BY MICHAEL BAUMANN AND JOSHUA CARROLL
HAVANA - "That's exactly what we do!" said Antonio Abreu, as he visited the Pathfinder booth and pointed to a photo of a book sale from the back of a truck at a mine portal in West Virginia.

Abreu, the director of book distribution for the province of Camaguey and a frequent organizer of factory plant gate sales, was one of more than 40,000 people who visited the eighth Havana International Book Fair, held here February 4 - 10. Hundreds lined up each morning well in advance of the daily opening, in order to gain entrance to the exhibition.

The book fair, a major cultural and political event in the Cuban capital, is organized every two years at Pabexpo - a large, modern exhibition center on the western edge of the city, a few miles from downtown. It draws daily crowds of students, workers, soldiers, teachers, and many others who want to see, discuss, and buy new books by publishers from Cuba and around the world.

The main book fair exhibit was made up of thousands of titles displayed by participating publishing houses. Another 800 titles - totaling 300,000 books - were on sale in pesos, the national currency of Cuba, reported Omar González, president of the Cuban Book Institute, at the formal opening February 4. González was flanked at the ceremony by a number of Cuban leaders and other prominent figures, including National Assembly president Ricardo Alarcón; Minister of Culture Abel Prieto; José Ramón Balaguer, a member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party; Fernando Rojas, president of Hermanos Saíz, the association of young artists and writers; and filmmaker Alfredo Guevara. Rafael Tovar y de Teresa, president of Mexico's National Council on Culture and the Arts, also spoke, extending greetings. Mexico, with 30 publishers represented at the fair, was guest of honor this year.

Seventy-five publishing houses and other institutions from Cuba displayed a wide range of books and magazines, a product of government-encouraged efforts to publish more new titles, even if in smaller runs, on a broad spectrum of topics.

Steps forward in publishing
In magazines alone, René Soto of Ediciones Cubanas, one of the country's largest distributors, told the Militant, the number of titles in circulation has risen from 210 in 1994 to 340 today, an increase of more than 60 percent.

A number of these new titles, Soto explained, are magazines sold for dollars in the hard currency market as well as in pesos to Cubans; income from the dollar sales helps finance broader circulation of the titles in Cuba. New titles also include such periodicals as the cultural magazine El Caimán Barbudo (The bearded alligator), published by Editora Abril, the publishing house of Union of Young Communists. The magazine was relaunched in 1996 after a nearly five-year absence.

El Caimán Barbudo, like many other magazines in Cuba, had ceased publication in the early 1990s during the worst years of the Special Period - the term Cubans use to describe the severe economic hardships that followed from the abrupt loss of almost all the island's foreign trade, compounded by a tightened U.S. embargo. Prior to 1989, 85 percent of Cuba's foreign trade had been with the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, much of it on terms favorable to Cuba.

With little hard currency available to purchase imported paper and ink, Cuban book, magazine, and newspaper publishing has been drastically cut back. As new trade agreements have been established, although at qualitatively higher prices, and as Cubans advance in the fight to boost production through increasing efficiency, a modest renewal has taken place in publishing as well as in other areas of the economy. El Caimán Barbudo, for example, is now printed in a bimonthly edition of 20,000 - far short of what is needed to satisfy the demand but a measurable improvement.

The fair itself, as Cuban president Fidel Castro pointed out during a visit the last day, represents an "extraordinary effort in the midst of such great economic difficulties."

Publishers from some two dozen countries took part, with the largest representation coming from Mexico. For those fair goers who had access to dollars - a small but growing layer in the Cuban capital today - hundreds of titles from abroad were available for purchase. These included some of the latest works on art, science, medicine, computers, and literature.

Cuban books were available in pesos in two different pavilions. One, devoted to children's literature and usually crowded with young people, had colorful displays of books as well as a number of scientific and educational exhibits. At both pavilions eager buyers at times stood in line for up to two hours or more awaiting entry.

`Secretos de generales' a big seller
Among the Cuban titles, one of the best sellers over the course of the fair was Secretos de generales (Secrets of generals). Many lined up each day to get a copy of this collection of interviews in which 41 ranking officers of Cuba's Revolutionary Armed Forces for the first time speak publicly of internationalist missions they helped lead in countries ranging from Angola to Syria, Argentina, and Vietnam.

In contrast to previous fairs, there was little representation this year from Europe, either Eastern or Western, or from south Asia. Countries from which exhibitors did participate - some with their own booths, some sharing with others - included Angola, Argentina, Australia, the Basque Country, Brazil, China, Germany, Greece, Iran, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Libya, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Portugal, Russia, Spain, the United Kingdom, and Venezuela.

