Indhold
- Forord
- Foreword in English
- Sites / artikelsamlinger
- Artikler
- Bøger på dansk
- Fidel Castro and Cuba (in English)
- Se også / See also
Forord
I 1959 erobrede Fidel Castro og hans guerrilla-styrker magten på Cuba. Siden har Castro været 1. sekretær i kommunistpartiet, øverstkommanderende for de væbnede styrker og landets præsident.
Vi har her samlet en række links til sites med historie og baggrund om den cubanske revolution og Castro, samt en række ældre og nyere artikler med venstrefløjens diskussioner af udviklingen i det cubanske samfund: ‘socialisme på én ø’ eller en et-parti-stat uden demokratisk arbejderkontrol? Og Castros langvarige sygdom har aktualiseret diskussionen om Cuba efter Castro.
Bjarne A. Frandsen
Påbegyndt februar 2007. Revideret juni 2022.
Foreword
In 1959 Fidel Castro and his guerrilla took power in Cuba. Since then Castro has been First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba, ‘Commander in Chief’ of the Cuban armed forces and President of Cuba.
We have collected links to sites with history and background on the Cuban Revolution and Castro, and some older and newer articles covering the left wing debates on development in Cuban society: ‘Socialism in one island’ or an one-party-state without democratic workers controle? And Castros long disease has made the debate on Cuba after Castro topical.
Bjarne A. Frandsen
February 2007. Revised June 2022.
Se også på Socialistisk Bibliotek: / See also:
Linkboxen Fidel Castro (1926-2016). Nekrologer/ Obituaries
Personlisten Che Guevara. Incl. Appendix: Filmen Che + Historien om et foto / History of an image (Alberto Kordas “Che”)
Tidslinjen 3. januar 1966 om OSPAAAL.
Sites og artikelsamlinger
Dansk-Cubansk Forening (Cubavenner.dk)
- Fidel Castro
En række artikler og taler af Fidel Castro. - Cubas historie
Fra uafhængigheden i 1898 frem til i dag.
Marxistarkiv.se
- Om Kuba
Med Artiklar, Bøcker och Dokument.
Marxists Internet Archive
- Fidel Castro History Archive. Articles 1953-2003.
- Republic of Cuba: Cuban missle crisis + Cuban governments documents
- Trotskyism and the Cuban Revolution, 1953-2006
Artikler
Leksikon for det 21. århundrede
Den Store Danske
Wikipedia, den frie encyklopædi
Arbejderen
Sven-Erik Simonsen: Hvad sker der i Cuba… (8. september 2007)
“Cubanerne er ved at være godt trætte af den aggressive spekulation i, hvad der mon sker i Cuba efter Fidel Castro. De finder det nedgørende, fordi spørgsmålet implicit anklager alle cubanere for at være nogle nikkedukker.”
Autonom Inforservice
Cuba: ”Statsapparatets repressive adfærd er uforandret” (26. august 2022)
“Den amerikanske ‘Black Rose Anarchist Federation / Federación Anarquista Rosa Negra’ har interviewet cubanske medlemmer fra ‘Alfredo López Libertarian Workshop’ og ‘Abra Social Center’.“
Cubas aktuelle krise og landets libertære venstreopposition (2. oktober 2011)
“En lille spredt venstreopposition er ved at vokse frem og tager kampen op for at bevare den cubanske revolutions sociale landvindinger og fremme en radikal demokratisering af samfundet nedefra. Statsmagten reagerer med integrationsforsøg, advarsler og repression.”
Enhedslisten
Enhedslistens Cubapolitik (24. april 2005; online på Internet Archive)
Vedtagelse fra Enhedslistens 16. ordinære årsmøde.
Det Ny Clarté
Fidel Castro – oplyst diktator og klassisk latinamerikansk frihedshelt. Af Niels Boel (20. januar 2017)
“Vandene skilles, når talen går på Cuba – og Fidel Castro. Han var mange ting – genial politiker, romantisk revolutionshelt, forførende folketaler, manisk magtmenneske og brutal diktator i én og samme person.”
Gaia
Eduardo Galeano: Cubas smerte (nr. 41, sommer 2003)
“De cubanske myndigheder dømte i marts måned tre bådkaprere til døden og siden anholdt de omkring 75 ‘dissidenter’ og idømte dem lange fængselsstraffe. Dette har affødt kritik blandt venstreorienterede hele verden rundt.”
Gnist/Rødt!
Mathias Bismo: Sosialisme på Cuba? (nr.4, 2010)
“Richard Levins går dessverre i den fella så alt for mange på venstresida både har gjort og gjør. Han er ikke villig til å gå inn i noen diskusjon om karakteren til det landet han tar for seg, i dette tilfellet Cuba, men legger heller det myndighetene sier til grunn.”
Richard Levins: Å besøke eit sosialistisk land (nr.3, 2010)
“Mi eiga erfaring er at svorne revolusjonære har den mest seriøse, komplekse og gjennomtenkte kritikken, mens kontrarevolusjonære for det meste klagar over ulike plagar eller ubehagelege hendingar.
Marxisme Online
Peter Binns og Mike Gonzalez: Cuba, Castro og socialisme
Oversat (1987) fra fra “Cuba, Castro and Socialism” i tidsskriftet International Socialism (Issue 8, Spring 1980, p.1-36)
“Hvis den cubanske arbejderklasses interesse ligger i den internationale socialistiske revolution, så bliver den også nødt til et omstyrte en nationalstat og dens bureaukrati, som på sin side er blevet en forhindring for en forandring af verden.”
Marxistarkiv.se
Om Kuba
Med Artiklar, Bøcker och Dokument.
Samuel Farber: Att bygga socialismen på Kuba (pdf) (30. november 2016, 10 s.)
“Castroregimens halvmesyrer kommer mest sannolikt att driva Kuba närmare mot en sorts statskapitalism utan demokrati. Men det finns ett fullt möjligt alternativ för landet.”
Modkraft.dk
Rejsebrev fra Cuba (10. februar 2011; online på Internet Archive)
“Cubas skæbne bestemmes ikke i Havanna, men i resten af Latinamerika, mener Andreas Bülow, der besøgte Cuba ved årsskiftet 2010-2011.”
Revolution
Karen Larsen: Fidel Castros tilbagetrækning: den cubanske revolution må forsvares (19. februar 2008)
“… den største trussel mod revolutionen kommer indefra … Der er kræfter inden for det cubanske statslige bureaukrati, som ønsker at vende tilbage til kapitalisme. De læner sig op af de ‘markedsreformer’, som blev indført i 1990’erne efter Sovjetunionens kollaps.”
