RE: [Marxism] It's those damn petty-bourgeois at it again!

["Callum McCormick" <kingcal78@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

> No, I understand exactly what you said, especially since I have been
> hearing one version or another of it for the past 12 years on the Internet.
> But let me repeat. The idea that "welfare state capitalism" can exist in
> Latin America or Central America violates fundamental principles of
> historical materialism. Only a proletarian revolution such as the kind that
> took place in Cuba can result in the following:

Of course the Americans did try to subvert the nascent state capitalist
regime, and the only reason they failed was because Cuba had support from
the Soviet Union - that is, without Krushchev's support, Castro's regime
would have went the way of Allende's in the end. That's one of the reasons
why Allende failed, because he thought he could build up a reasonable
socialist alteranaitve, independent of the Imperialist states (the USSR, the
USA). The only reason Cuba could build up their state capitalism was because
they accepted the USSR's support. This, of course, was one of the reasons
the Beard "realised" his revolution was socialist AFTER THE FACT.  Indeed,
he spend the first few months trying to reassure American capital.

In any case, the only rreason the Cuban economy survived the collapse of the
USSR is because they took some steps to 'intergrate' themselves into the
world market - specifically to find new buyers for their sugar, now that the
Soviets weren't buying mountains of the stuff, and other 'liberalizations'.
Of course, Castro periodically announces 'crackdowns' on individuals he
views as exploiting these new 'special' circumstances - thus 'reassuring'
comrades like this that he is still a true believer.



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