Future of the Cuban Revolution

It's hard. The blockade since 1960 is still going. Cubans standard of living is still below 1989 levels. But not all of the Soviet trade and support was sustainable or a good thing. Cuba lost 80% of its imports and exports after dissolution of the USSR. That affected more developing countries than just Cuba at the time. the Soviet Union was also the source of about 85% of humanitarian aid delivered to Cambodia up to 1988. The embargoes against VietNam also remained after the end of war and were continued as economic warfare waged against that country. As a result, VietNam has been forced down the capital road.

Many challenges and hurdles for Cuban socialism. I think they will meet those challenges and exceed all expectations. The Cuban revolution is everyone's revolution. We know that socialism in one country is not likely. We all have to do our part in the struggle for socialism around the world.

Viva la revolucion!

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This underlines Cuba's dependence on the world market and the impossibility of "building socialism in one country".

Just a note that the first part of the sentence is a widely understood consensus observation, being hitched with the doctrinaire highlighted piece. 

Stalinist socialism (or whatever moniker you prefer to use) didn't work, as even Fidel has acknowledged.  Having doctors and scientists quit their jobs, so they can clean tables in hotels is a pretty clear sign that Cuba's universe hasn't unfolded as it should have. 

I hope they can retain the best characteristics of socialism while giving people more options to make a living.  I'd hate to see Cuba mired in the kind of capitalist stranglehold that has imprisoned many other Latin American countries. 

Cuba has the potential to create a democratic, socialist (note the comma) society that could be the envy of almost any other country in the world.  Just watch out for the capitalist Trojan horse from the north.   

[URL=http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2010-10/27/c_13576743.htm]Un... States slammed for maintaining five-decade embargo against Cuba[/URL]

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Also speaking at the General Assembly, Baso Sangqu, the South African permanent representative to the United Nations, told the General Assembly that the U.S. embargo against Cuba " constitutes a violation of international law and its imposition shows disregard for the noble and abiding principles enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations."

"For almost 50 years, the people of Cuba have suffered as a result of the economic, commercial and financial blockade by the United States of America which is a major hindrance to the development of Cuba," he said.

The blockades against Cuba and other countries since the cold war have been genocidal. And blocking of humanitarian aid to Cuba and other countries is also illegal according to the UN.

Fascism exists to oppose socialism. The blockade is illegal and should be ended by democratically minded political leaders in America what few of them remain and are not bought off by Wall Street and the right wing establishment.

Thanks for the Saney piece, MS. Some folks will never get around to reading it, of course, full of their own ideas about socialism.

Canadians can only hope to emulate the means by which Cuba arrives at a broad concensus on the paths to reform, as Globalization (the euphemistic term for international capitalism, as Naomi Klein notes) implodes on itself.

[url=http://rt.com/Best_Videos/2010-10-19/american-embargo-cuba-rethink.html]... blockade: Opposition grows in US over Cuban embargo[/url] video

US Hawks insist that Cuba is a repressive, totalitarian, communist country which unlike China, can't loan money to the U.S.

Maybe Cuba could bring back the casinos and the old night life it was once famous for... serously. Start all over and instead, this time, the people/government gets the money generated instead of the mafia and the land owners.

Bec.De.Corbin wrote:

Maybe Cuba could bring back the casinos and the old night life it was once famous for... serously. Start all over and instead, this time, the people/government gets the money generated instead of the mafia and the land owners.

 

I think they've come fairly close to that with their tourist industry. I'm tempted to criticize but I realize they must be desperate.

WRT socialism in once country: it wasn't 'socialism in one country' when they started, though I agree it was a very flawed socialism (maybe fatally flawed) and that socialism in one country is not possible. (See, that proves I'm not a stalinist! ) That's why Venezuela and Bolivia are so important. 

Fidel wrote:

And neither was Stalin the Stalinist that they claim he was when it came to cold war fear-mongering about "Soviet expansionism" into western Europe and "global domination."

Well, I tend to agree but we better leave that alone

That whole idea of blaming the USA embargo on what happen in Cuba is a bunch of bull#$%^ quite frankly.
 
I've read the Revolution Betrayed. I know all about the anti--communist propaganda from the cold war. I understand what Stalin was and how he came about.
 