Alan Woods and Roberto Sarti: Cuba: Henrettelser og undertrykkelse – fra et klasseperspektiv (11. januar 2004 )
“Dette dokument er fra maj 2003. Derfor er det muligvis ikke helt up-to-date med alle begivenheder. Men det indeholder en grundig analyse af det cubanske systems natur …”
Socialistisk Arbejderavis
Mike Gonzalez: Castro og Cuba (nr. 277, 27. marts 2008; online på Internet Archive)
“Efter 49 år ved magten er Fidel Castro endeligt trådt tilbage fra posten som Cubas præsident. Vi ser tilbage på den indflydelsesrige, men ufuldkomne politiske figurs liv.”
Mike Gonzalez: Cuba efter Castro (nr. 263, 6. december 2006; online på Internet Archive)
“Hvordan kan det cubanske folk genvinde kontrollen over deres eget samfund? Der gives ingen enkle svar på det, udover at fortsætte med at organisere frit og demokratisk i forsvaret for deres egne interesser. Dette er de blevet forhindret i under Fidel og det blev undermineret af alle fortidige amerikansk-støttede regimer.”
Socialistisk Information
Stig Hegn: Vores Cuba (10. maj 2014). Anmeldelse af Samuel Farber: Cuba since the revolution of 1959: A critical assesment (Haymarket, 2011, 369 s.)
“‘Cuba since the revolution’ er en sønderlemmende kritik af Castros regering set i historisk lys med et rigt historisk overblik og teoretiske og praktiske detaljer. Men det vigtigste er at Farber giver os en revolutionær opskrift på demokrati og viser hvordan et formelt demokrati skal udformes i praksis …”. Se også linkboxens engelsksprogede del for flere anmeldelser + artikler af Samuel Farber.
Pedro Campos: PCC-kongres: Den neoliberale strategi slog fejl i Cuba (15. april 2011)
“Det lignede en klog beslutning, da præsident Raul Castro i slutningen af februar på et udvidet regeringsmøde annoncerede en ændring af tidsplanen for de økonomiske reformer, som hans administration allerede havde godkendt og allerede var begyndt på at gennemføre som led i en ‘opdatering’ af statens økonomiske model.”
Guillermo Almeyra: Et farligt og modsætningsfyldt dokument (21. marts 2011)
“Som forberedelse til sin 6. kongres i april 2011 har det cubanske kommunistparti (PCC) offentliggjort et dokument angående økonomiske og sociale spørgsmål, som må give anledning til alvorlig bekymring for venner af den cubanske revolution, og som for befolkningen på øen er et brutalt demoraliserende angreb.”
Samuel Farber: Livet efter Fidel (17. oktober 2008)
” Selvom den var ventet, var Fidel Castros officielle tilbagetræden som statsoverhoved for Cuba et vendepunkt, der har rejst store spørgsmål om Cubas fremtid.”
Socialistisk Revy
Castros vej til magten (nr. 3, april 1998)
“Da Fidel Castros guerillahær erobrede magten i Cuba i 1958, ville ingen have spået, at Cuba 40 år senere ville blive kaldt ‘kommunismens sidste bastion’. Jørn Andersen gennemgår baggrunden for Castros magtovertagelse.”
Bøger på dansk (+ svensk)
Af Fidel Castro, med Ignacio Ramonet (Schultz Forlag, 2007, 704 sider)
“Over hundrede timers samtaleinterview mellem journalisten Ignacio Ramonet og Cubas leder Fidel Castro … I bogen beretter Castro selv levende om, hvad der gjorde ham til rebel, og giver sit besyv med om den aktuelle verdenssituation. Bogen er et fængslende og intimt portræt af mennesket og myten Castro.” See review essay by Samuel Farber: Fidel Castro’s political testament (International Socialist Review, Issue 54, July–August 2007).
Af Anne M. Sørensen (Jyllands-Postens Forlag, 2007, 360 sider). Omslags/rygtitel: Fidel.
“En opsigtsvækkende beretning om manden, der hævder at have overlevet 637 attentatforsøg, en hel verdens sammenbrud og 48 års konstant amerikansk belejring. Fidel Castro, kommandant og præsident har tegnet Cuba siden magtskiftet i 1959 … Fidel giver et nuanceret og kritisk billede af en præsident og et menneske med baggrund i hidtil ikke-offentliggjorte interviews med bl.a. Castros egen familie. Bogen bygger på forfatterens møder med cubanere i Cuba og i Miami, USA.”
Fidel Castro: 1926-2007
Af Clive Foss (Billesøe & Baltzer, 2007, 184 sider)
“Om Fidel Castros liv fra barndommen i 1920’erne og frem til nutiden. Om Cubas revolution i 1950’erne og Castros år som præsident.”
Man kan ikke slå idéer ihjel
Af Fidel Castro. Redigeret af Helle Bruun, Ken Bruun og Sven-Erik Simonsen (Dansk-Cubansk Forening, 2006, 248 sider)
“Uddrag eller fulde gengivelser af otte af Fidel Castros skelsættende taler fra de seneste år. Desuden hans beretning om den politiske situation i Cuba og verden frem til 1985 samt om sit eget liv.”
Cuba: en ø i Caribien
Af Brian Rasmussen (Frydenlund, 2006, 96 sider)
“Cubas historie fra 1898 og frem til 2006. Beregnet til historieundervisningen i gymnasiet, hf og hhx.”
Med kildetekster, litteratur og links på His2rie.dk.
Historien vil frikende mig: Fidel Castros forsvarstale, Santiago de Cuba, 16. oktober 1953
Af Fidel Castro. Redigeret af Sven-Erik Simonsen (Dansk-Cubansk Forening, 2006, 96 sider)
“Fidel Castros tale tegner et billede af den sociale nød og undertrykkelsen i Cuba før revolutionen og præsenterer programmet som Castro og hans ’26. juli bevægelse’ kæmpede for og som i dag er gennemført.”
Alina: erindringer af Fidel Castros datter
Af Alina Fernández (Gyldendal, 1998, 280 sider)
“Gennem en skildring af sit eget omskiftelige liv som Castros datter giver Alina Fernández et billede af Cuba før og efter revolutionen, om samfundseksperimenterne og deres store menneskelige omkostninger.”
Cubas historie: fra Columbus til Castro
Af Peter Bejder (Gyldendal, 1998, 128 sider)
“Beregnet til undervisning i gymnasiet/HF.”
Havana tur/retur: en forfatter i Cuba
Af Jan Stage (Information, 1994, 197 sider)
“En samling essays og reportager som følger Fidel Castros revolution fra begejstringen til masseflugten i midten af 1994.”
Cubansk demokrati – set med vestlige øjne
Af Sven Tarp (Dansk-Cubansk Forening, 1994, 68 sider)
“Om strukturen i det politiske system på Cuba; herunder specielt landets valgsystem.”
