HOME
your socialist home on the internet
ABOUT US
who we are, our politics, and what we do
GET ACTIVE!
joining ysa, getting active locally, making a difference
NEWS & VIEWS
articles, fliers, statements and opinions
THEORY
what is socialism, reading lists and study guides
CONTACT US
our email, snail mail, phone number and club directory
LINKS
socialist, youth, activist, labor, feminist, anti-racist, and other important sites
WHAT'S NEW
listing of what's been recently added
ysa cuba trip 2000
“I was really inspired by the amount of heart and emotion that people have
for the revolution,” stated Julia Wallace, a member of the LA branch of
Youth for Socialist Action (YSA), at the final evaluation meeting of that
organization’s recent trip to Cuba. Many other members of the YSA
delegation had similar reactions when describing their experiences at the end
of the two week trip.
The YSA visit to Cuba, which took place during July 17-31, was an incredible
success overall, and an important step in the development of the recently
founded revolutionary youth group. It brought together twenty members and
supporters of YSA from Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area,
Minneapolis, and Ashland, Wisconsin. The participants in the trip used this
opportunity to discuss the work they are doing at home, and how to better
collaborate with each other.
It was decided that, in the fall, those on the trip will work together to spread
the word about the Cuban revolution and the US government’s reactionary
blockade against it. YSA’ers will be holding slide shows and giving
presentations on campuses and in cities across the country. If any of our
readers are interested in hosting a report back in their community they can
contact the YSA national office by calling (415) 821-0458. In their
report-backs, those who participated in the trip will discuss the great deal of
information that they learned about revolutionary Cuban society during their
visit.
The program in which they participated was designed to give the American
youth a thorough understanding of the Cuban revolution and the problems it
faces today. In a fascinating discussion with a representative of Cuba’s mass
women’s organization, the Federation of Cuban Women (Federacion de
Mujeres Cubanas or FMC), for example, YSA’ers learned about the state of
the struggle for women’s equality in Cuba. While it was clear that the
struggle is far from over, every one was impressed by the great strides that
women have made since the revolution. These include increased participation
in government and the labor force, a family code established in 1975 which
mandates that men and women should share equally in house work, and many
other achievements. People at the meeting were struck by how the abolition
of a profit system in Cuba has allowed sexist relations to be broken down...
“In the US that could never happen under capitalism,” one YSA’er stated,
“because the drive behind male chauvinism is a market, they use it to sell
beer.”
The group was also impressed by a meeting with a leading official in another
one of Cuba’s mass organizations, the Cuban Workers Federation (Central de
Trabajadores de Cuba). At its headquarters in Havana, YSA’ers heard about
the role of this organization, whose three million members comprise close to
the total work force of Cuba.
The focus of the trip, however, was collaboration and discussion with the
Young Communist League (Union de Jovenes Comunistas or UJC), Cuba’s
revolutionary youth organization, which sponsored the YSA visit. During their
stay in Cuba, YSA’ers were able to see some of the projects of the mass
Cuban youth group. For example, they went to the headquarters of UJC’s
publishing house and spoke with the director; they visited a UJC-run
recreational center for university students; and they were shown one many
UJC computer clubs where young people learn computer skills for free.
Leaders of the UJC organized the program for the YSA delegation, and also
participated in it as translators and guides. Each day, the YSA group was
taken to the events on their itinerary by one or two of the UJC members.
On the first day of the program, the delegation met with Juan Carlos Frometa,
the head of international relations of the UJC. At the meeting, which took
place in the national committee headquarters of the UJC in Havana, the
American youth found out about the role of the UJC in Cuban society and its
efforts to involve young people in the defense of the revolution. The
continuation of the revolution depends precisely on young people coming to
the forefront. The UJC, which currently has 420,000 members between the
ages of 14 and 30, sees itself as the leaders of that process.
Juan Carlos was confident that the revolution’s deep roots in the Cuban youth
would ensure their success. He rejected the phony picture painted by the
American press that the revolution is held together by the will of an archaic
dictator, rather than the support of the masses of Cuban people, half of which
are under thirty.
When asked what will happen after the death of Cuban president Fidel
Castro, for example, Juan Carlos explained humorously, “Marx’s daughter
once asked Marx what there will be after communism and Marx said ‘more
communism.’ And I would like to say that after Fidel there will be more Fidel,
more revolution.” Unfortunately for the opponents of the Cuban revolution,
the routine capitalist media predictions of its demise after Castro’s death have
little to do with reality. “The Cuban revolution will last,” Juan Carlos said,
“because it is authentic. Unlike in Eastern Europe, the people participate in
the process of running our society.”
An important lesson is to be drawn from this statement because, in this
writer’s opinion, the best assurance of the revolution’s survival is the
increased participation of the Cuban people in the process of running society.
Although institutions of workers democracy which give the Cuban people
direct control over the operation of the economy and society have not yet to
be created, the Cuban revolution has always been marked by its democratic
tendency to involve the people in decision making and mass mobilizations.
