esperanza Sánchez Mastrapa *Manuel Mesa Medina *Delio Núñez Mesa *Alberto Boada Miquel, Secretary the Constitutional Convention *Francisco Dellundé Mustelier *Pelayo Cuervo Navarro *Amaranto López Negrón * Emilio Ochoa Ochoa *Santiago Rey Perna *

Emilio Núñez Portuondo Emilio Núñez Portuondo (September 13, 1898, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. – August 19, 1978, in Panama City, Panama) was a Cuban politician, lawyer, and diplomat. He was the 13th Prime Minister of Cuba in 1958. He received the Nation ...

, Secretary the Constitutional Convention *Joaquín Meso Quesada *Alberto Silva Quiñones *Felipe Jay Raoulx *Fernando del Villar de los Ríos *Felipe Correoso y del Risco * Eduardo Rene Chibás Rivas * Jorge Mañach Robato *Manuel Parrado Rodés *César Casas Rodríguez *Arturo Don Rodríguez *Félix García Rodríguez *Primitivo Rodríguez Rodríguez *Joaquín Martínez Sáenz *Adriano Galano Sánchez *Jorge A. Mendigutía Silveira *

Carlos Prío Socarrás Carlos Manuel Prío Socarrás (July 14, 1903 – April 5, 1977) was a Cuban politician. He served as the President of Cuba from 1948 until he was deposed by a military coup led by Fulgencio Batista on March 10, 1952, three months before new e ...

, President of the Constitutional Convention *Manuel Fueyo Suárez *Alfredo Hornedo Suárez *Miguel Calvo Tarafa *Quintín Jorge Vernot *Juan Marinello Vidaurreta •Dr Jose A Martinez

References

External links

The 1940 Constitution of Cuba
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1940 A calendar from 1940 according to the Gregorian calendar, factoring in the dates of Easter and related holidays, cannot be used again until the year 5280. Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * Januar ...

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribb ...