[Marxism] Cuba and her Permanent Revolution

[Walter Lippmann <walterlx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Cuba and her Permanent Revolution 
By Carol Cossitore 
Prensa Latina

...with apologies to Trotsky, Bukharin, Marx, et.al 

This essay is not a refitting of Trotskyist theories to the Cuban revolution; 
first, because they donât fit and second, because the author is not a 
theorist, Marxist, Trotskyist, or any other kind. 

What this essay is, from the point of view of a person who has lived there for 
the past eight years, is a clarification of what real revolution should be and 
an ode to the continuous revolutionary changes that have always and are still 
taking place on the Island by the people of Cuba, led by that brilliant Grand 
Old Man of Revolution Fidel Castro Ruz. 

Revolution, first and secondary dictionary definitions notwithstanding, is 
momentous and positive sweeping changes, shakeups, and transitions that 
continue, rather than one single complete movement or a turning round and round 
on an axis. That at least is how even my littlest granddaughters understand the 
concept. 

All progressives acknowledge the great transformations made in the early years 
following the 1959 triumph of the Revolution: land reform, nationalization of 
public utilities, elimination of gambling, drugs and the American Mafia, and 
the landmark literacy campaign. 

Even US progressives still give high marks to Cubaâs exceptional free health 
care and education for all Cuban citizens, including university education, from 
infancy through old age. Perhaps they donât fully grasp the real significance 
of this in the world, but they take note nonetheless. 

What US leftists donât get, and the peoples of Latin America and the Third 
World do, is that the people of Cuba have continued their revolution. Cuba is 
not a historic Soviet-style fossil, preserved like the 50s American cars on the 
road here, but a most praiseworthy and human-centered revolution-in-progress. 

Cuban life expectancy âit is 50th in the world compared to the US 53rd â 
did not come overnight on January 1, 1959. It comes through continuous 
upgrading, funding and prioritizing the physical quality of life of ordinary 
people. This permanent revolution in medical care has been, and is being, 
gradually and steadfastly and generously shared with many other countries 
around the globe. 

Nor did every Cuban classroom with a TV, every school with computers, no more 
than 20 students per teacher in elementary classrooms and 15, yes 15, per 
teacher in junior highs, -a source of envy to most US public school teachers- 
happen with a single blow. These advances, and the spread of university centers 
to every province, are happening through continuous revolutionary struggle. 

While scientists from several Western nations are clamoring for a crash program 
on the scale of the Manhattan Project to urgently develop clean energy, and 
every nation is at least giving lip service to the dire need for energy 
conservation, little Third World blockaded Cuba is getting something done about 
it. 

Termed the âenergy revolutionâ, Cuba has embarked on serious energy saving 
that includes, but is not limited to, TV and billboard reminders to turn off 
lights when you leave the room, free exchange of incandescent for long life 
light bulbs, and mass distribution of electric rice cookers and even electric 
pressure cookers to save gas energy. 

This article is not about highlighting raising the cultural level of all the 
people, or guaranteed nutrition for everyone with free snacks and lunches in 
schools, or reforestation, or the struggles against corruption, or learning 
about and experiencing democracy at the neighborhood level, or protection of 
the marine environment or well, many, many, many of the other Cuban endeavors 
underway. 

It is simply a reminder that Cubansâ choices should be protected, not solely 
for their sovereign right to make them or because they were ground breakers in 
bygone days, but because Cubans are engaged in the daily struggle of permanent 
revolution and an example for us all. 

Hasta La Victoria Siempre



http://www.plenglish.com.mx/article.asp?ID={FF33D287-B4AD-45AD-B29D-9FE01B76A379}&language=EN
 

[undated, but downloaded October 9, 2006]






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