Mourning the Death of Fidel Castro and RememberingReaders are encouraged to discuss Castro's legacy, and what happens in Cuba now
Tristan EwinsNews today of the passing away of former Cuban Marxist revolutionary
and President Fidel Castro.
Fidel rose to power through the vehicle of a popular insurgency which overthrew
the corrupt US-backed Batista government.
Turning to the USSR for support, Castro survived arguably hundreds of
assassination attempts, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Bay of Pigs
invasion, and more. He built a one-party state –
albeit one based on overwhelming popular mobilisation and participation. Arguably his government was authoritarian:
though this must be largely understood in the context of terror attacks, and
the aforementioned assassination attempts.
Much like Western intervention in
Revolutionary Russia drove Lenin to embrace a spiralling Red Terror (which
ultimately descended into Stalinism), Castro embraced authoritarian measures to
ward away his adversaries. Though
certainly he was never a monster like Stalin.
For decades Cubans flourished in the context of a system which prioritised
Health Care for all, reducing infant
mortality, eliminating illiteracy, and reaching out to Cuba’s neighbours through the vehicle of volunteer doctors and
teachers. Indeed, on many indicators (eg:
infant mortality) Fidel’s Cuba out-performed his neighbours, including the
United States itself.
Castro was one of the earliest and most consistent opponents of Apartheid in
South Africa. He actively supported revolutionary movements
in Central and South America, including in Nicaragua and El Salvador. The brutality with which those movements were
repressed – with US support – stands in stark contrast with many Western nations
condemnation of Fidel’s government as ‘totalitarian’. Repression of left-wing movements, including the
murder of Liberation Theologian Archbishop Oscar Romero ; saw the deaths of
hundreds of thousands.
But when Communism collapsed in the USSR and Eastern Europe in 1989-1991 Cuba
was left exposed to the long-term US Economic Embargo. Living standards fell on many indicators. But still Cubans overwhelmingly supported
their government. Fidel lived to see
the Cuban economy recover ; and to see his brother, Raul engage in ‘fence-mending’
with the government of Barack Obama.
Under Raul there were market reforms – which were essential to Cuba’s
survival, including its engagement with the rest of the world ; But Cuba’s identity and orientation remained
inarguably socialist. For instance Cuba remained implacably in solidarity with the Leftist/Bolivarian governments of Venezuela.
All this aside, the threat of Terror and
assassination do not fully explain or fully excuse repression in Cuba. There have been extrajudicial executions ;
Imprisonment of political prisoners, systemic harassment of critics. Cuba’s government may have overwhelming
popular support: but as Rosa Luxemburg effectively argued in contrast to Lenin
and Trotsky: human rights and democracy must always also be rights for those
who dare to think and speak differently.
It is easy to romanticise Fidel’s reign given his enormous personal
charisma. But on the Left we must keep
in mind the shortcomings, also. And
strive to do better.
Nonetheless for many of us on the Left this is a sad day. Fidel achieved so much in his leadership of
socialist Cuba. And socialist Cuba’s
survival in the post-Cold War world is remarkable. Fidel deserves to be remembered for the sum
of his achievements and of his legacy.
Some of that is questionable ; but much of it is laudable. When
we remember him let it be in applying those same standards to our own
governments ; and the governments of our historic allies.