Fidel – ett kritiskt porträtt (pdf)
Av Tad Szulc (Legenda, 1987; online på Marxistarkiv.se, 6. maj 2021, 429 s.)
Bøsserne i Havanna: Castros Cuba og de homoseksuelle: samtaler i Havanna
Af Julius Lund (Rosinante, 1986, 172 sider)
Familieportræt med Fidel: Castros vej til kommunismen
Af Carlos Franqui (Centrum, 1984, 191 sider)
“Et udvalg af eksilcubaneren Carlos Franquis erindringer fra årene 1959-62. Omhandler den cubanske statsleder Fidel Castro, personerne omkring ham, oktoberkrisen, Svinebugt-affæren m.m.”
Brev til Fidel Castro
Af Fernando Arabel (Brøndum, 1984, 93 sider)
Det socialistiske Cuba, økonomi og politik
Af Jørgen Würtz Sørensen (Historisk Revy, 1982, 160 sider)
Kilder til belysning af Cubakrisen 1962
Ved Inger Bertelsen og Karl Jacobsen (Gyldendal, 1982, 107 sider) (Historiske kildehæfter)
“For gymnasiet og HF.”
Fædrelandet eller døden: udviklingen i Cubas udenrigspolitik 1959-1970
Af Per Overgaard Nielsen (Historisk Revy, 1980, 169 sider)
Forhøret i Havana
Af Hans Magnus Enzensberger (Gyldendal, 1971, 184 sider)
Cuba: guerillaen ved magten
Af K.S. Karol. 2 bind (Bibliotek Rhodos, 1970, 415 sider)
Revolutionens næve: rapport fra en cubansk provinsby
Af Jose Yglesias (Gyldendal, 1969, 265 sider)
Vi er praktiske revolutionære: tekster til belysning af den latinamerikanske revolution
Af Fidel Castro, Régis Debray, Che Guevara (Bibliotek Rhodos, 1968, 241 sider)
Så det er altså Cuba
Af Jan Stage (Rhodos, 1966, 220 sider)
Cuba
Af Herbert L. Matthews (Det Danske Forlag, 1962, 216 sider)
Se også :
Bøger og pjecer på dansk af og om Che Guevara.
Fidel Castro and Cuba (In English)
Against the Current
What’s next for Cuba?: an interview with Janette Habel (No.176, May-June 2015)
“This interview was conducted by Jerome Latta and published online by the Left Front in France, December 26, 2014.”
Frank Thompson: Looking back and forward at Cuba (No.158, May-June 2012). Review of Samuel Farber, Cuba since the revolution of 1959: A Critical Assessment (Haymarket, 2011)
“Farber’s deeply researched and thoughtful book … takes its place among definitive works on Cuba …”
Debate (No.146, May-June 2010)
Charlie Post: On the Legacy of Che Guevara
Michael Löwy: An Answer to Charlie Post
James D. Young: Reply to A Reviewer
Paul Buhle: Response
Samuel Farber: Beginning a new era (No.175, March-April 2015)
“Independently of the considerations that led the governments of Cuba and the United States to reach this agreement, it is a major gain for the Cuban people.”
Debate (No.143, November-December 2009)
Barry Sheppard: A letter on Cuba
Frank Thompson: A brief rejoinder
Views on Cuba [continued] (No.142, September/October 2009)
Katherine Gordy: Cuba today
Antonio Carmona Báez: A fifty-year old process
Michael Löwy: Che Guevara in search of a new socialism
Theme: Views on Cuba (No.141, July/August 2009)
“The editors have asked several contributors for brief contributions on how they view Cuban society, politics and culture today.”
David Finkel: Introducing ‘Views on Cuba’
Janette Habel: Cuba in search of renovation
Frank Thompson: The economy after a half century
James D. Cockcroft: The transition to socialism
The editors: The Cuban Five – injustice prolonged
Samuel Farber: Political controls from above
Cuban reality beyond Fidel. Interview with Sam Farber (No.126, January/February 2007)
“Samuel Farber is the author of The Origins of the Cuban Revolution Reconsidered. He is also a former editor of this journal. He was interviewed by phone on November 28 by David Finkel from the ATC editorial board.”
Paul Le Blanc: On the origins of the Cuban Revolution (No.126, January/February 2007)
“One of the most useful works on the Cuban Revolution has appeared with Samuel Farber’s The Origins of the Cuban Revolution Reconsidered … I have always been a supporter of the Cuban Revolution, and I do not share Farber’s particular characterization of the Cuban government. I will indicate some of my differences at the conclusion of this review.”
David Finkel: Why Cuba is different? (No.112, September/October 2004)
“My question for us on the radical left, then, is this: Given all our experience, from Eastern Europe to the catastrophes of Baathist Iraq and what Zimbabwe has become, what makes us think that the Communist party-state in Cuba will succeed unlike all the rest?”
Discussing Cuba: An Introduction (No.105, July/August 2003)
“Recent development in Cuban-U.S. relations, and inside Cuba itself, point to potential flashpoints. These events, which have also produced controversy in the international as well as North American left.” See “Discussing Cuba” in the menu to the right.
Anarchy Archives
Sam Dolgoff: The Cuban Revolution : A critical perspective (Montreal, Black Rose Books, 1977)
“Between reactionary ‘pro-Batistianos’ and ‘revolutionary Castroites’, an adequate assessment of the Cuban Revolution must take into account another, largely ignored dimension, i.e., the history of Cuban Anarchism …”
Counterfire
Dominic Alexander: A hidden history of The Cuban Revolution: How the working class shaped the guerillas’ victory (August 4, 2016)
“When is a revolution socialist? Recent books on Cuba show the importance of revolutionary organisation for the working class.” Review of Steve Cushion, A Hidden History of the Cuban Revolution: How the Working Class Shaped the Guerrillas’ Victory (Monthly Review Press 2016, 272 p.) + Samuel Farber, The Politics of Che Guevara: Theory and Practice (Haymarket Books, 2016, 162 p.)
Dominic Alexander: Cuba: sanctions, race and the revolution (11 August 2013)
“The contradictions of the Cuban revolution are evident taking together three new books, each sympathetic to the revolution, on different aspects of Cuban history and society.”
Jacqueline Mulhallen: Cuba since the Revolution of 1959: A critical assessment (11 October 2012). Review of Samuel Farber’s book (Haymarket, 2011)
“A critical assessment of the Cuban revolution underlines that it was never socialist, but fails to put the Cuban experience fully into the context of US imperialism.”
