Most Militant readers will undoubtedly share our enthusiasm for the Theses for the 17th Congress of the Central Organization of Cuban Workers (CTC), which we publish beginning with this issue. This document will be of particular interest to those readers who are working in industry and are members of trade unions - especially those who are active defenders of the Cuban revolution on the job, at the plant gates, and on the picket lines.
At this moment - as the Clinton administration continues its latest campaign of threats, provocations, and economic warfare against the Caribbean nation - this document sheds light on one of the main reasons why Washington's "cold war" against Cuba doesn't end.
The proletarian revolution in Cuba is alive and well because the working class in that country is confident in itself and its communist leadership and, in its majority, it remains capable and determined to defend the revolution's socialist course and its government.
It is gratifying to read a document - discussed and debated by nearly 3 million union members as they elect delegates to their congress - that begins by placing the struggle of workers and peasants in Cuba in the framework of world politics and the international crisis of the capitalist system.
It is a pleasure to see graphically described the role of revolutionary trade union leadership in defending the state power of the working class; in laying out the steps to ensure that working people remain the masters of their own destiny; and in providing an example to be emulated by toilers in the Americas and throughout the world.
The CTC theses, and the process through which they are being discussed, provide quite a stark antitheses to the business unionism and class collaborationism that is rampant in the high echelons of the AFL-CIO and trade unions throughout the capitalist world.
And they are the best example of why Clinton, Dole, and company hate and fear the Cuban people and their revolutionary leadership and why working people and youth around the world should defend Cuba and its socialist revolution.
We urge all our readers to read the theses and help sell as widely as possible the issues of the Militant that serialize them, especially among co-workers, and in the process help build broad delegations of trade unionists to the April congress of the CTC.