Left side of the road

Critiques of Cuba

However much respect the Cuban government and people have earned by their refusal to back down to US imperialism’s pressure this does not mean they have all the answers for the oppressed and exploited of the planet.

Many of the policies pursued by the Castro government, from the very early days, were determined more by pragmatism (and not a certain level of opportunism) when reacting to the problems they faced. The relationship with the Soviet Union, the attitude towards the ‘Great Polemic’ in the International Communist Movement, the ‘theory’ of ‘focism’ and the country’s participation in the Non-Aligned Movement are all matters that display a lack of cohesive ideology in the country’s leadership.

The small number of articles below were produced by comrades in the United States. We may not agree with all the ideas contained in these documents but they are reproduced here as part of the necessary debate all Marxist-Leninist-Maoists must have.

Criticism of Castro and Cuba by Foreign Revolutionaries

Cuba – The Evaporation of a Myth – From Anti-Imperialist Revolution to Pawn of Social-Imperialism, by the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA. Originally an article published on February 15, 1976, in the RCP newspaper Revolution, then reissued as a pamphlet in 1976. This version is the second printing, slightly revised, June, 1977, 40 pages.

What is Socialism? by Scott Harrison – A letter on December 20, 2013 to Bob Weil about how one determines whether a country is a socialist one or not, and specifically focusing on Stalin’s USSR and Castro’s Cuba. 6 pages.

Criticism of Che Guevara and Focoism

Guevara, Debray and Armed Revisionism, by Lenny Wolff. This important 36-page article originally appeared in the RCP’s magazine Revolution, No. 53, Winter/Spring 1985.

Writings of Fidel Castro and Che Guevara

Posted on 05/11/2021 by Michael

Fidel and Che

Writings of Fidel Castro and Che Guevara

Writings of Fidel Castro (1926-2016)

History Will Absolve Me, the Moncada Trial Defense Speech by Fidel Castro, Santiago de Cuba, October 16, 1953, (London: 1967), 126 pages.

Those Who Are Not Revolutionary Fighters Cannot Be Called Communists, speech by Fidel Castro, March 13, 1967, Merit, New York, 1968, 76 pages.

A New Stage in the Advance of Cuban Socialism, speech by Fidel Castro, April 19, 1968, Merit, New York, N.D., 52 pages.

Fidel Castro Speaks, a collection of documents edited by Martin Kenner & James Petras, New York, 1969, 360 pages.

14th Congress of the Cuban Trade Unions, (CTC), Closing Speech, by Fidel Castro, December 2, 1978, Political Publishers, Havana, 1979, 60 pages.

34th Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations, Fidel Castro, October 12, 1979, Editorial de Ciencias Sociales, Havana, 1979, 40 pages.

68th Inter-Parliamentary Conference, Speech, Fidel Castro, September 15, 1981, Editora Politica, Havana, 1981, 45 pages.

Fidel Castro speaks to trade unionists – the US drive to war and the World Economic Crisis, Pathfinder, New York, 1982, 17 pages.

Fidel Castro, Speech, 29th Anniversary of the attack on the Moncada Garrison, Granma, 26th July, 1982, 27 pages.

The World Economic and Social Crisis – Its impact on the underdeveloped countries, its somber prospects and the need to struggle if we are to survive, report given by Fidel Castro at the Seventh Summit Conference of Non-Aligned Countries, Publishing Office of the Council of State, Havana, 1983, 232 pages.

The World Crisis – Its Economic and Social Impact on the Underdeveloped Countries, Zed Press, London, 1984, 228 pages.

Capitalism in Crisis – Globalization and World Politics Today, articles and speeches 1998-2000, edited by David Deutschmann, Ocean Press, Melbourne, 2000, 308 pages.

Fidel Castro Reader, edited by David Deutschmann & Deborah Shnookal, Ocean Press, Melbourne, 2007, 572 pages.

Principles are worth more than life itself, speech given by the President of the Republic of Cuba and First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba, at the closing session of the World Solidarity with Cuba Conference, held in the Karl Marx Theatre, on November 25, 1994, Year 36 of the Revolution, November 8th Publishing House, Ottawa 2022, 45 pages.

Writings of Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara (1928-67)

Man and Socialism in Cuba, by Che Guevara, Guairas Book Institute, Havana, 1967, 118 pages. With an extensive collection of photographs of the Cuban Revolution.

Socialism and Man in Cuba and Other Works, by Che Guevara, Stage 1, London, 1968, 80 pages.

The Marxism of Che Guevara, Michael Lowy, Monthly Review Press, London, 1973, 67 pages.