Vol. 78/No. 5      February 10, 2014

After he became involved in organizing and managing the economy, Che took up other questions as well. These included the struggle against bureaucracy, the establishment of socialist economic institutions and the relations among them, relations between the party and the state, relations between management and the unions, use of the principle of democratic centralism, social-psychological studies of organization and management, and the use of computers and mathematical-economic methods in socialist enterprises.

In this section the sole aim is to briefly indicate the importance Che assigned to establishing controls and supervision.

Beginning in October 1959, when he was named head of the Department of Industrialization of the National Institute of Agrarian Reform, and later, when he took charge of the National Bank and the Ministry of Industry, Che took on the task of developing a subsystem that would subject all levels of management and administration to strict controls. It can safely be said that he was the first to establish a system of rigorous controls and supervision in the tumultuous first five years of our revolution. In one sense, the technical side of the budgetary finance system emerged from, was shaped by, and owes its establishment to this subsystem of controls and supervision.

Che conscientiously studied, among other materials, the writings of Marx, Engels, and Lenin on the science of organizing, supervising, and managing social production. In Marx and Engels he found the main laws that govern the transition from capitalism to communism, the general characteristics of socialism and communism, as well as certain fundamental principles, some of which have been noted.

Che made a detailed study of Lenin’s works. The leader of the October revolution was the first Marxist to take up in practice the question of organizing and managing a socialist society. In addition to learning the Leninist principles of organization and management, Che studied and adopted the best of the techniques that the capitalist monopolies had instituted in their Cuban subsidiaries.

The subsystem created by Che stretched from the national level to the smallest establishment. The way in which he implemented it in the Ministry of Industry is worthy of study. “Without controls, we cannot build socialism,” Che said. …

The great importance accorded by Che to accounting and cost analysis led him to pay attention to the details necessary to guarantee the accuracy of the data recorded and collected. He took an interest not only in technical matters, but also in the personnel who worked in the economic apparatus. He thought those responsible for keeping financial records in a factory or any state-managed enterprise should be compañeros of absolute discipline. They are the steadfast guardians of the nation’s property, including against the directors of enterprises.

The problem is that people are not perfect, far from it. We have to improve systems of controls to detect the very first infraction, because the first one leads to all the others. People might be very good the first time. But when, through indiscipline, they commit the error of taking something for personal use, intending to replace it in two or three days, this can then spread to the point of their becoming thieves, becoming traitors, falling increasingly into crime. …

Stressing the importance of employing accurate financial data in implementing controls, Che stated:

Financial discipline is one of the most important aspects of managing an enterprise or a factory…. The books must be kept up to date. This includes expenditures and income, all questions relating to contracts—for example, a negotiated adjustment concerning the delivery of a defective product. All these things are part of financial discipline, of financial controls.

Che did not view the task of implementing controls as limited solely to various administrative bodies. He believed it should be accompanied by careful efforts by the workers, the unions, and the party. Che believed building socialism and communism involved production, organization, and consciousness. It is not just an administrative, technical, and economic task. It is also an ideological and political task.

Che believed, like Fidel, that we must try to produce more goods, more efficiently, with better quality and — at the same time — to produce the new man who will build the new socialist society, the man who produces, leads, checks, and supervises. To do that, controls are necessary to produce with efficiency and prevent man from being corrupted.
 
 
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