Cuba

Cuban feminists arrested for asking to protest on International Women's Day

Official FMC slogan reads "Cuban women: united, firm and committed." Cuba’s “socialist” regime generally represses not only anti-government protests, but any protests organised without permission – which means virtually any. In connection with this year’s International Women’s Day, however, it went further. In January activists from Cuba’s growing feminist scene requested permission to organise IWD demonstrations on 8 March. They were arrested and interrogated just for asking. (More on this and on Cuba’s feminists from France 24 here .) In the early 1960s, the Stalinist government dissolved...

Two speeches on Ukraine at NEU conference 2022

The 2022 National Education Union (NEU) conference saw heated debate about Ukraine. In the end the conference voted down the only motion available, a Stop the War Coalition-type one (more on what happened here). Below are excerpts of two speeches given by Ukraine Solidarity Campaign supporters in...

Two speeches on Ukraine at UK school workers' conference

The 2022 National Education Union (NEU) conference saw heated debate about Ukraine. In the end the conference voted down the only motion available, a Stop the War Coalition-type one (more on what happened here ). Below are excerpts of two speeches given by Ukraine Solidarity Campaign supporters in the debate. Delegate from Lewisham NEU: Much of what’s been said has been characterised by false equivalence and oversimplification. Even Alex [Kenny] when he moved the main motion spoke more about NATO and Western leaders than about the Putin regime and Russian leaders. The problem I have with this...

Cuba defends Russian imperialism

The government of Cuba, which calls itself socialist, has essentially backed Russia in the Ukraine conflict. While insisting that it “deeply regret[s] the loss of life” and that “the Cuban people had and have a close relationship with the Ukrainian people”, the "Declaration of the Revolutionary Government” repeatedly blames the US and NATO for the war in Ukraine, says the “use of force” is a result of the denial of Russia’s “just claims” and suggests the war is about “Russia ha[ving] a right to defend itself”. Cuba has form, over many decades. It supported the USSR’s invasion of Czechoslovakia...

Permanent revolution and working-class politics

The articles reprinted here, from a dispute in the Irish Workers’ Group (IWG) in 1967-8, are important for seeing how the term “permanent revolution” has been used in certain ways to rationalise a world-view on the radical left, and how the political trend represented today by Solidarity and Workers’ Liberty dug our way out of those misuses.

"SLL Revision of the Theory of Permanent Revolution - the Case of Cuba"

(From Marxism vs Ultra-Leftism , a 1967 pamphlet). Click here to download as pdf But the logic of subjectivism, of extreme factionalism, is merciless. Having begun on this course out of need to find self-justification for their sectarianism, of need to distinguish themselves at any cost and on all issues from the world Trotskyist movement on which they put the label, “revisionist,” and having reduced the Marxist method from an instrument for analysing objective reality in order to be able to change it in a revolutionary way, into an instrument for justifying their own existence, the Healyite...

Sam Farber, the Third Camp and Cuba

Repression in Cuba Samuel Farber has played an irreplaceable role in the third-camp Marxist tradition for more than six decades. Kent Worcester has conducted a fascinating interview with Farber about his political and intellectual history, now published in Left History journal (24, 1, Spring/Summer 2021). You can also read it as text, with photos and images, on the website of US socialist magazine Tempest here . Farber’s outstanding contribution has been his Marxist analysis of Cuban society, articulated in four books and countless articles. A simple rule should apply on the left: no socialist...

Cuba: embargo, not blockade

I agree with much of what Sacha Ismail wrote in “Cuba: support the protests…” in Solidarity 601 . His claim that “the US blockade has clearly made the situation for Cuba’s working class … far worse” is more doubtful. The language of “blockade” is that of the Cuban government. It blames its problems on el bloqueo , as do pro-Cuban-government activists. “Blockade” suggests a sea and air cordon around Cuba preventing goods moving in and out. There is no such blockade. What has been in place since 1960 is a US embargo making it illegal for American companies and individuals to trade with Cuba...

Cuba: support the protests, support workers' democracy

• Petition to free arrested Cuban socialists • Summary of Cuban-American socialist Sam Farber’s analysis of the Cuban system Faced by large-scale protests (from 11 July) for the first time in decades, Cuba’s “socialist” government has arrested many dissident socialist activists among others. Many reports say that over a hundred people have been arrested or have disappeared. In the last year, the same government has suppressed LGBT rights and Black Lives Matter-type demonstrations. “Socialist Cuba” is an extremely repressive dictatorship. Despite its achievements in healthcare and other areas...

Cuba: time for real solidarity from the British left

If you’re a British trade unionist or a member of the Labour Party, where might you go to find news about Cuba? An obvious choice is the Morning Star, a newspaper largely funded by trade unions, which regularly runs articles about the island nation. Another is the website of the trade union-backed Cuba Solidarity Campaign (CSC). You would learn that in recent weeks Cuba has developed its very own Covid vaccine that is over 90% effective with three doses. You’d also learn that the Biden administration continues with the vicious U.S. embargo, which is one of the reasons why Cuba needs to develop...

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