Re: [Marxism] Marxism Digest, Vol 46, Issue 56

["Richard Fidler" <rfidler_8@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

" What did Che say about this suppression?" asks Carl Webb.

For what it's worth, here is Gary Tennant's account (Revolutionary History,
Vol. 7, No. 3, pages 185-187. Text below taken from on-line version of
Tennant's PhD thesis, which differs slightly from the RH version, although
not substantially:

However, as the PSP consolidated its influence within the institutions of
the Revolutionary Government in 1961, repression against the Trotskyists
gained momentum. It also took on a more co-ordinated aspect with the
heightening of political tension in Cuba when state power was directly
threatened by the United States. In the first instance, the attempted
invasion at Playa Girón in April 1961 served as a catalyst for the first
round of systematic repression against the Trotskyists. In the weeks
following the victory of the Revolutionary Government over the U.S.
government-trained invasion force, the moves against the Trotskyists began
with the seizure of issue number ten of the POR(T)'s newspaper Voz
Proletaria. As a symbol of their commitment to the struggle for the right of
proletarian democracy within the Revolution, between April 1960 and April
1961 the Trotskyists had produced eight editions of the newspaper Voz
Proletaria in addition to a number of pamphlets.(29) The newspapers
furthermore appeared with the name of the editors and the POR(T)'s public
address, first José Medina and Luciano García in Guantánamo, and then
Idalberto Ferrera Ramírez at Monte 12 in Havana, openly cited. Voz
Proletaria's existence was also made known to the revolutionary leadership
through the direct means of posting copies to the offices of Che Guevara and
Fidel Castro.(30) However, on 26 May 1961, before the May issue could be
distributed, a group acting on behalf of an official of the PSP-controlled
Imprenta Nacional, the National Printing Office, confiscated the entire
print-run of the newspaper at the private printing works where it was being
prepared. Later that same day, PSP state functionaries acting on orders from
the Ministry of Labour confiscated the printing plates of an edition of
Trotsky's book, The Permanent Revolution.(31) 

While the order, apparently signed by the Minister of Labour himself,
authorised the seizure of the POR(T)'s publications on the grounds that they
constituted "counter-revolutionary propaganda",(32) the reasons for the
intervention appear to be connected with the rise of pro-Moscow influence in
the Revolution. As the Trotskyists themselves suggested, the actions against
their publications had the approval of various officials of the
Revolutionary Government precisely because in recent months PSP cadres had
consolidated their positions in the state apparatus, particularly in the
trade unions and large sections of the media. This process, the POR(T)
correctly observed, had been facilitated by the Cuban government's
increasing need for Soviet aid and trade in the face of economic
dislocation.(33) The clamp-down had also been given the green light after
Guevara sharply criticised the April 1961 edition of Voz Proletaria on
national television. The particular article in question argued that the
Technical Advisory Councils set up in the workplaces ostensibly to give the
workers control over the production process in individual units had a
bureaucratic character.(34) While there is no suggestion that Guevara
himself personally sanctioned the seizure of the POR(T)'s press, in these
early years of the Revolution he had nevertheless publicly signalled the
Revolutionary Leadership's perception of Trotskyism as a
counter-revolutionary force.(35) 

The POR(T) immediately presented a series of protests to the Revolutionary
Government, demanding democratic rights of freedom of press for all
revolutionary anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist tendencies which
unconditionally defended the Cuban Workers' State. However, all of these
went unanswered at the time.(36) Only Guevara in response to direct
questioning from foreign journalists and academics attempted to justify the
suppression of the POR(T)'s press on the grounds that the Trotskyists did
not have paper or permission to use paper and that they hindered the
development of the Revolution. He even went so far as to suggest that the
proximity of the POR(T)'s Guantánamo branch to the U.S. Naval Base might not
be a casual coincidence.(37) In a later interview in September 1961, though,
Guevara did concede that it had been error to smash the printing plates of
Trotsky's The Permanent Revolution. However, he again reflected the general
attitude of the PSP in reiterating that the POR(T) was acting against the
Revolution. He repeated the accusation that the Trotskyists had effectively
acted as provocateurs by agitating for the Cuban people to march on the U.S.
Naval Base in Guantánamo. He also confirmed his affinity with the PSP by
asserting that because the communist party and the revolution marched
together "[y]ou cannot be for the revolution and be against the Cuban
Communist Party."(38) 

Full: http://www.cubantrotskyism.net/PhD/chap7.html

U.S. Trotskyist leader Joseph Hansen commented on this incident:

On one occasion, Guevara attacked the newspaper of the Cuban Trotskyists
over TV. News of this attack was quickly disseminated, since there are many
forces, including Stalinist-minded, who are interested in driving a wedge
between the Cuban revolution and Trotskyism. Only months later did we learn
accidentally that on TV, the very next night after this episode, Guevara
apologized to the "Trotskyist comrades" for the misrepresentation of their
views and said that he had been mistaken in his interpretation of what they
had said. Even at Punta del Este, Guevara met with leading representatives
of the Posadas group, and they gave banner lines to this interview, paying
no attention to the alleged attack on them, as if this were inconsequential
or had been garbled by the reporter who included it in his dispatch.
Experiences of this kind taught us quite early in the Cuban revolution how
cautiously any reports in this area must be handled.

-- Hansen, Dynamics of the Cuban Revolution: The Trotskyist View [in later
editions, "... A Trotskyist View"], p. 161n2.

Richard


-----Original Message-----
From: marxism-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:marxism-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Carl Webb
Sent: August 24, 2007 2:56 PM
To: marxism@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Cc: jorge@xxxxxxxxxxx; dave.walters@xxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [Marxism] Marxism Digest, Vol 46, Issue 56

The article states "When Cuba entered the Soviet camp Soviet advisers
forced the government to arrest and imprison the Cuban Trotskyists,
and in jail they created branches to support Castro and the Cuban
Revolution. This history demonstrates that Trotskyism is the genuine
tradition of working class struggle that the Cuban Communist Party of
Julio Antonio Mella was set up to defend, and did defend before the
influence of Stalinism ruined the CP."

So since the influence of Stalinism ruined the Cuban Communist Party
would not the very same influence likewise affect the Castro regime?
Or are you implying the Fidel was a follower of Leon Trotsky?  And
this is inspite of the fact, as the article points out, that Cuban
Trotskyists were suppressed by Castro?  What did Che say about this
suppression.


Carl Webb

On 8/24/07, marxism-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Message: 20
> Date: Fri, 24 Aug 2007 09:35:35 +0100
> From: "Jorge Martin" <jorge@xxxxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: Re: [Marxism] Caracas discusses Leon Trotsky
>
> and here is a report of the actual meeting:
>
> http://www.marxist.com/trotsky-official-meeting-caracas.htm
>
> Official meeting in Caracas commemorates Trotsky's anniversary
> By Tom Rollings
> Wednesday, 22 August 2007
> The commemoration meeting in memory of Leon Trotsky was an outstanding
> success. 300 people gathered in the Jose Felix Rivas hall of the Teresa
> Carre?o Theatre in Caracas to hear the first ever public event organised
by
> a government ministry on the life of Leon Trotsky. Amongst the speakers
were
> Trotsky's grandson Esteban Volkov, Cuban communist Celia Hart, Cuban
veteran
> Trotskyist Ydalberto Ferrera and Peruvian Trotskyist Ricardo Napur?.
>
> comradely
>
> Jorge

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