Translation: Guidelines debate 17, Social Policy

Here is Part 17 of my translation of the booklet Information on the results of the Debate on the Economic and Social Policy Guidelines for the Party and the Revolution, an explanatory document published together with the final version of the Guidelines adopted by the Cuban Communist Party (PCC) Congress in April.

The most controversial topic in the pre-Congress public debates was the proposal to eliminate the ration book system through which Cuba's socialist state distributes a monthly quota of highly subsidised basic consumer goods to all citizens. Nearly 55,000 opinions were expressed on this theme.

The format is as follows: number and text of the draft guideline, followed by the text and number of the corresponding guideline approved by the Communist Party Congress, followed by the drafting commission's explanation for the change. You'll find it easiest to read on my blog where the amended guidelines are in bold font.

Culture

151. Continue developing artistic education and creation, the capacity to appreciate art, the defense of Cuban identity and the conservation of cultural heritage, all of which must be achieved with the effective utilisation of the available resources.

Continue promoting the defense of Cuban identity, the conservation of the nation’s cultural heritage, artistic and literary creation and the capacity to appreciate art. Encourage reading, enrich the cultural life of the population and foster community outreach to satisfy spiritual needs and strengthen social values. (163) 

Improves the text and includes the promotion of reading, the enrichment of cultural life and community outreach as means to satisfy spiritual needs and strengthen social values. That related to the effective utilisation of resources is transferred to the current guideline 143. Given 1,635 opinions across the country and the Congress debates.

152. Generate news sources of income, evaluating all activities that may be able to be transferred from the budgeted sector to the enterprise system. (Incorporated into guideline 143)

153. Rationalise artistic instruction and the training of art teachers.

Continue boosting the quality and rigour of professional art instruction, and adjust graduations in the various specialities to the needs of the provinces and municipalities and those of the flagship national groups [e.g. Cuba’s national ballet company – translator’s note]. (164)

Highlights the importance of quality and rigour in the training of art instructors in correspondence with needs and eliminates the apparent contradiction with draft guideline 151. In response to 216 opinions nationwide.

Retirement pensions

154. Reduce the relative contribution of the state budget to the financing of retirement pensions, the costs of which will continue to rise due to the increase in the numbers of retirees, which makes it necessary to continue broadening the scope of state-sector employee contributions and the application of special payment regimes for contributions from the non-state sector. (Maintained as guideline 165)

Give special attention to studies and the implementation of strategies in all sectors to deal with the rapidly aging population. (Maintained as guideline 144)

Included in the general guidelines given its impact on society and the number of sectors and activities involved.

Employment and salaries

New guideline:

Facilitate the incorporation of working-age people who are capable of working into the workforce so that they can contribute to the objectives of society and satisfy their personal needs. (167)

Underscores the interests of the socialist state in ensuring that all those of working age who are capable of working are incorporated into the workforce, and the importance of this policy.

156. Ensure that wage policies guarantee that everyone is remunerated according to their work, and that this policy results in quality products and services.

Ensure that wage policies guarantee that everyone is remunerated according to their work; that this policy results in quality products and services; that it results in increased production and productivity; and that a real correspondence is established between wage incomes and the ability to satisfy the basic needs of workers and their families. (170)

Includes the necessity for work to result in increased production and productivity, and for wages to cover the basic needs of workers and their families. In response to 6,670 opinions nationwide.

157. Prioritise wage increases for jobs that generate convertible currency incomes or that allow for savings in convertible currency expenditure; the production of food and other indispensable consumer goods and the development of the investment process. Special attention must be given to stimulating the introduction of scientific advances and new production technologies on the basis of the real results obtained via their application.

Gradually increase wages and salaries, initially targeting activities of greater efficiency and workers whose labour is of particular economic or social importance. (171)

Redefines the priorities for the gradual application of wage increases. In response to 7,276 opinions nationwide.

Modify the structure of employment, reduce inflated payrolls and increase employment in the non-state sector. For this it will be necessary to:

158. Expand self-employment as an alternative form of employment that contributes to increasing the supply of goods and services. Establish a tax regime that ensures that the self-employed contribute according to their earnings.

Expand employment in the non-state sector as an alternative form of employment, on the basis of the new forms of the organisation of production and services that are to be established. (168)

Includes all forms of non-state management [of social property, such as cooperatives] as sources of employment and deletes the reference to taxes, since taxation is dealt with under Fiscal Policy.

159. Develop processes of workforce availability [a Cuban euphemism for termination of employment – translator’s note] based on the principle of demonstrated suitability [for retaining a position], contributing to the elimination of paternalistic methods. Stimulate the necessity to work and reduce economic spending and state budget expenditure.

