Castro's Brand of Communism
McCLATCHY, C. K.
CUBA REVISITED Castro's Brand of Communism by C. K. MeCLATCHY The author, associate editor of The Sacramento Bee, recently revisited Cuba where he covered the July 26th revolutionary...
...The Vatican has appointed a young and intelligent man as a delegate to Cuba, Monsignor Zacchi, who has understood perfectly the social change we have developed in this country," he said...
...Whatever may be the motivation of Castro in indoctrinating this idea among his people now, it is a fact Cuba at this moment is mobilized emotionally and psychologically to face an invasion...
...McClatchy was formerly on the staff of The Washington Post and in the Washington News Bureau of the American Broadcasting Company...
...It is inevitable that a moment will come when the United States will feel it must destroy the revolutionary example...
...While it is true some aspects of the training may be spotty, in most cases the students now graduating would never have had a chance of going to the university in the old days...
...Sugar, however, remains the mainstay of the economy...
...Lieutenant Roger Rodriquiez, in charge of a platoon of soldiers transplanting grapefruit trees at El Abra, an experimental farm on the Isle of Pines, said he hopes the United States will not attack, that he does not hate Americans, just their governmental system, but he knows conflict is coming some day and the Army is-prepared...
...Almost everything has been nationalized except small private farms and a few shops offering special services...
...The Cuban economy would collapse if it did not have the generous long-term credits Russia has granted for essential trade, such as crude oil...
...Cuba's Real Power Is The Force of Her Example The first meeting of the Organization of Latin American Solidarity in Havana in early August, with its sometimes outlandishly anti-American posturing, crowned Castro as the apostle of armed revolution in Latin America...
...If the students aren't working in the fields or marching with the militia, they are sent out into the mountains to study the peasants...
...Obviously this educational program which puts an overriding value on building loyalty to revolutionary ideals and the virtue of hard work will be unpopular with many parents...
...Food is short now...
...Even most of those in Cuba who still oppose Castro would rally to the defense of their country rather than submit to foreign invasion...
...The people are ready to fight, with or without Russian help, and if necessary they will return to the mountains to fight as guerrillas...
...Cubans Are Convinced of Invasion by United States The people of Cuba, from Fidel Castro to the peasant in the field, are preparing to fight off an invasion of their homeland by American forces...
...Nevertheless, in the final analysis, the new revolutionary fights will be won or lost by local guerrillas adapting their tactics to local conditions just as Castro did in Cuba...
...The acceptable mold is clearly known and every boy or girl who wants to pursue a university education manages to fit himself into it...
...For example, Nestor Suarez, a mathematics major at Havana University, spoke convincingly of his belief that only devoted revolutionaries should be permitted to get a university education...
...Now these same parents have children going to secondary schools and even the university...
...We believe it is important to have students develop in the correct social atmosphere," Llaneras said...
...Castro made it clear this year in his July 26 speech at Santiago that all private commercial enterprises will be ended eventually, right down to the "parasites" who sell lollipops and fried egg sandwiches on the streets...
...A seat is always found for a nun riding in a bus...
...Most will be going to work in mountain hospitals which did not exist before the revolution...
...Despite erratic administration in the farm program, the vast effort now being made to enlarge production is bound to bear fruit in two years or so if nothing drastic happens to change the present trend...
...The use of reciprocal low tariffs made it impossible for Cuba either to develop its own industries or to buy from other nations...
...To the average man it is not a question of whether there will be an attack—it is only a question of when it will come...
...Great improvements have been made in public health...
...CUBA REVISITED Castro's Brand of Communism by C. K. MeCLATCHY The author, associate editor of The Sacramento Bee, recently revisited Cuba where he covered the July 26th revolutionary anniversary celebration in Santiago de Cuba, the first conference of the Organization of Latin American Solidarity in Havana, and studied many phases of Cuban life under Castro...
...The essential point in the relationship, at least from Castro's point of view, was expressed in these words: "Actually the Catholic Church is limited essentially to its ecclesiastic functions, and as long as the representatives fulfill this we will not have any problems...
...Now this is entirely different," Rafael said...
...Instead he used the OLAS meeting to expose and define the split that exists between those who advocate armed revolution now and those who oppose it...
...The children are given a place to sleep and eat, uniforms to wear, free medical care, and young adults who act as substitute parents...
...This must be so because whoever finishes the university must be prepared to help the revolution, not only in Cuba, but also abroad...
