Translation: Guidelines debate 1, Introduction

Information on the results of the Debate on the Economic and Social Policy Guidelines for the Party and the Revolution

Translation: Marce Cameron

Introduction

With the aim of providing more information, this document summarises the analysis made of every Guideline taking into consideration the opinions of the population and other sources, such as consultations with the corresponding entities and the final results of the analysis carried out during the Cuban Communist Party (PCC) Sixth Congress. It has been organised into three columns as follows: 

      1.The number and wording of the original Guideline in the draft document published on November 9, 2010 and discussed by the population;

      2. The wording approved by the Sixth Congress and the updated paragraph number of the Guideline;

      3. The basic motivation for the changes to those guidelines that were modified, briefly noting the source of the proposals which led to the changes. 

Where the sources of the changes are not noted, the changes were proposed during the preparatory process for the Congress or during the Congress itself by the working groups and Commissions created for this purpose.

Where the original wording was not changed, the word “maintained” appears in the second column and the updated paragraph number is noted. In such guidelines there is no motivation for changes in the third column.

When one guideline has been incorporated into another, the word “incorporated” appears in the second column along with the paragraph number of the Guideline into which it has been incorporated.

Process

The Economic and Social Policy Guidelines for the Party and the Revolution presented here  are the result of a three-stage discussion process:

• Discussion of the Draft Guidelines by the people as a whole from December 2010 to February 2011. This stage included the discussion in the Sixth Ordinary Period of Sessions of the Seventh Legislature of the National Assembly of People’s Power from December 15-18, 2010.

• Discussion in every province by the delegates and guests invited to the Sixth PCC Congress from April 8-10, 2011. Prior to this they were discussed, on March 19-20, in a joint meeting of the PCC Political Bureau and the Executive Committee of the Council of Ministers, with the participation of the secretariat of the PCC Central Committee, the leadership of the Cuban Trade Union Confederation and other mass organisations and the Union of Young Communists.

• Discussion by the Commissions during the Sixth PCC Congress, April 17-18.

First stage: Discussion of the Draft Guidelines by the people as a whole  

The initial 291 guidelines were analysed in 163,079 meetings with 8,913,838 participants; this figure includes those that attended both the meetings of their base committees, such as in their work or study centres, and their neighbourhood metings. A total of 3,019,471 interventions were made which are grouped into 781,644 opinions. More than 395,000 opinions were accepted or included in the reformulation of the Guidelines. Some 210,000 related to the implementation of the Guidelines; more than 65,000 expressed doubts or concerns that will be clarified through the media; a further 62,000 opinions referred to themes that were already taken up in the Guidelines; and around 50,000 were not accepted or will continue to be studied in subsequent stages.

The opinions and proposals put forward by the people were analysed in detail, with the following results:     

Totals

Draft guidelines: 291

Unchanged: 94 (32%)

Modified or incorporated with others: 197 (68%)

Modified: 181 (62%)

Incorporated with others: 16 (6%)

New guidelines: 36

Total number of guidelines resulting from this stage: 311

Second stage: Discussion in the provinces by Congress delegates and guests

The analysis of the first stage and the resulting 311 guidelines were sent to each province to be discussed by the delegates and guests invited to the Sixth PCC Congress. Organised into five commissions, 978 delegates and 216 guests participated in these discussions.

In the analysis carried out by the provincial delegations the reformulations, changes and additions made to the 291 draft guidelines as a result of the proposals made by the population in the first stage were assessed as positive. The PCC provincial plenary sessions approved the presentation to the Congress of 257 proposals regarding 146 Guidelines (57% of the total).  

Third stage: Discussion by the Commissions during the Congress

In the five Commissions, 986 delegates and 97 invited guests participated and 86 guidelines, 28% of the total, were modified. Two additional guidelines were also approved, creating a new total of 313 guidelines. The proposals made in the cCommissions were consistent with the results of the popular consultation and reaffirmed the political content of the Guidelines.

Conclusions

As can be appreciated, the Guidelines submitted for approval by the plenary session of the Congress were the object of profound analysis in three stages beginning in December 2010, and were modified on the basis of the 781,644 proposals put forward during the first stage, as well as those added by the provincial PCC delegations and the Congress commissions. This demonstrates that the Economic and Social Policy Guidelines are an expression of the popular will embodied in the policies of the PCC, the state and the government of the Republic of Cuba.