To change within socialism*

From
Havana                                                                         Read Spanish Version

To
change within socialism*

By
Manuel Alberto Ramy
maprogre@gmail.com

"Seven
years ago, Fidel called on us to change everything that needs to be
changed. With that spirit, we must seize the ideas presented by
comrade Raúl and the Commander in Chief himself in his
reflections, with the conviction that the only thing that does not
admit changes is our decision to build and defend socialism,"
said José Ramón Machado Ventura during his speech on
the 50th anniversary of the uprising of the city of Cienfuegos.

On Sept.
5, 1957, members of the July 26 Movement, together with crew members
and officers of the War Navy, coordinated the seizure of Cayo Loco, a
naval base a few kilometers from Cienfuegos. The key and the city
were held for several hours.

Machado
Ventura, member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of
Cuba and the CPC’s secretary, urged "each comrade" to
express "with sincerity his or her opinions, analyze each
problem with a critical and creative spirit, thinking more about the
means at our reach than on the means we lack, if we were in an ideal
situation."

The
speech coincides with the summons issued by the CPC and the Cuban
Workers Central for workers to analyze the speech delivered on July
26 by the acting president, Raúl Castro Ruz. In it, Raúl
announced structural changes, as well as changes in the prevailing
mentality and conceptions.

Machado
Ventura called the upcoming "discussion of the Economic Plan for
2008" as a good stage on which "to show how deeply each
[worker’s group] has delved into the ideas expressed by comrade
Raúl."

I am
struck by the fact that the discussion of said Plan begins at the
grass roots of the labor movement and before the National Assembly
discusses and passes it next December. This decision can be
interpreted as putting an ear to the ground, and measuring the real
possibilities in the production-and-service units, bringing them into
line with the plans made by the ministries and the respective
organizations.

It is
taking reality as a determining factor, as protection for plans that
— drawn up at ministerial heights — lack feasibility in actual
practice.

"It
must be an analysis both critical, creative, realistic and led by a
willingness to contribute effort and sacrifice, and it must rattle
those who hide behind the difficulties and those who are insensitive
to the needs of the population," said Machado Ventura. He did
not slow down.

He
stressed the importance of pressing "each worker and managerial
leader" into the effort, so as to achieve the greatest
efficiency in all sectors of the nation’s life, as well as in the
eradication of labor indiscipline, "deficient accounting"
and superficiality in administrative controls.

His
criticism of what he called "absurd procedures that have nothing
to do with socialism [and] against the bureaucratic activities that
generate routine, indolence and schematism" is very significant,
because it comes from a leader of the political apparatus whom many
have described as a die-hard.

One of
my opinions of Machado Ventura’s speech is that we should extract two
clear ideas from it. First: the CPC’s apparatus agrees on the need
for structural changes, both in mentality and in action. Those
changes will be made within Cuba’s socialist vision and (very
important) within the established institutions, which in some
instances also are being reviewed and reorganized.

For
example, the travel agency Havanatur, which used to be part of the
powerful corporation CIMEX, has been transferred to the Ministry of
Tourism, a move I reported months ago. Another example: the National
Institute of Water Resources (INRH), a formerly independent
organization, is now part of the Ministry of Construction (MICONS).

Secondly,
I would say that the political, administrative and parliamentary
authorities are placing great emphasis on touching bases with society
in all its facets, motivating civic participation and prioritizing
the economy, production and productivity.

The
economic factor has not been removed from discussion. To do so would
have been as impossible as pretending that a stone dropped into a
pond will not create ripples. In the world of ideas, of the debate
within the socialist option, there is a very brisk activity shared by
not only intellectuals and academicians but also leaders of important
sectors and ordinary citizens. We shall talk about this next week. 

Manuel
Alberto Ramy is Havana bureau chief for Radio Progreso Alternativa
and editor of Progreso Semanal, the Spanish-language version of
Progreso Weekly. 

*This
article replicates and expands upon an article the author published
in the Progreso Semanal Blog on Sept. 7, 2007.