Devise a nationwide process of workforce reorganisation that, based on the principle of demonstrated job suitability, contributes to the elimination of inflated payrolls and paternalistic practices in order to stimulate the necessity to work and reduce expenditure by economic entities and state budget outlays. (169)

Reformulated for a more integral approach to the reorganisation of the workforce and its aims.

160. Project the training of skilled workers in correspondence with current demand and the country’s development, for which it is necessary to correct the present imbalance in the training of top-level specialists, middle technicians and skilled workers.

Project the training of skilled workers in correspondence with current demand and the country’s development, for which it is necessary to correct the present imbalance in the training of top-level specialists, mid-level technicians and skilled workers. (172)

The term “middle technicians” is replaced by “mid-level technicians”.

Gratuities and subsidies

161. Strengthen the role of wages in society, for which it will be necessary to reduce undue gratuities and excessive personal subsidies, establishing compensation mechanisms for those who need it.  

Eliminate undue gratuities and excessive subsidies based on the principle of compensation for those who need it and subsidising people, rather than products, as a rule. (173)

That relating to incomes derived from work is added to the current guideline 141. The need to subsidise people rather than products is specified.

162. Implement the orderly elimination of the ration book [i.e. the egalitarian distribution of highly subsidised basic consumer goods], as a standardised and egalitarian form of distribution at subsidised prices, that benefits both citizens who need it and those that don’t, inducing people to barter and resell products, thus stimulating a black market.

Implement the orderly and gradual elimination of the ration book as a standardised and egalitarian form of distribution at subsidised prices. (174)

Adds the reference to the gradualness of the process of eliminating the ration book, which will be achieved by creating the conditions that ensure stability in the levels of production and supply of basic goods at non-subsidised prices that are affordable to all citizens. In response to 54,979 concerns throughout the country. The last part of the draft guideline is deleted in response to 925 opinions nationwide.

163. Maintain the provision of free meals in the sphere of social services in the health and education centres that require them. It is necessary to improve the means of protecting the vulnerable or at-risk population in terms of food security.

Maintain the provision of free meals in the sphere of social services, prioritising the health and education institutions that require them. Improve the means of protecting the vulnerable or at-risk population in terms of food security. (175)

Based on the Congress analysis, the wording is improved and the priority of health and educational institutions is established.

164. Maintain workplace dining halls where necessary, ensuring that they provide meals at non-subsidised prices. (Maintained as guideline 176)

165. Ensure that only people who really need it, because they are unable to work and cannot count on the support of their families, receive welfare. Eliminate benefits that can be assumed by welfare recipients themselves or their families, and adjust others that are currently provided in correspondence with the increases in benefit entitlements and pensions in recent years. At the same time, all social work must be integrated via a single coordinating centre. (Maintained as guideline 166)

Included in the guidelines on Employment and Salaries given its content.

Translation: Guidelines debate 16, Health/Sport

Here is Part 16 of my translation of the booklet Information on the results of the Debate on the Economic and Social Policy Guidelines for the Party and the Revolution, an explanatory document published together with the final version of the Guidelines adopted by the Cuban Communist Party (PCC) Congress in April.

The format is as follows: number and text of the draft guideline, followed by the text and number of the corresponding guideline approved by the Communist Party Congress, followed by the drafting commission's explanation for the change. You'll find it easiest to read on my blog where the amended guidelines are in bold font.

Health 

143. Improve the quality of service provided and promote savings, the efficient utilisation of resources and the elimination of unnecessary spending.

Improve the quality of service provided, satisfy the population and improve the working conditions and attention to health personnel. Ensure the efficient use of resources and the elimination of unnecessary spending. (154)

Improves the wording and incorporates that related to the satisfaction of the population, the improvement of working conditions and attention to health personnel. Given 16,600 opinions nationwide.

144. Reorganise health services on a regional and local basis and make efficient use of the available health technologies. Promote clinical diagnosis and use the equipment for complementary studies rationally, especially the most costly technologies. Consolidate and ensure compliance with the protocols for illnesses.

Reorganise, compact and regionalise health services on the basis of the needs of each province and municipality, including emergency wards and ambulance services. Ensure that the Health System itself provides every patient with the necessary care. (155)

Incorporates the necessary transformations, including ambulance services and emergency wards in the Health System, and that this system provides every patient with the care they need. Given 10,665 opinions nationwide. The reference to clinical diagnosis is included in the new guideline 156.

