During the last election in the Argentinian Republic, outsider Javier Milei defeated the candidate of the Peronistestablishment. Milei is a libertarian capitalist fundamentalist, who wishes to subjugate Argentina to the wishes of world capitalism, mainly the USA. He won because of the deep rejection of typical capitalist politicians. Like the USA, Argentinian workers were mislead into thinking that the populism of Javier Milei was the solution to the traditional liberals of the Union for the Homeland. Milei is planning to attack workers and millions will end up in poverty due to the massive cuts and deregulation of the economy.
The Union for the Homeland is a coalition of the Peronist establishment around the Justicialist Party. Members of the union are also the social-democrats, Stalinist communists and some conservatives. That self-styled ”Marxists” joined the Union for the Homeland exposes the pro-capitalist nature of Argentinian Stalinism. Political parties like the Communist Party of Argentina, Communist Party of Argentina (Extraordinary Congress) and the Revolutionary Communist Party, have no revolutionary program as they choose to support a capitalist Peronist candidate.
Peronism is the ideology of Juan Perón, who was president from 1948 until 1955 and then again from 1973 until his death in 1974. Perón was mixing social-democracy with Argentinian nationalism and populism. It is the left-wing of the country for 75 years, but never offered a socialist alternative. Stalinist communists subjugated themselves to Peronism, by joining electoral alliances with the Justicialist Party, the party of Juan Perón and his successors. Revolutionary socialists understand that Peronism used to be progressive, but by 2023 is now fully rotten and the liberal face of the capitalist establishment!
Javier Milei claims that he stands in opposition to the ”wasteful spending” of the Peronist establishment. His rhetoric is very close to that of Donald Trump and other far-right populists. He won support because workers think him to be the lesser of two evils. Like Trump, Milei is very bombastic and denies climate change. Youth who stand up to climate change are now at risk of becoming criminalised, because the new far-right president has already said that protestors and demonstrations will be charged with the costs of ”police protection”. Here we see the complete collapse of the the so called ”libertarian” nature of Milei.
The Peronist camp lost because they are the faces of the corrupt capitalist establishment. For years the Peronists kept inequality growing, all while claiming to be ”progressive”. Javier Milei’s far-right rhetoric comes at a time when poverty and inequality is massive. His extreme ideas on cutting spending will not hit the capitalist establishment, but millions of workers who are dependent on state subsidies. His victory is also because the Peronists have no answers for the crisis of capitalism. 75 years of relative Peronist rule is now about to be shaken up by a president, who wishes to turn Argentina into a colony of the American dollar.
Union for the Homeland was not the left-wing in this election. That role belongs to the Workers Left Front – Unity. This revolutionary socialist alliance stands in opposition both Javier Milei and the Justicialist Party. However the revolutionary socialists will have to realise that their electoral reach is very limited. Needed is more then just an alliance. A workers party on a socialist program is needed. As of now, the Workers Left Front – Unity is mainly an alliance of four parties, who have different views on socialism and the fight to reach it.
International Socialist Alternative in Argentina calls for:
For mass protests against austerity
Protests against attacks on abortion rights, LGBTQ rights and other forms of oppression
A mass movement to marginalise and silence the far right. This must build up to mass strike action to oppose and defeat reactionary attacks.
A workers party that fights in the streets, in the workplaces, in the schools and colleges, in working class communities and in electoral politics to organise the entire working class.
Such a party must also be linked to building a fighting labour movement that is prepared to wage a ferocious struggle
Javier Milei will cut social spending for the poor and the working class. His attacks against ordinary families will result in his rejection by millions. But the Peronist establishment cannot be trusted to defend the working class. Javier Milei has already said that protestors will be charged with the costs of ”police protection”. By forcing those who defy him to pay for the police, he hopes there will be no defiance. For workers and youth, socialism is the only alternative. Peronism and Stalinism cannot help them. What is needed is socialism from below, democratic control over the Argentinian means of production and a revolutionary program to end capitalism!
Former president Lula da Silva has defeated current president Jair Bolsonaro in the 2022 Brazilian presidential election. This battle was important because Bolsonaro has been a far-right president, favouring racism, sexism and the capitalist class. He was a president who copied Donald Trump, who spoke positively about the military dictatorship in Brazil and (like Trump) has not accepted defeat. This is dangerous because the Brazilian military and police are pro-Bolsonaro and could take his side, if he calls for a coup against Lula da Silva!
The victory of the former president against the current president is a victory for working class people. Jair Bolsonaro was the most reactionary, authoritarian president since the military dictatorship. He never had a political vehicle behind him. Bolsonaro used to be a member of the Social Christian Party, Social Liberal Party and now the Liberal Party. All three political parties have one thing in common, they are led by the most reactionary anti-socialist elements of Brazilian society. Bolsonaro played on right-wing populism, nationalism and Christian evangelicalism. This is a major group of voters who vote on candidates based on conservative reactionary values.
Lula da Silva has been portrayed by the Bolsonaro camp as a ”communist”, ”devil”, ”thief” and ”enemy”. The far-right used all dirty tricks in the book to attack da Silva and his supporters. Although the capitalist media portrayed the battle as a fight between far-right and far-left, the reality is different. Lula da Silva is not far-left, he is not a revolutionary socialist. If anything, da Silva was a very moderate president, who did not challenged the capitalist system in Brazil. His presidency was marked by an increase in economic wealth, but poverty and capitalist exploitation were not eliminated.
When looked at the political colours of Lula da Silva, we can concluded that Lula is a social-liberal in the European way. The Workers Party (PT) of Lula is not a socialist workers party. The PT has abandoned the struggle for socialism and is now a political vehicle for types like Lula da Silva and Dilma Rousseff, who both abandoned socialism for capitalism after the 1990’s. Revolutionary socialists in the Socialism and Liberty Party (PSOL) have called on a vote for Lula only to defeat Bolsonaro. We do not think that Lula da Silva will change anything fundamental, which is why we must push for a new workers party in Brazil.
Although it is good that Jair Bolsonaro has been defeated, the far-right ideology is not gone. 58.206.354 Brazilians voted for Bolsonaro, including many workers. The far-right will use their supporters to attack and terrorize Brazilian society. Truck drivers have already started a blockade and are calling for a coup against the new Lula administration. There are elements in Brazilian society who oppose democracy and wish for a brutal far-right dictatorship. We cannot therefore trust the government and their police, army and security forces. As we have seen in Bolivia, the capitalist state is no instrument of workers nor their interests!
ISA members of the Liberty, Socialism and Revolution faction in the PSOL say:
We must defeat them in the streets. We must demand the immediate punishment of all the coup plotters, starting with the president himself, his lackeys and other repressive forces that collaborate with the coup attempt. If the president is a coup plotter, he must be removed even before January 1st, and the transition to the new government must begin now. This mobilization must be called together with the defense of democratic freedoms, the inauguration of the new government, and the fulfillment of popular demands for wages, jobs, and improved living conditions! Kick Out Bolsonaro, now! Mobilize the workers and the people against the coup plotters! Take to the streets against the right and for more rights!