...A woman government official in Havana who preferred to remain anonymous told me: "You Americans are now bombing North Vietnam because that country is sending supplies to the guerrillas fighting in the South...
...Her example, if left unmatched, will be enough eventually to spark a series of revolutions throughout Latin America...
...He has called some Communist leaders allied to Moscow "traitors," "international Mafia," and "allies of imperialism...
...Everyone at the university now is a revolutionary," Suarez said...
...The Editors...
...He served as assistant press secretary to the late Adlai E. Stevenson when the latter was a candidate for President in 1956...
...We are developing our economy on rational lines, not to satisfy the logic of foreign investors...
...military action, it almost is unthinkable that Castro would endanger his relations with Russia while his economy and defense are dependent on that country's goodwill...
...Now the casinos are closed and hospitals are being built in the mountains...
...We know you must attack us, just like North Vietnam, to try to halt our aid to those fighting against the oligarchies in Latin America...
...All this represents a radical improvement over 1961, when the outlook was so bleak priests and nuns left the country...
...Suarez attached no significance to American statements denying aggressive intentions because of the lies he said America told about its plans in Vietnam, the Dominican Republic and the Bay of Pigs...
...Being "macho," or vigorously masculine, remains the dominant drive in the Cuban man...
...The Cuban premier cast aside the pretense that the first conference of the Organization for Latin American Solidarity would unify the squabbling and diverse Communist and revolutionary leaders of Latin America...
...Not even a victorious invasion by twelve U.S...
...It also is true the government cannot count on most parents to carry out at home the indoctrination essential to develop a "high revolutionary consciousness...
...There now are 150,000 Becados and the Ministry of Education hopes to have 250,000 by next year...
...This expressed the view voiced by Fidel Castro in his July 26 speech in Santiago in which he said that because Cuba is thousands of miles from any country that might help "we must learn to accustom ourselves to the idea we are going to fight alone...
...The result is that Communist ideology in Cuba is now a mishmash that would drive Karl Marx back to the reading rooms of the British Museum...
...Senators representing rice producing states threatened to cut Cuba's sugar allotment...
...However, the level of discontent is surprisingly mild considering the discomforts faced by most Cubans...
...our relations are normal...
...Non-Conformism Missing From Cuba's Universities The normal Latin American university, traditionally an autonomous hotbed of dissent and controversy, no longer exists in Cuba...
...And he bitterly has condemned Russia itself for its willingness to give technical and financial aid to such anti-Communist countries as Brazil...
...Like all university students, he receives weekly combat training as a member of the militia...
...The Russians now have the deeply hurt feeling of a generous uncle who finds that the nephew he has been supporting is telling the rest of the world that his uncle is a gutless old fraud...
...Castro's Curious Relationship With His Soviet Benefactors Last summer, Fidel Castro, in a spectacular show of national and ideological independence, snubbed his nose at most of the world and proclaimed that the revolution of the future will arise from the unique theories and beliefs found in Cuba...
...There are constant demands to work harder for the revolution...
...The non-conformist or eccentric cannot be found at Havana University or Oriente University today...
...By 1970 it is said no one will have to pay rent...
...In 1961 more than 600 left, more than 100 of these on the order of Castro's government and the rest on their own decision...
...At the moment conditions are ripe for revolution in many parts of Latin America...
...I did not find, on my 1965 journey through Cuba, this insistent belief that the United States will attack Cuba...
...The continued American support for the blockade seems to be based on the belief it will cause economic difficulties which will make the Cuban people suffer and turn against Castro...
...If we are so unwise that we postpone what is obviously necessary, then no amount of military force will "solve" the problem...
...the amount of material support Cuba can give is not crucial...
...There remain some who long for the good old days when American tourists poured into Cuba with full pocketbooks and hearts set on frolic and fun, but they stand quietly in the shadow of the great changes that surround them...
...For example, he said, the sugar-dominated economy imposed on Cuba by American business interests tied Cuba so completely to the United States that the development of rice production was halted simply because U.S...
...And Castro has even ordered an investigation to see whether free beauty salon services can be offered...
...attack, but felt no fear...
...They wear their habits on the streets and are treated with respect...
...Justus in the Minneapolis Star Whiskers to Whiskers Again "Cuba is a source of light for other revolutions," Suarez said...
...And these comprise a majority...
...Despite the fact Castro has said a Cuban can be a good Catholic and a faithful revolutionary, it generally is admitted that Catholicism is a handicap in pursuing most careers...