Cubantrotskyism.net
Gary Andrew: Dissident Cuban communism : The case of Trotskyism, 1932-1965 (1999; online at Internet Archive WayBackMachine)
Contents: Introduction – The international and national context – Trotkyism in Cuba – Conclusion – Appendices – Bibliography.
Democratic Socialist Perspective
Neville Spencer (ed.): Cuba as alternative (Australia, Resistance Books, 2000; online at Internet Archive WayBackMachine)
Contents: Cuba’s economic, social and political alternative – Cuba’s revolutionary history and example – A socialist island in a sea of capitalism – Bibliography and selected readings.
Doug Lorimer: The Cuban Revolution and its leadership: A criticism of Peter Taaffe’s pamphlet ‘Cuba: Analysis of the Revolution’ (1999) + Some comments on Peter Taaffe’s Cuba Book (2000).
See also Socialistworld.net further down.
Dissident Voice
Anarchism and Communism in Cuba, Part 1. By Kim Petersen (January 6, 2015) + Part 2: Whither Cuba-US relations? (January 7, 2015)
Interview with Arnold August, a Canadian journalist and lecturer, the author of Democracy in Cuba and the 1997–98 Elections (1999) and, more recently, Cuba and Its Neighbours: Democracy in Motion (2013).
Fifth International
John Bowman: Taking the capitalist road? The market reforms in Cuba (Vol.3, No.1, Autumn 2008)
“The Soviet Union collapsed in the 1990s and its demise prompted China’s rulers to hastily restore the capitalist economy it once overthrew. By retaining the planning system over the last 20 years Cuba appears to contradict this pattern of development. John Bowman looks at its market reform programme today and asks – is Cuba finally taking the capitalist road?”
Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism!
Andrew George: Cuban Workers in revolution (Issue 252, August/September 2016). Review of Steve Cushion, A Hidden History of the Cuban Revolution: How the Working Class Shaped the Guerrillas’ Victory (Monthly Review Press, 2016, 272 p.). “This important work highlights the essential role played by the Cuban working class in the insurrectionary war against the Batista dictatorship in 1950s Cuba.”
Foreign Policy in Focus
Cuba: An Exchange (May 7, 2008; online at Internet Archive WayBackMachine)
“In their contributions to the Foreign Policy In Focus strategic dialogue on Cuba, Samuel Farber discusses the problematic economic reforms and nonexistent political reforms while Saul Landau looks at the fragile achievements of the Cuban revolution and the hostile U.S. policy toward the island. And they respond to each other.”
- Sam Farber: Life after Fidel
- Saul Landau: Cuba: The struggle continues
- Samuel Farber and Saul Landau: Strategic dialogue on Cuba
Grim and Dim
The Socialist Review Group and Cuba (2019)
“The purpose of this piece of research is to present the work produced by the Socialist Review Group on the subject of Cuba … what we have here are the very first writings on Cuba by Sam Farber, the respected Marxist scholar.”
In Defence of Marxism
Jorge Martin: Cuban CP congress ratifies economic guidelines: workers’ control and international socialism absent from discussion (7 June 2011)
“The long delayed VI Congress of the Cuban Communist Party took place on April 16-19 in Havana and discussed the Guidelines on Economic and Social Policy for the Party and the Revolution.”
Jorge Martin: Cuba 50 years later – where is the revolution going? Part 1-2 (17-18 February 2009)
“A look at the contradictory tendencies within Cuba in the early years after the revolution … and the growing pressures today inside Cuba to adopt the so-called ‘Chinese model’…”
In These Times
Samuel Farber: Why Cubans protested on July 11 (July 27, 2021)
“Is this the beginning of the end of fear in Cuba?”
International Socialism
Mike Gonzalez: The new Cuba: myths and realities (Issue 152, Autumn 2016, p.181-192). Review of Steve Cushion, A Hidden History of the Cuban Revolution: How the Working Class Shaped the Guerrillas’ Victory (Monthly Review Press, 2016, 272 p.) + Jane Franklin, Cuba and the US Empire: A Chronological History (Monthly Review Press, 2016, 464 p.)
“What Cushion demonstrates is the ambivalence of the 26 July Movement towards the working class movement in the period prior to the revolution.” See also review Peter Arkell’s review of Cushion’s book: The untold story of the Cuban revolution (A World to Win, 15 April 2016).
Dave Sewell: Cuba Libre? (Issue 136, Autumn 2012). Review of Samuel Farber, Cuba since the revolution of 1959: A Critical Assessment (Haymarket, 2011)
“Discussions around Cuba have an unfortunate tendency to generate more heat than light, particularly on the left. Sam Farber’s new book … provides much-needed clarity.”
Chris Harman: Cuba behind the myths (Issue 111, Summer 2006, p.83-110). Review of Sam Farber, The origins of the Cuban Revolution reconsidered, and Richard Gott, Cuba: A new history.
“The Cuban Revolution is 47 years old and is still seen as the model for much of the Latin American left. Chris Harman looks at Cuban history and shows how revolutionary elitism and isolation combined to leave their prints on Cuban society. He argues the new movements in Latin America can create a very different revolutionary model to the Cuban one for the 21st century.”
See also feedback from Samuel Farber: Cuban myths (Issue 112, Autumn 2006, p.224).
Francisco Sobrino: Reflections on socialism and democracy: the case of Cuba (July 2006, web only)
“This paper seeks to contribute to the collective thinking on this issue and on the more general problem of the seemingly conflictive relation between socialism and democracy.”
Peter Binns & Mike Gonzalez: Castro, Cuba and socialism (No.8, Spring 1980, p.1-36)
“Many indeed have had no doubts at all about the socialist nature of Cuba’s revolution … On what were these very widespread claims based? And how have they stood the test of time? Finally, how can we now characterise the direction in which Cuba is heading? These are questions we shall examine in this article.”
Debate:
Robin Blackburn: Class forces in the Cuban Revolution: a reply (No.9, Summer 1980, p.81-93)
Peter Binns, Mike Gonzalez & Alex Callinicos: Cuba, socialism and the Third World: a rejoinder (No.10, Autumn 1980, p.93-105)
Peter Binns: ‘Popular Power’ in Cuba (No.21, Autumn 1983, p.135-144)
“Notwithstanding the outward appearance of the ”˜mass organisations’ or ”˜Popular Power’, the reality, then, is that of a Communist party with all-pervading power. Who then controls the CP itself?
Hans Magnus Enzensberger: Portrait of a party: Background, structure and ideology of the PCC (No.44, July/August 1970, p.11-19)
“Although it is now more than ten years since the Cuban Revolution, the number of serious and critical studies of it from a left-wing viewpoint have been jew. For this reason we are printing the following article, though it will be clear that the editors of IS do not accept completely its standpoint (for instance, we believe that to call Cuba ‘socialist’ is to redefine the term in a non-marxist manner).”
