Cuba info

I have a friend who I am super close to converting from general lib into a full fledged socialist. He's asking me to explain why Cuba is actually good and not the shit hole he was told it is growing up.

So hit me with some info, I don't know anything about Cuba and I'm busy cramming 4 essays for next Friday. What are the positives of Cuba? What are the negatives? Can you give me some stats?

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I explained some stuff about cold war propaganda and US involvement trying to subvert socialism all over the world. He has Cuban ancestry however and so is sort of iffy in accepting what I'm saying.

The biggest positive is its healthcare system: they have the highest life expectancy in Latin America and spend $300 a head.

the big thing he says is that Cuba doesn’t reward hard work. Obviously I explained neither does the US. But do they really live in poverty there?

They have a lower standard of living than the US, but it is on par with the rest of Latin America. The difference is there is no abject poverty: "before the revolution there were prostitutes on every street corner, now there are doctors" t. Pareni.

Cuba isn't actually socialist in the first place so it's a meaningless discussion.

Some general pros and cons of Cuba, post-revolution

Pros:

Cons:

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It's more or the less the same as its neighbors, would be in much better conditions if the world's largest military didn't blockade and have sanctions on them. Look at what's happening in Puerto Rico with debt to see what would have happened if America privatized the country.

Haven't been there but a friend did and really liked it, thought the people were cool as hell, and while critical was fundamentally supportive of what the revolution was attempting to do. Essentially, "resistance to capital." That was the attitude of Cubans he talked to. The main criticism he pointed out was the inequality in Cuban society, particularly regarding well-connected political and military types. That was something his minder (this was before things opened up a bit) made a sly remark about, so a lot of Cubans resent that inequality as well.

fuck off cunt

In terms of material wealth it’s not the best, and by that I mean mostly trivial consumerist shit like fidget spinners and slap chops. However unlike in other countries this doesn’t result in piss poor quality of life because their economic system mobilized all the country’s resources towards the public good. Compare them to some of Latin America’s most prosperous countries like Panama, which has roughly the same HDI but double the GDP/capita, and they’ve been pumped full of US aid since the 80s while Cuba was under embargo. It’s also worth noting that the coubtry’s HDI did not drop with its GDP in the 90s.

Socialism is when the workers have control over the means of production; in Cuba, the state has control over the means of production. Therefore, Cuba is not socialist.

are you batko?

I dunno man slap chops are pretty important lol

No this is Patrick

well memed my friend

Cuba can be described pretty accurately as market socialist. However, just saying "it's not socialist" is leftcom garbage and the reason rightwingers don't take socialists seriously. So fuck off

This is what constant exposure to Richard Wolff does to your brain.


This is correct, there are some worrying developments in Cuba including a plan to merge national currency and currency used for foreign exchange, if this is done there is no chance stopping capitalism. Overall they are holding out, but the pressure of capital constantly pushes them towards liberalization.

Is that true tho? I've heard Cubans saying that this period was quite horrible. Here is a podcast with a Cuban professor that everybody ITT should listen to
revolutionaryleftradio.libsyn.com/cuba-today-the-question-of-markets-reform-and-the-future-of-cuba

Cuba had a socialist revolution, lead by socialists and supported by socialists internationally. They came to power and implemented a socialist system. Most of those who support Cuba support it because it's socialist. Many of those who hate Cuba hate it because it's socialist.

Even if you believe it wasn't TRUE socialism according to your utopian reading of Marx or whatever, it is obvious that the Cuban revolution was a socialist movement and is still important in the history of socialism. In-depth analysis of the successes and failures of Cuba and other socialist states and movements is incredibly relevant to anyone who claims to be interested in socialism.

Dismissing the entire history of 20th century socialism by saying "not real socialism" in order to get out of having to explain and contextualize the shortcomings of historical socialist movements, or to avoid having libs think you're weird for challenging anti-communist propaganda, is just as brainlet tier as saying socialism doesn't work because of human nature or whatever.

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you forgot

Just compare cuba to other islands in the caribean like haiti, they are all either way worse than cuba or resorts for millionaires (the local folk who work at the resorts still live like shit).
Cuba managed to pull it off while under constant imperialist pressure and the US embargo.
Cuba is pretty fucking based.