Cuban election shows workers’ democracy

On Feb. 24, Raúl Castro Ruz was elected president of Cuba’s State Council and Council of Ministers. Ricardo Alarcón de Quesada was re-elected president of the National Assembly and José Ramón Machado Ventura was elected first vice president of the Councils of State and Ministers.

The elections came on the heels of a Feb. 18 announcement by Comrade Fidel Castro that he would not accept the nomination for president.

Fidel’s announcement created quite a stir in the U.S. Once again the mainstream media and government officials distorted the news and even outright lied about Cuban reality.

U.S. President George W. Bush said that he stood ready to help Cubans realize the “blessings of liberty. Eventually this transition ought to lead to free and fair elections, and I mean free and I mean fair, not those ... staged elections that the Castro brothers try to foist off as being true democracy.”

The candidates for U.S. president also weighed in. In fact, Fidel’s announcement was the very first question asked by Univision’s Jorge Ramos at the Democratic candidates’ debates in Austin, Texas, on Feb. 21.

Although there were shades of difference in the comments made by Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton, and elsewhere by Republican John McCain, all were united in portraying Cuba as a society run by dictators where the people had no freedom to voice their opinions. They sounded just like Bush.

All of them called for Cuba to change its course and open up its society. No one was for lifting the cruel, illegal blockade of Cuba the U.S. has imposed for almost 50 years.

Their comments speak volumes about what side of the class divide they stand on. Does one stand with the Cuban people who have won their independence and dignity from U.S. imperialism and are building a society where free healthcare and education are guaranteed? Or does one stand with imperialism and simply apologize and seek band-aids for the many ills brought on by this profit-hungry, war-driven, racist system?

Even if one does not believe in socialism, the Cuban people have the right to determine their own course free of blockades and terrorist attacks from the U.S.

On Fidel’s announcement, John McCain said: “Fidel Castro announced that he would not remain as president—whatever that means” and that as president, McCain would not give any aid to Cuba until there was greater political freedom.

McCain even went so far as to nastily add, “I hope Fidel has the opportunity to meet Karl Marx very soon.”

Senator Clinton stated: “The new leadership in Cuba will face a stark choice—continue with the failed policies of the past that have stifled democratic freedoms and stunted economic growth, or take a step to bring Cuba into the community of democratic nations. The people of Cuba yearn for the opportunity to get out from under the weight of this authoritarian regime, which has held back 11 million talented and hardworking citizens. The new government should release ... political prisoners and take serious steps towards democracy.”

Senator Obama commented: “Today should mark the end of a dark era in Cuba’s history. Cuba’s future should be determined by the Cuban people and not by an anti-democratic successor regime. The release of all prisoners of conscience wrongly jailed for standing up for the basic freedoms too long denied to the Cuban people would mark an important break with the past. It’s time for those heroes to be released.”

How refreshing, even revolutionary it would have been if Dolores Huerta, who was sitting next to Chelsea Clinton during the debates in Austin, had raised her hand and said: “Wait a minute. What about the innocent Cuban Five heroes who are languishing in U.S. prisons? Their only crime has been to defend their country from U.S. terrorist attacks.” Huerta has in the past spoken out on behalf of the Cuban Five.

The fact is that Cuban society is thoroughly more democratic than the U.S. The Cuban people are some of the most opinionated people in the world and they are free to state their opinion. But they are not free to carry out counterrevolutionary activity in collaboration with the U.S. government—which is what the so-called “dissidents” have done. Cuba, after all, has been defending itself from U.S. sabotage, intervention and invasion for almost 50 years.

When Senator Clinton says that the Revolution has held back its citizens, it is proof she knows nothing about Cuba. The educational and cultural levels of Cubans are among the highest in the world. The Cuban government teaches English widely in the country. A government afraid of its people would not teach them the language of its main nemesis.

Cuba’s election process is thoroughly a bottom-up process. No candidate needs to come up with millions of dollars to get elected. They do not have to come up with any money at all. No billionaire, as in the case of New York’s Mayor Michael Bloomberg, can get elected solely on the ability to pay for the position. Of course, Cuba has no billionaires.

