******************** POSTING RULES & NOTES ******************** #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. *****************************************************************
Louis Proyect says that "Fidel Castro started out as a bourgeois politician". It is true that Castro was a member of the bourgeois Cuban Peoples Party, and was chosen as a candidate for that party in the 1952 elections, which were never held because of Batista's coup. But Castro was not simply a "bourgeois politician". He was the leader of a radical current within the CPP. He later explained his thinking at that time as follows: "I saw that the Cuban communists were isolated due to the pervasive atmosphere of imperialism, McCarthyism and reactionary politics. No matter what they did they remained isolated … "So, I worked out a strategy for carrying out a deep social revolution — but gradually, by stages … "I realised that the masses were decisive, that the masses were extremely angry and discontented. They did not understand the social essence of the problem; they were confused. They attributed unemployment, poverty, and the lack of schools, hospitals, job opportunities and housing — almost everything — to administrative corruption, embezzlement and the perversity of the politicians. "The Cuban Peoples Party had harnessed much of that discontent, but they did not particularly blame the capitalist system and imperialism for it … "The people were confused, but they were also desperate and able to fight … The people had to be led along the road of revolution by stages, step by step, until they achieved full political consciousness and confidence in their future. "I worked out all these ideas by reading and studying Cuban history, the Cuban personality and distinguishing characteristics, and Marxism." (Interview with Frei Betto, cited in Fidel: My Early Years, Ocean Press, Melbourne, 2005, p. 155-157) Castro later established the July 26 Movement, which fought for democracy and radical social reform, but was not explicitly socialist. It was only several years after the overthrow of Batista that the Cuban Communist Party was established through the merger of the July 26 Movement, PSP and Revolutionary Directorate. See: http://links.org.au/node/1451 The conclusion I would draw from this is that we should not be too schematic about party building methods. I am not proposing to give any advice to US comrades on what they should do. Chris Slee ________________________________ From: Marxism <marxism-boun...@lists.csbs.utah.edu> on behalf of Louis Proyect via Marxism <marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu> Sent: Saturday, 30 June 2018 1:04:39 PM To: Chris Slee Subject: Re: [Marxism] DSA member Ocasio-Cortez elected ******************** POSTING RULES & NOTES ******************** #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. ***************************************************************** On 6/29/18 10:49 PM, Nick Fredman wrote: > > But it seems to me that it’s the exactly the absence of an NDP or Labor > Party that has meant the US Democrats have absorbed the functions that > such parties play in other capitalist countries. Well, look. In this hemisphere, there are no labor parties or socialist parties of any significance outside of the NDP in Canada. I don't have the time nor the energy to explain how that happened. I should add that there was one in Chile but it got destroyed after Pinochet. The USA, like all these other countries to its south, has two major bourgeois parties--one liberal and one conservative. Nicaragua was a prime example. Even Sandino was a partisan of the Liberal Party. Cuba had the same deal. Fidel Castro started out as a bourgeois politician. What made Fidel Castro and Carlos Fonseca stand out was their defiant break with the Liberal/Conservative hegemonic system. In the USA, we had someone like that. His name was Malcolm X and they killed him because of his intransigence. If you want to run as a Democrat, just do the left a favor and stop calling yourself a socialist. _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/chris_w_slee%40hotmail.com _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