Like the Trump supporters who stormed the U.S Congress building, the supporters of Bolsonaro would fight and die for a right-wing dictatorship. This is why working class people must stand up to them and organize the fight. We know that Lula’s cabinet will be made up of capitalist ministers who will continue the neoliberal line of Bolsonaro. This is why ISA in Brazil says that we must mobilize workers to demand the immediate punishment of Bolsonaro, for the crimes he has already committed. Bolsonaro can not go unpunished, this will only serve to further attacks in the future.
Lula da Silva will not be president until 1 January 2023. Jair Bolsonaro has enough time to cause damage. We know this when we look at another Latin American country called Suriname. Desi Bouterse was President of the Republic of Suriname from 2010 until 2020. His government was marked by corruption, wasteful spending and favouritism among his National Democratic Party. Bouterse played on the same populism as Bolsonaro, but he also used anti-imperialism to win votes from the younger generation of Surinamese workers. When Bouterse left office, the country was in massive debt.
Had the PT stood on a socialist platform against Jair Bolsonaro, then the far-right president would have lost more voters. Lula used religion and Christian values as much as Bolsonaro, to win over the minds of the religious voters. If Bolsonaro had been a typical right-wing president, who played by the bourgeois democratic book, he would have defeated Lula and the PT. We know this because Fernando Haddad of the Workers Party lost to Jair Bolsonaro in 2018 with 10 million voters. The PT lost over 10 million voters to the far-right, because it was seen as party of the rotten capitalist establishment.
But Jair Bolsonaro was a far-right president who failed to protect the country from Covid-19. Over 688.000 Brazilians died because of the virus since 2020. He also supported capitalists in their deforestation of the Amazon rainforest. Bolsonaro was a president who supported the minority against the majority. In this he was honest as he always said that he supported capitalists over workers, markets over humans, animals and nature. This is what led to his defeat as Lula da Silva got 2,5 million Brazilian votes more then Jair Bolsonaro.
Bolsonarism as a far-right ideology is not defeated in Brazil. His supporters are ready to use violence and terror. This is why we revolutionary socialists call for mobilization and resistance, to the far-right who call for a military coup. Bolsonaro said that he will not fight the election result, meaning that Lula can become president in January 2023. But the threat is not over. If Lula fails to provide for working class people, then Bolsonaro can return in 2026. We cannot trust the social-democratic PT and reformists like Lula da Silva and Dilma Rousseff. Reformism has failed, we need revolutionary socialist politics to fight capitalism and their far-right thugs!
Two years since the ”Movement for Socialism” (MAS) retook power in Bolivia, the party that became the leading force under Evo Morales, has not made any movement towards socialism. The party may have named itself as a movement towards socialism, but they have no desire nor idea how to move towards it. MAS is fully named Movement for Socialism – Political Instrument for the Sovereignty of the Peoples. However there is little sovereignty for working people as Bolivia remains a capitalist state under a supposed ”socialist” government.
Revolutionary socialists gave critical support to Evo Morales in 2006. He promised to change the capitalist nature of Bolivia, which was ruled by either liberal or conservative politicians. Morales was a populist like Hugo Chavez. He rejected the neoliberal model that the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund enforced on the world, specially on Latin America. This made him unpopular with the rich and capitalist class, who called him a ”communist dictator” despite winning democratic elections. The ruling class removed Morales from power in a coup on 10 November 2019.
Jeanine Áñez declared herself interim-president as MAS officials capitulated to the coup. This proofed to us the weak nature of the so called ”Movement for Socialism”. It was the working class base of MAS who rebelled against the coup regime led by Áñez, who was supported by the capitalist class, the Organization of American States and the USA of Donald Trump. Western imperialism did not criticized nor condemned the coup, proofing their hypocrisy and undemocratic character. Workers and peasants rebelled and demanded free elections. In the end, Áñez was forced to allow elections, but not before killing 33 opponents of her regime!
Luis Alberto Arce Catacora took office on 8 November 2020, in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic. Luis Arce had been the minister of finance (later minister of economy and public finance) from 2006 to 2017 and in 2019 under Evo Morales. Arce’s presidency can be called moderate and not at all revolutionary. Like Morales before him, Arce is governing a capitalist society with strong state intervention. A classical social democratic model that cannot survive in the long run. The ruling class of Bolivia is very anti-socialist and will use its wealth and control over the means of production to sabotage the government.
Extreme poverty was reduced by Evo Morales from 32% in 2006 to 15% in 2019. But the percentage of Bolivians living in relative poverty remains high. 42% of all workers earn less then two U.S dollars a day. 90% of all children attend primary school, but only for a year or less. This shows us that despite improvement, the capitalist system is still the ruling system in Bolivia. Right-wing governments before 2006 claimed that by privatization and deregulation, the market would create more jobs and more wealth. This lie has now been exposed as the gap between the class who owns and those who don’t grew massively.
But the inability of the ”Movement for Socialism” to build genuine democratic socialism has resulted in the fact that capitalist exploitation remains the norm of the day. MAS politicians are social democrats with some anti-imperialist tendencies. Yet they are not socialists nor revolutionaries. They have introduced laws to give native Bolivians more status and acceptance, but the state and economy still runs on market principals. This inability to build socialism despite massive support for it, is why the right-wing could retake power as we have seen in other Latin American countries.
What the right-wing in Bolivia lacks is unity. There are two political alliances in the Bolivian parliament who support a return to full capitalist rule. Civic Community is a liberal alliance of parties like the ”First the People” and the pseudo-”Revolutionary Left Front ”. Creemos is the conservative alliance made up of Solidarity Civic Unity and the Christian Democratic Party. Civic Community and Creemos stand in opposition to the MAS government and should not be underestimated. They have popular support among some sections of the working class who are mislead by capitalist propaganda.
The right-wing can retake power if they can wait out the inability of the MAS government to bring genuine changes. If the voter turnout drops this could result in a capitalist victory. We have seen this in Venezuela were the capitalist opposition retook the parliament, only to be hindered by the autocracy of Nicolas Maduro. It was the inability of Hugo Chavez and Nicolas Maduro to build socialism that led to a capitalist victory at the elections. Maduro however ignored the election results, created a presidential dictatorship and even made corrupt deals with the capitalist class to stay in power!
Although moderate leftists have won elections in Latin America, none of them have actually made a move toward socialism. In countries like Mexico, Chili, Bolivia and Venezuela, the governments call themselves leftist or even socialist, but they are not. Socialism means democratic control of working class people over the economy and society. In Latin America the reality is that capitalists rule, either with or in league with state managers and bureaucrats. Workers themselves have little or nothing to say. Governments still work on the old bourgeois model with all the ineffective and bureaucratic systems to grant themselves privileges.
