Cuba: 'We will be socialist forever'

In early June, nine million Cubans took to the streets to support a constitutional modification declaring Cuba's socialist system irrevocable. A petition in support of the same question held at the end of June was signed by 8,188,198 Cubans - 99.25% of the electorate - in just four days. As Julio Martinez, Second Secretary of Cuba's Union of Young Communists, told FRFI on 1 July, this was the response of the entire Cuban people to the recent threats by President Bush who had demanded change in Cuba. 'Effectively, we are going to change - to ratify that we will be socialist forever!'

The immediate and overwhelming support of the Cuban people to enshrine socialism in the constitution stands in contrast to the efforts of a small group of Cubans to gather signatures on a petition demanding their own changes to the country's social, economic and political system. After six years, they have finally achieved the 10,000 signatures necessary to submit the petition to the Cuban National Assembly, as permitted in the Cuban constitution. The petition, known as the Varela Project after a Cuban priest, Felix Varela, was organised by members of the Christian Liberation Movement, an organisation akin to the Solidarity Movement in Poland in the 1980s, and other opposition groups. It calls for a referendum to ask voters if they support what the organisers call freedom of expression and association, an amnesty for political prisoners, a multi-party system and an economy incorporating private, individual and co-operative enterprises - in other words, a return to capitalism.

Inevitably, the apparent challenge to socialist Cuba from within was greeted with glee by President Bush and his friends in the Miami Mafia. After all, it is the US government and US businesses that fund, support and direct these fringe groupings. As Julio Martinez commented: 'We think it shows the hand of those who want to destroy the revolution, not only internally but from outside the country also. It is a project I believe was not born from the Cuban people [but...] which has been orchestrated and designed outside the country.' However, as Fidel Castro has pointed out, it is difficult to see how Bush could back changes proposed to a National Assembly which at all other times he claims has no electoral legitimacy.

In fact, the petition implies constitutional reforms, which only the National Assembly and not a referendum has the right to deal with. Furthermore, there is nothing in the Cuban constitution which obligates the National Assembly to carry out a national referendum. A petition from 10,000 citizens simply has the right to make legislative initiatives and as such, the Varela petition will be considered by the appropriate committee in due course.

However, the overwhelming support for the constitutional amendment proposed by the democratic mass organisation of People's Power, both on the streets - the demonstration in Havana alone numbered 1.2 million - and in the voting booth makes clear that the vast majority of Cuban people entirely reject the Varela Project and the machinations of the US administration. The People's Power petition ratifies the people's identification with the current constitution, which states: 'Cuba is an independent and sovereign socialist state of workers organised by all its people for the wellbeing of all, as a unitary and democratic Republic, for the enjoyment of political freedom, social justice, individual and collective wellbeing and human solidarity'. The petition goes on to demand that the constitution should now also 'expressly set forth the will of the people that the economic, political and social system consecrated in the Constitution of the Republic is irrevocable.'

For Julio Martinez, the Cuban people are today more politicised and prepared than ever. The 'Battle of Ideas' in which Cuba is today engaged has given everyone an immediate consciousness of their own revolutionary role and a stark clarity about the true intentions of the United States. He calls the almost unanimous backing of the Cuban people for socialism 'unprecedented in international politics' and concludes: 'I think that this is one of the greatest political defeats the US has had in their political confrontation with us. The people of Cuba demonstrated its position to the president of the United States and to the world - to preserve and develop socialism.'

Jim Craven and Cat Wiener

From Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! 168 August/September 2002

'No nation is freer to speak the truth'

War, Racism and Economic Injustice: the global ravages of capitalism, Fidel Castro, Ocean Press 2002, £9.95. Available from Larkin Publications

Why do one-third of people in the underdeveloped world live in poverty? Why are four million people worldwide deprived of the most basic human rights? It is these questions which face humanity at the beginning of the 21st century that Fidel Castro answers in this collection of speeches made between June 2000 and November 2001.

Fidel explains the relationship between capitalism in its imperialist form and poverty, exploitation, war and racism. He reveals the truth behind globalisation and points to the impending economic, social and political crisis faced by humanity.

Speaking in Havana shortly after the US 'war on terrorism' had been launched, Fidel assessed the global situation. 'The grave world economic crisis was already a real and irrefutable fact affecting almost every one of the big economic power centers. That crisis will under these new circumstances inevitably grow deeper and when it becomes intolerable for the overwhelming majority of people that crisis will bring chaos, rebellion and the impossibility of government.'