New guideline:

Consolidate the teaching and use of the clinical and epidemiological method and the study of the social environment in the approach to the health problems of the population, so that they contribute to the rational use of medical technologies for the diagnosis and treatment of illnesses. (156)

Incorporates the teaching and use of the clinical and epidemiological method and broadens that related to its use. Given 195 opinions in 14 provinces, those of three National Assembly of Peoples Power deputies and the Congress analysis.

145. Continue the use of educational spaces to discourage self-medication among the population, and implement other measures that contribute to the rational consumption of medications.

Continue the use of educational spaces to discourage self-medication among the population, and implement other measures that contribute to the rational use of medications. (157)

Changes “consumption” to “use” to make it more encompassing and incorporates rationality in the labelling of drugs. [The latter reference to drug labelling does not appear in the amended guideline, pointing to an error in the editing process – translator’s note].

146. Give maximum attention to the development of natural and traditional medicine. (Maintained as guideline 158)

147. Boost activities aimed at promotion and prevention that reduce or avoid the appearance of non-transmissible chronic illnesses and their consequences.

Boost health activities aimed at promotion and prevention to improve lifestyles with cross-sectoral and community participation, to contribute to a healthier population. (159)

Broadens the scope of the guideline. In response to 311 opinions nationwide, those of two National Assembly deputies as well as the Congress analysis.

148. Adjust careers in medical specialties, above all in health technologies, to the needs of the country.

Ensure that the training of medical specialists accords with the needs of the country and those that flow from international commitments. (160)

Modified, given that undergraduate training is taken up in the amended guideline 150 which specifies that the training of medical specialists must correspond with the country’s needs. Given 937 opinions nationwide.

Sports

The encouragement and promotion of physical culture and sports in all their manifestations will be prioritised, as means to educate the population and promote the integral development of the citizens.

149. Focus attention on mass participation in sports and physical activity, through the reorganisation of the sports system and the restructuring of its network of sports centres.

Prioritise the encouragement and promotion of physical culture and sports in all their manifestations as means to improve the quality of life, educate the population and promote the integral development of the citizens. For this it will be necessary to focus attention on mass participation in sports and physical activity through the reorganisation of the sports system and the restructuring of its network of sports centres. (161)

Includes themes that appear in the introduction to the guidelines on sports and specifies their contribution to the quality of life. In response to 918 opinions nationwide.

150. Boost quality in the training of athletes and athletics teachers, as well as in the organisation of events and competitions where spending must be rational.

Boost quality and rigour in the training of athletes and athletics teachers, as well as in the organisation of events and competitions where spending must be rational. (162)

Incorporates “rigour” in the training of athletes and teachers and in their participation in national and international events, as proposed by two National Assembly deputies and the Congress analysis.

With regard to sports-people and trainers being hired outside Cuba [as individuals rather than as part of solidarity cooperation agreements – translator’s note], diverse proposals were received on its inclusion or otherwise in the Guidelines. This is a matter that will continue to be studied. There were 3,109 opinions expressed throughout the country.

Translation: Guidelines debate 15, Education

Here is Part 15 of my translation of the booklet Information on the results of the Debate on the Economic and Social Policy Guidelines for the Party and the Revolution, an explanatory document published together with the final version of the Guidelines adopted by the Cuban Communist Party (PCC) Congress in April.

The format is as follows: number and text of the draft guideline, followed by the text and number of the corresponding guideline approved by the Communist Party Congress, followed by the drafting commission's explanation for the change. You'll find it easiest to read on my blog where the amended guidelines are in bold font.

Social Policy

General Guidelines

129. Continue preserving the gains of the Revolution, such as access to medical attention, education, culture, sport, recreation, pensions and social security for those who need it.

Continue preserving the social achievements of the Revolution, such as access to medical attention, education, culture, sports, recreation, the peace and security of the neighbourhoods, pensions, and social security for those who need it. (140)

Reworded to include “peace and security” given 1,167 opinions nationwide.

130. Reassert the role of work as the fundamental means of contributing to social development and the satisfaction of personal and family needs.

Reassert the role of work, and income derived from work, as the fundamental means of contributing to social development and the satisfaction of personal and family needs. (141)

Adds the reference to incomes derived from work in response to 3,190 opinions nationwide.

131. Ensure a systematic and sustained improvement in the quality of the services provided to the population, and the redesign of current policies, in line with economic possibilities. (Maintained as guideline 142) 

132. Continue improving education, health and sports, for which it will be necessary to reduce or eliminate excessive spending in the sphere of social services. 