International Socialist Review
Samuel Farber: Fidel Castro: His political origin, rule, and legacy. Part 1 (Issue 112, Spring 2019, p.46-65)
“The lack of democracy and therefore of authentic socialism in Cuba is not only a problem of interest to Cubans, but also a critical test of how seriously the international left takes its democratic pronouncements.” See Part 2: Fidel Castro’s rule and legacy (Against the Current, Issue 201, July-August 2019).
Fidel Castro’s legacy and Cuba’s future (Issue 104, Spring 2017)
“Samuel Farber interviewed by Paul D’Amato: “At this stage of the degeneration of the Cuban Revolution, the only gain that is still solid in Cuba is national sovereignty.”
Sam Farber: Cuba’s future: an assessment (Issue 82, March-April 2012)
“I cannot really present a synthesis of my book [Cuba Since the Revolution of 1959: A Critical Assessment, Haymarket Books, 2011] in 20-25 minutes. What I think I can do is present some major themes discussed there that I believe are important. In any case, you should buy the book and find out the rest. The themes I want to concentrate on are the economy, politics, and the issues of racial and gender oppression.”
Sam Farber: Fidel Castro’s political testament. Review essay (Issue 54, July–August 2007) Review essay: “This a book-long interview, the outcome of conversations that Ignacio Ramonet, the Spanish-born editor of the Parisian Le Monde Diplomatique, had with Fidel Castro from January 2003 to December 2005 … [it] seems to have become, for all intents and purposes, his political testament. It is a very long and wide-ranging presentation of the worldview and values of an obviously knowledgeable political leader and an account of Cuban and world history and politics as he sees it.”
Paul D’Amato: Cuba: Image and reality (Issue 51, January–February 2007)
“Though few leftists today would look uncritically at the one-party dictatorships that once existed in Eastern Europe or the Soviet Union, Cuba is still widely held up as a socialist model on the left in the U.S. and Latin America.”
Paul D’Amato: Race and sex in Cuba (Issue 51, January–February 2007)
“The Left acknowledges the right of women, gays and lesbians, and the nationally and racially oppressed to organize and combat their oppression virtually everywhere except Cuba, where the fact that Cuba denies these rights is often glossed over with references to the existence of ‘mass organizations’ and Fidel’s verbal commitment to equality.”
Samuel Farber: Cuba’s likely transition and its politics (Issue 48, July–August 2006)
“If present economic and political world-wide trends continue to prevail, Fidel Castro’s death will be followed, perhaps after a short period of continuity to reassure Cubans and foreigners about the stability of the system, by a significant institutional change in Cuban economic, social, and political life … We can analyze these issues by drawing on the accumulated experience of the many post-Communist transitions that have taken place since the end of the 1980s.”
Castro’s Cuba in perspective : 45 years after the Cuban Revolution (Issue 36, July-August 2004). Anthony Arnove and Ahmed Shawki interview Sam Farber.
“Sam Farber was born and raised in Cuba. He is the author of numerous works on Cuba, and is currently writing a book on the origins of the Cuban Revolution.”
Hector Reyes: Cuba: The crisis of state capitalism (Issue 11, Spring 2000)
“What are the causes of the crisis, and does the Cuban government’s response to it represent a departure from the past? What is the character of the Cuban regime, and what is its future? In order to address these issues adequately, it is necessary to place them in their proper context.”
International Viewpoint
“Much attention is focussed on Cuba, given the illness of Fidel Castro and the widespread debate over what will happen on the island without him. As a result IV has decided to open a debate”:
Jan Konrad: The Cuban Revolution at the crossroads (Issue 386, February 2007)
“Since 1989 a very large part of the world press – and not only the newspapers that are linked to the ‘anti-Castroist’ emigration in Miami – have regularly announced the end of the Castroist regime. Fidel Castro’s hospitalization in the summer of 2006 has once again been the occasion of what must be described as disinformation.”
Aurelio Alonso: A rapid glance at the future (Issue 386, February 2007)
“Revolutionary socialist construction in Cuba has been carried out under the leadership of Fidel Castro for nearly half a century. For obvious biological reasons the personalities of the generation which led the struggle for power and established the bases of the new society will leave the scène in the fairly near future. The problem of the succession is not then a possibility; it is a fact which inexorably imposes itself.”
Cuban reality beyond Fidel. Interview with Samuel Farber (Issue 386, February 2007)
“Right now, however, the situation is most unclear because Fidel is neither in nor out. He’s passed the running of the country to Raúl Castro, but he’s been receiving visitors and on the phone. So whatever plans Raúl might have for a departure from Fidel’s strategy will not take place while his older brother is still around.”
Manuel Paz Ortega: ‘The battle of ideas’ and the capitalist transformation of the Cuban state (Issue 386, February 2007)
“The present state of Cuban society is critical … To construct a reasonably serious picture of what is happening in Cuba at present is an extremely delicate process of social analysis, because of the lack of information and its manipulation by the state.”
Jean Castillo: The leadership succession bears the mark of continuity (Issue 385, January 2007)
“For the present generation of Cuban adults socialism is synonymous with shortages, bureaucracy and vertical and authoritarian power relations. How did we get there after the victory of a revolution whose slogans of social justice and national sovereignty were taken up and implemented by millions of Cubans for more half a century?”
Jacobin: Reason in Revolt
Antoni Kapcia: Cuba was always much more than a Soviet satellite state (December 10, 2024)
Review of Radoslav Yordanov, Our Comrades in Havana: Cuba, the Soviet Union, and Eastern Europe, 1959–1991 (Stanford University Press, 2024). “Cold War stereotypes presented Cuba under Fidel Castro as a Soviet satellite in the Caribbean. But a closer look at Havana’s relations with the Eastern Bloc shows that its leaders were far more independent than such conventional wisdom would suggest.”
Sara Kozameh: How Cuba survived and surprised in a post-Soviet world (January 30, 2021)
Review of Helen Yaffe, We Are Cuba! How a Revolutionary People Have Survived in a Post-Soviet World (Yale University Press, 2020, 288 p.). “To explain its persistence, we need to drop Cold War stereotypes and look at the Cuban experience in its own right.”
Michelle Chase: Thinking past Fidel (December 4, 2016)
“Though often overlooked, working-class movements played a substantial role shaping the Cuban Revolution.” Review of Steve Cushion, A Hidden History of the Cuban Revolution: How the Working Class Shaped the Guerrillas’ Victory (Monthly Review Press, 2016, 272 p.). See also review by Mike Gonzalez: The new Cuba: myths and realities (International Socialism, Issue 152, Autumn 2016) + Dominic Alexander: A hidden history of The Cuban Revolution (Counterfire, August 4, 2016) + Pablo Velasco: Cuba: the role of the working class (Solidarity & Workers’ Liberty, Issue 450, 11 October 2017)
Samuel Farber: Building socialism in Cuba (October 10, 2016)
“As pressure for economic liberalization grows, what would it take to turn Cuba into a socialist democracy?”