All the excuses for why things happened, that comes from Socialist is 100% BS.
 
The real reason is because the ideas Trotsky, Lenin, Castro and the rest of the revolutionaries had were wrong. It's all a bunch of BS. They fucked up as all of their ideas lead exactly to were they ended up.
 
After much though and many years of searching, I have come to the conclusion, that Socialism will only come one way. That is when there is no other choice left but form humanity to accept that Socialism and Communism is that only way forward.
 
 
Revolution will never bring Socialism about. Marx was wrong, the working class may be the revolutionary class. But Socialism can not be brought about by revolution.
 
Socialism is about co-operation. People that understand Socialism are peaceful people. Peaceful people are not revolutionary. they are considerate. Under Socialism, economy is based on freely give your time to help the group. People have to come to the conclusion that helping your fellow man is the only way.
 
Socialism is peace, Peace does not come from revolution. The only thing that comes from revolution is BS and death.

Fidel wrote:

 the US Military dictatorship

Ok in all fairness...

Wow- calling Castro's regime National Socialist (Nazi) is quite a step.

At one point we seemed to have some consensus that Fascists were anti-education as a defining characteristic.

The Cuban Communists greatest achievement has for long been claimed to be widespread literacy (above that of the US) and substantial higher education. Doesn't sound Nazi to me.

Heavy direction of what resources the country has to social programs like health care.

I am not pretending that the Cuban government does not have some issues but it has been the most directed towards the interests of the people of that country of any government they have had-- at least that's how it looks. Perhaps others who know more can explain.

Costa Rica has achieved wide spread literacy and universal health care that is genuine without becoming a police state. It well documented that the Cuban health system is a sham health system. Cuba's education minister admitted that the purpose of education is indoctrination. Cuba before Casto had a high rate of literacy and the best health systems in Latin America.

Gundere wrote:

Costa Rica has achieved wide spread literacy and universal health care that is genuine without becoming a police state. It well documented that the Cuban health system is a sham health system. Cuba's education minister admitted that the purpose of education is indoctrination. Cuba before Casto had a high rate of literacy and the best health systems in Latin America.

 

Where are these people coming from, so ready to re-write history, so willing to demonstrate their ignorance.  This one has never heard of the mob...perhaps never saw the Godfather series.  Batista really looked after his people.

All of Venezuela's poorer neighbourhoods are now staffed by Cuban medics.  

The people of Cuba are not free. I don't care what level of education they may or may not have, they are not free people.

The most basic tenent of Socialism is freedom.

Castro is a failure and holding him up to any standard other then that is self delusion.

What Castro did in Cuba is not Socialism. He may or may not have an understanding of Marx, that is besides the point. I am not looking for someone to take my freedoms aways just because they have good intensions.

We are not talkng about the criminality of America either. That is reserved for a library of literature.

Cuba is not a Socialist country. Socialism can not be achieved in one country alone. The Cuban government is a military dictatorship, The economy they set up has failed the people. It is not sustainable as the people there have turned into thieves and tricksters just to eck out a living.

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Who's we?

In a perfect world, all babblers (when the topic isn't the U.S.)

In other news, look! Over there!!

Yes.   i.e.  The Bay of Pigs fiasco might have presaged the need for a continued, strong Cuban military "presence", eh?

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And as if it's just babblers that bring up the US when discussing Cuba. Show me any history of the country, right or left that doesn't give the US and its foreign policy a prominent role in any discussion of Cuba.

 

Yet there will always be a few babblers like Snert who continue to cry 'Too much context! Too much context' unless Cuba can be judged in a vacuum.

I have no problem with some context. The problem is when any criticism of Cuba is met dishonestly with "But the U.S. is worse!!!". That's not context, that's distraction and avoidance.

Posters seem to have little problem ripping hard on Obama, ripping hard on the NDP, ripping hard on Social Democracy... but when it comes to Cuba you'd swear Castro was standing over them, glowering. It's OK to be honest! Really, it is!

Snert wrote:

I have no problem with some context. The problem is when any criticism of Cuba is met dishonestly with "But the U.S. is worse!!!". That's not context, that's distraction and avoidance.