And since the collapse of the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, the Cuban
revolutionaries have once again shown their healthy instincts by turning
towards the Cuban people in an attempt to deepen the level of their
participation in the decision-making process.
The YSA’ers saw evidence of this when the visited the government
headquarters in the Boyeros municipality of Havana. In a meeting with the
president of the People’s Power government, they learned some very
impressive facts about the functioning of the Cuban government. Delegates to
a municipal assembly which are elected from each neighborhood, for
example, are recallable at any time with the approval of only 25% of the
voters. And those who are elected as delegates are given no salary for their
political position and thus work normal jobs like every one else. This ensures
that those who are elected are motivated by a desire to serve the people
rather than their careers. Furthermore, membership in the Cuban Communist
Party is not a requirement for holding office. In Boyeros, for example, 15% of
delegates to the municipal assembly are not members of the Communist Party.
The information gathered through these talks with government officials and
representatives of mass organizations, provided a basis for lively political
discussion at the evening YSA meetings. What many people valued most,
however, were their encounters with average people whom they met on the
streets of Havana, where the trip was based.
“I got a really positive impression of the Cuban people,” stated Joey Koomas,
a SF YSA member. “They understand the difference between the American
people and our government,” he said. Many YSA’ers were very moved by
meeting people who commit great sacrifices in order to maintain the
revolution. “People were poor, and you could see the effects of the embargo
everywhere,” stated Adam Ritscher from Minneapolis, “but the response to
these things from most of the Cubans we met was continued determination to
preserve and deepen their revolution.”
The Cuban people’s continued support for the revolutionary project was
illustrated most clearly during the trip by a mass march on July 26. This is
Cuba’s annual revolutionary holiday that takes place to commemorate the
failed attack on the Moncada army barracks by revolutionaries led by Fidel
Castro in 1953, during the period of Batista’s rule. This year in Havana, well
over a million people demonstrated with chants of “Down with the blockade!”
and “Long live the father land!” This militant procession, which is said to be
the largest in Cuba’s history, marched defiantly by the fences of American
Interests Section. The YSA group was proud to have been among the
demonstrators demanding an end to the blockade and supporting the
continuation of the revolution.
The following day, the American youth were invited to a block party to
celebrate the 26th. Each year, Committees for the Defense of the Revolution
in neighborhoods all over Havana organize these festivities. It was a unique
honor for the YSA delegation to be invited to participate. At the beginning of
the party, the group was welcomed warmly by the president of the committee
and other members of the community. In a gracious gesture, they informed
everyone that they had made a vegetarian version of their traditional meet
stew, called cordosa, for some of their special guests.
The manner in which the YSA’ers were welcomed into this community was
a touching example of the Cuban people’s generosity. For their part, YSA’ers
brought several bags of toys which were given to the committee president to
be distributed equally among the children in the neighborhood.
Also at the block party, the group met a number of Cuban young people who
are involved in a youth project in Havana (the Spiral Project). Through this
connection, the YSA’ers arranged to spend their last day in Cuba with about
thirty young people from the project. On the final day of the trip, the two
groups met together and asked each other questions about topics ranging
from popular culture to politics. The Cuban youth grinned and applauded
when YSA’ers told them that they were trying to make a revolution in the
US. The Cuban and American young people spent the afternoon doing
volunteer work together.
The group participated in a beach clean up, at one of Havana’s most littered
beaches. Together, they filled well over forty large sacks with cans, bottles,
and plastic that were turned in to be recycled. The idea of doing voluntary
labor for the revolution was popularized in Cuba by martyred revolutionary
leader Che Guevara, who is know for his example of selfless devotion to his
work. For some YSA members, Che’s life played an important role in
inspiring them to become revolutionaries. Che’s example touched all of the
participants in the trip when they visited his memorial in Santa Clara, the site
of a decisive battle in the Cuban revolution lead by Che.
When his remains were brought back to Cuba in 1997 after their discovery in
Bolivia, the location of his last internationalist guerilla expedition, millions of
Cubans demonstrated their love for Che by participating in emotional
processions all over the island to say good bye to their commandante. The
Ysa’ers too certainly felt the impact of Che’s life upon their own. For many,
his example provided inspiration to commit to the struggle even more seriously
when they returned to the US.
However, just being in a country where socialist ideas are widely accepted
and promoted was an encouraging experience for everyone. For those on the
trip, seeing Cuba illustrated the feasibility of oppressed and exploited people
overthrowing their oppressors and running their own lives. Rainy Demerson,
from San Jose, California, told me “In the US you feel totally isolated
advocating social change. Here, however, our ideas which are seen as radical
in the US are totally common. It’s really nice to be in a place where your not
considered crazy for fighting for equality. In Cuba there is a real life example
of how all of our ‘crazy’ beliefs actually work for people.”
The above article was written by Paul McKim, trip leader of the recent YSA trip to Cuba.
For more info on Cuba check out our Cuba Links page.
