Myths of Castro’s Cuba: not Socialism, not bravery — just authoritarianism
With the death of the former leader of the Cuban Revolution, its paramount for all on the left to take a fight to the authoritarian leftism and to quash the myths of his supposed utopia in Cuba.
By Sam Shenton | 1st December 2016
The passing of former Cuban President and revolutionary, Fidel Castro, shook the world as the man that outlived countless assassination attempts by the CIA died on his own terms. Outside of the jokes about how he died when “America was destroyed” in relation to Donald Trump’s unexpected victory in the US Presidential election and the fact he died on ‘Black Friday,’ — arguably the most neo-capitalist day of the year — the death of Fidel Castro marks an important moment in both Cuban history and in global political history: and what it should mark is the burial of authoritarian brands of socialism by the far left and a cleansing of the left into a democratic movement, and not a movement to subvert the will of the people.
At the centre of socialism is, of course, the worker: the individual making up the collective effort of the working class. It’s what Marx focused on when he wrote his critique of capitalism and his theories on communist socio-political development; it’s what has formed the basis of the majority of leftist thought for generations and indeed is what has led the majority of the left to reject ‘nationalism’ as an evil of the right (although I would argue that socialism and nationalism can work together successfully, maybe another time?). Fidel Castro, like other socialist revolutionaries, may have placed the concept at the forefront of the Cuban revolution, but let’s remember what the proletariat, the workers are: they’re a collection of individuals. Nothing without each other, perhaps, but ultimately they’re individuals. That’s why social democracy —liberal, democratic socialism is so important.
Liberal, democratic socialism recognises both the importance of the collective and of the individual; it sees them as inseparable in that one cannot be without the other. I disagree with some of its policy outcomes and with its desire for, still, ever-more state control of utilities, but the social liberalism that is coupled to the ideas of Democratic Socialism are what is needed to make socialism function: a belief in power being sourced from the people (democracy) and their wishes being acted upon to the ‘benefit of all’ —a system of greater democratisation within government and within industry and other workers’ outlets, and not the systematic concentration of power to a handful of individuals, institutions or other bodies.
This concentration of power, in very basic terms, is what happened after socialist-inspired revolutions in Russia, in multiple states in Eastern Europe, and in Cuba under Fidel Castro. The regimes that they built claim to be socialist but survive through the very opposite of socialist practise. Despite promises, Castro never faced Election – a fundamental idea that lends power to choose who rules you to the people. If people do not consent, if popular opinion is not sought, is that really Socialism? Well, no. It’s autocracy under a different banner, concentrating power within one entity without the consent of the people that socialism is supposed to empower.
We can admire the systems of healthcare and education that the Cuban regime pioneered without interference; admiring the life expectancy that many would only expect in developed nations in the west. It’s true that we can look at this and learn from the systes the Cubans have initiated — but is it really a tool to defend a leader with? Is quality healthcare and education policy not able to be implemented in liberal democratic cultures in the west? It’s an odd situation when socialists defend a man who abused LGBT people, oppressed the population of Cuba with little civil liberties and forcing people to live in fear of terror from their own state on the basis of a decent healthcare policy, a decent university and a roughly-left-wing outlook on resisting the neo-liberalism of the United States.
That’s what all of the rose-tinted views of Fidel Castro’s Cuba probably comes down to: the United States. The USA is obviously not an innocent player in Cuba’s 60 years as a communist state, forcing economic sanctions under former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger’s famous doctrine: “we will simply not allow another state to go communist.” But, it is not some-how brave nor socialist to fight the United States and cut off your peoples’ access to wealth and liberal society, culture and the tools of business. It’s not socialist to stand up to the world super power and deny your peoples the right and access to travel, to experience and to emerge themselves in western culture.
What is socialist, what is brave, is to allow them to do so — and to allow them to return, proving that your system of socialism is superior. What is brave is not to tarnish your international credibility by shutting off from the United States and the World and clamping down on civil liberties, but to hold elections, to allow free travel. Why? Because that paints the image of legitimate actions — of a legitimate order and of a legitimate state and administration. Castro’s failure to provide that meant that his regime is defined not by socialist thought or by bravery or by any understanding of how to make his supposed socialist utopia function and survive, but by authoritarianism, and by anti- American ideology.
Fidel Castro’s death marks a turning point now. Now isn’t the time to look at Castro’s Cuba with rose-tinted glasses or to long for the Cuban education and healthcare system — however good they are — but to long for the liberation and democratisation of a state and a people that have been denied their voice in their own destiny for too long. US President Obama has led the way in softening relations with Cuba, and it is now up to President-elect Trump to continue this — but what will be brave and socially democratic will be to open up to the US, to open to the prospect of prosperity, and to open up to the people of Cuba, and not for the left to place Fidel Castro on a pedostal.
Follow me on Twitter: @SamDoesPolitics
