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>From new Cuba blog "Cuba's Socialist Renewal" http://cubasocialistrenewal.blogspot.com To sign up as a follower or receive email updates click link above Here is the fourth and final instalment of my translation of "Cuba fifty years on: Continuity and political change" by Havana University's Carlos Alzugaray Treto. The other instalments are archived here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3. The Spanish footnotes in the original are below each translation. As usual, you can access the Spanish text by clicking on the post title. As I said in the introduction to the first instalment, this is, in my opinion, a superb summary of the Cuban Revolution at this critical juncture and a grounded analysis of the changes, both economic and political, that must be made to Cuba's socialist model if the Revolution is to endure in the post-Fidel era that is taking shape. Published in late 2009, it was written before the announcement of the date for the PCC's 6th Congress in April this year that coincided with the publication of the Draft Economic and Social Policy Guidelines, that are the subject of grassroots debates in the PCC, workplaces and neighbourhoods in preparation for the Congress. One weakness of Alzugaray Treto's analysis, worth drawing attention to, is that more could have been said about the significance of the opening of Venezuela's Bolivarian socialist revolution and the importance of the Cuba-Venezuela alliance for the future of Cuba's socialist project. Another weakness, it seems to me, is his uncritical appraisal of the Chinese leadership's claim that they are building socialism in China, albeit with "Chinese characteristics" (such as the fact that there is no barrier to multi-millionaire Chinese capitalists joining the so-called Communist Party). Such illusions in the Chinese "road to socialism" are widespread in Cuba, largely for the same reason that most Cuban revolutionaries once looked to the Soviet Union for inspiration: given the necessity for the PCC leadership to maintain excellent trade and diplomatic relations with the Chinese regime — which has its own geopolitical reasons for supporting revolutionary Cuba against US imperialism unrelated to fomenting the global proletarian revolution — little real information about the social and ecological costs of China's rampant capitalist development or leftist critiques of this process are readily accessible to most Cubans. What the inner circles of the PCC leadership really think about China's trajectory is unknown and can only be speculated, for obvious reasons. It would be to misread Alzugaray Treto's comments on China as saying that Cuba should copy "the Chinese model". Indeed, he explicitly warns against this and there are other caveats too, such as the need to take into consideration "the criticisms that have been made by the left". What he suggests Cuba can learn from China and apply, specified in five points, would not amount to the restoration of capitalism in Cuba; Cuba's political and social order would remain essentially different from that of China. It should also be noted that Alzugaray Treto's advocacy of a deepening and a decentralisation of Cuba's socialist democracy would help safeguard Cuba against precisely such a drift towards capitalist restoration. In his summary, he reaffirms the noble objective at the heart of the Cuban Revolution: the cultivation of a new human being, less alienated and egotistical, a fuller and freer expression of the human personality in its harmonious interrelation with humanity and the rest of nature on this fragile Earth — an objective that is not remotely shared by Beijing's ruling elite. Finally, the geopolitical realities of Cuba, a small post-capitalist society just 150km from the imperialist monster to the north, leave no room for a "Chinese road". Either the Cuban Revolution renews itself with the help of Venezuela's Bolivarian socialist revolution and the other progressive forces on the planet, or the flame of revolution is extinguished and Cuba returns to its former status of a US neo-colony. Now more than ever, the Cuban Revolution needs our understanding and our solidarity. I invite readers of this blog to comment if you wish, by submitting a comment below this post. Link to translation: http://cubasocialistrenewal.blogspot.com/2011/01/translation-continuity-and-political_24.html ________________________________________________ Send list submissions to: [email protected] Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