Samuel Farber: Cuba’s challenge (June 10, 2015)
“What did the Cuban Revolution accomplish and where can it go from here?”
Samuel Farber: The alternative in Cuba (December 22, 2014)
“The resumption of US – Cuban relations is a real victory. But Cuban workers face renewed economic liberalization with little political opening.”
Samuel Farber: The future of the Cuban Revolution (May 1, 2014)
“Since Raul Castro assumed power in 2006 promising reforms, Cuban politics has seen the slow emergence of new tendencies and debates. The prospects for the country’s left, however, remain uncertain.”. See also Chris Slee: Samuel Farber discusses Cuba’s future – but ignores the blockade (Links, January 21, 2014)
Links: International Journal of Socialist Renewal
Marxist economist Claudio Katz on the Cuban Revolution and its economic reforms (September 29, 2014)
“In the following article, first published in mid-November, Argentine Marxist Claudio Katz outlines some of the outstanding achievements of Cuba’s socialist revolution, highlights the challenges – now given added force by the restoration of diplomatic relations with Washington – and critically analyses issues raised in the far-reaching economic reforms now under way in Cuba.”
Chris Slee: System or siege? Samuel Farber misses the main cause of Cuba’s problems (June 13, 2012). Review of Samuel Farber, Cuba since the revolution of 1959: a critical assessment (Haymarket Books, 2011)
Debate: Cuba has a state bureaucratic system – a response to Chris Slee. By Samuel Farber (June 26, 2012)
“The driving idea behind Chris Slee’s critical review of my recent book is that the undemocratic practices of the Cuban revolutionary regime have been largely a response to the more than 50-year-old imperialist siege by the United States government and not a defining characteristic of the island’s political system.”
Marxists Internet Archive
Trotskyism and the Cuban Revolution, 1953-2006
“Major sub-index on Trotskism and its relationship with the Cuban Revolution spanning 5 decades.”
Monthly Review
Richard Levins: How to visit a socialist country (Vol.61, No.11, April 2010)
“Sympathizers with the Cuban process, as well as anticommunist leftists, sometimes carry a clipboard and grade sheet so that they can grade Cuba for health care, sexism, racism, pollution, homophobia, elections, number of political parties, a free press, strikes, or whatever else is on their minds.”
Diana Raby: Why Cuba still matters (Vol.60, No.8, January 2009)
“What makes Cuba different from the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe? To understand this it is necessary to go back to the origins of the revolution and the remarkable transformation that occurred from 1959 to 1963.”
Ricardo Alarcón de Quesada: The long march of the Cuban Revolution (Vol.60, No.8, January 2009)
“The Cuban revolutionary victory of January 1, 1959, was a news event of epochal proportion even for those who knew little about that country. For many, it was like discovering a new world. And as in the age of the great navigators, encountering it was clouded both by ignorance and the prejudices that usually accompany such revelations.”
István Mészáros: Cuba: The next forty-five years? (Vol.55, No.8, January 2004)
“The Cuban revolution is unique for a variety of important reasons … so it cannot be imitated or repeated, let alone turned into the compulsory model of revolutionary transformation. Nevertheless its universal significance cannot be emphasized strongly enough.”
Leo Huberman and Paul M. Sweezy: Anatomy of a Revolution (Vol.12, No.3, July-August 1960, 176 p.)
“In this work we have attempted to combine the methods of journalism and scholarship to produce a rounded analysis of one of the most original and important social transformations of our time.”
MR Online
Brian Pollit: From sugar to services: An overview of the Cuban economy (6 Oktober 2010)
“In 1989, services comprised no more than 10 per cent of Cuba’s export revenues, with sugar accounting for over 70 per cent. In 2007, by contrast, it was sugar that made up 10 per cent of overseas earnings while services accounted for 70 per cent. The article provides an overview of this drastic decline in Cuba’s merchandise export sector …”
NACLA Report on the Americas
Saul Landau: Cuba: A half-century of distorted news and counting (Vol.41, No.1, May/June 2008)
“Since January 1959, nearly half a century ago, U.S. mass media have reflected the views of the U.S. government and systematically misreported the Cuban Revolution.”
Philip Brenner and Marguerite Jimenez: U.S. policy on Cuba beyond the last gasp (Vol. 39, No 4, Jan/Feb 2006)
“Anti-Castro hardliners in the Bush Administration are faced with a ‘now or never’ situation. The increasing stridency of U.S. policy reflects their desperation in making a last ditch attempt to overthrow the revolutionary Cuban regime. It is the final gasp of a dying policy, because as the older generation of exiles fades away, the seemingly ‘irrational’ U.S. policy would follow them to the grave.”
National Security Archive
Cuba embargoed: U.S. trade sanctions turn sixty (February 2, 2022)
“On the eve of the 60th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy’s executive order imposing ‘an embargo on all trade with Cuba’, the National Security Archive today posts a collection of previously declassified documents that record the origins, rationale, and early evolution of punitive economic sanctions against Cuba in the aftermath of the Castro-led revolution.” With “A brief chronological history of the U.S. embargo against Cuba”. See also Peter Kornbluh: Cuba: 60 years of a brutal, vindictive, and pointless embargo (The Nation, January 26, 2022).
New Left Review
“Amid a worsening economic and climatic situation, cultural opening in Cuba has seen a flourishing blogosphere. Interview with an editor of La Tizza, a collectively run digital magazine that aims to revive the free-thinking Marxism of the Pensamiento Crítico tradition.”
Emily Morris: Unexpected Cuba (No.88, July-August 2014, p.5-45)
“Alone among the ex-Comecon countries, Cuba has forged a distinctive path since 1991 – not transition to capitalism but careful adjustment to external change, safeguarding its gains in social provision and national sovereignty.” Se svensk udgave: Ett oväntat Kuba (pdf) Marxistarkiv.se)
Robin Blackburn: Cuba under the hammer (No.4, July-August 2000, p.5-36)
“How has the Cuban Revolution withstood the American siege at the end of the century? In the wake of the Elián González affair, Robin Blackburn looks at exile politics in Miami, the record of the White House, and the scene in Havana.”
New Politics: A Journal of Socialist Thought
Samuel Farber: Cuba: “Free” market or democratic planning. By Samuel Farber (Democratic planning should not be primarily approached simply from a technocratic point of view, but from a perspective of political self-education through a national debate.”
