We are living in a world of massive wealth and also a world of indescribable poverty for the majority of humanity. Everyone knows this so I won’t reel statistics at you. Let me give you a single statistic. It is estimated that a child dies every 5 seconds from hunger related causes. It doesn’t have to be like this. Another world is possible.

Cuba, a tiny island of 11 million people on the doorstep of the most powerful imperialist country in the world is showing us how. Cuba, a country that has defied imperialism’s attempts to crush it for the last 48 years, a country that has withstood invasion, sabotage, terrorism and a sustained economic blockade. Cuba, a country that everyone said would collapse with the fall of socialism but that is still there, Cuab a country that the ruling class desperately try and tell us will collapse when Fidel Castro dies..and yet after 6 months of illness, Cuba is still there, still socialist. Not only providing a high standard of life for its own people, but supporting people around the world with education, healthcare and agriculture.

That is why we are here. Because Cuba shows that it is possible to build society in a different way. It is possible to meet everyone’s needs. It is possible to have culture, education, fairness, equality- in short humanity. Cuba is the answer to the relentless repetition of that capitalists and the jaded socialists ‘ communism can’t work, communism didn’t work’.

So in the next 10 minutes I want to talk about Cuba, not as some sort of static anomalie, but as part of an international and historiacal process. The process of building socialism.

Like any process it can go forwards, it can stagnate, it can regress nad as we have seen in the Soviet Block, it can collapse entirely. If you are on the side of the rich then this may be an interesting process, a process to observe passively, to study academically or to sneer at smugly. But if you support the poor, the mothers of the 25 children that have just died since I started talking then socialism is a process that we need to actiovely support and to fight for. The future of humanity depends on it.

For Cubans the 1959 revolution is very important, but it is by no means the start or the end of the Cuban revolution. If you talk to Cubans about their revolution then they are more likely to refer to Jose Marti, the Cuban national hero from the independence struggle against Spain, than they are to Che Guevara. So the revolution definitely didn’t start on 26th july 1953 when a rebel force of 100 men and women led by Fidel Castro attacked the Moncada barracks. Equally. The revolution didn’t finish on 1st january 1959 when the dictator Batista was overthrown by the rebel army.

I want to talk about where Cuba is at NOW in the process of developing socialism. But firslt, it is worth briefly examining the historical context.

Effects of the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Economic Blockade on Cuba

In 1989 the socialist block finally collapsed, after years of difficulties. The effect of this collapse on Cuba should not be underestimated.

The loss of trade arrangements with the former socialist countries, combined with the intensification of the blockade, contributed to a fall in Cuba’s purchasing power by over 73% from 1989 to 1993, and a drop in Gross National Product by 50% in three years.

A good film about this period is called Peak Oil and shows clearly the real impact of the collapse of the Soviet Union. Cuba had practically no oil and nearly everything ground to a halt. Buses stopped running, factories had to close or reduce production, large scale agriculture using petrol powered machinery became impossible.

Comrades we met in Cuba joked that during the special period, it was not that they suffered from power cuts, rather that occassionally they would be blessed with a short spurt of electricity. In a hot country you can imagine the effect of not having fridges or fans.

In a dairy farm that we visited, a farmer explained that in 1988 the farm was producing 56million litres of milk every year. After the collapse and with the tightening of the blockade the farm only produces 6million litres per year. From 56million to 6million. The reasing being that it wasn’t possible to import corn for the cattle and it wasn’t possible to import fertiliser for home grown corn.

Special Period

It was a result of this economic crisis that the special period was introduced by the Cuban government.. Some capitalist elements were allowed in an attempt to help Cuba to survive.

• The US dollar was decriminalised, as an attempt to undermine the informal dollar market which was the result of widespread scarcities

• Tourism was introduced

• Limited private enterprise was allowed

• Controlled investment from abroad was encouraged

The Cuban government and the vast majority of Cuban people did not want to introduce these measures, they were an economic necessity. They did not indicate Cuba becoming capitalist as many have argued, since in 2004 when it became economically possible Cuba got rid of the dollar.

Neither were these measures introduced naievely or blindly. It was inevitable that tourism would introduce inequality and had the potential to undermine Cuba’s socialism’s progress.

The necessity of the Battle of Ideas and how it started

This period of extreme economic hardship was the context for the introduction of Battle of Ideas,in 2000. The Battle of Ideas involved an intensely critical examination of society, resulting in increased emphasis on education, health and culture as key tenets in a humane socialist society. It was sparked by the massive campaign to return Elian Gonzalez to Cuba.

