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Cuban socialism into the 21st century

Speaking tour of Britain spring 2008

In the new year Rock around the Blockade (RATB) will be bringing three leading Cuban comrades over to Britain for a speaking tour with the aim of getting Cuba’s revolutionary message across to as wide a number of people as possible, to educate working class and progressive people in Britain about the alternative society that socialism represents. The comrades from Cuba are well-equipped to speak at public meetings about their own experience, about the history of the Cuban revolution, as well as about the new developments taking place in their country and in Latin America. For the tour to be as successful as possible it is important to begin the work now to organise, publicise and fund-raise for this unique event, which will take place from 21 February to 4 March 2008.

The Cubans who will be participating in the speaking tour have all played an active role in building socialism in Cuba, and will be representing at least two generations of revolutionary leaders. Perhaps the most well known among them is Orlando Borrego, who became an important figure in the years immediately after the 1959 revolution as he worked closely with Ernesto 'Che' Guevara. Borrego remains a leading light in Cuban politics and is recognised in the Cuban Communist Party as a man who has helped to keep Che Guevara's ideas alive and kicking through the ongoing revolutionary process.

Orlando Borrego with Che Guevara

Accompanying Borrego on his first time speaking in Britain will be Jesus García, from the Institute of Philosophy, delegate to the Municipal Assembly of Peoples’ Power and author of several books on socialism and democracy; and Magalis Plasencia Reyes – a leader of the Federation of University Students, involved in today’s energy revolution, a new stage in Cuba’s Battle of Ideas. The tour consolidates RATB's links with the Union of Young Communists (UJC), an organisation with over 609,000 active members, and the Cuban Women's Federation (FMC), which involves 3 million over the age of 14. As mass organisations the UJC and FMC, alongside the Communist Party, play a crucial role at the forefront of Cuba's fight to build socialism and have representatives in the National Assembly of People's Power, along with the unions and student groups. So the Cubans coming to Britain have first hand experience of the process of socialism and are in the vanguard of pushing the revolution forward.

At the moment working class politics in Britain is virtually none existent. While the state arms itself with more repressive anti-democratic laws and criminalises poor communities there is no movement to stop it. While the Labour government forces tens of thousands of asylum seekers into destitution, imprisonment and deports more than 1,200 a month to the hands of murderous regimes like Congo, Iraq or Iran, only a brave few protest and speak out. While Britain’s armed forces occupy and brutalise the populations of Iraq and Afghanistan in wars fought in the interest of British capitalism and the wealthy and privileged, the anti-war movement has been demobilised and sold out by people who tell us that there is hope bourgeois politics and with sections of the warmongering Labour Party.

Imperialism is the system responsible for the state of the world today and Cuba shows us that the alternative is to build a movement against that system and struggle for socialism. While Cuba faces blockade from the US imperialists and constant hostility from the European imperialists the island is marching forward in healthcare, education and social provision but also with mass participation and political awareness. Cuba has consistently spoken out against the imperialist interventions in the Middle East and elsewhere, and is now at the forefront of the rising anti-imperialist movement in Latin America. With the speaking tour people will have a unique chance to hear Cubans talk about all of these developments.

But the tour will not come cheap. It will take a lot money to pay for three return flights from Havana, travel and accommodation in Britain, publicity, room hire etc. We have a £10,000 target, so there will need to be a lot of fundraising gigs, meals, book sales, sponsored walks, bike rides… The Rail and Maritime Union (RMT) are sponsoring the tour and as a campaign we will need as much help as possible in this direction. Why not get your friends, family, members of the public to sponsor you to do something towards the fund drive? Got a talent – music, poetry, art, sport, cooking? Then donate it to the cause! Don’t leave it to someone else! Get in touch, find out what is going on in your area, get involved and help make the speaking tour the success that it deserves to be.

We need as many people as possible to join RATB in the run up to the tour and to play an active part in the campaign. We need people out on the streets, in communities, in colleges, workplaces, at public meetings, to spread the word far and wide. The injustices committed by imperialism in Britain and around the world make need for a revolutionary alternative more urgent than ever. The speaking tour will be a once in a lifetime chance to show that socialism works.

Viva Cuba!

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