by By Brandon Madsen and Stephan Kimmerle
Flowing from the vibrant reports and insightful connections made by Maria Franzblau during the DSA delegation’s visit to Cuba, Reform & Revolution has restarted a more in-depth discussion about the struggle for a democratic, socialist society on the island. Here is our perspective.
This article was first published in our Reform & Revolution magazine #14 together with Maria’s report from her participation in DSA’s delegation to Cuba. If you can, please support us and subscribe to our magazine!
[In our Reform & Revolution magazine #14, we’ve published this article together with Maria’s report from the delegation. Support Reform & Revolution and subscribe to our magazine!]
Since 1959, Cuba has successfully ousted US imperialism, nationalized the country’s resources, implemented free healthcare and education, and ensured a certain standard of living for all. However, the impact of the blockade imposed by US imperialism and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, which left Cuba in economic isolation, has led to ongoing challenges. The situation of an isolated, bureaucratic regime based on the revolutionary hopes of the masses and confronted with imperialism has endured longer than anticipated. Nevertheless, its current state is fragile, and economic hardship continually destabilizes and jeopardizes its existence. Even with Cuba’s highly educated doctors and nurses, the healthcare sector still lacks basic supplies. Discontent is mounting as people in Cuba increasingly seek ways to overcome current economic and societal challenges.
In our view, the way to defend the achievements of the revolution is to reintroduce the key democratic demands of the first working-class revolutions, such as the right to recall any official at any time and an average worker’s wage for workers’ representatives. This is the sort of democracy that both the 1871 Paris Commune and the 1917 Russian Revolution fought for. In Cuba, workers need to have the right to form independent unions and different working-class parties. There needs to be an end to the repression and oppression of working-class opposition.
However, the Cuban bureaucracy has been leaning in a completely different direction, toying with capitalist reforms, developing the private sector, and suppressing opposition.
Comparison with the Uprisings 1989-91
The uprisings of 1989-91 against Stalinist regimes in the USSR and Eastern Europe emerged in the context of economic and social challenges similar to those faced by Cuba today. These revolutions started in favor of democratic socialism. Before long, however, it began to seem to most people that the only realistic hope for an alternative to the decades-long Stalinist crisis lay in a restoration of capitalism. Posing the question this way greatly benefitted counter-revolutionary forces.
This comparison is not meant to suggest identical situations. The Cuban masses still recognize the achievements of the revolution, especially when compared to the profound economic and social inequalities that plague the rest of Latin America. However, the idea of democratic socialism as a fundamentally different and bureaucracy-free society is less widespread today than it was in the 1980s, both in Cuba and internationally. Market reforms introduced by the Cuban bureaucracy already point implicitly towards capitalism as the only alternative.
That’s why Marxists internationally and in Cuba should argue, in preparation for future movements, that a fundamental rupture with the rule of the bureaucracy and a political transformation toward democratic socialism is needed, and that this can only be enforced by the active participation of the masses. In short, the Cuban people must take charge of society themselves. This position can resonate very well on the left in Cuba, including within the ranks of today’s Cuban Communist Party.
Such a turn toward working-class people taking over – a transformation to workers’ democracy – would open the gates for a much larger movement of solidarity involving working-class people globally, including in the US, finally bringing down the blockade.
For Workers’ Democracy
Our starting point is to defend the achievements won and defended by the Cuban people against imperialism. Socialists should prepare to do just that in the coming upheavals to avoid being derailed like the 1989-91 revolutionary movements in Eastern Europe, not allowing them to turn into “color revolutions” (which have, in truth, been counter-revolutions). The coming revolution needs to be prepared and defended to open the door for democracy and socialism.
Any reform towards democracy and working-class power in Cuba is very welcome, no matter how incremental. But given the character of the Cuban regime, a fundamental rupture with the current way of organizing society can’t be avoided. Democratic socialism or imperialist barbarism – that’s how the question is posed by history. The space for the current regime, somewhere in between, is closing.
Brandon Madsen
Brandon Madsen has been a Marxist and activist since the early 2000s, when he helped organize students at his high school against the Iraq War and military recruitment in schools. He moved from the US to Copenhagen, Denmark, in September 2022. He serves on the Reform & Revolution editorial team and works in the Hearing Systems labs at Technical University of Denmark (DTU). He is a member of the trade union IDA (Ingeniørforeningen i Danmark).
Stephan Kimmerle
Stephan Kimmerle is a Seattle DSA activist. He's been involved in the labor and socialist movement internationally from being a shop steward in the public sector in Germany to organizing Marxists on an international level. He is working part-time jobs while being a stay-at-home dad of two wonderful children.