In 1999, the mother of six-year-old Elian Gonzalez died whilst attempting to migrate illegally from Cuba to the United States. Elian was picked up by the US coast guard and placed with relatives in Miami, even though his father was still alive in Cuba. This sparked a wave of questioning at all levels of Cuban society as to why his mother and others like her should have gone to such lengths to leave, resulting in the Battle of Ideas, which has continued ever since.

During the first phase volunteers made house visits to over 60,000 of Cuba’s most vulnerable people to speak to them about their lives and to assess what needs were not already being met. From this sprung a whole raft of social programmes focusing on education and culture. The idea is that socialism can only progress if people develop a socialist consciousness. This is a fairly straightforward idea, made famous by the writings of Che Guevara. However, Cuba now shows how this theiry can be developed into reality.

The current stage of development of Cuban socialism

Now in Cuba there is really a sense that Cuab is emerging from the economic crisis brought on by the collapse of the Soviet Union and you can really see the effects of the Battle of Ideas. From talking to people in Cuba you could really get the sense of the dynamism of Cuban society. Things are constantly developing.

The political backdrop to our brigade was the energy revolution, the growth of the Cuban economy and the main focus for the socialist agenda were culture, education and higher living standards.

Culture and Education – notes

A famous quote from Jose marti: ‘Without being cultured you cannot be free’ Under socialism culture doesn’t mean bourgeous culture – high art or literature. Culture should be appreciated and prodeced by everyone in society.

FEEM – each school elects someone to coordinte cultural activities – can be from reading groups, chess clubs to outdoor discos.

Arts instructors – to encourage reclaiming trraditional culture – but not by banning modern culture, by developing them alongside so that people can choose freely.

Culture also means education. Education is integral. Combines work and study. Democratic,

Decentralisation is a process which has brought the universities into every municipality.

Social workers – come from young people who were diengaged from work or study. Now they have been trained to drive forward the revolution. E.g battle against corruption, helping install energy efficient lightbulbs

Energy Revolution

Venezuelan cooperation in the energy sector is allowing Cuba to develop its own oil reserves on the north coast of Cuba. This, together with the guaranteed supply from Venezuela, will help Cuba to overcome the long-term energy crisis suffered as a result of the US blockade and collapse of the former Soviet bloc. However, although Venezuelan oil is useful, Cuba has already shown that it is not necessary. Cuba has survived without and could do again.

With economic growth for 2005 of 11.9%, the Cuban government has been able invest in updating and expanding power production. Cuba has now completed the installation of a network of small, modern, efficient generators distributed throughout the island to replace the massive societ power stations. These substantially reduce the vulnerability of the country’s power supply to hurricane damage or military or terrorist attack. In our 2 week stay in Cuba there was only one organised power cut in order to carry out some repairs.

Continental developments

The growing relationship between Cuba, Venezuela ansd Bolivia, which is being consolidatied in ALBA (The Bolivarian Alernative for the Americas), is beginning to show benefits for the masses of all the countries involved.

ALBA encourages economic co-operation rather than competition between the nations involved, in order to combat poverty and preserve cultural identity. Some specific projects include a continental plan to fight illiteracy, a Latin American plan providing free health care and a regional scholarship plan for those who need them, the integrated development of communications and transportation, the creation of a television network, Telesur, to disseminate Latin American news. These developments are very real for Cubans. Most people know a neighbour who has gone to Venezuela as a helthcare professional or educator.

We were able to vist a hospital taking part in Operation Miracle, a programme where Cuban doctors are traeting catarats, glaucoma and other eye problems. 75% of patients are Cuban and the rest are flown in from around the Carribean fee of charge.

Conclusion

The Cuban revolution is ongoing. It is vibrant and dynamic. When Cuba is presented to us as unchanging, some sort of socialist fossil then alarm bells should be ringing as to why somebody is trying to present it it like that. Equally, the Cuban revolution encompasses the vast majority of Cuban people, it is not something being carried out to Cuba. As Danny will explain in his speech next, the communist party is Cuba is an integral part of Cuban society. It’s not some communist party up there and some people down there. Unless we understand that then it’s really difficult to understand Cuba.

I hope I have shown that another world is not only possible, it is being built right now in socialist Cuba.

Annie Richards' speech from the Newcastle reportback meeting.