In speeches delivered to the United Nations, Fidel consistently exposes the brutality and hypocrisy of the world's imperialist governments. Fidel Castro has become the spokesperson for poor countries whose governments are either lackeys of imperialism or too dependent upon scraps from the imperialists' table to speak out themselves: 'No other nation is freer to declare its truths and defend the rights of the world's poor and exploited peoples in every international forum.'

Cuba is committed to finding solutions to the problems in the underdeveloped world. 'Concretely: Cuba offers the United Nations, the World Health Organisation and the African countries the personnel necessary for developing not only AIDS programmes but other health care programmes as well, and also to give hands on training to technical and nursing personnel.' Cuba already has over 2,000 doctors working abroad.

It is Cuba which fights for the condemnation of Israel's occupation of Palestine at the UN and highlights the fundamentally racist nature of the imperialist system. 'Racism, racial discrimination and xenophobia are not natural, instinctive reactions of human beings, but rather are social, cultural and political phenomenon born directly of wars, military conquests. slavery and the individual and collective exploitation of the weakest by the most powerful throughout the history of human societies.'

Fidel and the Cuban people are committed to building unity within the Caribbean and Latin America against increasing impoverishment at the hands of multinational companies and the USA. 'The first major curb on US expansionism and political and economic control of Latin America came about in Cuba with the triumph of the revolution on 1 January 1959. This ushered in a new stage in the history of the hemisphere.' Cuban resistance and its social achievements remain a crucial example to the oppressed of Latin America.

What this collection of speeches teaches us is that the problems of war, racism, disease, starvation and poverty are the symptoms of the bankrupt economic and political system of capitalism. In his speeches Fidel highlights the need for humanity to build socialism. To quote from another of his famous speeches -'Tomorrow will be too late'.

Laurie Mitchell

From Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! 168 August/September 2002

Che's revolutionary vision

Global Justice, Che Guevara, Ocean Press 2002, £7.95. Available from Larkin Publications

This inspirational collection of writings by the Cuban revolutionary hero and international socialist dispels the myth that Che Guevara was merely a militarist. The book - consisting of a speech and two letters written by the great man himself shows us his tremendous breadth of vision.

An extensive introduction by Maria del Carmen of the Che Guevara Studies Centre in Havana presents the thoughts of Che to readers perhaps unfamiliar with his work. It also whets the appetite and lays the groundwork for what is to follow. Del Carmen stresses that Che was a Marxist thinker who laid special emphasis on practical action and that it was this belief in proletarian internationalism that allowed him to quickly develop and reformulate certain ideas. An important aspect of this compilation is the connection that Che established between politics and economics. He also stressed that it is not a case of 'action for action's sake' that determines the course of the revolutionary process, but the accurate assessment of the relative importance of each element. Forty years on, his ideas still hold so much relevance for us today. For example, on the IMF and other such organisations, Che said:

'The IMF acts as a custodian of the dollar for the capitalist world. The International Reconstruction and Agriculture Bank is an instrument that is used to penetrate into under-developed countries and the Inter-American Development Bank fulfils this sad role in the American continent. The laws and principles that these organisations are governed by appear to be, on the surface, acting in the interest of the people they are supposedly there to help. They are promoted as safeguarding equity and reciprocity within the area of international economic relations. However, in reality they are merely subtle instruments used to perpetuate exploitation and backwardness.'

The first item is Che's address to the Afro-Asian Conference in Algeria in 1965, where he outlines the tactics of building socialism in a backward country and explains how it is the duty of the socialist world to aid any country embarking on the road to socialism. Today Cuba stands virtually alone in this respect but continues to bear the standard for Che's ideas. He said that: 'It is imperative to take political power and to get rid of the oppressor class. But then the second stage of the struggle, which may be even more difficult than the first, must be faced.'

What exactly is socialism? Che replies: 'For us there is no valid definition of socialism other than the abolition of the exploitation of one human being by another.' With reference to the economic questions facing any country taking the first step to a better tomorrow he said, 'In the economic field we must conquer the road to development with the most advanced technology possible' and 'Agriculture must be considered a fundamental pillar of our development'.