...This leaves the Russians, the Chinese, and many Communist parties in Latin America, who have widely divergent views on the development of revolution, with a painfully unhappy choice: They must either mount the ideological ramparts and fight with Castro for the revolutionary leadership in Latin America or let it pass to his eager hands...
...Considering the simple facts of the Cuban economics and geography, the course that Castro has taken is wildly dangerous, if not suicidal...
...Considering the dependent state of his economy and the threatening attitude of the United States, the challenge he has thrown out is audacious...
...The economic chief pointed to the expansion of the increasingly profitable nickel industry, the search for a Cuban oil supply, and the diversification and expansion of agricultural production as examples of why Cuba's present development, although dependent on long-term Russian credits, is making Cuba more independent each day...
...They must be sensitive to the problems of our society, the problems of the revolution...
...Monsignor Sales said in an interview that the Cuban government gives "ample liberty for religious practices in the churches" and that all the Cuban parishes are functioning...
...Fidel Castro and his unique revolution have turned life in Cuba upside down, inside out, and shaken it so hard most of the treasured eggs of the past are scrambled beyond repair...
...The economic domination of the United States deformed the economy...
...Observers estimate it is about the same as before the Revolution, which is surprising because most of the flood of refugees who left Cuba were practicing Catholics...
...However, it is his willingness to run the risk of having to fight alone that gives him his independence...
...For example, all these services are now free...
...However, despite Castro's time-consuming "projects," the days devoted to militia duty, and the weeks spent cutting sugar cane, the university picture is not totally bleak...
...Almost all popular items such as rice, meat, and milk are rationed...
...The belief of the inevitability of a bloody and possibly fatal conflict with the United States is often accepted with enthusiasm...
...The revolution is based on Marxism but it operates on pragmatism...
...For example, the medical school of Havana University is turning out an ever increasing number of doctors...
...There are now about 230 in Cuba...
...The nuns still in Cuba work in hospitals and homes for the elderly...
...It could end in either his total isolation or in his winning an even larger role in world affairs...
...Maybe some aspects seem ludicrous to us but there is nothing we can do to change what happens unless the United States is ready to invade the country and occupy it as the Germans occupied Norway...
...He is no longer in a position to pass on to his child his particular religious or political beliefs...
...The blue skies and pink daiquiris so available in the beautiful city of Havana do not disguise the fact that life in Cuba still is dominated by one compulsive force, the revolution as enunciated by Fidel Castro...
...Even good revolutionaries love their children and want to stay close to them...
...he asked...
...However, all this hue and cry in Havana may have very little influence on any actual revolution...
...Nestor Suarez, the mathematics major at the University of Havana, said there is no doubt in his mind the United States would attack...
...The fact that the education is frequently second rate and always doused with political indoctrination is not too significant if the previous choice was no education...
...Drastic changes in Latin America will come...
...Eventually it may become impossible...
...Considering the education the young men are now being given, this quite probably is true...
...It is true that the lack of easily available spare parts—needed for American machinery in the sugar mills and in aging American automobiles—creates problems...
...These are responsibilities of the state...
...It would be well for American policymakers to pay less attention to Cuba as a military threat to the stability of our Latin American allies and more attention to its real power—as an example of a country carrying out much needed reforms...
...It is easy to understand why...
...This article is adapted and condensed from reports the author wrote for The Sacramento Bee, The Fresno Bee, and The Modesto Bee...
...But the conclusion that the Cuban people will turn against Castro as a result of these economic difficulties seems to be wishful thinking...
...divisions could turn the wheel back to the days before Fidel Castro came out of the mountains and seized power...
...The same thing can be said about the many Cuban parents in the countryside and mountains who could not hope to see their children go to school...
...And politically Castro finds it an excellent whipping boy to explain every economic problem and shortage...
...This is explained in part by the compensating materialistic changes the revolution has brought...
...This apparent freedom of religious activity for Catholics was confirmed by the Right Reverend Monsignor Eu-genio Sales, a Brazilian prelate and representative of the Department of Social Action of the Latin-American Episcopal Council of the Catholic Church, who visited Cuba in July...
...However, the parents are the least important factor in the present equation of Cuban life...
...It is a paradox that one of the successes of the Cuban revolution is that it apparently has solved the racial problem peacefully and happily...
...This should show up in the form of a somewhat easier existence for the Cuban people...
...The Becado program is "voluntary" but as it expands it will become increasingly difficult for parents to keep their children at home...
