[Marxism] "Russia on the road again" (Juventud RebeldeinterviewsRussian ambassador to Cuba)

[David Picón Álvarez]

From: "Néstor Gorojovsky" <nmgoro at gmail.com>
> This said, I think it quite interesting to debate whether it was good
> or bad, in the long run, that the former Soviet presence in Cuba has
> disappeared, and whether the ellimination of the Lourdes facility was
> or was not useful for the Cuban masses.

Fair enough, that is something to consider. I don't think I have enough 
information to make that judgement myself. Clearly the special period and 
the whole economic restructuring was a difficult time, but it is perhaps 
early to tell how it has affected the morale of the people and the 
commitment to revolution.

> More interesting, indeed, than still another Requiem for the First
> Great Experiment in the Struggle of Humankind from Barbarity to
> Socialism. Because it is not this kind of contributions that will help
> us ahead.

An ode to the capitalist Russian Federation isn't much use either, IMHO.

> I think that the consequences of the death of the fSU on each and
> every scenario the globe over are today the most important reflection
> for a socialist.

Speaking from Spain in my corner of southern Europe, I think the fall of the 
fSU completely demoralized the left. It's true that our social democrats 
renounced Marxism in the mid 80s, but even then they were committed to 
certain levels of meaningful reform, unlike in the mid 90s when they engaged 
in wholesale privatizations of state enterprises (electricity, telephone and 
communications, etc). Felipe González, head of the PSOE until 1996 when they 
lost the elections, could say sometime in the 80s "a España no la va a 
reconocer ni la madre que la parió" (Spain won't even be recognizable to the 
mother who brought her to the world), whereas now all we get from the very 
same party is keynesianism. Recently Zapatero, our current president, said 
the only tool of the State in helping working people economically is fiscal 
policy. As to more left alternatives, in the 80s the communist party and 
their allies could get very robust results, not sure about the exact data, 
but around 25 seats out of 350, whereas now it's a good result to get 5 
seats. Some of this might have to do with the appearance in Spain of 
nationalist parties with a left agenda, though it's hard to tell.

> We all know what was lost. What we must debate now is what do we have,
> and how shall we proceed.

I wish I knew.

--David.