Cuban National Identitiy and Socialism
On Dec. 7, 1989 Fidel said: "In Cuba, the Revolution, socialismand independence are indissolubly linked." He was contrasting the Cubansituation with Eastern Europe when he pointed out that "Cuba is not acountry in which socialism came in the wake of the victorious divisions ofI want to focus on this linkage: Revolution--socialism--independence. We must understand how that linkage has been forged througha long history of struggle for independence that has tempered a strongHistorically, Cuba had an island economy that was underdevelopedlong ago to be part of the dependent periphery in the world economicsystem. As a result Cuba has not been able to develop an integratednational economy that could give it the material basis for independence.This dependency fueled a quest for national independence that has lastedThe Cuban Revolution and its socialist turn represented theculmination of this struggle for national independence and dignity. Cubawas the most highly neo-colonized country to have a revolution in thetwentieth century. Therein lies its historical importance. It was
,revolution (and independence) is not possible without socialism -- andthen you can understand why "in Cuba, the Revolution, socialism andindependence are indissolubly linked. It was thus that Cuba's century-long struggle for nationalindependence -- a struggle that of course had to be anti-imperialist --came to its necessary culmination in socialism. Is that just propaganda or is itreally true? Let me reflect for a moment in general terms on how a nationis invented. plantation --that it had a socialist revolution. Without the political, military and economic power of theSecond (socialist) World to restrain it any longer, the capitalist FirstWorld can now be expected to expand and strengthen its hegemonyeverywhere. It was this unique equivalent exchange thathas made economic development possible in Cuba since the revolution. US Marines occupied Cuba for several years, the US set up agovernment of its own liking, forced Cuba to accept the establishment of aUS naval base at Guantanamo (without any termination date) and imposed theinfamous Platt amendment to Cuba's constitution, which granted the US theright to intervene in Cuba whenever the US decided Cuba's sovereignty wasthreatened -- a strange kind of sovereignty indeed, more hypocritical thanthe Breznev doctrine in Eastern Europe. precisely because Cuba was a neo-colony -- a virtual U. That is why Andre Gunder Frank has renamedthe national bourgeoisies of the underdeveloped world 'lumpenbourgeoisies'. Cuba's second war for independence (1895-1898) was inspired by Jose Martiand led until his death in 1895 by him and the Dominican General MaximoGomez and the Afro-Cuban General Antonio Maceo. It is these external conditions that now threaten Cubansocialism and with it Cuba's independence. As long as there was acommunity of socialist nations with whom it could enjoy favorable terms oftrade, it was able to develop economically and raise its standard ofliving to a level that made it the envy of the rest of the Third World --indeed, a level that in areas such as health care and public educationrivals industrialized countries like the United States. Butit is also being conceived of as a popular national party (of the sortthat Samir Amin has spoken of as most appropriate in the Third World )that represents the entire Cuban nation regardless of class or ideology.
Common topics in this essay:
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WORLD SYSTEM,
Historically Cuba,
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Acceptance Essays
