Cuba's socialist revolution in perspective
Based on a talk by Gloria La Riva at the Dec. 6-7
conference on socialism in New York.
Almost 45 years ago, a relatively small number
of revolutionary fighters, after several years of struggle,
overthrew the U.S.-installed dictator Fulgencio Batista.
Cuba at that time was overwhelmingly the property of U.S.
imperialism. It was typical of every Latin American or
Caribbean country: poor and degraded socially by a corrupt,
bankrupt ruling class that played a servile role to the U.S.
rulers.
For the rich, life was good. Havana had more mansions than
any other Latin American capital. For the poor there was
homelessness, vast hunger, parasites in 90 percent of children
in rural Cuba, and no electricity in almost the whole
countryside.
What hope did the Cuban masses have for change? What hope
did 400,000 sugar cane cutters have when, for four months of
the year, they did backbreaking work cutting cane but for eight
months they starved because there was no work?
There were always the elections, modeled after the U.S.
elections in so many ways, with a gaggle of political parties,
and one president after another, chosen every four years, just
like here.
But even we who live in the richest capitalist country in
the world know elections won't make life better.
Cuba, with the victory of the guerrilla movement on Jan. 1,
1959, led by Fidel Castro, made earthshaking, revolutionary
history. Not only did the Cubans overthrow the dictatorship,
they transformed society by eliminating private property in the
means of production and placing all the wealth of society
literally in the hands of those who produce it.
In the process of the revolutionary struggles over the
years, a whole people of millions learned of their power, their
ability to run society without individual owners.
Certainly the material and historical conditions existed in
Cuba to make revolution. But a leadership that didn't
compromise its principles was the essential ingredient, a
leadership that understood that anything less than socialism
was still capitalist exploitation. This is perhaps one of the
most important lessons for any struggle we examine in any part
of the world.
Look at Latin America. The people of Latin America are
fighting for and demanding change, from Bolivian miners to the
peasant farmers of Mexico to the 80 percent living in oil-rich
Venezuela who are poor but today are inspired by what is known
as the "Bolivarian Revolution."
There have been recent electoral victories of liberal
candidates, even progressives, in Latin America. There have
been inspiring revolts. But what is clear in Latin America and
the rest of the world is the need for revolution, for a
decisive battle that puts the workers in power.
That doesn't mean we don't defend all those popular
struggles. But long gone is that short period of time in
history, around the world, when reforms were won in people's
struggles, allowing for some limited national economic
development.
Cuba, a small, blockaded country that began its revolution
at a disadvantage economically, underdeveloped by imperialism,
has done what no capitalist country has been able to do.
Just look at a few facts: In the U.S., we just saw Congress
pretend to provide drug coverage for seniors. But in reality it
just worked out a great way to keep the pharmaceuticals rolling
in multi-billion-dollar profits. There are 45 million people
without healthcare here in the U.S.
In Cuba, every man, woman and child has a doctor and medical
staff. They can walk into a clinic or hospital for free
treatment. They don't have to reach in their pockets to pay a
doctor or insurance company.
Yet, look at the 70,000 grocery workers in California on
strike for eight weeks, losing thousands of dollars in income,
just to assure health benefits for their next three- or
four-year contract.
Cuban scientists just announced the development of a
synthetically produced vaccine for prevention of bacterial
meningitis--a disease that kills 400,000 to 600,000 people in
the world every year, mostly children. That vaccine exists in
the U.S., but it is much more expensive than the medicine Cuba
will produce.
In the U.S., we have the latest "reality" and "survivor"
shows, and our television screens are filled with so many
sensationalist trials and crimes and alleged crimes that
there's a serious scheduling problem on CNN. The real
crimes--the U.S. occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan and the
U.S.-Israeli massacres of Palestinians--hardly get covered.
In Cuba, a third television station was added called the
"University for All." Its programming includes English, French
and Spanish lessons, mathematics, geography, history and
culture. It is revolutionary mass media at work, educating and
spreading culture that inspires solidarity, not cutthroat
competition and demeaning behavior.
You will never see a Jerry Springer or Cristina show on
Cuban television. Or a commercial, for that matter. That alone
proves socialism's superiority over capitalism.
Cuba provides the essentials of life for every citizen of
its country. It's a country free of landlords; imagine not
having a landlord breathing down your neck. That's real
freedom, that's workers' democracy.
And Cuba has extended its revolutionary gains beyond its
borders, with 60,000 doctors who have served for free,
providing care in almost every oppressed country.
Cuba played the key role of smashing South African apartheid
invaders; 300,000 Cuban volunteers fought alongside their
Angolan brothers to drive South Africa out of Angola.
This has all been accomplished while Cuba was under siege,
under blockade, economic sabotage and terrorist attack from the
U.S. Every time Cuba makes an economic trade agreement with a
company or country, the U.S. tries to overturn it.
Every athlete, scientist and artist, who have achieved so
much through Cuba's revolution, is offered standing bribes to
"defect" and come to America. Through the U.S. Cuban Adjustment
Act, every Cuban is guaranteed special immigration privileges
as inducement to come illegally to this country.
There are a thousand daggers aimed at Cuba. And yet the U.S.
has been predicting its demise every year for 44 years.
Cuba is doing its part. What we need to do, sisters and
brothers, is to defend Cuba, to support Cuba and extend our
solidarity whenever we can.
Defend the Cuban Five
And one of the most urgent ways is to fight for the freedom,
the release of the five Cuban heroes whom we have come to know
as the Cuban Five. They are five Cuban revolutionaries who were
working in the early 1990s in Miami to defend their country
from anti-Cuba right-wing terrorists, terrorists funded and
backed by the CIA against Cuba.
The five heroes are in separate U.S. prisons, and at a
critical stage. Their appeals are presently before the 11th
Circuit.
If Cuba could carry out a revolution right next to the most
dangerous imperialist power in the world, we who live in this
country must do no less than stand side-by-side with Cuba.
Reprinted from the Jan. 8, 2004, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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