What Latin America needs are workers parties that can provide a genuine socialist alternative. The social democracy of parties like the Movement for Socialism in Bolivia, the United Socialist Party of Venezuela and the National Regeneration Movement in Mexico, will not bring their nations out of capitalist greed and exploitation. Capitalism must be abolished and this can only be done by revolutionary means. There is popular support for a socialist alternative, it is the unwillingness of elected leftist officials to brake with the capitalist system, that is hindering the genuine movement for socialism in Latin America.
The Workers Left Front has won more support in the election in Argentine on 14 November 2021. The front is made up of the Workers’ Party (PO), the Socialist Workers’ Party (PTS), and Socialist Left (IS) and the Workers’ Socialist Movement (MST). All four political parties are from the Trotskyist tradition have have united in the Workers Left Front since 2011. It is often said that many Trotskyists are sectarian and lack the will to unite. Sectarianism is indeed a major problem among many anti-Stalinist leftists, but in Argentine the alliance of four revolutionary leftist groups resulted in winning 1,373,548 votes!
With over 1,37 million voters, the Workers Left Front won two extra seat in the Chamber of Deputies, now the alliance will have 4 out of 257 seats. This seems not much, but consider the fact that the big capitalist parties have millions to spend on elections, that fact that the Workers Left Front won more votes is impressive. 71% of all voters gave and voted, this means that 29% did not vote. It is important that the elected representatives of the alliance live and work on a workers average salary and keep up the struggle for socialism, no matter what lies the bourgeoisie spreads.
International capitalism was happy with the election result. This is mainly because the biggest capitalist alliance won the election. ”Together for Change” is the main right-wing alliance of political parties loyal to the capitalist establishment. The populist center-lefts of ”Everyone’s Front” lost this election after serving the same establishment. This shows that choosing for either ”Together for Change” or ”Everyone’s Front” is not a choice at all. Because the Justicialist Party who leads the ”Everyone’s Front” has not dared to stand up to the massive injustice that capitalism creates.
Revolutionary socialists are happy that the Workers Left Front has won more seats. But the real struggle is outside the parliament. Millions of workers are living in poverty due to low wages and the Covid-19 crisis. It is estimated that 40% of all Argentinians live in relative poverty, despite working. Absolute poverty is reality for 10% of the population meaning that over 11 million live in relative poverty and 3 million in absolute poverty. Unlike Bolivia which has reduced poverty since 2005, poverty in Argentine has increased in the last 15 years.
The next step for the front is to build up a new party for working class people. Right now the Workers Left Front is still made up of four individual parties. What is needed is a workers party on a socialist program that can unite millions against the capitalist class. The left front should be transformed into a workers party with the right of tendencies to be formed. In Brazil this has happened with the Socialism and Liberty Party (PSOL). We hoped the same was possible with the United Socialist Party of Venezuela, but this did not work as the PSUV became the party of the Chavez/Maduro state bureaucracy.
In Brazil, the PSOL has tried to unite the left-wing against not only the capitalist establishment, but also the Workers Party (PO) which betrayed the workers under Lula da Silva. Unfortunate there are many Brazilian parties to the left of the PO who decide to run against PSOL. The Communist Party of Brazil is a competitor of the PSOL which should not be the case. Unfortunate the Stalinist party wants to run independent and split the left-wing vote. Had the PCdoB joined up with PSOL then they could have won over four million voters in the last election in 2018.
”Revolutionary socialists warned about this for years. How the rich and the capitalists of the world, evade taxes by playing on capitalist laws to hide their fortunes. Because our laws are created by those who serve capitalism, they benefit those with a lot of money. Not only the owners of our economy hide their money; politicians, celebrities and even a none-profit group have used foreign banks to evade taxes. Revolutionary Socialist Media is not surprised by the leaks called the Panama Papers. The capitalist system works in favour of the 1%”. That was the opening of the article: ”Panama Papers, we knew” written on 11 April 2016. Back then the Panama Papers exposed to the world how capitalists evade taxes to enrich themselves, now the Pandora Papers say the same but on a much larger scale.
The capitalist media will not cover this too broadly. Because just as in 2016, nothing has been done to stop rich people from using tax heavens. The capitalist system favours them and their eternal greed. At fault here are the governments of the world, who (as capitalism) favour the 1% or ruling class as we revolutionary socialists call them. New famous names on the list include the elitist king of Jordan, the right-wing war criminal Tony Blair, ”czar” Vladimir Putin (not surprised) and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, who claims to be harsh on corruption.
It is estimated that 32 trillion U.S dollars have been hidden from being taxed. The Paradise Papers and Panama Papers told us years ago what revolutionary socialists have been saying for decades. Capitalists hate taxes and they use corruption and tax heavens to hide their millions from being taxed in their native countries. One big capitalist family named is the ruling Aliyev family of Azerbaijan. This family is the dynasty that governs the Republic of Azerbaijan since 1993. Ilham Aliyev is the current ”monarch” who inherited the presidency from his father, who was a KGB boss during the Soviet period.
Another more official monarchist family who made sure their money was not taxed is the Royal House of Jordan. King Abdullah II has embezzled over 95 million dollars and used that money to buy luxurious villa’s in Europe. Meanwhile working class Jordanians are suffering from poverty and low wages. 35% of all youth in the Kingdom of Jordan has no work. Meanwhile the king and his elitist family are enjoying privileges and massive wealth and yet they still hide money from their own tax collectors.
”Czar” Vladimir Putin is said to hide his money in the Principality of Monaco. His circle of rich cronies is doing the same thing. Rich Russians and the top of the Kremlin bureaucracy have always hide money outside the Russian Federation. The reasons are clear, they fear a potential revolution and expropriations as we saw in 1917. Russian capitalists know that they are hated and they rather have their millions stored in tax heavens far way, in case they need to escape the current ”Russian Empire” of Vladimir Putin.
The Paradise Papers, Panama Papers and now Pandora Papers show us why capitalism must be abolished. No government regulation can stop the ruling class from hiding their money outside the reach of the tax collector. This is why we call for the expropriation of all millionaires, billionaires and members of the ruling class. People like King Abdullah II, Tony Blair, Vladimir Putin and many others do not deserve to be millionaires/billionaires. It is the system that allows them to hide money away. Since all countries are capitalist we cannot trust them to collect taxes equally.
Moscow is already denying everything as they have done in the past. The Jordanian king is also denying any fault. This is typical behaviour of elitist people who see themselves above the common worker and their families. Using tax heavens and offshore companies to enrich themselves and their own. Not just dictator and authoritarian leaders have been exposed. Western leaders like Tony Blair have also been named. The former Labour leader and war criminal used an offshore company, to hide 364.000 British pounds that he had to pay in taxes.
What is next? Nothing will change if we allow the current leaders of the world to stay in power. We cannot trust leaders like Joe Biden, Vladimir Putin or Xi Jinping. All three are imperialist and serve their own needs. Neither the United States of America, the European Union, the Russian Federation or the People’s Republic of China are going to stop the massive tax evasion by their own capitalists and leaders. We need a political and economic revolution to end the private ownership over the means of production. Those who have been exposed need to be put on trial for tax evasion and should be fined heavily.
