The following article outlines some theoretical considerations to help place Cuba’s contemporary situation into a Marxist framework. A relevant reference point seems to be another revolutionary country that also found itself in the situation of isolation – Russia.

The overall situation in Cuba, at least economically, and therefore in terms of class relations, is one of defence and even retreat. That is, defending as much as possible of the existing gains of the revolution while retreating as little as possible, in the most orderly ways possible and with the smallest chance of things getting out of control.

The lightning speed of the organisers and signatories to the Frank Garcia petition campaign, as well as the speed and assuredness of the statements and positions of the anti-Cuba socialists more generally, indicates that what drives them is not so much the events on July 11 or its aftermath – about which the leaders of this push did not stop to check the facts. Rather, their various statements and positions, their overall attitudes and interpretation of what information has come to light, express pre-existing ideas about Cuba that already existed in the heads of the different groupings.

By his own account, Frank García Hernández, a communist historian at the University of Havana, was not arrested for criticising the Cuban government or for participation in the July 11 mobilisations against it.

Never before in world history has there been a social crisis like that of the capitalist system we live in today. Not even the bloodbath of the first and second world wars or the great Depression were as severe as the current crisis. As Venezuela’s socialist president puts it, the choice is stark: between socialism and barbarism. If we do not make the right choice, there may be no 22nd century – the devastating impact of capitalist industry on the world environment today threatens the very existence of human society.

At the February 12 National Executive meeting I stated that while I agreed with the general political line of the report that was orally presented by Comrade Stuart Munckton, particularly as summarised in the “conclusion” section (and thus voted accordingly), I had reservations about some of the points made and formulations used in the report. Most of these reservations have been eliminated after reading the printed version of the report (Activist Vol. 17, No. 2). Nevertheless, there are a few passages in the report that I think need further clarification:

At its April 2003 plenum, the DSP national committee adopted a report on the international political situation which made the observation that “[t]throughout the 1990s one of the greatest factors bearing down on the morale of the Cuban revolutionaries was the Cuban Revolution’s isolation in Latin America – the fact that there was not a single other revolutionary government in the hemisphere. Today, however, the Cuban Revolution has an ally in Latin America – the Venezuelan government of Hugo Chavez, which has made significant progress in dismantling the institutions of capitalist power in an oil-rich, partially industrialised country with a population more than twice the size of Cuba’s”.

The Bolivarian revolution in Venezuela led by Hugo Chavez has been an important and inspiring event, the “first revolution of the 21st century”, not just shaking up Latin America, but giving hope to socialists around the world.

1. Exciting developments are occurring today throughout Latin America, in fact there’s been turmoil on that continent for decades. But a revolutionary process is underway in Venezuela. There’ve been mass mobilisations in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Paraguay – strikes, demonstrations, governments toppled, and sometimes left governments elected. But in Venezuela, a revolution is happening, the masses are taking that road.

The governments of Cuba and Venezuela are seeking the extradition of Luis Posada Carriles, a notorious Cuban terrorist with a long record of attacks against the Cuban Revolution. Posada has close ties with the US Central Intelligence Agency.