Cuba — Talking About Revolution: Conversations with Juan Antonio Blanco
By Medea Benjamin
Ocean Press, 1993. 105 pp. $14.95
Reviewed by Jill Hickson
Described as a reformist, a hard-liner, a radical, an idealist, a pragmatist and a futuristic historian by author Medea Benjamin, Juan Antonio Blanco speaks frankly and openly about a wide range of topics and issues relating to Cuba's history and politics.
Hostility towards Cuba by the United States in the '60s and economic setbacks like the push for the 10 million ton sugar harvest in 1969 led Cuba to adopt the Soviet model for 15 years. But Cuba had already begun to make changes even before perestroika was introduced in the Soviet Union.
Blanco explains that with the invasion of Grenada in 1984, the threat of invasion of Nicaragua and El Salvador and with it the possibility of an invasion of Cuba, there was a re-examination of the defence system. The government came to the conclusion that it had wrongly copied the defence model of the Soviet Union, which relied solely on a regular army. It decided to return to the approach of the early days of the revolution, which involved the Cuban people as a whole defending the revolution; this meant arming the entire population.
This led to re-examination of other aspects of Cuban society and resulted in the rectification process which began in 1986.
The rectification process helped to prepare the Cuban economy for the crisis it now faces. This crisis, Blanco points out, is not to be seen in the way that Western journalists often do, implying a kind of apocalypse. The crisis marks a turning point in the course of the revolution. Like a disease, it can lead to death, but it can also lead to recovery.
The book deals with the new developments in the bio-tech industry. With some real scientific breakthroughs in this area, the only thing stopping Cuba in the international market is the US economic blockade. In comparison, the tourist industry has a number of negative impacts. Blanco discusses the problems associated with this industry: the black market, prostitution and increased crime.
Blanco also discusses the move to open up the economy through such measures as access by Cubans to the tourist dollar shops. He explains that Cuba is sacrificing equality in one area in order to maintain equality in other areas. It's a difficult trade-off, he says, because Cubans have been taught by the revolution that they have the right to go anywhere in Cuba and have access to any facility.
Other interesting parts of the book deal with dissent and revolution, leadership and transition, and past discrimination against homosexuals in Cuba.
Blanco's analysis of dissent in capitalist societies could be a starting point for a discussion in Western societies on how to overcome the marginalisation which capitalism forces on anyone who is trying to change the system. The system allows groups to preach to the converted, rarely reaching the mainstream media; if they do, it is in such a marginalised way that it only serves to legitimise the mainstream news by giving an appearance of tolerance.
Because Blanco is a dissenter within Cuban society, even though he is still a member of the Cuban Communist Party, we are treated to an interesting account of the development of democracy in Cuba. He reports that because of the adoption of the Soviet model in the late '60s, there was a derailing of a number of projects developing in the universities. One of these was a magazine called Pensamiento Critico or Critical Thought, a magazine which was trying to create a Cuban Marxist school, using a non-dogmatic approach to Marxism. It was shut down.
Blanco describes the opening up of debate. What he says is most encouraging is "that during the most difficult moment in the revolution's history, we are moving towards a more pluralistic view of the construction of socialism". As he also says, "We are starting to understand that democracy is not a luxury, it is a necessity. If we want to save the system, we need a guarantee a plurality of ideas."
If anyone doubts the support of the revolution by the people, Blanco points to the change in defence policy which led to the arming of the population. "It is the acid test of any government. When you rely on a professional army, you have that army under your control, but when you give weapons to students and factory workers, when you are creating arsenals in remote places in the mountains, when you're giving both access to and control of those weapons to the entire population, you have to be absolutely sure that most of the population is backing up your policies."
[Juan Antonio Blanco will be a featured guest speaker at the International Green Left Conference in Sydney, March 31-April 4.]