This book fair had a slightly smaller international presence and a slightly larger number of Cuban publishers participating. The 40,000 in attendance marked a decline from the reported 60,000 in 1996 and 80,000 in 1994, indicative of the fact that Cubans have fewer pesos to spend on things other than the most basic necessities.

Nonstop visits to Pathfinder stand
A large central stand displayed the works of Mexico's publishers, ranging from children's titles to cookbooks, novels, and popular history. Nearby were two other very popular stands - World Services Publications, which featured current computer titles, and Pathfinder Press.

The Pathfinder stand, organized by Pathfinder Distribution in London, was staffed by an international team of volunteers from, Canada, New Zealand, Quebec, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. They explained the contents of books and discussed world politics with a nonstop stream of visitors all week. Many of the visitors to the booth were returning to continue discussions they had begun with Pathfinder volunteers at previous book fairs going all the way back to the second one in 1986. Others were attracted by large colorful displays of books by Karl Marx, Frederick Engels, V.I. Lenin, Fidel Castro, Ernesto Che Guevara, Malcolm X, James P. Cannon, and other revolutionary leaders published by Pathfinder.

Omar Herrera, a 41-year-old worker at an electrical plant in Havana and also a writer and poet, visited the Pathfinder stand many times over the course of the fair. He remarked that "when you visit other stands, you find many books, and you can read them and they are very nice, but when you come to this stand you have a political discussion." Herrera said that this made the Pathfinder stand his favorite of the fair.

A number of visitors stopped to discuss a large display panel, mounted outside the Pathfinder booth, depicting with a series of photographs the way many Pathfinder books are sold around the world - from folding tables on street corners, at universities and high schools, and at factory plant gates. Prior to the fair, at an international conference sponsored by Editora Abril, Pathfinder president Mary-Alice Waters had explained that the continuity of Pathfinder goes back to the birth of the world communist movement in the Russian revolution of 1917, and explained how Pathfinder titles have always been sold hand-to-hand, from worker-to-worker. Many who had heard a few of her remarks on the radio or seen coverage of the conference on the television news stopped by to find out more. Some had experiences of their own to exchange.

Plant gate sales in Camaguey
This included Antonio Abreu, director of book distribution for the province of Camaguey in central Cuba, who studied the display and remarked on the similarities between his work and that of the Pathfinder volunteers. Abreu said that while "most of the larger workplaces in Camaguey have their own bookstores," this is not true of all of them and certainly not of the smaller ones. It is also not true of the many sugarcane fields in the province. To encourage reading at the plants and work sites, "we bring the books to the workplace entrance, on a more or less monthly schedule.

"We use a table, a bench, whatever is at hand to display the books," he said. "We get books to workers the same way you do."

Abreu also explained that it is government policy to encourage reading on the job, including by workers who are assigned to read aloud for the benefit of all when work conditions permit. Reading aloud in this way has long been a tradition of workers in the tobacco industry, for example.

One of the most popular titles at the Pathfinder booth was Habla Malcolm X (Malcolm X speaks). Many Cubans, both white and Black, mentioned that they knew about or had read at one time a long out-of-print Cuban edition of The Autobiography of Malcolm X, but most had never had a chance to read any other works of this outstanding revolutionary leader. Some rectified this on the spot by joining the "Pathfinder Readers Club" - a number of chairs set aside in the booth where visitors were encouraged to take as long as they wished to sit and read Pathfinder titles they found of interest.

War preparations against Iraq
Another title that drew wide discussions was the issue of Nueva Internacional carrying a Spanish translation of "Opening Guns of World War III: U.S. Assault on Iraq." This increased as the week passed and more news appeared on Cuban radio and television about U.S. preparations for war against the people of Iraq. The article explains the imperialist character of the 1991 U.S.-led war against Iraq and tells about the kind of action that is necessary if the working class is to take power and prevent the next interimperialist slaughter - toward which the world capitalist system is inexorably marching.

Sal, the leader of a group of students from Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony now occupied by Morocco and Mauritania, brought four of his friends to the booth on two different occasions to see "the Iraq book," as he called that issue of Nueva Internacional. He had heard about this issue of the magazine prior to the fair and was one of several who wanted to know how they could get a copy to study.

Many visitors were surprised to learn that the Pathfinder book U.S. Hands Off the Mideast! Cuba Speaks Out at the United Nations, containing speeches by Cuban leaders Fidel Castro and Ricardo Alarcón, had sold more than 11,500 copies during the 1990 - 91 war buildup and fighting. They were impressed that it was still available and was being reprinted as the U.S. government was again preparing for war against Iraq.

The pamphlet Peru's Shining Path: Evolution of a Stalinist Sect also elicited much interest. This included two people who came by at different times during the course of the fair to explain they had already read the pamphlet and that it had helped them understand the reactionary role played by that anti-working-class political group.