...According to the figures in the annual Almanaque de la Caridad, the official publication of the church in Cuba, there were about 800 priests in Cuba in 1960...
...In an interview in his office in the Palace of the Revolution, headquarters for the Communist Party, he denied that Cuba traded its old economic dependence on the United States for new but equally binding ties to the Soviet Union...
...It did it by integrating blacks and whites, not by turning the blacks against whites as Stokely Carmichael, who was acclaimed as a hero in Cuba, apparently would do...
...Undoubtedly many students happily accept the revolutionary mold...
...On the other hand, one can hold a responsible position as a technician and be a practicing Catholic...
...Castro holds his popularity despite severe problems...
...The rate of growth needed to carry out this and the many other massive education plans is staggering...
...The bearded Cuban leader recently asserted that even though small farmers will never be outlawed, it is only a matter of time until they disappear because the children of small farmers will not want to follow in their fathers' footsteps...
...It is true our present trade relationship with Russia is vital, but it is helping to develop our eventual independence," Rafael said...
...We do not deny this...
...Another professor complained vociferously as he pointed to a near deserted campus on a weekday afternoon...
...In other words, if the church tends to its purely religious knitting and abstains from any political action which could be construed as a threat to the revolution, Castro will not directly attack the Catholic Church...
...The students in the last year of the university do much of the teaching of the first year students...
...Cuba found after a disastrous effort to concentrate on industrialization right after the revolution that agriculture must be the mainstay of the economy...
...The government has embarked on a vast program to expand land use, branching out into citrus and beef production for export...
...He wants to be assertively independent about everything, including his politics...
...The Catholic Church Survives in Cuba Catholic churches in Cuba are surprisingly full...
...Thousands of babies have been saved by national vaccination programs...
...The parent of a Becado cannot supervise the morals or table manners of his child except on occasional visits...
...If long hours of hard work deserve credit, then the Cuban people will have earned their improved lot...
...It gives him a place of importance on the world stage that no docile Red satellite leader could ever hope to achieve...
...Long lines form to get into restaurants because of the need to get food beyond what can be had at home...
...Today it is Fidel Castro and the revolution that count...
...Education up to the sixth grade is compulsory and generally available and Castro wants to make it compulsory through the tenth grade by next year...
...It is the young people who are given the privileged treatment and they for the most part are willing to pay the price—acceptance of an education built to serve the state rather than the individual...
...I was told it is impossible for a devout Catholic to achieve a position of genuine leadership in the government...
...This is not to say that the revolution is not radical...
...The increase in the availability of education is impressive...
...Since 1962 more than eighty new priests have come from abroad with government approval to work in Cuba and the church is now operating two seminaries...
...Cuba will not have to send an army...
...It is termed a failure because it is ignored by some of our closest allies —Canada, England, France, Japan, and Spain...
...Castro gave his views on the Catholic Church in an interview in the Mexican magazine, Sucesos...
...Hospitals have been built in isolated mountain areas...
...Riquel Romeu, a twenty-four-year-old girl who left Havana to join in the vast redevelopment program on the Isle of Pines, said she believes the open Cuban support for other Latin American revolutions would speed a U.S...
...More convincing is the belief of neutral and western observers in Cuba that the American blockade is a failure and has become a political advantage for Castro...
...It seems clear the large groups which benefited most—the landless farm worker, the Negro, and the young people—continue to give him their loyalty...
...This is true even though Castro has tried to force the warm Latin-American spirit of Cuba to come to grips with the cold doctrines of Communism...
...Cuba is plunging ahead on a gigantic program to rebuild the country and create a "new man...
...If we are wise we will make it our prime goal to encourage them, even when American business interests are being injured...
...Cuban Economy Grows Despite U.S...
...More important to Rafael was the threat of American aggression which he said forces Cuba to maintain a large army and use invaluable cement for nonproductive defense installations...
...You accuse us of aiding guerrillas all over Latin America...
...Anything will be tried and nothing is sacred unless it has the support of the maximum leader, Fidel Castro...
...Americans need to realize the Cuban revolution has done many things that needed doing...
...The universities have been able to function only by bringing in foreign professors to fill the most critical gaps...
...Yet that is exactly what he has done...
...To a supporter of the revolution the most flattering thing that can be said about it is that it is original, and with each passing year it becomes easier to say this...
...Rafael discounted the present effect of the American economic blockade now that trade arrangements and credits have been obtained from the Soviet Union and other countries...