The Pandora Papers report that there are over 95.000 offshore companies in use to dump untaxed money. These companies are then used to buy luxurious products unavailable to common workers. It is worse enough that there are millionaires and billionaires, when billions of workers are living in poverty due to low incomes. The capitalist system need to be abolished and replaced by democratic socialism under control of working class people. For that to happen we need to organize and build up working class political parties that dare to be revolutionary socialist and anti-capitalist.
Revolutionary socialists demand:
Take the wealth off the super-rich
Reverse the cuts to HM Revenue and Customs. Close tax loopholes and enforce collection of avoided taxes. Increase taxes on the super-rich and big business
Nationalize the banks and the major corporations under democratic workers’ control and management – with compensation only on the basis of proven need
Through public ownership of the commanding heights of the economy, democratic socialist planning of industry and services can be introduced to meet the needs of the majority. You can’t control what you don’t own: only socialist nationalization can end the great tax robbery!
There are spontaneous protests in the Republic of Cuba against the dictatorial government of Miguel Díaz-Canel. Covid-19 has hit the island very hard. Trade has almost ceased and with the American trade embargo, Cuba is facing a massive shortage of food and medicines. The ruling Communist Party of Cuba started with capitalists reforms as early as 2008, but that has not resulted in more wealth. Instead it led to the growth of a new class of wealthy Cubans. The average working class is suffering as wages are very low and with the Covid-19 crisis, the bureaucratic government proofs to be ineffective and unable to act. In response, the Cubans have turned to protests which is a rarity on the Stalinist island.
Revolutionary socialists support the protests of working class Cubans. None of them are calling for the complete restoration of capitalism and therefore not all are ”counterrevolutionaries”. The protests go against the ineffective government of Miguel Díaz-Canel, who replaced Raul Castro as President of Cuba and First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba. Like other Stalinist regimes in the past, Havana portrays the protests as ”counterproductive” and even ”counterrevolutionary”. This is the typical response from a regime that brands any kind of protest ”counterrevolutionary” to justify its oppressive nature.
Unlike most communist parties, revolutionary socialists do not give political support to the Communist Party of Cuba. We reject the single party state and the ineffective top-down economy. We have always argued for a democratic society and a planned economy from below. However Fidel Castro and Raul Castro followed the Soviet model and by 1961 the island was a typical Marxist-Leninist (Stalinist) republic, with a nationalized economy under control of a bureaucratic government. All political power was centralized in the hands of Castro and his revolutionary comrades. Until the 1970’s the power of the actual communist party itself was limited as the first party congress was not held until 1975.
Fidel Castro cared little for party congresses. For him the Communist Party of Cuba was a vehicle to carry out his daily orders and to act as a base of ”revolutionary cheerleaders”. After the collapse of the USSR, Fidel Castro cared even less about actual party rules. We know this because between 1997 and 2011 there was no communist party congress. The old Castro ignored the rules of his own party and did not organized a congress until 2011, when he formally handed over power to Raul Castro. The younger Castro then started with market reforms and fired 500.000 government workers in order to boost ”capitalist entrepreneurism”!
Now in 2021, Miguel Díaz-Canel is the President and First Secretary. Under his reign Covid-19 came to Cuba. It struck hard because its economy is already under siege since 1961. The American trade embargo keeps the island isolated from many trade partners. Despite the fact that the Democratic Party is in power in the USA, Joe Biden remains loyal to the undemocratic and unfair trade embargo imposed on the island. While the USA does not impose trade embargo’s on China, Vietnam or Laos (all three are ”communist”), Cuba is still banned from trading with the USA by the imperialist regime in Washington DC.
In 2020 Covid-19 hit the world. The tourist industry of almost all nations collapsed as the virus prevented millions from traveling. Cuba’s economy relies on tourism to gain hard currency. Since the 1990’s there is a huge gap between Cubans working in the tourist sector and those in the state sector. Due to the two currency system, workers who have access to the currency meant for tourists, have access to products that state employed workers cannot buy. This inequality proofs to us that Cuba is not a socialist society, since almost no worker on the island can afford one night in a four start hotel build for western tourists. 30 U.S dollars is a monthly wage for most Cubans.
With a deathly virus spreading across the planet, tourists stayed away. Cuba is losing a least four billion U.S dollars because of Covid-19 and that is only from the tourist sector. With losing money comes the hard fact that the island is now facing a economic crisis. Workers cannot buy food, food that cannot be sold, because the state does not have the money to buy it. Because Cuba is partially capitalist, food prices rose hard which is why these protests started. Cuba is supposed to be a society under control of workers, but in reality prices are often set by individuals and the ”socialist” government stood by and did nothing.
There is now a general shortage of food, medicine and lose of electricity. The Stalinist bureaucracy blames it all on the USA and the trade embargo. This is partially true, because the Americans have blocked the island for 60 years. Cuba is not allowed to buy or trade with American companies. The reaction of the U.S government towards the protests is hypocritical, because they share a huge blame in the current economic crisis on Cuba. If American politicians cared so much about the Cubans, then should argue for an end to the trade embargo. However we know that they will not do that. American politicians use the embargo to punish the working class of Cuba because they defied the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion.
Miguel Díaz-Canel has called on his supporters to rally against the ”provocateurs” as he calls the working class Cubans who now protest. Communist parties worldwide will show solidarity with the Cuban government as they are uncritical of the Communist Party of Cuba. This is why we differ from mainstream communist parties, who are often biased and ignore the oppressive nature of Stalinist regimes. True, Cuba is not North Korea, but its government remains based on the post-1956 Soviet model. Fidel and Raul Castro did not build a socialist society, otherwise the trade embargo against Cuba would not have worked. Had Cuba been genuine socialist then the USA could not have imposed it.
We defend the planned economy and the gains of the Cuban Revolution, but the Communist Party of Cuba needs to understand that their current politics are part of the problem. Capitalist reforms have resulted in massive inequality and the oppressive nature of the state needs to end. Socialism can only be build by the majority of working class Cubans and they are now in the streets, fighting against a government that is not working in their interests. What is needed are democratic councils who can organize strikes and mass resistance. These councils/committees are to be made up of working class people.
The Cuban state has support among some sections of the population. But the current youth and the generation born after 1990 is no longer 100% committed to the dogma’s of Marxism-Leninism (Stalinism). The current generation is also born in a time when inequality rose, when the majority of Cubans remained poor while a minority grew richer. This is why among younger Cubans, there is little support for Miguel Díaz-Canel. Mainly because they see the actual results of his (state)capitalist politics and the oppressive nature of Cuba. In 2016 there were 700.000 members of the communist party. However it remains to be seen how many are actual believers and how many are just members for privileges.