Other books that drew attention from a number of visitors were the new release John Coltrane and the Jazz Revolution of the 1960s; Nueva Internacional no. 3 on the rise and fall of the Nicaraguan revolution; titles in Russian and Spanish by Bolshevik leader Leon Trotsky, and women's liberation titles by Socialist Workers Party leader Evelyn Reed. One of the most frequently requested titles was the Spanish-language edition of Lenin's Final Fight, a book that documents the political battle Lenin waged in the leadership of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1922 - 23 to maintain the course that had enabled workers and farmers to take power and carry out the first successful socialist revolution in history.

Book donations appreciated
Representatives of a number of libraries and other institutions to which Pathfinder has made book donations in the past came by to explain how much these books were appreciated by the readers their libraries served, and on occasion, to introduce a colleague from another library.

A representative of the José Martí National Library, which has in its collection almost every Pathfinder title, explained that duplicates had been sent to provincial libraries. The national library has placed Pathfinder titles in a special reference section containing books that are not allowed to leave the building. Librarian Isora Rodríguez explained that too many of the Pathfinder books simply never came back when they were allowed out on loan.

Every year Pathfinder supporters donate books remaining after the book fair to different institutions in Cuba, including libraries, schools, and, unions. This year the books were donated to the Union of Young Communists as an initial contribution toward the library for the national cadre school the UJC plans to relaunch in September of this year.

Over the past several Havana book fairs, Pathfinder has grown in recognition and popularity. A number of Cubans have visited the Pathfinder stall many times over the years. Roberto Santana, a 25-year-old researcher at an artificial intelligence institute, for example, has been to every fair since 1990, and he has always spent a big portion of his time reading Pathfinder titles. He was very happy to find out that he can now get the Militant on the Internet. Irina Valiente, a 21-year-old medical student at the University of Havana and president of the Federation of University Students at her school, explained: "I came looking for this stall because I met Pathfinder at the last book fair. These books are about the revolutionary movement in the world."

Mario Castillo, a 23-year-old history student at the University of Havana, was one of those who came up to the stall to ask, "where is the book on the `Opening Guns of World War IIÍ?"

Castillo also asked what had happened in the cases of Mark Curtis and Geronimo Pratt - two political fighters who had been framed up by the cops and put in jail for their opposition to the racism and oppression that capitalism breeds. He had heard that they had won victories against their jailers. Pathfinder volunteers were able to confirm for Castillo that both Pratt and Curtis had been released from prison.

Castillo had visited the Pathfinder booth at the previous book fair. He has already read Nueva Internacional no. 2 on Che Guevara and the transition to socialism, Nueva Internacional no. 3 on the rise and decline of the Nicaraguan revolution, Nueva Internacional no. 4, which contains the Spanish translation of "Imperialism's March Toward Fascism and War," and In Defense of Marxism by Leon Trotsky. He got these books from members of the Young Socialists he met at the U.S.- Cuba Youth Exchange held in Cuba in the summer of 1996. Castillo explained that "seeing that there are people in the U.S. who fight against imperialism gives us energy here in Cuba."

Salmon, a 22-year-old medical student from Iran, also knew Pathfinder from the previous fair. He was interested to know what Pathfinder volunteers thought about the recent electoral victory of Mohammed Khatami in Iran. He thought it "reflected a part of the Iranian revolution" that has not been crushed.

After spending more than an hour discussing world politics with the Pathfinder volunteers, Rafael Iglesias, a longtime communist who teaches mathematics at the Batalla de Ayacucho middle level school in Guina de Melena, some 13 miles southwest of Havana, invited them to come to his school.

"A couple of hours with you will be better for the students than 20 philosophy courses," he said, as he held a copy of The Changing Face of U.S. Politics: Working-Class Politics and the Trade Unions by Jack Barnes. After the fair, a team of Pathfinder supporters took the opportunity visit the school and meet students there (see coverage of this visit in an article next week).

Discussion on Pope's visit
Many visitors wanted to talk about the recent visit to Cuba by Pope John Paul II. The big majority interviewed by Militant reporters expressed the opinion that the visit by the Pope was a victory for the Cuban revolution. Many pointed out that during his visit, the Pope spoke publicly against the U.S. embargo of Cuba. They explained that Cuba welcomed the Pope without bending in any way on its principles.

"We welcomed the Pope to Cuba, we listened to his words, and we were respectful of him," explained Leonardo Echevarría, a 31-year-old worker at the Havana Libre Hotel. "But," Echevarría continued, "we know he is against the revolution."

Echevarría, along with many others, noted that during his visit the Pope had spoken against a number of the conquests of the revolution, particularly the right to abortion. Irina Valiente commented on this. "Abortion is a woman's right," she said, "since the revolution took power, it has been an option. We cannot imagine life without it being available."

