Cuba’s revolutionary government is capable of standing up to the economic war waged against workers and farmers there by U.S. imperialism because it has “the participation of the entire people,” Gerardo Hernández, national coordinator of the country’s Committees for the Defense of the Revolution, explains in an interview in this issue of the Militant.
That is possible because Cuba is the only country in the world where the working class exercises political power. Fidel Castro and the July 26 Movement led workers and peasants to overthrow the U.S.-backed dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista 62 years ago this month in 1959. They established their own government, leading millions to take over the land, factories and banks, and reorganize production in the interests of the vast majority. As they did so they were transformed, becoming “new men and women,” as Che Guevara put it, more self-confident and class conscious. They learned to rely on themselves and recognized their fight is part of winning a new future for working people worldwide.
The same capacities for uncompromising and disciplined struggle, and carving out a mass working-class movement capable of taking political power, exist among working people here. This has been shown in the mighty battles to build industrial unions and successfully tear down Jim Crow segregation that have been waged by working people in the U.S.
Today the rulers’ capitalist system is in crisis. Millions have been thrown out of work in the midst of a pandemic. Those still working face wage cuts, speedup and worsening conditions. Production of vaccines for coronavirus is restricted by the owners of the pharmaceutical monopolies to keep prices high. Their central concern — like all capitalist bosses — is to maximize profits, regardless of the deadly consequences.
The Socialist Workers Party is fielding candidates in 2021 across the country, fighting to build a mass movement that can bring an end these attacks. The Militant is stepping up efforts to spread the word. Join us!
SWP campaign supporters join and build solidarity with union fights, like that by Steelworkers at Constellium in Alabama, with the struggle by farmers in India against government assaults on their livelihoods, with the just-won battle for the right of women to choose abortion in Argentina — a gain for women’s emancipation that advances the unity of all working people.
The SWP is advancing a fighting action program. When bosses threaten more layoffs, SWP campaigners urge a fight to cut the workweek with no cut in pay to spread the work available around. The party starts from what working people need and explains how a successful struggle to meet that will require taking control over all aspects of production ourselves, and fighting for workers and famers to take political power.
We need a party of our own — a labor party, built out of our struggles over jobs, wages, working conditions and social rights, a party that speaks out for all those exploited and oppressed by capital.
On this course, workers and farmers here will have the opportunity to emulate the powerful example provided by working people in Cuba. Join SWP candidates around the country campaigning to make that possible!