...But they will not be started by four-hour speeches made by Castro in Havana, although obviously Castro is going to try to take the credit for any that do start...
...And a massive effort is being made to construct housing, especially in the rural areas...
...This does not mean Fidel Castro hopes for a Catholic upsurge in Cuba, but it probably does mean he has decided the Catholic Church is not a threat to his revolution...
...We are ready to fight alone if necessary," she said...
...In the present situation most parents do not have the time needed to do this so it is better to keep them in school longer...
...Cuban workers pay a high price for these free services...
...The Russians have reacted with seething anger...
...This program takes the responsibility and authority for rearing the child away from the parent and places it with the state...
...The goal is to have all students in these boarding type schools as soon as the facilities can be built...
...The heart of the new educational system lies in the ever expanding Becado system which puts children in boarding schools starting as young as six...
...Facing the total economic opposition of the United States and believing that Cuba is threatened by eventual U.S...
...The Impact of Education on Life in Castro's Cuba Education, the most popular and meaningful reform of the Cuban revolution, also is the instrument for the most drastic alteration in Cuban life— the destruction of the traditional relationship between parent and child...
...Miquel Llaneras, the Number Two man in the Ministry of Education, said the Becado program is an attempt to create an "ideal place" for students to receive the best possible education and also be exposed to sports and cultural activities...
...The young people, particularly the students and soldiers, speak happily of giving their lives battling American imperialism as a contribution to the worldwide struggle which they believe eventually will destroy the United States...
...Possibly the changes it has brought during the first eight years are more radical than those in the comparable period of the Russian or Chinese revolutions...
...The decline in the number of nuns is even sharper—from 3,000 in 1960 to about 200 in 1966...
...In the old days parents of children born in the mountains watched their children die because the problem of taking medical care to the mountains, even simple vaccinations, had a lower priority than building gambling casinos in Havana...
...Where does Fidel Castro stand eight years after his revolution changed Cuban history...
...Even so, there has been a general lowering of standards...
...In 1965 student leaders held "kangaroo" court assemblies which purged all the students suspected of a lack of enthusiasm for the revolution...
...Those in the Communist world who oppose Fidel's theories and leadership may now react...
...Almost without exception each student voices identical "revolutionary" thoughts...
...Consumer goods are still in short supply and expensive...
...As long as the great majority of the young people stands ready to defend the revolution and labor for it, Castro can ignore the Havana office workers who complain about "volunteer" work...
...Visits to several churches showed that attendance is good...
...The quality of classroom instruction has been hurt because at the very time the government has been enlarging the student body many of the best teachers have been leaving the country...
...He is assuming he has them over a barrel, that they will feel trapped into continuing their economic and military support even though he attacks them ideologically...
...How can we teach...
...One Havana University professor, a devoted Marxist, admitted teaching capabilities of some departments are so poor at the moment it really makes more sense to keep the students busy in the pre-professional practical training programs started at Castro's insistence rather than pursue normal academic courses...
...Anyone who works eighteen hours a day is praised as an "exemplary worker," but if one fails to do his "volunteer" work he is considered unpatriotic...
...The promise of the future is even more glowing...
...And almost all of the massive quantity of military equipment in the hands of the Cuban army was a gift from the Russians...
...There is no religious problem or extreme tension between the revolutionary government and the Catholic Church...
...The future of the Catholic Church in Cuba is still undecided, but for the moment its continued existence seems secure and the optimists believe it may even improve in the Cuba of Fidel Castro...
...And at this moment Castro appears to have most of the young people of Cuba on his side...
...More important than Castro's supplies is the example of success he already has given to other revolutionaries in Latin America...
...water supply, medical attention, local phone calls from the former pay phones, entrance to most sporting events, marriages, divorces, and even funerals...
...The tragedy in present Cuban-American relations is that just as the United States seems to be abandoning any short-sighted idea of trying to crush the Cuban revolution by force, Fidel Castro seems to be determined to get Cuba on an unnecessary collision course with the United States that could destroy both Latin American peace and the recent achievements of the Cuban people...
...Blockade Carlos Rafael Rodriquez, president of the Economic Commission of the Cuban Communist Party and for many years the leading economist in the Castro government, is strongly optimistic about Cuba's economic development...
...He previously visited Cuba in 1965 and The Progressive published a condensation of the articles he wrote at that time...
...Obviously, Castro does not expect the Russians to pull out their financial support...
Vol. 31 • November 1967 • No. 11