Revolutionary socialists call upon the Communist Party of Cuba to end its single party system. Elections must be held free and open for all political ideologies. Elections on the island are controlled by communist party members only. While it is true that the party itself is not allowed to campaign, it is still its members who decide who is allowed to run for a political office and who not. Also the economy must be put under control of working class Cubans, not state managers or capitalists. The market reforms of 2008 must be reversed, all means of production including the tourist sector (which is partially owned by foreign capitalists) must to be (re)nationalized under democratic control of workers councils.
Only when genuine socialism is build can the American trade embargo be destroyed. It is the dictatorial Cuban state that is keeping the embargo alive. When Cuba has become genuine democratic, the Americans will have no choice but to end their trade embargo. Otherwise their democratic façade will be ruined. Let us not forget that the USA is build on the lie that their electoral system is the best in the world and the American government will do anything to keep that democratic façade up. Washington DC would love to see a fully capitalist-democratic Cuba, but if a workers party is build on a socialist program, that can be prevented!
In the end it is up to the Cuban workers themselves. Revolutionary socialists are not supportive of capitalist restoration as the Stalinist communists often claim. We do not wish for the island to become a capitalist hellhole like Haiti or other Latin American countries. However the Marxist-Leninist (Stalinist) façade that Fidel Castro build in 1961 is death. Only a minority is still fully committed to the government. The youth knows the reality. That wages remain low. That food prices are rising since 2010, that they are arrested and jailed for criticizing the state bureaucracy. That there is a huge gap between Cubans who own means of production and those who own nothing.
Meanwhile capitalist American politicians all claim that ”Cubans want freedom from socialism”. Although much blame can be put on the government of Miguel Díaz-Canel, the imperialist regime of Joe Biden shares in that blame too. Because as we said, the economy of Cuba is under siege from U.S imperialism since 1961. American governments led by both the neoconservatives and neoliberals have all kept the embargo alive, just because they were defeated and humiliated by Fidel Castro. The reaction of the U.S government is hypocritical and must be rejected. Washington DC is not the ally of the Cuban working class!
We say:
No to the policies of the Miguel Diaz-Canel regime in favour of the market and capitalist restoration. For workers’ control of production, prices and distribution.
Down with imperialist intervention. Down with the blockade.
For the immediate release of imprisoned workers and socialist and communist activists.
Defend the historic gains of the Cuban revolution and advance in a genuinely socialist direction!
Radical democracy from below, to replace the rule of the Stalinist bureaucracy: for a genuine workers’ democracy
Unify the anti-imperialist struggle and the struggle for an alternative socialist democracy — for a Socialist Federation of Latin America.
Pedro Castillo has defeated the candidate ofthe Peruvian capitalist establishment. The rural teacher was able to defeat the anti-Communist hysteria, that his opponent spread in order to win the presidential elections in the Republic of Peru. Let us be clear, although Castillo has leftist ideas he is not a revolutionary socialist. He only joined the ”Free Peru” party to be its candidate. Pedro Castillo is a reformist leftist with conservative ideas on gay marriage and abortion rights. He ran on the presidential ticket of the Free Peru party, which claims to follow Marxism and Mariáteguism. Castillo himself has rejected Marx and the whole communist ideology. Despite this, the right-wing Keiko Fujimori tried to portray him as a ”dangerous Marxist” trying to destroy democracy.
Capitalism in Peru is harsh and unforgiving. 20% of the population is living in relative poverty, in rural era’s the official poverty level is higher. In rural Peru over 45% of all Peruvians are poor and makes just enough money to survive. The rich and capitalist class have always been deeply anti-Communist. They stood firmly behind the right-wing president and dictators that have ruled the Republic of Peru since 1821. Between 1968 and 1975, the country was a right-wing military dictatorship supported by the USA. It was then that a Maoist guerrilla army was created. This People’s Guerrilla Army is the armed wing of the Communist Party of Peru – Shining Path.
Since there are more then one communist party in Peru, the armed Peruvian Maoists are called Shining Path (Sendero Luminoso). Like many Maoist rebel groups, the Shining Path was deeply sectarian, cruel and violent towards all their enemies. Not only supporters of the capitalist state were attacked, Shining Path also targeted workers, peasants and leftists who rejected their dogmatic ideology. Although based on Maoism, Shining Path became more a political cult around Abimael Guzmán. This professor of philosophy started the guerrilla war in 1980 and was captured by the Peruvian dictatorship of Alberto Fujimori in 1992.
The cruel actions of Shining Path gave the ruling class a perfect propaganda weapon to be used against all leftists, both revolutionary socialist and moderate socialist. The capitalist state reacted brutal and arrested many leftists under the assumption that they supported Shining Path. Although many working class Peruvians rejected the Maoists, in rural Peru the armed guerrilla group was able to attract support among the poor. Rural poverty was very high and millions were living in very bad conditions. The capitalist rulers never cared about them and the liberation ideology of Shining Path attracted many young Peruvians from poor families.
Pedro Castillo has not supported the Maoists, but for the ruling class his leftist ideas are ”communist” enough. Keiko Fujimori portrayed the 2021 election as a struggle between ”communism and democracy”. In reality she is the voice and face of the intolerant capitalist class. Her father Alberto Fujimori ruled between 1990 and 2000 in Peru. His brutal ways of dealing with the Maoist rebels resulted in breaking many democratic laws. In November 2000, Alberto Fujimori fled to Japan to avoid charges of corruption and human rights abuses. Japan however arrested him and extradited the ex-president/dictator back to Peru.
Keiko Fujimori tried to become president of Peru many times. She was always defeated because the majority of rural Peruvians hated her. Her pro-capitalist ideology has attracted urban voters and even workers who are raised with anti-communist dogmatism. Keiko Fujimori lost the elections in 2011, 2016 and 2021. When looked at who votes who, we see that in richer provinces of Peru, Fujimori win with ease. The ruling class and wealthy Peruvians all support the right-wing leader of Popular Force, the party of Fujimori. But she also wins support among conservative workers with her opposition to LGBT rights and school curriculums including gender equality or sex education.
Her staunch anti-communism, forceful anti-terrorist actions, pro-free market policies and disregard for political institutions makes her a clear candidate for right-wing Peruvians. To win over more working class voters, Popular Force and Fujimori have often resorted to lies and misinformation like the Republicans in the USA. They claim that their opponents are all ”cultural Marxists” who wish to destroy traditional Peruvian society. In the last round of any presidential election, those who fear Marxism often vote Fujimori purely out of ignorance.
At the same time those who reject the anti-communist Fujimori automatically vote for the candidate that opposes her. This is why she always lost the election, mainly because rural Peruvians and those from native roots firmly oppose her. However the gap between Keiko Fujimori and her opponents has never been huge. She often lost by just 1%. If more working class voters would go out and vote then the differences might be bigger. We must not forget that 20% of all voters never votes in the second round of the presidential elections, this year the voter turnout was 74%. Pedro Castillo also won by just 44.240 votes.
