[Marxism] Re: ISO and Cuba

[RRM48@xxxxxxx]

Paul Bunyan states that, "There is nothing in the article (ISR interview with 
Samuel Farber)to indicate that Farber is anything more than a critic from the 
left, of the Cuban leadership," and then asks, "How does Farber stand out from 
other Trotskyists," who also see Cuba as Stalnist? Firstly, while careful to 
avoid supporting overt moves against the Cuban revolution like the U.S. embargo 
and not denying the obvious progress made in popular welfare since 1959, Farber 
openly identifies himself as an opponent of the regime. Not a critic; an 
opponent. This is consistent with all his writings on Cuba (see New Politics, 
Summer 1995, Review of Benglesdorf's Problems of Democracy in Cuba). As 
previous postings have noted Farber has expressed his opposition repeatedly, to 
the point of claiming treatment of dissidents as psychiatric patients as in the 
former USSR. While Trotskyists may see the Cuban state as seriously flawed, 
whether characterizing it a deformed worker's state, a transitional formation 
between capitalism and socialism, or something else, all lend it "critical 
support." That support extends both to its struggle against imperialism and to 
its collectivized property. The critical part refers to the abscence of workers 
democracy (not abstract Democracy), adherence to "socialism in one country," 
and moves that undermine the postcapitalist property forms like dollarization. 
Pure and simple "opposition" and abstract and sectarian characterization of the 
regime as "Stalinist" just like N. Korea, the USSR, and the PRC is Farber's 
stock in trade. And that is in full view in the ISR article. Trotskyists defend 
the gains of the Cuban Revolution, and seek to solidify them. If one sees Cuba 
as state capitalist, or ruled by a new owning class as in bureacratic 
collectivism (Farber accepts either characterization), why do Marxists owe it 
any support at all? This is the question both for the ISO and professor Farber.
Bob Montgomery
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