[Via... http://www.egroups.com/group/Communist-Internet ] . . ----- Original Message ----- From: Walter Lippmann <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: CubaNews <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Sunday, May 13, 2001 2:34 AM Subject: [CubaNews] CTC stresses sovereignty struggle "NO TO THE FTAA!" CUBAN LABOR UNION CONGRESS STRESSES SOVEREIGNTY STRUGGLE By Gloria La Riva Havana The Cuban working class holds power and runs society for the benefit of all. At the 18th Congress of the Central Organization of Cuban Workers (CTC), held in Havana's Convention Center the first week in May, this working class democracy was put into practice. The 1,675 delegates discussed defending the revolution's ideas and values, improving economic efficiency and production, and strengthening the union leadership at the base level. A recurring theme during the week was Cuba's economic and political sovereignty. Cuba is not indebted to the International Monetary Fund, which is asphyxiating the other peoples of Latin America with its extortionate demands. The Cuban leadership also proposed a continent-wide struggle against the Free Trade Area of the Americas, emphasizing this theme on May Day after the congress. The mood at the congress was optimistic as Cuba's economy continues to show sustained growth since the mid-1990s. The country is now able to tackle more difficult problems such as the unemployment that arose in the aftermath of the Soviet Union's collapse. Last year's economy grew an impressive 5.6 percent and major strides have been made in energy production. The CTC represents the Cuban workers through 19 national unions. Over 97 percent of the country's workers are in unions by voluntary affiliation. This kind of universal participation is unheard of in capitalist countries. But in Cuba's socialist system, union membership is encouraged. The relationship between worker and government is not antagonistic; the workers are the backbone of the Cuban state. The three-day congress culminated 17 months of workers' assemblies at the base level, forums, delegate elections and a thorough discussion of the unions' thesis and 23 resolutions taken up by the congress. All 1,675 delegates were dressed in olive green uniforms or militia blue on the first day of plenary sessions. They joined together waving Cuban and red flags, chanting, "A congress that moves forward, a blockade that is pushed back," and "Cuba si, Yanqui no." CTC General Secretary Pedro Ross Leal explained why the delegates were wearing military-type uniforms. "A revolution that is besieged and attacked by the principal military and economic power in the world cannot, even for one instant, neglect the defense of the country. "It means that this people of workers, of students, also must be a people of soldiers who are ready to defend--with arms in hand--what their fathers and brothers won in the battlefield through more than 150 years of struggle." He placed this congress--like the 17th congress five years earlier--in its historical context of the "special period" of economic crisis after the Soviet Union disappeared. "To save the country, the revolution and socialism, were the ideas that inspired our last two congresses. The country is much stronger than in 1996. The effects of the economic crisis still remain, but our economy is following a stable and long-term trend toward recuperation in spite of the blockade. "Now we can speak not only of recuperation but development, we can speak of notable qualitative advances, of fundamental changes in structure that help us envision the country's future with confidence and security. These advances correspond with the extraordinary gains that our country is winning in the ideological, political, moral and cultural terrain." It was a very impressive event, in which workers gave their opinions on economic and social issues and exchanged ideas and solutions with government and Communist Party leaders. Problems of housing and transport shortages, of high prices in farmers' markets, and recovering the previous production levels in sugar, were analyzed. There was pride and satisfaction in the gains made over the last five years. The whole people have made heroic efforts to save the revolution from economic crisis and the U.S. blockade's effects. PAID MATERNITY LEAVE EXTENDED TO A FULL YEAR Cuban President Fidel Castro participated in the Congress. What head of state under capitalism would sit in on the sessions of a workers' organization? Castro not only listened but spoke at length, making proposals that were strongly supported by the workers, especially when he called for extending Cuba's six-month paid maternity leave to one full year, to take effect immediately. The congress decided to make computers available to the farthest reaches of the country in primary level education, so all students can learn the technology. It also resolved to lower unemployment from the current 5.2 percent to 4.1 percent by year's end. Invited guest Wilson Borjas, executive secretary of the Colombian union movement CUT, walked on crutches to the podium. Borjas was the victim of an assassination attempt by paramilitary death squads on Dec. 15, 2000. Over 300 rounds were fired into his car; five bullets hit him. Borjas said, "Many countries offered to take me out of Colombia for my safety, but only one country said they would give me the health care I needed, and that was Cuba." ELECTION TO NATIONAL COMMITTEE OF CTC A roundup of candidates for election to the National Committee, the leading body of the CTC, showed that they averaged 14.7 years of union experience. Some 55 percent had a higher education, 38.4 percent were Black or mestizo, and 38 percent were younger than 40. At the closing session, Pedro Ross Leal was re-elected general secretary and Francisco Duran Harvey was elected vice general secretary. President Castro gave the closing speech at the congress. He began by reading international press stories that described workers and youths demonstrating against layoffs and poverty from El Salvador to Chile to London. It was chilling to hear the figures of unemployment--14 percent in Uruguay--and the thousands of police who were prepared to brutally repress the protests. The Cuban leader read from wire stories about May Day in Berlin, where "radical left" forces were banned from protesting yet 9,000 police were deployed to protect 1,500 neo-fascists. He said, "It is clear why Cuban workers are able to come together and march. You are not radicals, nor leftist extremists, you are extreme revolutionaries." After covering a number of themes, Castro spoke about the contributions of Karl Marx, Frederick Engels, V.I. Lenin and Jose Marti to Cuban socialist thought. He said of Marx, "He spoke of the dictatorship of the proletariat, and I understand perfectly what he wanted to express with that term. He knew perfectly well that the bourgeoisie would not hand over philanthropically their power. He knew that to expropriate that class, one had to take the power. "He showed us so much, as did Lenin in his book, 'State and Revolution.' "Jose Marti put himself on the side of the poor. He was the first to qualify the U.S. as imperialist. He defined it in his last letter, saying everything he had done up to this point was to prevent the U.S. from extending to the rest of Latin America.... Our ideology is thus strengthened by Marti, and the new ideas of the Marxists, Marx, Engels and Lenin." The Congress ended with a May Day march of over 600,000 and a solid determination by Cuba's workers to defend socialism and their revolution. - END - Reprinted from the May 17, 2001 issue of Workers World newspaper