Continue improving education, health, culture and sports, for which it will be necessary to reduce or eliminate excessive spending in the sphere of social services, as well as generating new sources of income and evaluating activities that can be transferred from the budgeted sector to the state enterprise system. (143) 

Incorporates the need to “generate new sources of income” and the possibility that budgeted activities may be transferred to the state enterprise system. In response to 1,607 opinions nationwide.

Education. In preschool, primary and mid-level education, work towards:

Education

Eliminates the subdivision into preschool, primary, mid-level and tertiary education because the proposed guidelines are valid for all education levels.

133. Continue advancing in raising the quality and rigour of the teacher training process and achieve a better utilisation of the existing capacity, through the establishment of mixed training centres to ensure teacher training at the various levels of education, according to necessities. This implies streamlining training centres and achieving a better utilisation of the workforce.

Continue advancing in raising the quality and rigour of the teacher training and educative process. Prioritise permanent improvement, teacher encouragement of and attention to pupils, and the role of the family in the education of children and youth. Achieve a better utilisation of the workforce and of existing capacities. (145)

Adds teacher improvement, encouragement and attention to pupils and the role of the family in the education of children and youth. Given 13, 126 opinions nationwide and the Congress analysis. The reference to mixed teacher training centres is an aspect of the reorganisation of the school network that is taken up in draft guideline 148.

134. Train the teaching personnel needed in each region to meet the needs of the educational centres of the different teaching levels.

Train, with quality and rigour, the teaching personnel needed in each province and municipality by the educational centres of the different teaching levels. (146)

Includes the need to boost the quality and rigour of the the teacher training process. Given 4,294 opinions nationwide.

135. Strengthen the role of the teacher in the classroom, and ensure that the audiovisual materials and equipment that complement the educational efforts of the teacher are used rationally.

Strengthen the role of the teacher in contact with the students and ensure that the audiovisual materials and equipment are complementary to the educational efforts of the teacher, and ensure their rational use. (147)

Improves the wording and substitutes “student” for “classroom”. Given 2,708 opinions nationwide and the Congress analysis.

136. Gradually reorganise the school network to maintain, in mid-level and high school, the indispensable minimum number of boarding students and reduce costs for the provision of transport, food and lodging. 

Gradually reorganise the school network. Maintain, in mid-level and high school, the indispensable minimum number of boarding students and reduce costs for the provision of transport, food and lodging. (148)

Separates the idea of reorganising the school network so that it applies to all educational levels.
137. Adjust the levels of activity in primary education, taking into account the demographic situation [i.e. an aging population – translator’s note]. 

Adjust the capacity of the school network and the numbers of teaching personnel in primary education, in correspondence with economic and socio-demographic development and where students live. (149) 

Modified in response to the 233 doubts raised nationwide about what it means to adjust levels of activity, and to incorporate “economic and socio-demographic” developments and “where student live”. In response to 1, 245 opinions nationwide and the Congress analysis.

138. The numbers of graduates in the various careers will correspond to the needs of economic and social development.

Ensure that the numbers of graduates in the various fields and careers correspond to the needs of economic and social development. Ensure that the vocational training and careers counselling that begins in primary school, in collaboration with productive and services entities and with the participation of the child’s family, promotes recognition of the work of mid-level technicians and qualified workers. (150)

The guideline is extended to cover all education and incorporates that related to vocational training, careers counselling, the role of economic entities and the family, as well as the recognition of mid-level technicians and qualified workers. Given 3,125 opinions nationwide and those of six National Assembly of Peoples Power deputies.

139. Boost the rigour and effectiveness of the educative process to increase the efficiency of the cycle (graduates as a percentage of high school matriculations five years prior).

Boost the rigour and effectiveness of the teacher training/educative process to increase the efficiency of the cycle (graduates as a percentage of high school matriculations at the beginning of the cycle). (151)

Substitutes “five years before” for “at the beginning of the cycle” to cover all levels of education.

140. Change the structure of training for pedagogical careers to increase to 50% mid-level teacher training and proportionally reduce the numbers of high school teacher trainees. (Incorporated into guidelines 146 and 150)

Incorporated in response to 124 opinions in 13 provinces and the Isle of Youth.

141. Update the university training and research programs regarding new technologies, and increase graduations for related technological and basic sciences careers.

Update the university training and research programs in line with the needs of the country’s economic and social development and with new technologies, and increase graduations for related careers in agriculture, teaching, technologies and basic sciences. (152) 

Incorporates the need to achieve a better link with the productive sector, given 70 opinions in 11 provinces. Includes, given its importance, increasing the numbers of graduates for agricultural and pedagogical careers. 

