amodernmanifesto:

I would first like to express my total solidarity with the people of Cuba.

The Revolution in Cuba has been a mixed bag of both progress and failure. It has created excellent levels of health and education in a third world nation, even outside observers from the capitalist states have stated that…

Comrade, I appreciate many of the things you wrote, but I feel I need to speak to some of your criticisms of the Republic of Cuba. Firstly, the notion of ‘democracy’ much like the word ‘socialism’ has to take on characteristics representative of their context. In other words, the western notion of democracy consisting of rights dialogue, voting, and individualized freedom is somewhat alien to the Cuban context. As Huey Newton put it: “In the west, as well as in Latin America, people say there’s no democracy in Cuba because they’re not putting the ballot in the box. So therefore the people are not consulted. On the other hand, Fidel Castro says that the people are consulted in an even more severe way; that the authority is put to the acid test. The acid test is that for a long time the people can be fooled, but they can’t be fooled and misused all of the time. The test would be the doom of authority through armed revolution. That is the way the people are consulted in the final analysis.”

The fact that the people are consulted, and that Cuba actually enjoys a level of democracy that we certainly don’t have in the United States, is reflected in the access to free health care, first rate daycare centers, championing of LBGT rights (including free surgery for trans-people), a literacy rate higher than the united states, and infant mortality rate lower than many places in the united states, the fact the women can walk around without the fears that characterize the experience of American women, and so on. In the end where is there more freedom and democracy? And if this notion of ‘democracy’ is preventing us from living a life free of fear from how we are going to pay for our medical expenses, to even walking the streets at night, how useful of an idea is it?

The Federation of Cuban Women didn’t consult the men suffering from backward and patriarchal ideas in their campaigns for Women’s rights, they took them with power, and the whole society is reaping those benefits. Sometimes this step is necessary in advancing the consciousness of people plagued by the capitalist social relationship, in fact this is the very premise of revolution. A revolution means forcibly imposing the will of one section of society over another, and we better deliver on our promises by any means necessary if we dare to win. The Cuban people and the communist party have delivered their promises to an unparalleled extent, and we have a great deal to learn from their example.

As a revolutionary you know that the media and the other sources which have swallowed their anti-communist rhetoric are not to be trusted. I advise you to visit Cuba, and ask the people themselves, as many of our comrades in the SWP have. Many people do have criticisms of the government, but you will be hard pressed to find a down-right anti-revolutionary. When the people see themselves and their needs reflected in their government, the most important and difficult task of socialism has been met.

-M