By Miguel Angel Hernandez *
Cuba and the Sixth Congress of the PCC −The Cuban CP follows the footsteps of the Chinese bureaucracy
The Sixth Congress of Cuban Communist Party (PCC, for its Spanish initials) closed by ratifying the recent capitalist adjustment and market measures (layoffs, higher taxes and the end of subsidized food ) which were already being implemented in Cuba under the false slogan of “preserving Cuba’s socialist model.” As in the case of China, the PCC bureaucracy is consolidated as a restorative agent of capitalism in Cuba. This is the sad reality.
This argument [being used by the PCC] of “updating the socialist model” is similar to the rhetorical mechanism being used by the Chavez government which applies an policy against workers and the people under the basis that [Venezuela] “is undergoing XXI Century Socialism. “
The Sixth Congress of the PCC ratified [laws that open up the country] to foreign investment, joint ventures; the Congress also ratified the decision to move forward on legislation to allow an open capitalist market by legalizing the sale of automobiles and real estate which until now was only for foreigners.
On the other hand, the Congress backed the ongoing adjustment against the Cuban people. Among the measures ratified were the dismissal of half a million workers and the liquidation of ration card, an old gain of the Cuban people which although reduced to its minimum expression (it only covers 12 days each month) helped more than half of the population to alleviate the misery that people live under with wages ranging from $10 to $15 average while the bureaucracy of the PCC and the new rich earn privileged salaries. Precisely, the 1,000 delegates who attended the Congress did not approve an increase in wages according to the Cuban family food basket.
With regards to the truth about the “new guidelines” voted in Havana the Cuban economist Omar Everleny Perez–who is fingered as the godfather of the economic reform– gives a stark picture of it : “Of course, there are people who will lose as a result of the reforms . Of course, some people are going to be unemployed. Of course, inequalities will increase. “He continues by saying that, “These disparities exist, what we have today is false egalitarianism. What is at stake is who really deserves to be on top “(Le Monde Diplomatique, No. 142, April 2011).
The Congress delegates did not even debate –and vote– on the rights of workers, youth and people to protest strike and form either a union or a student center independent of the government and the PCC. Delegates used words like “self-criticism” and “renewal†during the Congress while ratifying the repressive one-party regime.
The Congress was closed with the presence of Fidel Castro to reaffirm his full support to the resolutions of the Sixth Congress.
As revolutionary socialists, who have always defended the socialist gains of the Cuban Revolution and who have been repudiating the imperialist [economic] embargo; and who have always fought against the bureaucracy of the PCC and its policies; we can not fail to denounce the reality of what happens in Cuba and the meaning of the Sixth Congress of the PCC. We express our solidarity with the workers, youth and the Cuban people who will face this brutal adjustment, an attack on them given their already difficult social situation. Additionally, we encourage them to fight against capitalist restoration implemented by the PCC regime and to return to the old socialist gains while fighting for the end of single-party regime that is restoring capitalism and the right for workers and the people to protest, express themselves without censorship, strike and form unions, student organizations and win political freedom. The fight for real socialism with democracy for the workers, the youth and the Cuban people is on the agenda in Cuba.
* The author is Secretary General of the Socialist Left Unity (USI)-Venezuela
Source:Laclase.info
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