Re: [Marxism] Cuba: Restoration Drama (TIME magazine)

["Jesse Jack" <jjack99645@xxxxxxxxx>]

On 9/14/07, Walter Lippmann <walterlx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> (And those among us with a Marxist educational foundation, we
> would NEVER be seduced by the many goodies capitalism brings,
> but is one can transfer associated guilt by worrying about our
> tragically less-sophisticated cousins in faraway, warmer climes
> who would be more easily seduced than we [think we] would be.)
>

You're apparently being sarcastic, so if not, disregard this message, but do
you really think that its that far-fetched that people in socialist
countries would be seduced by capitalist trinkets?

I think that had a lot to do with the Soviet Union's collapse, that people
didn't understand fully how capitalism worked because they had never
experienced it. In Keeran and Kenny's book "Socialism Betrayed" they bring
up a good example, that a poll conducted in the USSR either during
Perestroika or shortly after the collapse (I forgot, and the copy of the
book I read was borrowed, so unfortunately I can't provide futher reference)
asked people whether they worried about their job security if the enterprise
they worked for were privatized. The majority of respondents replied that if
they lost their job they were confident that the state would find them a new
one! Obviously a lot of people didn't realize that in capitalism you aren't
guaranteed the right to a job and if you're unemployed its your own problem.

Is it condescending to think that our comrades in Cuba would fall into this
trap? I don't think so. I'm sure that many communists in the United States
have the opposite problem, that we idealize socialism. I'm sure that those
of us who have never been to Cuba might have some illusions about how
wonderful it is that might not be true. It is easy for a lot of us to forget
that their system has flaws that have to be overcome. I don't see why the
reverse wouldn't be true for them.

That being said, I definitely think that if the Cubans want to end the
blockade  that its pretty obvious that we should support them. I don't think
that we as Americans have a right to say that they need to be "insulated"
for their own good because we know better. I'm just saying that the rest of
the socialist world seems to have taken the forbidden fruit, so I don't
think it's terribly unreasonable that they might as well.

- Jesse
________________________________________________
YOU MUST clip all extraneous text before replying to a message.
Send list submissions to: Marxism@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism