[Marxism] From Jim Craven on China-Cuba comparisons

[Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx>]

Louis notes:

Although it is important to stress Cuba's geopolitical role, it is worth
mentioning that the island is host to leftwing and Marxist conferences and
individuals on a nearly nonstop basis.

and:

Needless to say, official sponsorship of conferences such as these indicate
that the government has little to do with state capitalist stereotyping,
which are nothing but stale mixtures of Jeanne Kirkpatrick's notions of a
totalitarian dungeon and Arthur Koestler's "Darkness at Noon".

Response Jim C:

The same applies to China which regularly hosts conferences on a host of
topics including on issues of Indigenous Peoples and genocide that some of
the heroes of the ultra-pure left in the West have nothing to say about
even as genocide goes on right under their noses and as they are often
tacitly complicit as partners--through their silence, willful ignorance,
lack of caring and cowardice--in the uses and returns of occupied lands and
progressive eliminations of Native nations.

For those openly proclaiming that capitalism has been "fully restored" or
"is being" fully restored in China and Cuba, thus purporting to know not
only alleged "mistakes" and "accomodations" of the CPs of Cuba and China,
but, also, even their intents and mind-sets, perhaps ask yourselves--as I
do more and more often--"What if I am wrong in my assessments and
allegations?; who will be objectively served and who will be objectively
injured if I am incorrect?"

The imperialists, in their inner documents that have been released,
certainly do not see the CPs and Governments of China and Cuba as "fellow
capitalists" in nature and mind-sets. They speak repeatedly of World War
III, the global war of contending ideologies for "hearts and minds" as
having been under way for a long time with China and Cuba--among
others--representing systems and ideologies they intend to destroy through
overt operations, covert operations, social systems engineering and "soft
power" (the power of the allure and enticements of capitalism being
desired, copied and emulated elsewhere). Their documents, not originally
intended for release, speak of hardening and ideological reinvigoration of
the CPs of China and Cuba in the face of increasing imperial hubris and
outright threats to those nations and their systems. Interestingly, their
inner documents speak of the myriad historical and present-day conditions,
contradictions, legacies, constraints, crises and miserable conditions of
elements of the masses (more often than not the effects of past and present
imperialist intrigues designed to destabilize and engineer the conditions
and "proofs" of/for the alleged "inferiority" of socialism relative to
capitalism) which they view in opportunistic terms as positives for
purposes of future imperialist intrigue, with far more sophistication and
in far more detail than is found on the part of some on the left in the
West who simply--summarily--dismiss China and Cuba as having "restored
capitalism" on the basis of any tactical compromise with--and given--the
pervasive powers, clear long-run intentions and realities of globalized
capitalism and imperialism.

Parts of China (Taiwan) and Cuba (Guantanamo) both remain occupied by
imperialist powers directly or indirectly through puppets. Both have been
isolated from the community of nations and from key international
institutions and subject to brutal embargos of critically-needed resources
and technologies since the time of their respective revolutions. Large
sections of the masses of those nations still suffer conditions of poverty
and misery while being increasingly exposed to the overt/covert
intrigues--as well as increasingly sophisticated propaganda and "soft
powers"--of imperialism on their populations. Both nations have suffered
repeated campaigns of encirclement, threats of use of nuclear weapons and
social systems destabilization campaigns against them. Both nations need
critical resources (for mere survival as well as development) that can only
be obtained through trade with capitalist nations through international
venues and exchanges run strictly on market-based relations, institutions
and categories.  And yet, with all that they have to contend with, with the
myriad crises and needs of the masses they must attempt to weigh, balance
and address, the governments of both China and Cuba have not only openly
proclaimed Marxism-Leninism as the guiding ideology of their respective
governments and CPs, but they also continue to openly expose and
denounce--directly or through conferences they sponsor--various aspects and
intrigues of those capitalist and imperialist forces that some on the left
in the West argue they are increasingly like and making accomodations with.

I know from our own experience of the Blackfoot Nation, which has fewer and
fewer people and lands left, in the face of ongoing encirclement and
genocidal onslaughts by powers bent on our total elimination as a People
and nation, and/or assimilation into the dominant system and order
responsible for the genocide, we have to make all sorts of odious tactical
compromises just to survive to fight another day. We have our own
"purer-than-pure" who, often well meaning, and sometimes even correct in an
abstract (devoid of any consideration of history, present-day constaints
and realities, balances of power and weapons and weapons' capabilities that
we face) sense about what would be ideal, nonetheless give aid-and-comfort
to our--and their own--enemies with their etherial posturing, dilettantism,
know-it-all-ism and arrogance. The same can be said of those who denounced
the Vietnamese, supposedly from "the left", as they fought for their very
survival and independence against the most awesome and vicious war machine
ever put together on this earth and as they try to join and participate in
international venues and institutions run on and dominated by capitalist
relations, institutions and categories. The alternative, the ideologically
purer-than-pure (and largely externally imposed) autarky of the DPRK or of
Albania will lead to exactly what happened in Albania and what the
imperialist intend to happen elsewhere where socialism is being constructed
under extremely deleterious, dangerous conditions and constant threats of
total annihilation.

When one has any kind of megaphone (email lists, radio show, tv show,
published articles and books) it is often easy to acquire--or to be handed
through "celebrity"--a certain kind of certainty and notion of absolute
"truth" that becomes more and more absolute and more and more "the truth"
when shouted through venues and media that do not provide any effective
counter-argument. But the questions for all of us remain: What do I really
KNOW--as opposed to believe? Who will be effectively and objectively
served, and who will be injured, not only if I am correct, but also, if I
am wrong in my opinions and assessments? How much of what I am doing really
serves any oppressed Peoples or really serves to advance any concrete
struggles under concrete conditions? How much of what I am doing is really
about me and my own narrow/selfish interests, backgrounds and proclivities
as opposed to that which is necessary and needed under concrete conditions
and in association with concrete struggles?


Jim Craven


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