While many Cubans noted the Pope's positions against important victories of the Cuban revolution, most did not seem to think the visit had succeeded in weakening it, as the imperialist rulers around the world had predicted and hoped.

Isabel, a 24-year-old geography student, said, "the Pope's visit was very political. He spoke against abortion, as he had in Poland and Brazil. But here it is impossible to go backward - not only because the government does not want to go backward, but because of us, the women."

Many Cubans talked not only about the Pope's political positions, but more generally about the role of the Catholic Church hierarchy. "I'm not a Catholic and I don't like the Church because I know what they did in the beginning of the revolution," said Mario Pedroso, an electrical engineer. He was referring to the fact that Catholic Church leaders in Cuba had been among the main organizers of the attempted counterrevolution against the workers and farmers government that came to power in 1959 after overthrowing the U.S.-backed dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista.

"Maybe he won some people to the Church," Pedroso continued, "but that doesn't bother me. People go to the church seeking advice or looking for something, but they are not against the revolution. I'm not worried if people go to the church; it cannot weaken the revolution - not now." Pedroso pointed out that after the Pope said mass in the Plaza of the Revolution, "he went down from his podium and thanked Fidel in front of all the TV cameras and all the press."

A small number of people interviewed by the Militant expressed a different opinion. They thought that while the Pope's visit was a victory for the revolution, there were negative aspects as well. Roberto Santana said that coming out of the Pope's tour, "people in Cuba who are believers have more confidence and more space to practice their faith, and this is good.

"But," he continued, "there are also people who seek to use the church against the revolution, and space is opened up for them as well." One longtime Cuban journalist who participated in the revolutionary struggle against the Batista dictatorship told Militant reporters that seeing the several- story-high portrait of Jesus Christ hanging in the Plaza of the Revolution was particularly hard to swallow.

Many Cubans also wanted to discuss a provocation against the revolution that had come from the archbishop of Santiago, Pedro Meurice Estiu, during the pontiff's visit to that province. In his remarks prior to the Pope's mass, the archbishop pointed to the 1950s as the "golden era" of the Catholic Church in Cuba. But this was a time Cuba was still ruled by the hated Batista dictatorship, which thousands of Cubans died fighting. In response to this hundreds streamed out of the plaza, refusing to participate any further.

Debate, discussion at book launchings
Throughout the course of the fair, dozens of launchings were organized to celebrate publications of new books in Cuba and elsewhere. These events generally feature relatively brief presentations followed by people lining up to buy copies of the newly published work. This year there was discussion and debate at a number of the launchings, encouraged by the organizers of the events.

One example was the presentation of a book of articles and interviews by Noam Chomsky on Latin America, published recently by Editora Abril. In the discussion, one participant characterized Chomsky's political views as anarchist, and pointed to his pessimism about the abilities of the working class to lead the struggle for power.

Iroel Sánchez, the director of Editora Abril and the chair of the meeting, explained that Abril had published the collection despite political differences with some of Chomsky's views. Sánchez noted that the collection in fact contains a 1991 interview in which Chomsky says that Cuba has run out of options. Nonetheless, Sánchez said, "seven years after that interview, we are still here, and we are here publishing his book."

Other lively and well-attended launchings included those for Caminos del Che, published in Mexico by Jorge "Papito" Serguera, the Cuban ambassador to Algeria in the early 1960s; Noticias de un Secuestro, a new book by Gabriel García Márquez; and four new volumes of En Marcha con Fidel by Antonio Núñez Jiménez covering the years 1959 - 62. Pathfinder presented Pombo: A Man of Che's `guerrilla' jointly with the book's Cuban publisher, Editora Política. Addressing the gathering were the author, Brigadier General Harry Villegas (Pombo); Iraida Aguirrechu, editor of the Cuban edition; and Pathfinder president Mary-Alice Waters, editor of the English edition (see article in last week's Militant). This was the second time Pathfinder has participated in this way at the Havana book fair. At the previous fair in 1996 Pathfinder and Editora Política jointly launched Pathfinder's edition of Ernesto Che Guevara's Episodes of the Cuban Revolutionary War.

One of the most widely publicized book launches this year was for La Reconcentración 1896 - 1897. The book, an account of the concentration camps the Spanish army built in Cuba during the war through which Cuba ultimately won its independence, tells how 300,000 peasants were literally starved to death in the camps. The facts in that volume have been publicly contested by a spokesperson for the Spanish government, who denied such death camps were government policy. Cuban president Fidel Castro, who attended this launching, commended the volume and its author, Revolutionary Armed Forces colonel Raúl Izquierdo Canosa for an accurate portrayal of the "cruel and merciless policies of colonialism."

Francisco Picado and Mary-Alice Waters contributed to this article.  
 
 
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