[Marxism] Workers gain as Havana rethinks its ideological focus

[Walter Lippmann <walterlx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

(The idea that everyone in a poor, blockaded Third
World country should receive the same salary without
regard to their contribution to society, in volume
or intensity has caused Cuba many problems over the
years. Some people here in Cuba, and not a small
number, live off of money sent by friends of family
from abroad and often feel no inclination to give
back to a society which gives them innumerable and
free or virtually-free social services, from their
heavily-subsidized food to housing, education and
such services as transportation, phone services 
and so forth. This is now being turned around in
Cuba today. Rather slowly I might add. This is a
theme about which Raul Castro has been speaking out
quite forcefully since he became President, though
Fidel spoke about it prior to his decision not to
see re-election to key leadership posts, too.) 
====================================================

FINANCIAL TIMES
Workers gain as Havana rethinks its ideological focus

By Marc Frank

Published: January 9 2009 02:00 | Last updated: January 9 2009 02:00

Cuba is putting less emphasis on social spending and more on rewarding
individual workers and cutting gratuities as it moves away from decades-old
policies aimed at undermining individualism and promoting collectivism, even as
it marks the 50th anniversary of the revolution.

In a series of speeches and interviews dedicated to the anniversary on January
1, Raul Castro, the president, hammered away at the theme that workers did not
appreciate gratuities and should, therefore, receive higher wages instead.
Exceptions included free health, education and subsidised culture.

"It is well known that the vast majority of people do not appreciate a gratuity
or generally high subsidies of goods and services as part of the return for
their labour, for which they look only at wages," he told parliament in late
December.

Mr Castro announced that subsidised holidays at tourism resorts were being
abolished, along with 50 per cent of government travel abroad and other unnamed
gratuities.

Transport and utilities in Cuba are heavily subsidised, as are many workplace
rewards, even though money sent home by relatives abroad has long since
undermined income equality.

Cuba reports yearly per capita income, including gratuities and subsidies, as
$6,000 (ÃâÂ4,3800, ÃÂ4,000), although the average yearly wage is the 
equivalent
of just $240 at the official exchange rate.

An estimated 40 per cent of the population receives some money from abroad and
15 per cent of workers earn hard currency on their jobs.

Mr Castro has already lifted caps on wages and on what farmers may earn as the
country struggles with mounting deficits, low productivity and the need to
import some 70 per cent of the food it consumes.

He has also decentralised agriculture, leased vacant land to those interested in
tilling it, announced he will reorganise and downsize government and freed up
sales of computers, mobile phones and other consumer goods since taking over
from his ailing brother, Fidel, last February.

In an interview carried by the official media to mark the anniversary of the
revolution, Mr Castro said that wages should reflect the real value of one's
work and those who did not work should feel economic pressure to do so.

"If we do not take measures . . . we will not get out of the hole we are in, and
we are going to get out of it," the president said, without elaborating.

Many Cubans applaud the new policy, though they worry that wages will not rise
as quickly as gratuities disappear.

"Why, after working 24 years, is my ration the same as people who have never
worked?" said Nancy Artigas, a resident of Havana.

"What's more, their rights and benefits are the same as mine. That doesn't seem
fair, nor is it a way to get people to work."

Cuba's trade and budget deficits soared and its current account balance
deteriorated in 2008, despite a 4.3 per cent increase in gross domestic product.

The figures cast a cloud over the anniversary celebrations that wound up
yesterday.

The communist nation reported a foreign debt of $17.8bn in 2007. The US Economic
Commission on Latin America and the Caribbean said this grew by $1bn last year.

Over the last few years Havana has helped pay for its trade deficit through
revenue from tourism and service exports - mainly for health and education to
oil-rich Venezuela.

However, its regional ally is facing a dramatic drop in oil earnings.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009

=========================================
     WALTER LIPPMANN
     Havana, Cuba
     Editor-in-Chief, CubaNews
     http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/
     "Cuba - Un ParaÃso bajo el bloqueo"
=========================================

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