Castillo does not advocate a socialist Peru nor a society under democratic control of the working class. He already told the ruling class that he will maintaining dialogue with the various sectors of businessmen and indicating that his government will respect capitalist property and that all the changes he will make, will be within the current neoliberal constitution. This shows that Pedro Castillo is not that far-left revolutionary Keiko Fujimori portrayed. Also on personal issues Castillo remains conservative and rejects gay marriage and abortion rights for women. Still his victory is a boost for working class people. What we now need is a party that starts popular mobilization, the unity of the working class and the mass movements.
The Free Peru party is not the workers party that Peru needs. But it is new and openly left-wing. It can participate in building this new party for working class Peruvians, if it is willing to move beyond political opportunism. Revolutionary socialists call for a revolutionary constituent assembly to bury the old neoliberal constitution. This was a main demand that emerged from the November 2020 protests. It is possible that Pedro Castillo is not able to change anything fundamental if he does not dare to brake with the system. Like Chavez in Venezuela, Lula in Brazil and Correa in Ecuador, Castillo will lose support if he does not brake with capitalism.
Millions of Peruvians want change, but that change cannot be build inside the current rotten political and economic system. The bourgeois state and capitalist economy need to go. Reformists like Chavez, Lula and Correa wrongly believed that they could use the state to create a fair society. But the state is not about fairness, the state serves to keep the capitalist system intact. No state is build for the working class and no leftist leader in Latin America has dared to abolish it. Even Fidel Castro in Cuba kept the state alive and turned it into a vehicle for the Cuban Communist Party, not the Cuban working class!
International Socialist Alternative calls for the masses to push Castillo beyond his limited leftism. Those who want change must go towards the destruction of the Peruvian capitalist state and advance in the construction of a workers government and build socialism in Peru and the rest of Latin America.
The American vice president Kamala Harris has told potential migrants from Guatemala not to come to the USA. She said this in her visit to the Republic of Guatemala. Kamala Devi Harris is not a representative of the U.S working class. She is a iron prison warden, chosen by Joe Biden because she is not a progressive. The only reason she has come to Guatemala is to tell its right-wing president that the USA does not like it when its population is trying to flee to the ”land of the free”. The very reason why all these people try to build up a live in America is because of massive poverty and no hopes in Guatemala, which is ruled by corrupt politicians, capitalists and violent street gangs. Also the USA created this massive migration because it has always supported neoliberal politics in Guatemala.
The Republic of Guatemala is a small Latin American country on the southern border of Mexico. On 29 December 1996 a 36 year old civil war between the leftist Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity and the corrupt capitalist government came to an end. Although the leftist rebels demanded social changes, they never came. Guatemala remained on the path of neoliberalism, austerity and capitalist politics. With the war over, millions of poor working class Guatemalans tried to escape poverty by fleeing to Mexico in hope of entering the USA. For them, America is seen as the land of freedom and wealth. This propaganda is spread by the lie that the USA is the ”land of the free”.
Those who have entered the USA often do so illegally, because legally most would not be granted entry. This is why most of the 10,7 million illegals are from Latin American countries. Right-wing Americans blame them for almost anything. In reality it is the capitalist class who is to blame. Because they exploit millions of these undocumented workers and pay them slave wages. Since they do not dare to protest, most work for very low wages and under constant fear of getting arrested by ICE, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The United States of America is to blame for the fact that 10 million undocumented workers have entered their country. During the 1950’s until 1980’s, American president’s from Eisenhower to Reagan gave political and military support to corrupt anti-Communist dictatorships. In the Republic of Guatemala, Eisenhower ordered the CIA to overthrow the government of Jacobo Árbenz in 1954. The criminal CIA then created the Mano Blanca (White Hand), a far-right terror group that hunted down and killed leftists, trade unionists and anybody the Guatemalan military government called ”communist”.
In December 1996 the civil war came to an end. 160.000 ethnic Mayan’s had been murdered by the army and far-right. In fact 93% of all civilian executions were carried out by government forces like the Mano Blanca. Although the USA portrayed the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity as ”violent communist”. In reality they were the violent ones, by arming the Guatemalan army and its terror groups. The end of the civil war did not changed anything. Demoralized by the lack of change and the collapse of their role model (Stalinism), the rebels could not build a socialist alternative.
Kamala Harris blames the Guatemalan migrants, but she does not wish to understand why millions flee Latin America. She and her political party are to blame, both the Democratic Party and Republican Party have called on Latin America to carry out neoliberal politics in the 1990’s. Both liberal and conservative Americans politicians demanded that countries like Guatemala embraced free market fundamentalism. Almost 25 years after the end of the civil war, we can conclude that this failed economic model is the very reason why so many flee Guatemala.
Now Harris goes to Guatemala and speaks to a president who does not represent the interests of ordinary working class people. Alejandro Giammattei is a ethnic white male and comes from the small minority who have ruled the country since 1839. White decedents from Spanish colonialists are the ruling political class, while coloured and ethnic Mayan’s are side lined. This is seen in the voter turnout during the second round of the presidential elections. Only 41% came to vote for Alejandro Giammattei, his votes came from the white minority. He won 1,907,767 out of 8,150,221 registered voters.
What Guatemala lacks (as all of Latin America) is a socialist alternative. The Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity is still there, but it does not offer a way forward. They are divided and still praise people like Fidel Castro, Hugo Chavez and leaders like Daniel Ortega who are not socialist. Right-wing forces seem splintered with over nine right-wing political parties active in parliament. However with the support from four centre-right parties, there are now 13 political parties on the pro-capitalist spectrum. When we add the centre-left to that spectrum we see that that 16 political parties support capitalism in Guatemala.
You do not stop the flow of migrants by calling on them to accept poverty caused by a system you advocate. In fact the USA has been build on migrant and slave labour. Yet neoliberals and neoconservatives blame undocumented workers and have created ICE in 2003 to hunt them down. Revolutionary socialists stand in solidarity with all those who flee poverty created by capitalism. We reject hypocrites like Kamala Harris and Alejandro Giammattei. These right-wing politicians want to divide the working class and offer us only hate. Our alternatives are clear, we need:
The disbandment of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement
Stop the exploitation of undocumented workers by American capitalists
The USA must accept that they are co-responsible for the migration wave
Neoliberal economics must be halted and replaced by socialist ones
A democratic economy under control of the working class in both America and Guatemala
A voluntary socialist federation of the America’s as part of a future united socialist world.
Nicolas Maduro, the President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela has degenerated completely into a enemy of the Venezuelan working class. While at first a sidekick of Hugo Chavez, Nicolas Maduro was made President of Venezuela after his mentor died of cancer in 2013. In the 8 years since the death of Chavez, the Maduro administration destroyed most gains of the Bolivarian revolution and now is attacking the independent left-wing of Venezuela. Political parties like the Communist Party of Venezuela who supported him until 2020, he now calls ”agents of imperialism”. Anybody who is not a uncritical supporter of Maduro is denounced as ”agents of the USA” by the state media. Although Venezuela is under siege by the capitalist world, this paranoid mentality proofs that Nicolas Maduro has degenerated like Joseph Stalin into an enemy of the working class.