When a tiny country of 11 million has a nuclear-powered military dictatorship dogging its every move 90 miles away, you have to include Uncle Sam, no doubt about it. Any attempt to exclude Uncle Sam from the overall context would be to distort the truth in the same way that we can't talk about Canada's economy without mentioning our largest trade partner taking advantage of cheap Canadian fossil fuels and consuming the bulk of total Canadian energy exports. How do we exclude something like that in a discussion of North American economy?

Another example: How could Haiti possibly be the economic basket case and failed nation state that it is without Uncle Sam's guiding hand and dozens of CIA and US Military interventions to put down various people's revolts against intolerable US-backed tyranny on that island?

You can't discuss the situations of very many countries in this hemisphere without including the largest fascist military dictatorship in world history on our front door step. It's such a large country that it happens to also be geographically situated 90 miles from Cuba at the same time it happens to be an ongoing colder war military threat to various countries in Asia. How's that for pushing an agenda? One can maintain blinders on the situation for only so long before it begins to look a lot like an apology.

trippie wrote:

The people of Cuba are not free. I don't care what level of education they may or may not have, they are not free people.

The most basic tenent of Socialism is freedom.

The Cuban government is a military dictatorship, The economy they set up has failed the people. It is not sustainable as the people there have turned into thieves and tricksters just to eck out a living.

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Isaac Saney, in a reply to a Globe and Mail editorial, wrote:

 

The announcement of the new Cuban economic measures did not come as a surprise to any serious journalist or observer. In July 2007 a nation-wide consultation and debate (a frequent practice in Cuba) was initiated on the Cuban economy. The planned restructuring of the state sector has been discussed by all the trade unions and mass organizations, in the newspapers, on radio and television. Workers have themselves decided that the measures are necessary to strengthen Cuba's economy upon which they depend for their living, and how they will be implemented. A substantial number of the 500,000 affected workers are to be absorbed into the non-state sector while a considerable number are being offered alternative state employment opportunities. Many will continue in their current jobs either working for themselves or in cooperatives.

I am not there but it seems that process is a lot better than the one we had n Canada on whether to sign NAFTA. We had a FPTP election and the two thirds of the people who voted against it got the opposite.  Do you have proof that this consultation process was a bigger sham than the consultations the BC Liberals have done here prior to major economic decisions?  

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How can you ignore Uncle Sam when he and his torture gulags at Guantanamo represent the largest threat to human rights on the island of Cuba?

Fidel, I'm not saying you have to ignore Uncle Sam. I'm saying that finger pointing at Uncle Sam in order to take attention away from genuine problems with Cuba is dishonest. It's distraction. I'm not sure what you just don't seem to get about that.

That doesn't prevent discussing the U.S. for context, but once that context is provided, one would assume it would then be part of the discussion of Cuba... not a new discussion about the evils of the U.S. [b]instead[/b] of discussing Cuba.

I know you really, really, really don't ever, ever, ever want to criticize Cuba, but sometimes it's not unreasonable to. It kind of looks a bit fishy when supporters are unable to ever concede that Cuba has problems, or to be obsessive about always pointing out that whatever problem Cuba may have is either the direct fault of the U.S., or else the U.S. has the same problem, only worse.

It's hard not to notice that even in this little side discussion, you want to discuss the evils of the U.S. instead. You're making my point for me.

Over the years many well-intentioned people on the left have gotten sucked into making rash criticisms of Cuba only to find out later that they had been conned into it by the lies of the huge disinformation network run by the Cuban [i]gusanos[/i] in Miami and financed by the US State Department and the CIA. They have since learned to be much more skeptical of the stories told by the liberal human-rights organizations and the not-so-liberal MSM, and to reserve their criticism until after they have all the facts - facts which are sometimes hard to get.

Moreover, there seems to be little to be gained by adding one's voice to the chorus of Cuba-haters who get so much attention and publicity - other than to satisfy those who insist on some kind of "even-handed" political correctness, whereby the imperialists and the anti-imperialists come in for equal measures of condemnation.  

What is more, it would be imbecilic to suggest that Cuba could have the kind of laid-back freedoms of the petty bourgeoise  who have nothing else to pronounce on...or even to suggest that "freedom" is the litmus test of a socialist state facing this situation.

Hope that's not too pungent a description of  the necessary state of mind in this instance.