In Socialism and Man in Cuba, Che continues discussing how socialism is built, this time relating it to what was actually going on in Cuba at the time. He describes the individual's role in the construction of this new society, refuting the capitalist argument that socialism abolishes the individual for the sake of the state.

'The difficult thing to understand for someone not living through the experience of revolution is this close dialectical unity between the individual and the mass, in which both are interrelated and, at the same time, in which the mass, as an aggregate of individuals, interacts with its leaders.'

He then begins to describe the individual in capitalist society: 'In capitalist society individuals are controlled by a pitiless law usually beyond their comprehension. The alienated human specimen is tied to society as a whole by an invisible umbilical cord: the law of value. This law acts upon all aspects of ones life, shaping its course and destiny.'

In respect of freedom under socialism Che states that 'We socialists are freer because we are more fulfilled; we are more fulfilled because we are freer. The skeleton of our complete freedom is already formed. The flesh and the clothing are lacking; we will create them'.

At the 1966 Tricontinental Conference of Solidarity with the People of Latin America, Asia and Africa, Che's message, entitled 'Create two, three, many Vietnams' is his rallying cry to all the peoples of the world to unite and defeat imperialism once and for all. He uses Vietnam as a prime example of a courageous people fighting the biggest imperialist nation in the world and, as we know now, eventually winning. In it he sums up the tactic of defeating imperialism.

'In focusing on the destruction of imperialism, it is necessary to identify its head, which is none other than the United States of North America. We must carry out a task of a general kind, the tactical aim of which is to draw the enemy out of their environment, compelling them to fight in places where their living habits clash with existing conditions.'

I would like to finish with a reminder from Che to all of us who live in an imperialist country that words of solidarity to the oppressed people of the world are not enough: 'The solidarity of the progressive world with the Vietnamese people has something of the bitter irony of the plebeians cheering on the gladiators in the Roman circus. To wish the victim success is not enough; one must share his or her fate. One must join that victim in death or victory.'

These words are as relevant today and we should all take heed.

Gerry Hughes

From Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! 168 August/September 2002

Free the Miami 5!

On 29 June, Rock around the Blockade held its third successful, noisy and colourful picket of the US Embassy in London to demand the release of the five Cuban revolutionaries convicted of espionage and now imprisoned across the United States. Speeches made over the megaphone highlighted the terrorist nature of the United States government - 'the most hated government in the world' - and the brutal US prison system. To mark the eve of the World Cup, the picketers had a little surprise to round off the picket. Under the suspicious gaze of Metropolitan police officers armed with automatic weapons, in the middle of the road outside the Embassy closed to traffic 'for security reasons', picketers lined up as the Miami 5 vs the US Imperialists for an impromptu five-a-side football match. The Imperialists' entire arsenal of dirty tricks, handballs and fouls proved no match for the Revolutionaries, who achieved a convincing 5-0 victory!

The Cubans have called for maximum international solidarity in support of the five men, who have been made political scapegoats by the US administration as part of its war against Cuba. During a visit to London, Julio Martinez, the second secretary of the Cuban UJC and long-standing friend of Rock around the Blockade, stated: 'The struggle in Cuba for the return of our five comrades is a struggle for us all...I think the main activities in the future should concentrate on publicising their case internationally as widely as possible, to raise awareness about the necessity of them returning to Cuba.'

Rock around the Blockade is responding to this call. As well as picketing the US Embassy in London, we have held demonstrations outside the US Consulate in Edinburgh and been active distributing leaflets about the Miami 5. We have sent pictures and reports of all our activities to the five men and received inspiring and political replies, reaffirming the strength of the Cuban Revolution and its people. 'Your solidarity gives us an incredible strength and spirit', Gerardo Hernandez, who has put photos of all our pickets on his cell wall, told us in a letter. Fernando Gonzalez ends with 'My gratitude for your solidarity and commitment to our release...I am aware that we have many friends in Britain who are working hard in spreading the word about our case and doing everything they can to put an end to the injustice done not only to us five but to the Cuban people.' And from Antonio Guerrero, quoting Jose Marti: 'It is not possible to make great things without great friends.'

Regrettably, this faith in Rock around the Blockade's support is not shared by Britain's Cuba Solidarity Campaign (CSC), where our attempts to build a united movement in solidarity with the Miami 5 have come up against a brick wall.

