Cuba Farmers Congress Suggestive of Things to Come
Por Rogelio M. Díaz Moreno
HAVANA TIMES — The congress of Cuba’s National Association of Small Farmers (ANAP) came to a close a few days ago. I was left with the impression that this gathering offered us very suggestive details.
One needn’t look too deep into the pronouncements of the official press to notice that ANAP members are far less docile in their relations with the government than students or trade union representatives in other sectors. Evidently, the debate process and its preliminary talks were very spicy and many people poured their complaints about the chronic inefficiency of the State apparatus responsible for agriculture. This is at least one way of warding off complacency, though we are still unsure as to the results.
The closing address was delivered by a true heavy-weight, the number two among the elite of active revolutionary leaders. Jose Ramon Machado Ventura’s speeches aren’t often as impressive as those of the Castros, but I believe it is worthwhile to pay close attention to his remarks this time around.
On the one hand, Machado Ventura acknowledged the complexity of the debates and, on the other, offered us a number of glimpses at coming reforms, which aim to address the problems exposed at the congress and the nation’s difficulties of old.
From what he said, it seems we should expect farm product prices to continue to rise. The State is going to make supplies and raw materials sold to farmers more expensive. At the same time, it is going to start paying higher prices for several farm and livestock products. This way, it hopes to adjust itself to the realities of the market, but, it also eliminates some forces that, dysfunctional and all, were keeping inflation in check some. That is the philosophy of “normality”: macro-economic adjustments and may divine providence take pity on those who earn less.
The Communist Party leader also touched on other concepts that may be considered reasonable but which create unpredictable risks. I am referring to the opinions regarding the social responsibilities of farm workers. The orator stated that these must play a more active role in maintaining services such as health and education, take it upon themselves, for instance, to make “minor” repairs at schools and clinics, without waiting for the State to tackle those problems.
Moving in that direction in a voluntary fashion that is democratically and transparently coordinated would certainly be something worth considering. However, merely talking about it doesn’t mean the best alternatives are going to be sought. Judging from past experience, we could suspect this may give the State an excuse to ditch a substantial part of the responsibilities it had previously assumed. The quality and scope of the said services, which are held up as banners of Cuba’s system, depend on their budget.
As these banners are a bit tattered and people know the State doesn’t have enough to address all of their accumulated needs, many a time the population contributes in an irregular fashion. For instance, they find paint for classrooms, a student’s parents bring a light bulb, and people pitch in and buy a fan for the hotter afternoons. What they can’t do is reveal they are doing this, because, till now, this was not well regarded.
This step entails a bit of reason and danger all at once, for a situation in which the State turns its back on the material problems faced by medical and educational facilities and believes families should shoulder such burdens could easily come about. Do you recall that oft-repeated announcement: “your medical attention is free, but it costs money.” What was one to expect from that, that they would start charging for medical services? On the other hand, there was talk of rural areas at the Congress, but, what can we expect for urban ones?
We are therefore talking about a potential reform that cannot be taken lightly. Till now, one was paying for the full package through one’s professional labor or trade for the State (in exchange for an extremely low salary). If the package is no longer complete and one has to pay for the difference privately, we’ll have to revise some of the foundational concepts.
Willfully blind, emagicmtman has only his entry memories to keep him company. He does not see the disaster that is Cuba, instead he sees a utopian vision where non exists
The Revolution is over. Cuba is ruled by a one family dictatorship utilizing the Communist Party of Cuba to serve and aid its rule.
There is still only one customer, but sugar production has fallen by 85% since 1989 and MINSAP is controlled by GAESA. The land that formerly was used to grow sugar has been allowed to revert to bush. Such is the changing reality of Cuba.
The Cuban agricultural tiger is now a scrawny bedraggled pussy cat. No cheese, no butter, no coffee, nada!
To think that, in your own small way, you participated in the dismemberment of Cuban society bring up the bile in my throat.
In the early 19th Century, the famous French utopian social reformer Fourier predicted that “in the morning one will be able to leave Paris, have lunch in Lyon, and arrive in Marseille by evening!” How? By riding on the back of a specially trained cross betwixt a lion and a tiger, of course!
It is always a risky business to predict the future. Fourier was, of course, correct that one day high speed transportation would be a reality. He just got the particulars a bit wrong! Nevertheless, I predict that The Revolution will be able to “ride on the tiger’s back without getting eaten.” Incidentally, even during the early, radical and “pure” stages of The Revolution, ANAP continued to exist. Unlike the Urban Reform of 1967 or 1968, which completely eliminated small urban businesses, the small farmers were never eliniminated. As a member of the first contingent of the Venceremos Brigade during the Zafra of the Ten Million, back in 1969-70, I remember our brigadistas cutting cane in the fields of some independent farmers. Of course then there was only one “customer,” the government, and it set the prices these small farmers would receive. In both rural and urban cases, The Revolution has been able to follow a more pragmatic course, adjusting itself to a changing reality.
The question they’re asking is…. how do you get off the tiger’s back without getting eaten?
How the exploitation of labor is dealt with will indeed be insightful. Incentive and fairness are critical motivators if discretionary productivity is to be unleashed.
Cuban leadership in general, Ventura in particular, realize their political experiment has failed. Like their Soviet comrades during the late 1980s, their goal at this point is to pad their pocketbooks. Even so, most realize they won’t live to fully appreciate their ill-gotten gains but their grandchildren will live richly. At least those grands that still live in Cuba. Ventura could not care less about agricultural output in Cuba at this point.
The photograph of the ANAP Congress says it all. A row of white-shirted white people with a background picture dominated by Raul Castro Ruz and Chavez. Where are the farmers? It is pursuit of the policies of the Castro family regime in rural Cuba, (which were subsequently adopted by Chavez in Venezuela) that has resulted in an annually diminishing food supply from Cuban agriculture.
Why not show a background of the hundreds of thousands of acres of good agricultural land in Cuba now reverting to bush as a consequence of the Castro family regimes policies?
Ventura is a Stalinist – so he can build upon his knowledge and admiration of the Gulags. Put up the prices of the commodities required for production, control the sale price of agricultural products and increase the pressure upon the peasants to produce more for less.
Cuba under Spanish rule, supposedly terminated slavery in 1886 – the last country in the world to do so. But even slaves had rights.