142. Ensure that the conditions created to enable workers to be able to study are based on the principle that such study must take place in the worker’s free time and on their own personal initiative. 

Specify that the conditions created to enable workers to be able to study are based on the principle that such study must take place in the worker’s free time and on their own personal initiative, except in special cases in the interests of the state. (153) 

Given the analysis at the Congress, it is specified that there may be workers whose incorporation into studies needs to be treated differently.

Comment: Raul Castro's National Assembly speech

Raul Castro gave a brief closing speech to the National Assembly on August 1. Earlier, the Assembly had voted unanimously to approve the Economic and Social Policy Guidelines for the Party and the Revolution, on the recommendation of the Sixth Communist Party Congress in April. 

This means that the Guidelines are now state policy. In his speech, Raul said that a special National Assembly commission has been established to "oversee the process of updating the economic model" and that one of its tasks would be to "draft the integral theoretical conceptualisation of the Cuban socialist economy", which "will require much time and effort".

The Guidelines are not a theoretical document but a practical one. While there are references to key principles, such as the socialist distribution formula "to each according to their work" and not allowing the concentration of productive property ownership, there is no coherent theoretical framework and no discussion of the historical experiences and lessons that underpin the Guidelines. 

Presumably, this is because the PCC leadership felt that the most important thing was to strive for consensus on what needs to be done, on a set of tasks and objectives that chart a course towards a new Cuban socialist-oriented economic model, and that an overly theoretical document may well have muddied the waters rather than served clarity at this stage. In the unfolding of the renovation process, the sequencing and timing of the revolutionary leadership's initiatives, including those related to consensus-building, are paramount.  

On the other hand, the PCC leadership has not ignored the theoretical and historical questions involved. Raul took up some of these issues in the main report to the Sixth PCC Congress in April, as well as in other speeches. Neither have the theoretical issues and historical lessons been absent from the public debate, as can be appreciated from the translations of commentaries published on this blog. Yet an "integral theoretical conceptualisation", as Raul puts it, is still a pending task. 

There are several reasons why such a document is needed. 

For Cuba's revolutionaries, it would further the process of striving for clarity and consensus on the broad outlines of the new model that is beginning to emerge. By drawing on the theoretical and practical legacy of revolutionary Cuba's own rich experience of building socialism over the past five decades, as well as those of other socialist revolutions past and present, it could help safeguard the renewal process from the danger, inherent in allowing greater scope for market mechanisms, of a pragmatic drift in the direction of capitalist restoration. It would arm Cuba's revolutionaries ideologically in the face of such pressures. 

At the same time, a clear theoretical justification for the renovation process could also help guard against the opposite tendency, that is, for the renovation process to lose momentum because of unjustified fears, cynically exploited by those in the administrative apparatus that want to preserve their fiefdoms and illicit privileges derived from corruption, that any concessions to the market imply the abandonment of "socialism".

In his August 1 speech, Raul had this blunt message for such officials: "We shall be patient but also persevering in the face of resistance to change, whether conscious or unconscious. I warn you that bureaucratic resistance to the strict fulfilment of the Congress decisions, which have the massive support of the people, is futile."

Finally, such a document would be part of the legacy of the historicos, Fidel's and Raul's generation of revolutionaries, to the newer generations of revolutionaries who will have to carry through the renovation process and put their own stamp on it. It would also be of great value, and no doubt of great interest, to revolutionary socialists internationally, as well as to the Cuba solidarity movement.

Yet the need for theoretical clarification is far from the most pressing challenge confronting the renovation process. As Raul stressed on August 1: "The greatest obstacle which we face in terms of implementing the decisions of the Sixth Congress is the psychological barrier created by inertia, resistance to change, pretence or double standards, indifference and insensitivity, a barrier which we are obliged to surmount with constancy and firmness, starting with Party, state and government leaders in the various national, provincial and municipal bodies."

He concluded that "without a change of mentality, we will be incapable of carrying out the changes needed to guarantee the sustainability or, what amounts to the same thing, the irrevocability of the socialist character of the political and social system enshrined in the Constitution of the Republic." 

Key to this change in mentality is respect for differences of opinion: "All opinions must be discussed and when a consensus is not reached, the differences will be raised before higher bodies authorised to make decisions. Knowing Cubans and given its importance, I repeat: all opinions must be discussed and when consensus is not reached, the differences will be raised before higher bodies authorized to make decisions and, moreover, nobody is entitled to prevent this."

An official translation of Raul's August 1 speech is here. It's a short speech that's well worth reading in full.