Despite repeated invitations, the CSC has shunned our pickets outside the US Embassy and turned down point-blank our request to interview and meet with Paul McKenna, the US lawyer for Gerardo Hernandez, during his CSC speaking tour of Britain. We did attend a meeting addressed by McKenna at the House of Commons, where he exposed the farcical legal proceedings of the Miami trial which convicted the five men, and expressed hopes for a retrial. However, CSC Chair Ken Gill summed up the CSC's attitude to the campaign when he closed the meeting with the words 'We need more non-political fighters for justice'!

The Miami 5 themselves have no such illusions. They are clear that they are political prisoners, victims of the USA's insidious war against socialist Cuba, continuing the revolutionary struggle from within their cells. As Rene Gonzalez wrote to us: 'While our people resists [in Cuba], between the walls of the American prisons we'll do the same, shielded by the same morale which allowed us the joy of shaking the prosecutors during our trial and which has allowed us also to withstand so many years of aggression. Neither our people nor you will be let down by us and we'll always be up to the confidence you have placed in us.'

So if you want to be a political fighter for justice, get involved in our struggle to free the Miami 5 and promote the Cuban solidarity to whose defence these five men have dedicated their lives.

For more information and to get involved, go to www.ratb.org.uk or write to us at Rock around the Blockade, BCM Box 5909, London WC1N 3XX.

From Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! 168 August/September 2002

SWP, CANF - spot the difference

Mike Gonzalez of the Socialist Workers Party opened his mid-July talk on Cuba at the SWP's annual Marxism by saying 'It should go without saying that I am opposed to US imperialism'. It was just as well he mentioned it, however. Otherwise the relentless attack on Cuba that followed might have given his audience the impression that he was a fully paid-up member of the Cuban American National Foundation (CANF). Rock around the Blockade was there, as in previous years, to confront the reactionary propaganda of the SWP and defend Cuban socialism. DALTON HILLIARD reports.

Once again, Gonzalez made use of the many fantasies of the ever-fertile anti-Cuban mind, trotting out the tired old lies about the oppression of homosexuals and penal colonies for HIV patients. Every challenge facing Cuban society as a direct result of the illegal US blockade was dredged up as evidence of just how un-socialist Cuba really is.

Gonzalez cited, for example, food shortages and rationing.

'Is that our idea of socialism?', asked this well-fed and self-styled 'socialist worker'. He mentioned prostitution - but not the reliance on tourism forced on Cuba by its isolation, nor the Cuban Communist Party's programme to combat the underlying reasons for the growth of prostitution. As Gonzalez warmed to his theme, he seemed to revel in Cuba's material deprivation. For Gonzalez 'just by walking down a boulevard in Havana, one can see that Cuba is not socialist.' For the smug and privileged cadre of the SWP, Planet Socialism is clearly supposed to be a world free of challenges. In Cuba, there are challenges. Ergo, Cuba is not socialist. The travel brochure lied and Gonzales wants a refund.

Gonzales concluded by denouncing the Cuban state for permitting foreign capital investment - again, without mentioning the severe political and economic challenges that make such investment necessary. He then stated that foreign investors in Cuba enjoy conditions 'more favourable than those found by capital in virtually any other country'. We challenged him from the floor, pointing out that the Cuban government, as he well knows, maintains majority control over every foreign investment venture in the country, enabling it to determine the conditions of production and invest the surplus in human development. 'Yes', replied Gonzales, pausing momentarily to find a way to fit this inconvenient fact into his thesis, 'It is true that the state maintains majority ownership control... but only to oppress workers directly in the interests of foreign capital' [our emphasis]!

Gonzales dismissed Cuba's outstanding achievements, particularly in the spheres of health and education as 'un-socialist' on the spurious grounds that Sweden - one of the richest and most developed nations in the world - also has good hospitals!

During the discussion, an SWP hack invited the audience to look at a website to discover the truth about Cuba. When Rock around the Blockade members checked out the address he gave, it was the CANF website! Challenged to distinguish himself from Mas Canosa and CANF, Gonzalez blustered and then said 'But we support workers? rights!' Rock around the Blockade supporters' response was immediate: 'That's exactly what CANF say!'

It is now evident that the SWP is little more than CANF's mouthpiece on the British left.

If you want to defend the Cuban Revolution, get active with Rock around the Blockade! www.ratb.org.uk

From Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! 168 August/September 2002