by Connor Beaton

Today, 1 January 2017, marks the Triumph of the Revolution in Cuba, a public holiday to celebrate the anniversary of the victory of the Cuban Revolution 58 years ago.

The Scottish Socialist Party stands in solidarity with all the peoples of the world who are fighting oppression and exploitation, including the Cubans, whose Revolution offers many lessons to socialists in Scotland and further afield.

LESSONS

Cuba’s life expectancy, at 78.45 years on average, is among the highest in the world – on par with Western Europe and ahead of the US. There is universal, free access to health care and, in 2015, Cuba became the first country in the world to eradicate mother-to-child transmission of HIV and syphilis. Cuba abolished illiteracy in the immediate wake of the Revolution and now boasts a literacy rate of 99.8 per cent, tenth highest in the world.

WWF’s Living Planet Report 2016 found Cuba has the most environmentally sustainable model of development in the world. While capitalist countries ravage the environment in pursuit of private profit, Cuba has demonstrated that only socialist planning – not greener capitalism – can deliver environmental goals.

These incredible achievements in a small Caribbean country of 11 million people are an extraordinary testament to its socialist system and must be defended in full.

A HERO PASSES

This year is the first time the Triumph of the Revolution will be celebrated without Fidel Castro, who passed away at the age of 90 last year. The SSP’s national secretary, Bill Bonnar, eulogised the revolutionary leader in the Scottish Socialist Voice as “a hero”.

Many friends of socialist Cuba have expressed concern for the future of the Revolution following a year in which its figurehead – beloved across Latin America – died and a new, massively hostile president was elected in the United States.

To this day, despite recent moves to “normalise” the relationship between the two countries, the US continues to wage economic war on Cuba through the blockade, in the face of repeated condemnation from the UN General Assembly. Cuba is the only country subject to trade restrictions under the Trading with the Enemy Act in the US, with the restrictions renewed each year by every US president to date – most recently in September 2016.

This pernicious legislation not only restricts US trade with Cuba, but also impinges on the sovereignty of other countries in their dealings with Cuba.

As an example of the extent to which the trade restrictions are enforced, the Rutherglen branch of the Scottish Socialist Party was threatened in July 2015 with the suspension of its PayPal account if it did not stop selling tickets to a Cuba-themed social night, even though the funds raised were only intended for local party work.

Despite election pledges by outgoing President Barack Obama, the US still runs a prison camp on occupied Cuban territory at Guantánamo Bay, where hundreds of people have been subjected to major human rights violations.

For his part, the Cuban President Raul Castro recently reiterated: “We are not going towards capitalism – that is completely ruled out, as our constitution states.”

SOLIDARITY FROM SCOTLAND

The SSP aims to build ever-stronger links with our friends in Cuba and to help socialists in Scotland develop a better understanding of the Cuban Revolution through this.

In 2005, Rosie Kane – then Scottish Socialist Party MSP for Glasgow – was invited to Cuba to take part in a three-day conference on global terrorism. She contributed to a session titled The Hypocrisy of the West, speaking about economic conscription in the wake of the Iraq War.

Recalling the conference, Rosie said: “My contribution was about economic conscripts in this country who were being dragged – children who couldn’t get jobs, couldn’t get roofs over their heads, couldn’t get training – who were being stalked by the army and taken to fight in Iraq and, as a result, were coming home injured or traumatised or, worse, in body bags.

“My contribution was that our young people were being taken away to go away and kill other young people, and none of these young people had a problem with each other – the whole thing was about oil and resources.

“I ended it by saying that Blair and Bush and the rest of them would soon be coming to Gleneagles for the G8 summit. This was the beginning of June and they were coming in July.

“Everyone else had addressed Fidel Castro and said ‘El Presidente’, and I was just dying to say ‘El Presidente’ because it sounded so cool! So eventually, I found my moment and said: ‘Look, we will go and protest against the warmongers who are making us fodder in their battle for oil and resources.’

“I addressed Castro – I was yards away from him – and I said: ‘El Presidente, I have a very big couch. If you want to come to Scotland, I’ll put you up and you can come with me to Gleneagles, which is a stone’s throw away, and we will throw stones at Bush and Blair’.

“And he said to me: ‘We don’t need to use violence – but maybe a wee kick up the ass!’. But he said ‘I can’t come to Scotland, I’m so sorry’, and he put his arms out, and I went over and he gave me a hug and thanked me, and I went back to my seat. Can you believe it?”

FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY DELEGATION

Four years after Rosie Kane’s visit, nine SSP members took part in a fortnight-long visit to Cuba on the 50th anniversary of the success of the Revolution. They reported back on Cuba’s impressive social gains in spite of a challenging political and economic situation.

The delegation resolved to help build a stronger Cuban solidarity network in Scotland.

The SSP’s international committee is currently discussing proposals for another trip to Cuba in the near future. All SSP members are invited to participate in international committee meetings, and people are being sought to help organise and fundraise for the trip.

As Scotland’s socialist party, the SSP seeks to maintain the strongest possible relationship with socialist Cuba and extends warmest comradely greetings to the Cuban people in 2017.

Connor Beaton is the branch co-ordinator of Dundee SSP, and serves on the party’s executive committee.