Statist utopianism and the Cuban socialist transition
Masters thesis (awarded a High Distinction)
Contents
Abstract 3
Dedication 4
Acknowledgements 5
Introduction 6
Statist utopianism 9
Methods and limitations 12
Chapter 1: Statist utopianism 13
Utopianism and statist utopianism 15
Imposing communism 17
Capitalist vestiges 20
Transcendence and suppression 22
Binary exclusivity 29
Diagnosis 33
The state and statist utopianism 35
Soviet War Communism 37
Conclusions 41
Chapter 2: Cuba’s Revolutionary Offensive 42
Incentives and consciousness 43
The persuasion of force 47
Statist utopian ‘great leap forward’ 53
Conclusions 59
Chapter 3: Cuban state socialism 61
Pendulum bias and policy zigzags 62
Peculiarities of Cuban state socialism 70
Statist utopianism and Stalinism 75
Conclusions 81
Conclusions 83
References 87
_____________________________________________________________________________
Cuba's Socialist Renewal
By Marce Cameron. Published May 2010, 32 pages. Read online or download as a PDF.
Masters thesis (awarded a High Distinction)
 |
| View/download my thesis by clicking here |
Abstract 3
Dedication 4
Acknowledgements 5
Introduction 6
Statist utopianism 9
Methods and limitations 12
Chapter 1: Statist utopianism 13
Utopianism and statist utopianism 15
Imposing communism 17
Capitalist vestiges 20
Transcendence and suppression 22
Binary exclusivity 29
Diagnosis 33
The state and statist utopianism 35
Soviet War Communism 37
Conclusions 41
Chapter 2: Cuba’s Revolutionary Offensive 42
Incentives and consciousness 43
The persuasion of force 47
Statist utopian ‘great leap forward’ 53
Conclusions 59
Chapter 3: Cuban state socialism 61
Pendulum bias and policy zigzags 62
Peculiarities of Cuban state socialism 70
Statist utopianism and Stalinism 75
Conclusions 81
Conclusions 83
References 87
_____________________________________________________________________________
Cuba's Socialist Renewal
By Marce Cameron. Published May 2010, 32 pages. Read online or download as a PDF.
Contents
‘This revolution could destroy itself’
‘This revolution could destroy itself’
Radical renovation
Critical juncture
Currents of opinion
Storming heaven
Sovietisation
Rectification
Special Period
Vicious cycle
Gains of the Special Period
Venezuelan revolution
Youth
Post-Fidel era
Changes under Raul
Paternalism
Property, decentralisation and participation
Revolutionary optimism
_________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
Translated by Marce Cameron
This is just the text of the translation. It does not include my introductory comments on various chapters. You can read these on my blog, together with the corresponding chapter, beginning here.
Alternatively, click here to view all the instalments of the translation and my introductory comments sequentially.
The Spanish text is here.
_______________________________________________________________
Fidel and Raul: landmark speeches in recent years
Fidel: Havana University, November 17, 2005Fidel warns that the Revolution could destroy itself through its own errors and outlines his vision for a radical overhaul of Cuba's socialist model. In November 2010, he told students that the ideas he broached then are as relevant
as ever.
This official translation does not include Raul's numerous departures from the prepared script. I've translated key excerpts from his additional comments here.
Raul: Main Report to Sixth Communist Party Congress, April 2011
My translation of Raul's unpublished remarks during report
Raul: Closing speech to Sixth Communist Party Congress, April 2011
______________________________________________________________
Cuba: Continuity and political change
Carlos Alzugaray Treto is a Cuban writer, diplomat and professor, lecturing at Havana University and the Raul Roa Garcia Higher Institute of International Relations. With degrees in history and diplomacy, a master's degree in contemporary history and a doctorate in historical sciences, Alzugaray Treto is considered an expert on US-Cuba relations. He has had a long and impressive diplomatic career, serving as Cuba's ambassador to the European Union from 1994-6.
Cuba fifty years on: continuity and political change is a superb summary of the political and economic challenges facing the Cuban Revolution today. It was first published in Spanish in Cuba's Temas magazine. Here is my translation of this essay. Thanks to Norman Girvan from the University of the West Indies for compiling this illustrated PDF. You can also read the instalments on my blog here.
In November 2011, Temas editor Rafael Hernandez spoke at a forum on organised by the Inter-American Dialogue think-tank in Washington, DC. Here is his presentation, in English. Keep in mind his US audience. WATCH VIDEO
________________________________________________________
Luis Sexto's Progreso Weekly commentaries
Luis Sexto is one of Cuba's finest and most respected journalists. He writes about Cuba as he sees it with a rare combination of subtlety, lucidity, human warmth and a provocative, gritty realism that embraces Cuba’s contradictory reality.
In 2009 Sexto was the recipient of the Jose Martí National Journalism Award, Cuba's most prestigious. He is also a commentator, poet and Professor of Social Communication at Havana University.
He has a regular column, Coloquiando, (Spanish) in the Friday edition of the daily newspaper of Cuba's Union of Young Communists, Juventud Rebelde. His commentaries often spark lively online discussions and debates that Spanish readers can follow.
He also writes for Progreso Weekly, a pro-Revolution bilingual news and commentary site based in Miami, Florida and Havana, Cuba. There is an archive of Sexto's Progreso Weekly commentaries on Cuba in English (click "Show other articles for this author"). Here is my selection:
