The people of the Republic of Cuba have to approve or not to approve in a referendum a new constitution of the country. What is the new constitution, how far and in what direction do the changes declared by the new constitution go?
In general, with regard to modern Cuba in the left movement of Russia, there are two extreme points of view. One extreme point prefers not to notice any changes that have occurred in the island nation and repeats the bravura propaganda of the Brezhnev era. The second point rushes to the other extreme: it is announced that in Cuba after 1991 capitalism has almost been restored (or is about to be restored), “the revolution has died”, etc. Both extreme points are far from reality.
The changes that have occurred in the economy of Cuba, in part, can be compared with the Soviet NEP in the 1920s. “Partly” - because, of course, any comparison of different countries and eras is not very correct. The Soviet NEP was viewed as a temporary retreat before capitalism. From 1990-2000s, small private entrepreneurship was allowed in Cuba, including in the field of food processing and sale, mobile sales of agricultural products, passenger and freight traffic, rental of housing, etc. In 2012, the total number of individual entrepreneurs in Cuba was about 386 thousand people (with 11 million people). However, the path of capital in the medium and large industry was blocked. This allows us to state that Cuba is a socialist country and public property is dominant in the economy.
Why did the Cuban Communist Party and the government need to create an entrepreneurial layer, to produce the petty bourgeoisie (which dreams of becoming a big one), why it was impossible to do without it? The answer to this question lies in the structure of the Cuban economy. After the 1959 revolution in Cuba, the need for industrialization was announced. However, industrialization was carried out by truly turtle methods. The Cuban government was taken prisoner by the proposals of the Khrushchev-Brezhnev leadership of the USSR on the "international division of labor." In the case of Cuba, this meant the following: Cuba produces what it specializes in, and in exchange imports other goods from other socialist countries. Pre-revolutionary Cuba was a backward agrarian country, its main product was sugar cane. The “division of labor” led to the fact that Cuba began to supply sugar to the USSR and other socialist countries and bought everything necessary for itself.
The system worked successfully while the Soviet Union existed. But when the USSR and the world socialist system collapsed in 1991, the export of sugar cane sharply declined, and the import of goods to Cuba was just as sharply reduced. Up to the point that in Cuba began a shortage of food.
As an opposite example, we can mention the development option of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. At the time, the DPRK abandoned the “division of labor” and relied on building socialism based on its own strengths. As a result, in the DPRK today produce cars, tractors, buses, trolley buses and in general everything that is needed for life. In Cuba, there is nothing of this.
Fidel Castro had to go to the “Cuban NEP”. Including it was allowed to Cubans living abroad to send remittances to relatives in Cuba. And this means the creation in Cuba of a stratum of the population living on account of assistance from another state.
Including in Cuba, it relied on foreign inbound tourism in the country. And this means not only the import of alien ideologies, but also the emergence in the country of a whole industry oriented to services to foreigners, including illegal prostitution, etc.
Including small business was allowed.
The draft of the new constitution of Cuba reinforces the changes that have occurred. So, besides socialist state property, cooperative property, personal property and the property of small farmers, the new constitution allows for the existence of private property. What does this mean? Would not such a declaration lead to the general restoration of capitalism?
To answer this question, you need to pay attention to another aspect of constitutional changes, although not as important as the question of ownership.
In the previous constitution, it was stated that a marriage could be concluded between “a man and a woman”. The draft new constitution states that marriage is a voluntary union between two people, without specifying their gender. Does this mean that in Cuba will begin the mass conclusion of same-sex marriage? All experts believe that this will not happen. The main reason: in Cuba, as in any other Latin American country, there are extremely negative attitude towards homosexuals, not to mention the likelihood of their marriage. Therefore, no mass gay marriages are expected.
Why do we need such adjustments about the marriage sphere in the constitution? The answer lies in the conditions in which Cuba lives after the collapse of the world socialist system, in the new international situation. Extremely hostile relations with Cuba are only with the United States. With other capitalist countries, Cuba is trying to maintain normal economic relations and even make friends. Otherwise, an agrarian country can no longer survive. A few decades ago, when Cuba did not have to be friends with the capitalists, homosexuality was criminalized there, as in other socialist countries. In capitalist countries today, on the contrary, gay marriages are legalized. And within the framework of “rapprochement” with other countries, Fidel Castro in 2010 expressed regret about the former persecution of homosexuals in Cuba.
Thus, today we see declarative changes in the Cuban constitution, which do not result in any radical changes in the Cuban reality by themselves. The same goes for the issue of “recognition of private property”. For the sake of improving economic relations with capitalist countries, the Cuban leadership is abandoning the image of “left-wing extremists.”
Here, of course, another reasonable question arises: would not such concessions to the world of capital from Cuba lead to irreversible changes for the worst in the country? Will real destructive “reforms” follow the declaration? ..
In this regard, we can recall the statement of Fidel Castro. “I remember very well how, after the collapse of the USSR, many people attacked me with tips on doing all the dirty tricks that everyone else did. I am going to some meeting, such as the inauguration, certain individuals always gather there ... other Latin American leaders came - all with advice for me on how to act so that Cuba could survive ... I listened to them with great respect, discussed how I had meaning to discuss the issue, and remained unshakable, "- said the leader of the Cuban revolution.
In fact, since 1991, Cuba seems to be walking along the knife edge, making some concessions (the admissibility of which can and should, of course, be argued), but retaining mostly socialist gains, without falling into a capitalist nightmare.
The draft new constitution defines Cuba as a socialist state. At the same time, “The Communist Party of Cuba retains its role as the highest governing force of society and the state, emphasizing its democratic and permanent character of relations with the people.”
“The current Constitution, adopted 42 years ago in national and international conditions, very different from the present, needs to be reformed in order to incorporate socio-economic changes carried out in accordance with the decisions of the Sixth and Seventh Congresses of the Communist Party of Cuba ... so that every citizen understands the need and scope of the changes that we must make to the Constitution in order to guarantee the non-revisable nature of socialism and the continuity of the Revolution, ”said Raúl castro, July 26, 2018
Pessimists predict the collapse of the socialist system in Cuba since 1991. However, it is still there.
It remains to wish the Cubans that the current pessimistic forecasts do not come true. To wish that the recommendations of the capitalist "friends" again remain an empty sound. To wish Cuba to stand in the current capitalist environment, while remaining an Island of Freedom and awaiting a new world revolutionary upsurge that will create a new USSR on the planet.
But for this to happen, one should not adapt to “international conditions”, but change them.
Dar Vetrov
