Dellinger explained that the Cuba-U.S. Youth Exchange was part of the "battle of ideas" being waged by mass organizations in Cuba today, from the Cuban Communist Party and Union of Young Communists (UJC), to trade unions and student groups. He said the battle poses and answers the question: What is the better social system--capitalism or socialism?

The July 22–30 exchange was initiated by youth organizations in Cuba, including the Federation of Cuban Students and the UJC, who invited students, young workers, and other youth from the United States to learn about the Cuban Revolution. Nearly 160 people from across the United States responded to the invitation.

At the reportback meeting held in Washington Heights, seven young people from New York who attended the exchange spoke about what they learned in Cuba. The event was sponsored by the Dominican Friends of Cuba, the Dominican Left Bloc, San Romero of the Americas Church, Socialist Workers Party, and the Young Socialists.

One of the places the delegation visited in Cuba, Dellinger said, was the country's psychiatric hospital. "Unlike in the United States," he said, the hospital "wasn't like a prison. For example, each patient had been given work they were capable of doing." Patients organized a concert performance for the youth from the United States and during breaks in the music patients explained their views on the five Cubans framed-up by the U.S. government on espionage charges in Miami.

Another participant said he learned about the priorities of the Cuban Revolution, such as sending doctors around the world to give medical attention to working people in poor countries and providing sports facilities for youth. A native of the Ivory Coast told the gathering that he went to Cuba with a skeptical view because of what he had heard about the revolution in the major media. "Once I returned to the United States I had some time to think about the trip," he said. "I realized that with very little the Cubans do a lot."

Jack Willey spoke about his participation in the 15th World Festival of Youth and Students held in Algiers, Algeria, in August as well as the Cuba-U.S. Youth Exchange. What was clear at both of these events was the proletarian internationalism of working people and youth in Cuba. A leader of the Cuban delegation in Algiers told participants in that conference that they were there "for one reason. The battle of ideas is not a Cuban question. We want to bring that campaign to everyone."

Through resistance to the offensive by the capitalists and their governments around the world, and the struggle by peoples in the semicolonial countries against imperialism, working people and youth are "beginning to rebuild a revolutionary movement. The Cuban Revolution is an aid to doing this," Willey explained. "Coming back here, I'm more determined to build such a movement to do in the United States what workers and peasants did in Cuba --make a revolution."

Youth Exchange participant Claudia de la Cruz said that once she was in Cuba she didn't want to return to the United States. But in discussions with other participants, they explained to her that Cuba had already made a revolution. "My job is to make the revolution here," she said.
 
 
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