[Marxism] Jane Franklin on Kennedy and Castro: The Move TowardDialogue

["stansmith44" <stansmith44@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

   It is often said Kennedy and Castro were moving towards dialogue, just as it 
is alleged Kennedy would never involved the U.S. in  Vietnam as his 
vice-president's government did. This is all part of the Kennedy mythology 
business.
   Let us remember where relations stood between the U.S. and Cuba. In 1961 the 
U.S. organized an invasion of Cuba. In 1962 a nuclear war almost broke out. In 
such circumstances, the only possible way to move short of an actual nuclear 
war, was towards dialogue. 1963 passed and there was no invasion of Cuba, nor 
any attempt to blow it out of the water. Shall that be called a move towards 
dialogue?
    The Cubans say they were moving towards dialogue with Kennedy. This is 
true. But this is in the context of refuting the U.S. claim that Cuba was 
behind the Kennedy assassination. 

    Let us remember that US-Cuban relations were best during the Carter 
presidency - or maybe Ford. In any case, relations were improving until Cuba 
sent troops to defend Angola from an apartheid army invasion in 1976 or 1977. 
That ended any dialogue. 
    In 1964, or 1965, Che went with other Cubans to the Congo. That likewise 
would have caused the US imperialists to terminate any dialogue. If not, then 
the call for "one, two, three Vietnams" certainly would not have warmed the 
imperialists towards "recognizing" Cuba. Kennedy or no Kennedy. 
    If by "dialogue" is meant a normalization of relations between the US and 
Cuba, this has always been ruled out by the imperialists. For the U.S. 
imperialists, normalizing relations means the other country must go along with 
U.S. imperialist dictates. The Cuban revolution has never done this, and has 
always sacrificed establishing normalized relations with the U.S. government if 
it meant Cuba had to turn its back on revolutionary struggles. 
    
    We could also do another test of whether Kennedy was actually moving 
towards dialogue [meaning talking instead of seeking to overthrow the 
revolution] in 1963. If, in 1963, Kennedy was doing something different from 
any succeeding president, then we should expect to find a drop-off and then 
cessation of any U.S. attempts to assassinate Castro. I think it's safe to 
assume the U.S. government was still furiously trying to murder Castro in 1963. 
Yes, I suppose the case could be made that their desire to murder the leaders 
of Cuba and not everyone on the island was a "move towards dialogue." 
      
     Cuba's publicizing the contacts  they had with Kennedy in 1963 is aimed at 
refuting the myth that Cuba was behind the assassination. In the U.S., though, 
painting Kennedy as moving towards dialogue with Cuba is just one of those 
just-so stories that people who are enamored with the "Kennedy mystique" push.