The main target of government attacks against the independent left-wing is the Popular Revolutionary Alternative. A political alliance set up by the Communist Party of Venezuela in opposition to the Great Patriotic Pole (GPP), the main alliance around the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV). The communist party was part of the GPP until it decided to brake with the Maduro government in 2020. After years of siding with the president, the increasing capitalist politics of Maduro forced even the Stalinists to abandon him. With the GPP as his mouth piece and the state media behind him, Nicolas Maduro now sees the independent left-wing as a danger. This is because the authoritarian president is moving to the right-wing. He has already made corrupt deals with the military and elements of the bourgeoisie who now support the government.
Venezuela is under siege by U.S imperialism. The goals of the Americans is to replace Nicolas Maduro with a puppet leader. Juan Guaidó was drilled to become this puppet, but he failed to overthrow Maduro and with the National Assemble fully under control of the GPP again, the official capitalist opposition lost most of its political power. Maduro however is not backing down on his increasing turn to the right. By working with corrupt army officials and capitalists, he hopes to bypass the sanctions imposed by the USA. Also the degenerated leader is making deals with Chinese and Russian capitalists, who use Venezuela for all kinds of dirty transactions. The Popular Revolutionary Alternative (ARP) won only one seat in the last elections to the National Assembly. They are not a political danger to the GPP and its supreme leader Nicolas Maduro. But their criticism is genuine left-wing and this is what the ruling party does not like.
The United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) does not wish to be exposed as a bureaucratic state party. They are an empty shell however, not a revolutionary tool for the working class. Despite that the party has millions as members, it does not mean it is a party that works in the interests of Venezuelan workers. Revolutionary socialists were hopeful in 2007 when the PSUV was founded by Hugo Chavez. But it soon turned out that Chavez needed a political vehicle, not a revolutionary workers party for socialism. Even under Chavez, the PSUV became nothing more but a propaganda weapon. PSUV leaders were already using undemocratic methods to silence critical socialists and by 2013, the party was indeed just a political vehicle for Chavez and his inner circle, including Nicolas Maduro.
Despite the propaganda in the western world about the nature of Venezuela, the country is not socialist. We have said it many times. The economy of Venezuela is based on a market economy. Yes, there is ineffective government red tape and there used to be price controls. But neither Chavez nor Maduro build a planned economy. State enterprises were still forced to run on capitalist principals, meaning that they needed to make a profit for the state. Workers remained slaves to this system as there was no self management, no democratic councils controlling enterprises. Even the social programs that Hugo Chavez created to help the poor have dried up now that the government has not enough money. The crisis in Venezuela is the direct result of state mismanagement, economic sanctions by the USA and direct attempts to overthrow Maduro.
In the new National Assembly, the PSUV and its allies in the Great Patriotic Pole have started to attack the only representative of the Popular Revolutionary Alternative (ARP). He was called an ”agent of imperialism” and denounced openly as an enemy of the Bolivarian revolution. Leader of the National Assembly: Jorge Rodríguez, openly said that the sole ARP representative was supported by US special envoy for Venezuela: Elliot Abrams. This is a complete lie as the ARP has fully rejected Elliot Abrams and what he did under Ronald Reagan in Nicaragua. To equal the ARP with a monster like Abrams is a huge scandal and a genuine embarrassment for the whole PSUV. These attacks are part of Nicolas Maduro’s degeneration as he starts to cooperate with Fedecamaras, the largest organisation of Venezuelan capitalists in the country.
Fedecamaras was a key organisation who supported the failed 2002 coup against Chavez. The organisation of Venezuelan capitalists worked with the coup regime and tried to hinder Chavez in anyway. Now Fedecamaras is more positively about the government and their growing capitalist politics. Maduro is talking to them and by doing has betrayed the millions who took to the streets in 2002 to defend Hugo Chavez, while Fedecamaras was supporting the army officials who tried to install a right-wing regime. The Popular Revolutionary Alternative is right to criticize the government and they are no agents of imperialist scum like Elliot Abrams. It is the failed politics of Chavez and Maduro that has led the PSUV to become a sectarian force that is now attacking the only left-wing alliance inside the National Assembly.
What is to be done now? Revolutionary socialists argue that the ARP needs to present a socialist alternative. Trusting the Communist Party of Venezuela (CPV) in building up this socialist alternative would be naïve. The communist party has supported Hugo Chavez uncritically and was supportive of Nicolas Maduro for many years. Also the CPV remains on good terms with Cuba, a country that is not building socialism but more capitalism each year, now that Fidel Castro is death. The Popular Revolutionary Alternative needs to put socialism central and expose the government for what it is, a corrupt undemocratic regime that has never build a socialist society in Venezuela. Since the ARP is led by members of the communist party, it will be difficult to present a genuine socialist alternative.
Socialism is not more government, socialism means control of the working class. Millions trusted Hugo Chavez since 1999. They trusted him and are now massively disappointed by his successor. This is why only 30,5% voted in the last parliamentary elections in 2020. Millions are busy surviving as they lack the income to pay for basic needs. There is food in the supermarkets, but the majority of Venezuelans lack the money to pay for it. Due to the crisis and massive inflation, the Venezuelan currency has lost most of its value. Shops and supermarkets now demand foreign currency like United States dollars. The rich and bourgeoisie of Venezuela can still survive, because they have access to dollars and euros. Since 2017 it is reported that 20% of the whole Venezuelan population has fled to countries like Columbia. Five to six million have decided to leave their homes in the last four years. This is mainly because they lack the income to survive.
Nicolas Maduro has degenerated the Bolivarian revolution although the bureaucratic degeneration started with the inability of Chavez to move beyond capitalism. Hugo Chavez was a petty-bourgeois army officer, who first tried a coup with the army in 1992. After this failed he mixed social-democracy with populism and anti-imperialism. But neither Chavez nor Maduro looked towards the working class. Their base of power remains the state bureaucracy and the army. Workers are not part of the political and economic process, now that independent left-wing voices are censored and attacked. What Venezuela needs is a socialist alternative and although many leftists are still sympathetic to Maduro and his PSUV out of anti-imperialist solidarity, we say this is wrong. Rejecting Maduro does not mean you support the imperialist USA, in trying to impose the will of capitalism on this Latin American nation.
Cuba is now at a crossroad for many years. With the death of Fidel Castro and Raul Castro leaving the Office of President of the Republic of Cuba, the country’s bureaucratic elite must make a clear choice. They have only two options, socialism or capitalism. As of now Cuba is moving slowly towards capitalism. Despite the propaganda of the Communist Party of Cuba, reality is that the party bureaucracy is looking towards the Asian model enforced by communist parties in Vietnam, China and Laos. Now a monetary reorganization is proposed. The Cuban government plans to abolish the two currencies on the island and replace them with a single currency.