Symposium: Marginalized discourse: Voices from the critical Left in Cuba (No.75, Summer 2023)
“The following texts grew out of informal conversations in Havana, Cuba, in December 2022. Afterwards the contributors wrote brief reflections on the relationship between the critical left in Cuba and the international left.”
Samuel Farber: The transformations of the Cuban Revolution: From below or from above? (Juli 1, 2022)
“Although the Cuban Revolution of 1959 had enormous popular support, especially in its early years, that support did not express itself in any autonomous initiative and control from below.”
Samuel Farber: For a Cuba with democracy and solidarity (March 9, 2022)
“[The article] provides a critical perspective on the economic policies of the Cuban government and of some of its critics, and offers an alternative to both.”
Samuel Farber: Cuba’s new economic turn (October 18, 2020)
“A series of recent developments in Cuba have struck the already faltering economy of the island leading the government to adopt a series of economic policies that point towards a greater opening to capital while maintaining the political controls of the one-party state.”
Samuel Farber: Should Cuba remain a one-party state? (March 27, 2016)
“The one-party state is a very controversial question that few of the left-wing critics of the Cuban regime have been willing to address. What follows is an attempt to explore, from the left, some of the issues around this topic.”
Dan La Botz: Cuba – a personal reflection (December 22, 2014)
“… the Cuban bureaucracy is anxious to save itself and its political control and American capitalists want to bring Cuba back into their sphere of influence. What seems to be missing from the equation, or apparently present only in very limited ways, is an expansion of political democracy that could provide opportunities for the self-organization of the Cuban working class.”
Samuel Farber: The church and the critical left in Cuba (No.54, Winter 2012)
“The influence of the Catholic Church in Cuba is growing, a recent and unanticipated development. Why? … For entirely political reasons. In contrast with the sometimes open warfare that existed, in the sixties, between the Catholic hierarchy and the revolutionary leadership, the relationship has evolved in recent years into a growing partnership.”
Charles Post: Is Cuba different? (No.53, Summer 2012). Review of Samuel Farber’s book (Haymarket Books, 2011)
“Farber has synthesized, updated, and deepened his analysis into a comprehensive history of the Cuban revolution since 1959. Cuba Since the Revolution of 1959: a Critical Assessment is an extremely timely book.”
Samuel Farber: Visiting Raul Castro’s Cuba (No.43, Summer 2007)
“Cuba will probably follow a state sponsored capitalist road of development in the manner of Vietnam and China. Meanwhile, a number of Cuban leaders have reported that Fidel Castro’s health is improving and that he may even return to office. While unlikely, such an event would greatly complicate and make much harder a prediction of Cuba’s future.”
Special section on Cuba (No.35, Summer 2003, p.73-101; online at Internet Archive):
“In the following section, New Politics is pleased to present a set of pieces on the recent trials and executions in Cuba and the response of the anti-imperialist left to that wave of repression. The section begins with an interview with Samuel Farber, a Cuban-born writer whose articles on Cuba have appeared in New Politics over the years. The interview is followed by two responses to James Petras, whose article denouncing left critics of the Cuban crackdown was released in early May 2003.”
See also the article by James Petras: The responsibility of the intellectuals: Cuba, the U.S. and human rights (Rebelión, April 18, 2003).
Red Pepper
Theme: Should Cuba’s revolution be a beacon for the left? (May 2008):
Why Cuba is still important
“Diana Raby argues that those who deny the legitimacy of the Cuban system will never understand why, after 50 years, the revolution is still an ongoing reality.”
If the revolution does not go forward, it will go backwards
“Dave Osler responds to Diana Raby and says it’s unforgivable to utilise the slogans of Seattle in describing Cuba.”
Diana Raby responds to Dave Osler
“Dave Osler’s reply to my initial piece on Cuba is a caricature.”
Cuba after Castro
“In the wake of the announcement by Cuban leader Fidel Castro that he will ‘neither aspire to nor accept’ another term as the country’s president, much of the analysis in the mainstream media has concentrated on whether Fidel’s retirement will usher in a ‘transition’ period for Cuba’s socialist revolution, now in its 50th year, writes Pablo Navarrete.”
Reds – Die Roten
Debate from International Socialism:
Peter Binns & Mike Gonzalez: Cuba, Castro and socialism (Issue 8, Spring 1980, p.1-36.)
“Twenty one years have passed since the time Castro’s rebel army, backed by a loose coalition of intellectuals – the 26th July Movement – destroyed the US-backed Batista regime and began to effect fundamental changes in Cuban society. What exactly did it achieve? Does it provide the Third World with an alternative and viable road to socialism to that of Moscow’s stultifying bureaucrats? Can its methods be repeated elsewhere? … These are questions we shall examine in this article.”
Robin Blackburn: Class forces in the Cuban Revolution. A reply to Peter Binns and Mike Gonzalez (Issue 9, Summer 1980, p.81-93)
“The primary aim of the article by Binns and Gonzalez is that of offering a theoretical, historical and political analysis of Cuba and its revolution. From this standpoint their failure to advance an adequate class analysis of Cuban society, now or in the past, is more serious than, though not completely unconnected to, their failure to refer to the revolution’s undoubted successes.”
P. Binns, A. Callinicos, M. Gonzalez: Cuba, socialism and the third world. A rejoinder to Robin Blackburn (Issue 10, Winter 1980/81, p.93-105)
“As we shall see there are sharp differences between Blackburn and ourselves here, both as regards workers’ revolution and socialism in general and as regards the perspectives for third World revolution today.”
Peter Binns: ‘Popular power’ in Cuba (Issue 21, Autumn 1983, p.135-44)
“This article does not attempt an all-rounded analysis of those events. Instead it is intended as a supplement to the analysis by P. Binns & M. Gonzalez in Cuba, Castro and socialism.”
Review of Radical Political Economics
Frank W. Thompson: Cuban economic performance in retrospect (pdf) (Vol.37, No.3, 2005, p.311-319)
“The performance of the Cuban economy during the past half century is evaluated. The primary focus is on per capita GDP, but consideration is given as well to the Human Development Index (HDI) and even broader conceptions of human development. The summary conclusion is that Cuba has performed well neither absolutely nor in comparison with the rest of Latin America and that the main causes for this must be domestic.”
See also Frank Thompson: The economy after a half century (Against the Current, No.141, July/August 2009).
Revolutionary History
The hidden pearl of the Carribbean-Trotskyism in Cuba (Vol.7, No.3, 2000, p.1-261). Only contents online.
“The following articles trace the history of Trotskyism in Cuba. They focus on the theoretical, tactical and organisational development of the Oposición Comunista de Cuba in the early 1930s, the Partido Bolchevique Leninista and the Partido Obrero Revolucionario in the 1930s and 1940s, and the Partido Obrero Revolucionario, the Trotskyist group which was reconstituted after the 1959 Cuban Revolution.”
