People's Power: Cuba's experience with representative government
By Peter Roman
Westview Press, 1999
$60 (hb), 284 pages
REVIEW BY RACHEL EVANS &
KARL MILLER
Genuine Marxists advocate workers' democracy and fight hard for the self-organisation of workers. The Paris Commune of 1871, the early years of the Bolshevik Revolution and the Cuban Revolution all provide practical examples of workers' democracy and Marxists have drawn important lessons from them.
Marxists argue that real democracy requires:
- the overthrow of the capitalist class by the working class;
- the smashing of the capitalist class's state structures (parliament, judiciary, army, police);
- workers' (majority) control and involvement in the running of the economy and the development of the new state;
- elected delegates that can be recalled by their constituents and receive an average worker's wage;
- full open popular debate before decisions are made followed by unwavering implementation of the majority decisions; and
- That the workers' state withers away with the development of the productive forces, as does the distinction between the vanguard party and the masses (in terms of political consciousness and administrative running of society).
Peter Roman's People's Power contains a chapter, "Lenin and the Socialist State", that provides a moderately good summary of the socialist traditions that Cuba has inherited from the Bolshevik revolutionary tradition.
The bulk of Roman's book studies Cuba's electoral system, which is known as People's Power. Roman travelled to Cuba between 1986 and 1998 and his obvious enthusiasm for Cuba's political life at the municipal level is the book's great strength.
Roman assesses Cuban democracy with a critical eye. Roman's use of the viewpoints of academic "cubanologists", extensive quotes from People's Power delegates on various issues and his "fly on the wall in meetings" methodology give an illuminating impression of Cuban political life.
The data provided is excellent fodder for anyone hungry for information on Cuban democracy. Not only do we learn interesting details about the municipal electoral process and the activities of delegates, we also discover the degree to which the Cuban population is actively involved in constructing and maintaining a socialist society at the grass roots, day-to-day level.
Despite the overall mood of support for, and interest in, Cuba and socialism, not once does the book state this support explicitly. Probably this stems from the fact that the book has been compiled, in the most part, from a series of articles written for academic journals, where the stance of the "neutral observer" is expected.
Roman refrains even from debating whether or not Cuba is democratic. He continually emphasises things like the theoretical heritage of Rousseau in the socialist electoral tradition, presumably in order to "balance" the influence of figures less acceptable to liberals such as Marx and Lenin.
Roman fails to explore the question that intrigues all Cuba supporters: to what extent does the Cuban electoral system promote the involvement of the Cuban people in political life?
One of the biggest questions for socialists, and for supporters of Cuba, is what is the role of the socialist party in general and the Cuban Communist Party (CCP) in particular? To what degree does the CCP play a leadership role in advancing the political consciousness of the masses and their self organisation?
A discussion of the party's relationship to the masses requires information about the level of mass political involvement in society in general, in the mass organisations and "civil society", as well as within the formal electoral structures and within the CCP. The formal structures can be described as the bare bones of people's involvement in Cuban political life. However, Roman does not put any flesh on them.
He mentions in passing the population's general perceptions of party members. For example, although 15% of the population are members of the CCP, about 75% of local People's Power delegates are party members. The main qualifications for election as a delegate are dedication to hard work, honesty and ideological commitment.
People's Power explains that competitive municipal elections occur every two and a half years. Provincial and national elections occur every five years. Local elections involve a high level of participation and most people personally know their candidates.
The provincial (PA) and national assembly (NA) elections are not competitive. The electoral process involves candidacy commission meetings at which various mass organisations draw up a slate of suitable provincial and national candidates to represent the population. The slate is then voted on. In the 1993 election, 1.5 million people were consulted by the candidacy commissions with 70,000 nominees considered for the slate.
Roman documents the October 1992 NA debate around having closed, non-competitive candidate lists. One deputy suggested the election include reserves to fill future vacancies. Another deputy argued for competitive elections. The NA president argued against the proposals, saying voters could vote for anyone they wanted to on the list. Other deputies argued that reserves and more slots would ensure only candidates with press coverage would get elected, not the "little" people nominated by the candidacy commissions.
The NA decided to continue the non-competitive elections for national and provincial elections.
Roman documents other criticisms of Cuban political life expressed by the CCP, People's Power deputies and ordinary Cubans. These include the inadequate debate in Cuban legislative bodies and in the state press. Some deputies attributed this lack of debate to the influence of the Soviet Union model.
Roman argues that President Fidel Castro takes up too much time in NA discussions. The NA meets twice a year (barring extraordinary sessions), for two days each time. Deputies who work full-time plus sit on working committees have little time to read and think about legislative changes. Deputies, except Castro, have strict time limits on speeches. At the July 1988 NA session, of the 204 times that deputies spoke, 71 were comments by Castro.
Debate is encouraged by the CCP. The fourth party congress held in 1991 rejected "false, mechanical and formalistic unanimity". Roman spoke to delegates trying to overcome the lack of debate in formal bodies. Conversely, he provides examples of two deputies who led debates and argued against Castro who afterwards were not renominated by the candidacy commission.
Unfortunately, Roman does not try to explain why democracy in Cuba is not perfect. Most importantly, he does not explore the impact of the crippling 40-year economic blockade imposed on Cuba by the United States. The lack of money for imported books, for paper, oil and other necessities which would allow the Cuban economy to develop and the people to work less and have more time to read, think and discuss is not examined.
Neither does Roman consider the influence of the Stalinist Soviet Union on Cuban democracy to be negative. One chapter points out some similarities between the Soviet constitution at various times, and the Cuban constitution. But Roman does not even mention the extreme anti-democratic practical measures of the post-Lenin Soviet Union. The implications for Cuban democracy of its economic long reliance on the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe are not considered.
People's Power is a good political summary of Cuban democracy. The structures of the People's Power system, its debates and the changes made to it over the years to generate greater popular participation are well documented.
However, Roman does not look at the role of the CCP in providing political leadership in enough detail. Roman also ignores the economic changes that have reduced the political clarity and ability of Cubans to participate in running their own state.