‘Better Tehran than Caracas’: guidelines for the defence of the Cuban Revolution

We publish the following article from Cuban communist Frank Josué Solar Cabrales, which offers an insightful perspective on the strangulation of the island at the hands of US imperialism. In Cuba, the threat of capitalist restoration looms large. This article poses the need for a revolutionary way forward to defend the Cuban Revolution.

In October 1934, faced with the threat of fascism coming to power, Spanish workers – at least in Asturias – took up arms under the slogan ‘better Vienna than Berlin’. It reflected a determination to fight to the death. Whilst Hitler had seized power with virtually no resistance, the Austrian fascists had to drown an armed popular rebellion in blood before they could do the same. Today, we should say: ‘better Tehran than Caracas.’

Our main weapon against US imperialism’s violent actions is not so much the military response we might mount from an institutional or conventional standpoint, via the state. Rather, it is that which can be mounted by a broader, collective revolutionary movement that goes beyond Cuba. US imperialism fears above all – more than the number or range of our potential drones – a process of destabilisation in the region and within the United States itself.

An attack on Cuba and what it symbolises could act as a trigger for an outburst of popular anger and rebellion across the entire continent. A call for any invasion of Cuba must be met with a call for insurrectionary uprisings and the total paralysis of economic activity in the hemisphere. Perhaps the Cuban state cannot do this, as it must abide by certain international norms. But we Cuban revolutionaries can and must do so, and work towards it. Let everyone who considers themselves, or claims to be, a friend of Cuba express their militant and active solidarity in this way.

It may sound utopian, but one must not underestimate the impact such a call could have in certain circumstances, given Cuba’s prestige and moral authority. Let the ‘war of the whole people’ transcend our borders and become the ‘war of all peoples’ against US imperialism and its local allies.

We have but one enemy throughout the world, and the Cuban Revolution is but one more trench in a struggle of global proportions. We must open more fronts against our shared enemy. Our struggles are inextricably linked. Those who impose a criminal blockade upon us, suffocate our economy in a daily genocide and put us under the constant threat of military aggression are the very same people who, within their own borders, condemn millions of workers, young people and the oppressed to misery, precariousness, and a lack of any future.

That common enemy is imperialism and the global bourgeoisie – a parasitic and corrupt oligarchy that commodifies human life, destroys the planet and does not hesitate to sow global terror to safeguard its obscene privileges.

Our relationship with the Soviet Union and the socialist camp, even with Venezuela, was characterised by an alliance that was not merely economic but political and ideological.

When it comes to modern Russia, China, and the other BRICS countries, they are friendly nations that condemn the blockade and wish to maintain normal trade relations with Cuba, but they operate according to capitalist logic. Their business dealings and interests with Cuba are not driven by altruistic or humanitarian aims, but rather by a desire to secure their own profits and geopolitical advantages.

The international economic crisis of capitalism also limits any potential benefits that the BRICS might offer Cuba. Without Russian and Chinese cooperation, it would have been harder for Cuba to tackle the current electricity generation crisis, caused by oil shortages and the precarious state of its power grids and thermal power stations.

But it would be naive to expect any kind of military aid from their governments should Cuba come under attack. Triggering World War III to defend the Caribbean island does not come into their calculations.

The safeguarding of national sovereignty and the Cuban Revolution depends on the Cuban people themselves. The defeat of imperialism can only be guaranteed by the international triumph of revolutionary, socialist movements that aim for a radical transformation and a break with capitalism. Despite the material hardships we endure whilst resisting with dignity, the Cuban people will not give in.

The main way out of Cuba’s crisis lies in international solidarity and the advance of the global revolutionary movement. Socialism cannot be built in a single, isolated country. Socialism, to be fully realised as a transition to communism, must exist on an international scale.

Until the coming of the world revolution – for which they must work and which they must promote as a fundamental guarantee of their own success – socialist powers confined within national borders can only resist and advance as far as the resources at their disposal allow them to, amidst the fiercest siege by reactionary forces and imperialism. This compels them, out of the necessity to survive, to make cutbacks, retreats and concessions, in order to adapt to the extremely hostile environment of capitalist relations.

The main way out of Cuba’s crisis lies in international solidarity / Image: Mark Kirchner, Flickr

We must call a spade a spade, and not describe what clearly constitutes a step backwards taken merely to survive as ‘measures for the perfection of socialism’. The socialist project cannot be tainted. Setbacks must be acknowledged honestly, and we must not call socialism what it is not: practices and dynamics that have nothing to do with it, and which in no way can be used to its advantage. The transition may experience setbacks, but these must be openly acknowledged.

The market is not a neutral tool that can be used to build socialism, nor is it a wild horse that can be tamed, reined in and forced to obey the rider’s will.

The instruments chosen to generate wealth, growth and development are not neutral; they produce their own subjectivities, logics, and social relations, which point in one direction or another and favour one path or another, regardless of one’s intended aim.

In Cuba, we have endured decades of internal struggle between capitalism and socialism, during which the former has been constantly reinforced – particularly since the guidelines – whilst the latter has been increasingly forced onto the defensive. It is one thing to understand that many of the economic transformations currently underway may be necessary right now for survival, but it is quite another to turn them into a virtue ‘for the perfection of socialism.’