Cuba has two currencies since 1994. There is the Cuban peso (CUP) and the Cuban convertible peso (CUC). The CUC was introduced for tourists and to buy luxury (foreign) goods. As expected this created a gap in Cuban society between a large majority who get paid in CUP and a small minority who are paid in CUC. Those who are paid in CUC can afford a better live style and have access to goods too expensive for ordinary workers. 1 CUC is equal to 24 CUP and since the average wage in Cuba is around 24 CUP a month, few Cuban workers can afford prices in the Cuban convertible peso. For tourists this is different, because the CUC is equal to the U.S dollar. The introduction of the Cuban convertible peso in 1994 was an attempt by Fidel Castro to get access to hard currency. Its introduction was not an act of socialism, it created inequality and a new caste of privileged Cubans.
In 2008, Raul Castro relaxed government laws and fired over 500.000 state workers. These state workers were forced to feed themselves and become small capitalists. As more and more laws were relaxed, a capitalist class returned to the island not seen since the expropriations of 1960. Although most means of production remain in state hands, 1/3 of all economic output is carried out by private enterprises. Twenty years ago, the state employed around 70% of all Cuban workers. With the introduction of a new constitution in 2019, greater private property and free market rights were granted. This shows that the Communist Party of Cuba is moving towards at least a state-capitalist economy in the near future. Their model seems to be the Asian one, enforced by the communist parties in Vietnam, China and Laos.
Revolutionary socialists reject and criticize the market reforms since 1994. We say it was wrong for Fidel Castro to introduce a second currency only available for those with access to tourists. Yes, Cuba is under siege and under a trade embargo by the USA. But that does not justify the huge income gap and inequality that is now everywhere. Cuba is not a role model nation for socialism, despite the propaganda and uncritical support it gets from many communist parties, the ruling bureaucracy is planning on creating a economy that tolerates a class of privileged capitalists. Because the majority of Cubans have such a low income, many are trying to get access to U.S dollars or the Cuban convertible peso (CUC).
Now the government is planning on creating more inequality with a monetary reorganization. The plan is to abolish the Cuban convertible peso and create one single currency. This would be easy if the there was only one exchange rate, this would be a relatively simple operation of withdrawing one currency and replacing it with another. But as said before, the problem is the huge differences in exchange rates. In the state-owned sector 1 CUC is equal to 1 CUP (and 1 U.S dollar). For the private sector, the exchange rate is 24 or 25 CUP to 1 CUC. The national Cuban peso (CUP) is overvalued to make export expensive and imports cheap. Unifying the currency at the same time that the exchange rate is unified, will imply a heavy devaluation of the Cuban peso in relation to foreign currencies. This would lead to price increases that would be disastrous for ordinary Cubans.
Wage increases have been proposed, but will they cover the increase in prices? Also a far more dangerous proposal is the elimination of “excessive subsidies and undue gratuities”. It means the abolishment of the principle of the universality of social subsidies to workers who need them. Since the 2011 communist party congress, there is a huge increase in inequality due to the elimination of jobs in the state sector and the promotion of self-employment. Accepting social differentiation in a supposed ”socialist” country, proofs to us that the Communist Party of Cuba is not building socialism. In a country were the national economy is run for 60% by the military says enough. Army officials control the tourist sector and most important means of production. We see this also happening in Venezuela and Laos. Why? Because the army is a stable force with lower corruption.
The proposals make one thing clear: less planning more free market. Again it is not strange that a Stalinist dictatorship is accepting capitalist methods. China started with them in 1979 (free economic zones), Vietnam and Laos in 1986 (Doi Moi). The Soviet-Union under Mikhail Gorbachev was also planning on accepting market principals. Stalinist regimes in Africa choose to abandon their Marxist-Leninist façade after the collapse of the USSR in 1991. Many (former) ”communist” parties still rule African nations like Angola or Mozambique, but all embraced the free market dictatorship. Fidel Castro too started with market reforms in 1994, he claimed that he was forced by this due to the collapse of the USSR. But he could have chosen another path, the path of democratic planning and workers democracy.
However that would mean the end for the bureaucratic elite of the ruling communist party. Genuine socialism rejects the rule of a single party which enforces its rule by dictatorial means. Yes, the Communist Party of Cuba is not allowed to make political propaganda during elections in Cuba, but its members select the people who are allowed to run for office. If a candidate is not approved by the communist party, he/she is not allowed to be on the ballot. This is why Cuba is not a democratic society, only candidates approved by communist party members can stand in elections. Socialism demands full democratic rights for all, not just for those supporting the ruling party or system. Fidel Castro never agreed with this core idea, he demanded the suppression of all critics of what he called ”socialism”.
It is no surprise that the small class of capitalists are fully supportive of the pro-capitalist politics now enforced by the Communist Party of Cuba. Many hope for more market politics that would give them more freedoms. More freedoms for the capitalist class means more exploitation for the working class. Remember that wages in Cuba remain low and in the last years the Cuban economy is slowing down. This has to do with the collapse of Venezuela, but also due to the rise of Donald Trump. In the last four years the Trump administration has strengthen the economic blockade and trade embargo against the island. Covid-19 then destroyed the profitable tourist industry in 2020. Over five billion U.S dollars have been lost.
What Cuba needs is workers democracy and planning from below. The state managers and army officials need to be replaced by elected officials of the working class. This is lacking completely in Cuba as it was in any society ruled in the Marxist-Leninist (Stalinist) way. Workers productivity will increase if they feel part of the process. They will feel in way that the means of production belong to them, that the leadership of the country is in their hands. It will give them a boost in working effectively. We seen this in Argentina with enterprises under workers self management. In Cuba, the market reforms have led to the new class of capitalists more willing to openly support government measures to weaken the planned economy. The government then masks these measures with slogans like “liberate the productive forces” and “build a prosperous and sustainable socialism”
In China, it is no coincidence that all right-wingers in Hong-Kong are in favour of the Chinese ”Communist” Party. The Chinese capitalist class stands behind Xi Jinping and fully support him and his nationalist regime. Capitalists in Vietnam and Laos also stood behind the pro-market measures taken since 1986. The results may have been more profits and more wealth, but for who? A minority has become rich and can now enjoy a western life style. But the majority of workers in China, Vietnam, Laos and Cuba do not have the income for that living standard we see in the western world. 600 million Chinese workers earn less then 140 U.S dollars a month. The majority of Cubans still earn around 25 Cuban peso’s a month.
The increase of social differentiation, the growth of a petty bourgeois layer with its own interests proof that Cuba is moving towards more capitalism. The Communist Party of Cuba is not a workers party and no vehicle for the Cuban working class. This is why revolutionary socialists must make clear that we reject the measures of the Cuban government. We must give no political support to a regime that is making concessions to world capitalism. For 60 years the Cuban Revolution was a beacon of inspiration and hope for millions. But the revolution is in decline, its limits under a bureaucratic system has been reached. Workers democracy is the only alternative for Cuba. We call this genuine socialism, the rule of those who work and who should rule in any socialist society.
Revolutionary Socialist Media 