In January, Cuba held general elections for the National and Provincial Assemblies. More than 8 million people voted in that election, which represents 95 percent of those eligible to vote—one of the highest rates in the world. That is a stark contrast to the U.S., where about 30 percent of those eligible to vote actually do so.

According to Arnold August, a Canadian who has been studying Cuba’s elections, “1.2 million citizens were consulted to work out an initial basin of over 55,000 pre-candidates.”

The vote concluded a process that had begun in September 2007. Campaigning is low-key but candidates spend many hours visiting workplaces and communities, talking to people. Voting is secret and not mandatory and the counting of votes is public.

There is no such thing as having to “register” to vote. You just identify yourself and vote. No one is denied the right to vote—as in the U.S., for example, where 5.3 million people either in prison or with a prison record could not vote in 2006. (The Sentencing Project) The minimum voting age in Cuba is 16, lower than in the U.S.

Cuba’s president of the National Assembly, Ricardo Alarcón, said about the election process, “The main requirement for candidates is that they be proposed by others and approved by the collective.”

This year’s election was a landmark. Women will make up 43 percent of the National Assembly and almost 42 percent of the municipal assemblies. That places Cuba third in the world in percentage of women representatives. The U.S. ranks 71st in the world, with only 16 percent of Congress being women.

Black Cubans make up 36 percent of the assembly. More walks of life are represented there, such as workers and artists. For example, Jorge Gómez Barranco, the coordinator of the well-known music group Moncada, is a member of parliament.

As newly elected president of the State Council and the Council of Ministers, Raúl Castro gave a key address at the closing of the first session of the seventh legislature of the National Assembly of People’s Power. All who love Cuba should read his talk.

Cuba’s enemies cannot appreciate this talk, much less the difficulties of building and maintaining a revolutionary socialist society. Comrade Raúl spoke honestly and soberly about the Revolution, including the need to raise wages.

Here are some excerpts:

“As comrade Fidel alerted us ... last January 14th, the people’s mandate to this legislature is very clear: to continue strengthening the Revolution at a historical juncture which demands from us to be dialectic and creative.”

“The composition of the State Council ... raised much expectation both in Cuba and abroad. The most significant was clarified by comrade Fidel in his Message of February 18th. There is very little that I can add to what he said except to express to our people, on behalf of the Revolution’s Leadership, our appreciation for the innumerable expressions of serenity, maturity, self-assurance, and the combination of genuine sadness and revolutionary determination.”

“I take on the responsibility entrusted to me deeply convinced that, as I have often said, there is only one Commander in Chief of the Cuban Revolution.”

“The Communist Party, a sure guarantee of the unity of the Cuban nation, is the sole worthy heir to our people’s confidence in its leader. It is the top leading force of our State and society as provided in ... our Constitution. ... ”

“This conviction shall become especially significant when as a fact of life the generation that founded and forged the Revolution is no longer present. Fortunately, it is not that moment we are living today. Fidel is here, as always, with a very clear mind and his capacity to analyze and foresee perfectly intact and strengthened now that he can dedicate to studying and analyzing the countless hours he previously used to tackle the daily problems.”

“Therefore, with the certainty that I am expressing the will of our people, I appeal to this Assembly, as the supreme body of the State power, to allow me to continue consulting with the maximum leader of the Revolution, comrade Fidel Castro Ruz, the decisions of special transcendence for the future of our nation, basically those associated to defense, foreign policy and the socioeconomic development of the country.”

The talk is available on www.workers.org in its entirety.

When President Bush, the media or any U.S. candidates talk about Cuba, it is from another class position. Cuba’s reality is practically on another planet from their worldview.

Those who know and love Cuba know that Fidel’s announcement that he would not run again for president marked a sad day. Yet we are confident that the Revolution will prevail at every phase of its long journey.

Fidel is a revolutionary leader the world now sees only occasionally, a deep Marxist thinker who has embraced the liberation of workers and oppressed. That is why he is so loved and respected.

As comrade Raúl reminded us, “Fidel hears the grass growing and sees what is happening around the corner.” This is why, for now, his visible presence will be sorely missed.