In my view, the possibility of a socialist alternative does not lie in a skilful policy capable of conducting a ‘tactical retreat’, using the measures to its advantage and using the market’s blunted weapons for the benefit of socialism. I believe that this is impossible.

Rather, this alternative must come from the bottom up, from the grassroots, through the genuine control of community collectives of workers and peasants coordinated amongst themselves, with decision-making power. This would be capable of counteracting the effects of the market and putting limits on it, reversing the process wherever possible.

The difficult situation in Cuba, which has worsened to an unbearable degree in recent years, stems primarily from the isolation of its socialist project. This isolation has prevented the country from realising the full potential for efficiency and development inherent in a nationalised and planned economy. Socialism is far more efficient than capitalism, provided it is managed through the collective and democratic control of the workers, and continues to spread increasingly at an international level.

In recent years we have seen a rise of the far right in several countries, with surprising electoral support. Does this signify a shift to the right amongst the populations of those countries? How have we got to this point? The fundamental explanation is not to be found in the impact of social media, nor in psychological warfare, nor in a lack of political education and awareness, nor in a lack of contact with the poor. Rather, it is to be found in the profound crisis of capitalism and the absence of a coherent, mass left-wing alternative that represents a radical break with the prevailing system.

Reformism, with its futile attempts to manage capitalism in a more humane and just manner, has reached a dead end. The alternative to the rise of reactionary and far-right governments is not the restoration of the legitimacy of institutions and bourgeois democracy, but their destruction.

We must seek Latin American unity through justice and freedom. The existence of CELAC (Community of Latin American and Caribbean States) or any other integration mechanism has proved to be no sure guarantee of a united Latin America in the face of the threats coming from the North: not only because several of the member governments are themselves an expression of this international rise of the far right, but also because the interests of the Latin American bourgeoisies are highly dependent on US imperialism.

The true unity of our America, its real and definitive independence, will come hand in hand with the revolution.

Cuba is not a threat to the United States or its people. Cuba is, indeed, a danger to the US ruling class, but not because it possesses drones or missiles capable of reaching the US, or because of the intelligence operations it has been forced to carry out to defend itself, but because of the threat posed by its example. That is why they have gone to such lengths to ensure its failure.

The spectre of communism is haunting the northern nation from one end to the other with unprecedented force; to the terror of Trump, Rubio, and the billionaires of the ‘Epstein class’. But it is not thanks to this small island – blockaded and the victim of genocide – but because of the very conditions of a capitalism in crisis and decline, incapable of ensuring a dignified existence for millions of people.

Bringing Cuba to its knees is not only a historical obsession of US imperialism and the Cuban-American lobby, but also a vital necessity for the US establishment, to be used as an ideological argument in containing growing popular discontent and the progressive discrediting of capitalism and its institutions.

Cuba is a danger to the US ruling class, because of the threat posed by its example / Image: public domain

They must demonstrate in practice the unviability of socialism in order to delegitimise it. The failure is induced by force – through the total suffocation of its economy, through a knee on its neck preventing it from breathing – rather than by natural causes. But that is, for them, a minor detail. What matters is being able to portray socialism as a failed, inefficient system, incapable of generating wealth and prosperity, and whose only outcome after 60 years is misery, rubbish in the streets, and prolonged power cuts.

That a country with very limited resources like Cuba can, under socialism, perform the miracle of providing education, housing, healthcare, culture, scientific development, and quality of life for all, under equal conditions – something that even the most powerful form of capitalism cannot even dream of – is an unbearably subversive example that they cannot allow to exist just 90 miles off their coast.

Cuba does not promote communism in the United States; it is the very living conditions of the American working class that point to the need and potential for a better society, one of justice and dignity for all. Cuba simply provides a powerful example of what a people can achieve when they break free from the chains of capitalism.

What truly troubles the hegemonic power – and explains its relentless persecution of Cuba – is that this island has put into practice a way of life that has proven to be far more just, humane, and dignified than that experienced in other parts of the world. A way of life where equality, healthcare, education, and housing are guaranteed for all under a socialist model of a planned national economy.

The very existence of Cuba, just 90 miles from the United States, is a dangerous example that the empire seeks to destroy at all costs to prevent it from spreading to the rest of Latin America and the world. The mere fact that the blockade exists is tangible proof of the superiority of the Cuban example; if socialism were so inefficient, the United States could lift the blockade and let the revolution fail of its own accord.

The Cuban Revolution is not the heritage of Cubans alone, but of all revolutionaries and the peoples of the world. It is a symbol of resistance and hope for the oppressed across the globe, tangible proof that the utopia of a better society is possible, that it is possible to establish new relationships between human beings, with well-being for all, and that it is possible to successfully challenge imperialism and powerful dominant forces.

The defeat of the Cuban Revolution would not just mean a massive setback in the living conditions of Cuban workers and the loss of national sovereignty, but also an extraordinary blow to all popular causes and struggles internationally. Its defence is therefore an inescapable duty for the exploited and the rebels throughout the world.

Today, more than ever, its fate is decided by the outcome of the international class struggle. The survival and ultimate triumph of the Cuban socialist project is determined, in the final analysis, by the spread of the world socialist revolution. Therefore, the best way to show solidarity with Cuba is to unleash, in different countries, revolutionary processes that aim to overthrow capitalism.