Sign up in solidarity with the people of Cuba

On March 11, the European Union parliament issued a resolution urging “…European institutions to give unconditional support and encouragement for the initiation of a peaceful political transition toward a plural democracy in Cuba”. This expresses Europe’s resolve to restore the form of capitalism which had existed in Cuba before its revolution fifty one years ago. It is in line with the embargo US has also placed against Cuba for half a century now.
The Cuban revolution inspired youths and working people across the world. A lot has been done since then to make many see hope for a new society in the country. It today has one of the very best healthcare system and an educational system that any country would be proud of. All these are despite the attacks by the United States and the longest embargo against a country in history, which has caused so much misery for the working people of Cuba.
These are all reasons why workers must stand in solidarity with Cuba at this hour when the EU and particularly the US just have to give a country a bad name to hang it, like Iraq for example. These are also reasons why workers, youths and socialist activists in general have to realize the limitations of the society being built in Cuba, and understand that while it might be more progressive than the crass bourgeois capitalism in Europe and America, it is not “socialist”.
Socialism is a social, economic and political system rooted in the active and indeed lead participation of the working people in the day-to-day running of society at the: workplace, communities, local governments and central government. Socialism is built on and builds the self-emancipatory activities of the working class. While the great and selfless feats of such revolutionaries as Fidel Castro and Che Guevara must be commended, socialism can not be won by new super men, but rather is won by the mobilized rank and file. At the heart of the socialist struggle and construction of society is workers’ democracy. This is needed to take Cuba beyond its present state of bureaucratic state capitalist development. This, is where, as was also the case in the USSR, the state becomes the sole owner and controller of capital, and state power itself is wielded by a new class of bureaucrats who might have genuine concerns for the masses, or not.
Socialism as we say is won only through revolution from below. “Socialism” from above can at best only lead to bureaucratic state capitalism. Socialism can also be won and protected only as an international effort. The EU’s resolution however, is an attempt to change Cuba from above the head of Cubans; taking it backwards to the state of bourgeois capitalist development, where a few bosses control the resources of society and thereby exploit and dominate the working people. This is why we stand at this hour in solidarity with Cuba and urge all our readers and supporters once again, to sign in defence of Cuba at: www.porcuba.org.