Louis,
I was in Cuba last summer and I would agree with your assessment. The
Gov actually tries to restrict joint venture hiring so that it takes
place through hiring halls. JOint vantures are supposed to pay the going
rate in the Caribean and the cuban employees are supposed to get a salary
> . this problem is trivial compared with the real
> challenges in Cuba. For example, just how _do_ you overcome
> bureaucratic tendencies in economic management that stifle workers
> intitative and morale, especially in a poor country? This was the whole
> theme of the "rectification campaign
>On Mon, 26 Jan 1998, Sid Shniad wrote, about the TINA line:
>>
>> How do you keep from careening along this slippery slope once you've set
>> foot on it?
I thought Brian's intervention tried
>to bypass the problem altogether by not even considering the difference
>between tactical concessions
>What is absent from this discussion is politics: participation, push and
>pull of actors inside Cuba, voice in making decisions. Setting production
>goals in coops (etc.) does not prove a march towards capitalism; it does
>suggest authoritarianism that, being a Cuban, one might well struggle
>a
On the cuba disucssion, it seems to me that harping over whether this or
that proves that Cuba has strayed from the socialist path, become
capitalist, etc., is largely a waste of time. The data Brian Green presents
on anti-labor measures are very interesting and deserves our scrutiny; I
thank him
On Mon, 26 Jan 1998, Sid Shniad wrote, about the TINA line:
>
> How do you keep from careening along this slippery slope once you've set
> foot on it?
> Seems to me that this was the issue posed by Brian's interventions.
>
I agree this is a real question, but I thought Brian's intervention tri
Bill Burgess comments that these kinds of (regressive) changes are what
you have to do if you want to attract foreign capital. True enough. But
this is the very argument that's being used around the world by regimes of
conservative, liberal and social democratic stripe. This is the essence of
the
Brian Green:
>State farms were officially named co-ops, yes. You are referring here to the
>'basic units of cooperative production'. Here's the deal with these. Workers
>collectively 'own' the machinery and the harvest; land, however, remains in
>state hands, production quotas are set by the state
Thanks, Brian, for the specific examples I asked for. It makes for a more
useful discussion. Having said that, I'm running up against the limits of
my knowledge on specifics, so my replies are not really adequate. But, a
few points:
On Mon, 26 Jan 1998, Brian Green wrote: >
> There are many.
>Specifics, please on the "anti-popular and anti-worker legislation"! Or at
>least some reference so we know what you are talking about.
There are many. I'll list just a few in point form:
- 1990, law promulgated for the tourist sector (Cuba's fastest-growing)
releasing management from the requi
On Sun, 25 Jan 1998, Brian Green wrote:
> What I AM saying is that Castro (and
> others in the Cuban leadership) have in the last few years begun to rely on
> the same excuses as rulers elsewhere to justify anti-popular and anti-worker
> legislation - namely, the logic of 'There is no alternativ
Just a quick followup to Bill's comments: I've heard apocryphal stories to
the effect that the Cuban government was encouraging women to prostitute
themselves outside the dollar stores so that visiting foreigners would be
encouraged to purchase imported luxuries for the women. This as a means of
g
>
>As I suspected, Sid and Brian Green are more interested in discussing how
>socialism can be achieved rather than the particular problems of the Cuban
>revolution.
Certainly I am very interested in the particulars of Cuba's current crisis
and reform; and certainly I am interested in concrete a
On Sat, 24 Jan 1998, Sid Shniad wrote:
> Query: given the outrageous hostility of the States and the enormous
> economic difficulties facing Cuba today, how does allowing (encouraging?)
> increased income differentials (to the point where women are forced into
> prostitution) help address the u
> I prefer to deal with conjunctural problems, which lend themselves more to
> the historical materialist tradition I work within. I don't ever try to
> answer the question of how socialism can work. I am much more interested
> in, for example, trying to figure out whether in retrospect the Sandin
Louis --Hope you don't mind this addition to a
discussion you have officially retired from.
But, you are a long time activist (probably
including on this issue). I'm sure it was
purely accidental that your brilliant theoretical
analysis of Cuba's suffering under global
capitalism omitted any
>If the range of choices is limited to emulating the NEP, then prospects
>for the future appear pretty bleak, don't they?
>
>Sid Schniad
As I suspected, Sid and Brian Green are more interested in discussing how
socialism can be achieved rather than the particular problems of the Cuban
revolution.
Sid Schniad:
>PS -- please, Louis, try to address the substantive issues that I'm trying
>to raise without engaging in ad hominem attacks on me for raising them.
You and Brian aren't raising any new issues as far as I'm concerned.
Anybody who reads a newspaper is aware of the problems in Cuba. As
Louis, I'm not taken with the answer that I've "added nothing new" here.
The problem we're all grappling with in this discussion of Cuba is the
pattern of elites (ostensibly progressive) who, acting in the name of
the people, carry out policies that are detrimental to the people.
To say that simi
At 04:27 PM 1/24/98 -0500, Louis Proyect wrote:
[SNIP]
>I don't mind discussing these questions, but if people are serious about
>it, they're going to have to approach them in a rigorous and scholarly
>fashion. Otherwise, I will treat them with the contempt they deserve. I
>have been following Cub
Further to the (very interesting) discussion between Louis and Brian, the
national CBC news had a piece last night showing Cuban women teachers and
physicians being forced to engage in prostitution in order to supplement
their meagre salaries. As they saw it, the choice was to allow their kids
to
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