businesses in Cuba, thus ushering in the Revolutionary Offensive. The nationalizations would be the first step in the larger economic mobilization of the country, with a primary goal of attaining an annual sugar harvest of 10 million tons by 1970. Alcohol sales would be outright banned. Nightclubs and bars were closed and their closures would be justified via official accusations that they were epicenters of prostitution, homosexuality, and crime. The Cuban government also issued blanket bans on self-employment, farmer's markets, and private gardens on state farms. In total the nationalized enterprises included 17,000 food retailers, 25,000 industrial product merchants, 11,3000 bars and restaurants, 9,600 small workshops, and 14,000 barbers, laundries, and other small retail shops. All production in Cuba would henceforth be organized using civil defense structures, where workers would be organized into squadrons, platoons, and other military brackets and be commanded by the military command post in their region. Workers were often moved to temporarily live in work stations outside their cities. The government implemented the Youth Centennial Column, composed of volunteers from the Young Communist League, to work in the countryside. By August 1968, around 350,000 workers, soldiers, students, and peasants were deployed to work in agriculture. In April 1968, plans were implemented for CDRs to monitor parents and reward them for following official parenting protocols. During this time policies regarding Cuban youths began changing. Work programs and vocational schools for "maladjusted" students were created. Officials also warned that those embracing a "hippie lifestyle" could be rounded up and sent to jails or labor camps for lazy behavior. Reactions Many Cubans were reportedly overcome with a fierce passion to accomplish the planned economic goals, and government officials saw this as evidence that moral enthusiasm alone could incentivize workers into better production. However, with the elimination of many niche artisans, the state failed to fill the void of their lost services and their economic sectors quickly became under-served. With this unexpected economic downturn, the Cuban government's response was to initiate new policies militarizing labor forces. Some of the small merchants whose enterprises were nationalized chose to leave Cuba in the airlift active at the time. With the total erasure of small enterprises, the black market was severely reduced; however, barter transactions still continued in the rural countryside where the state's presence was weaker. Many Cuban students ultimately failed to embrace the Revolutionary Offensive. In a 1968 survey of people