RS21: Revolutionary Socialism in the 21th Century
Mike Gonzalez: Cuba: coming in from the cold? (February 2, 2015)
“After 17 Cuban prisoners were freed by the US in December, Mike Gonzalez charts the recent deal between Washington and Havana and asks if this really is the end of an era with the lifting of the embargo.”
Socialism Today
Tony Saunois: Cuba: the future uncertain (Issue 144, Dec-Jan 2010)
“In the midst of severe economic crisis, the Cuban regime has moved to free up sections of the economy and cut back state-sector jobs. Obviously, this raises important questions for the workers and youth of the island, but also for socialists internationally. Do these measures spell the beginning of the end of Cuba’s planned economy?”
Cuba revisited (Issue 89, Feb 2005). Review of Richard Gott, Cuba: A new history and Leycester Coltman, The real Fidel Castro.
“What are the prospects for the Cuba today? Peter Taaffe reviews two recent books that provide illuminating insights into the history of Cuba and the current situation.”
Socialist Register
Saul Landau: Notes on the Cuban Revolution (1989, p.278-306)
“Socialism cannot fail in Cuba, without having the long hard years of struggle by so many millions of people dissipate. Fidel feels this responsibility and lives each day to see his work and his aspirations realized by a people. Yet, as long as he, and he alone, must bear this responsibility – and assume the power that goes with it – the Cuban people and their institutions will not have a chance to test themselves.”
Socialist Review
Héctor Puente Sierra: Debating critical Marxism in Cuba today (Issue 447, June 2019)
“In May over 100 people attended an international conference in Cuba discussing the ideas of Leon Trotsky, with the aim of shaking up state–sanctioned ‘Marxism’.”
Mike Gonzalez: Cuba’s contradictions (Issue 358, May 2011)
“Cuba’s leaders are accerlerating the country’s move towards the free market. Mike Gonzalez alooks at the nature of Cuban society and what lies behind the new reforms.”
Mike Gonzalez: The autobiography of Fidel Castro (Issue 345, March 2010; online at Internet Archive). Review of Norberto Fuentes’ book (Norton, 2009)
“This book is, of course, a satire. But in its rambling course, the book repeats much that is known and adds new dimensions that have a powerful ring of truth.”
Socialist Voice
Two views on Cuba’s leadership transition (Number 99, November 13, 2006; online at Internet Archive WayBackMachine)
“The following is an exchange on Cuba between John Riddell of Socialist Voice and Mike Gonzalez of the U.K. Socialist Workers Party.”
Socialist Worker (UK)
Features: Castro and Cuba (Issue 2090, 1 March 2008)
“After 49 years in power, Fidel Castro has finally resigned as president of Cuba. Socialist Worker looks back on the life of this influential but flawed figure.”
Socialist Worker (US)
Where is Cuba headed? (September 20, 2010)
“The Cuban government of Raul Castro announced last week that it would push 500,000 workers out of state jobs next year … Sam Farber spoke to Alan Maass about the meaning of the layoff announcement – and what’s ahead for Cuba.”
Contradictions of Cuba’s foreign policy (January 7, 2009)
“Sam Farber, author of The Origins of the Cuban Revolution Reconsidered, examines Cuba’s foreign policy under Fidel Castro.”
After Fidel: Will Cuba change direction? (Issue 664, March 7, 2008)
“Samuel Farber talks to Socialist Worker about the political transition underway in Cuba as Fidel Castro steps down from the presidency.”
Socialistworld.net
Peter Taaffe: Cuba: Socialism and democracy (2000; online at Internet Archive WayBackMachine)
Contents: Cuba today – Lenin and Castro – World balance of force – A privileged elite? – Foreign policy – Cuba’s future – Appendices.
For debate, see Democratic Socialist Perspective above.
Solidarity
Pablo Velasco and Sacha Ismail: Cuba as a class society (3/236, 29 February 2012)
“A review of Cuban-American revolutionary Sam Farber’s new book on Cuban Stalinism: Cuba since the revolution of 1959: A Critical Assessment (Haymarket, 2011)
Paul Hampton: Castro and the Cuban revolution (3/102, 16 November 2006)
“Fidel Castro is dying. Aged 80, probably with some form of cancer, possibly Parkinson’s disease, and in all likelihood dosed up on medication, he may well live a little longer but his days as ruler of Cuba are almost over. Paul Hampton assesses Castro’s legacy – the nature of the 1959 revolution and the social and political changes Cuba is now experiencing.”
Weekly Worker
More glasnost, less perestroika (Issue 848, January 13, 2011)
“Maciej Zurowski interviews Circles Robinson of ‘Havana Times’, a web magazine that features critical writing from Cuba.”
Slow death of Cuban ‘socialism’ (Issue 834, September 23, 2010)
“The capitalist road is the only one open to an isolated Cuba, writes James Turley.”
Sunshine Stalinism ends? (Issue 710, February 28, 2008)
“James Turley looks at the mixed response of the left and the prospect of a Cuban Deng’.”
What Next?: Marxist Discussion Journal
Trotskyism and the Cuban Revolution: A debate (1981)
“This exchange of views on the early history of the Cuban revolution was published in Intercontinental Press. The first two pieces are open letters, one by Adolfo Gilly and the other by Angel Fanjul, written in response to a speech given by US Socialist Workers Party’s Jack Barnes. The third article is a reply to Gilly and Fanjul by José G. Pérez, who was at that time a member of the SWP.”
Workers’ Liberty
Paul Hampton: The Cuban revolution revisited (9 June, 2006)
Review of Samuel Farber, The origins of the Cuban Revolution reconsidered (2006)
“What was the class character of the Cuban revolution of 1959-61? More than any other Marxist over the last forty-five years, Sam Farber has tried to tackle this question from the standpoint of Third Camp working class socialism.”
Part I: Overview
Part II: Political economy
Part III: Castro’s group
Part IV: The role of the US
Part V: The role of the USSR
Part VI: The Cuban working class
Is Cuba socialist? (No. 54, March 1999)
“Paul Hampton of Workers’ Liberty spoke in debate with Bernard Regan, a leading member of the Socialist Teachers’ Alliance, at a London Workers’ Liberty meeting on 3 February 1999.”
World Socialist Web Site
Bill Van Auken: Cuba marks 50th anniversary of revolution in shadow of world crisis (3 January 2009)
“Cuba marked the 50th anniversary of the revolution that brought Castro to power with subdued celebrations. Havana sees the deepening world capitalist crisis not as a harbinger of international revolutionary struggle, but as a threat to Cuba’s unstable economy.”
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