CAPITAL AND CLASS IN CUBAN DEVELOPMENT: Restructuring the Socialist Economy Brian Green B.A. Simon Fraser University, 1994 THESISSUBMllTED IN PARTIAL FULFULLMENT OF THE REQUIREMEW FOR THE DEGREE OF MASER OF ARTS Department of Spanish and Latin American Studies O Brian Green 1996 All rights resewed. This work my not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopy or other means, without permission of the author. 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Title of Tbesis/Project f Extended Essay CAPITAL AND CLASS IN CUBAN DEYELOPMENT: RESTRUCTURING THE SOCIALIST ECONOMY Author:_ (signature) Brc. 3 14%. (date) APPROVAL Name: BRIAN S. GREEN Degree: Master of Arts Title: "Capital And Class In Cuban Development: Restructuring The Socialist Economy" Examining Commit tee: Chair: John ~&rnan, Assistant Professor, Geography Senior Supervisor Ronald'C. Newton Pmfejm, History GdoWro Associate Professor, Sociology & Anthropology G-ple Associate Professor, Sociology & Anthropology External Examiner ... Ill ASSTRACT Since the coilapse of the Soviet bloc, Cuba has entered what Fidel Castro refers to as a 'special period in peacetime', marked by severe economic crisis and an extensive search for new partners in trade and development. Concurrent with this process, the country has embarked on a massive campaign to restructure its labour laws, property rights and social policy, in order to re-make the Cuban economy as a climate conducive to investment and economic growth. Cuba's reform process has been watched carefully by international observers, and though opinion differs substantially, the vast majority of research and analysis assumes the progressive and inevitable nature of the island's restructuring. Analysts on both the Left and the Right conclude that contemporary economic constraints offer no alternative but a submission to capital's emerging world order. Similar sentiments are expressed by Cuban state leaders, who argue that socialism is no longer politically feasible, and that Cuba can retain its basic Revolutionary principles only through a temporary accomodation with global capitalist demands. This thesis traces the history of the Cuban alternative from the early years of the Revolution through the present, in order to explore how the current crisis emerged and why reform is taking the shape it is. I conclude that, despite its many transformations, the Cuban socialist project failed to address, let alone transcend, the ruie of capital; thus, if the current reform process has embraced ptmtly capitafist mechanisms, this is largely a result of the Revolution's faif ure fo overcome capital's basic components: alienated labour, exploitation, and the primacy of exchange over use value. This conclusion then calk for a rethinking of fundamental Left analytical categories in order that radical theory and politicai action can move beyond the limits of s:ate-led, economic Marxism such as that which has inspired Cuban development fw the past thirty-seven years. This study would not have been possible without considerable support from a number of institutions and individuals. A research grant from the International Development Research Centre made my work financially possible, and extensive logistical support was afforded by Cuban institutions (academic and otherwise) and official representatives. This thesis has been edited and revised a number of times, and I thank all those who have offered comments and suggestions on various aspects of the project: John M. Kirk, Sid Shniad, Marilyn Gates, Michael Lebowitz, and Chris Vance. A very special thanks is owed my thesis supervisors, Ronald C. Newton and Gerardo Otero, who have provided support from the first days searching for a thesis topic through to the last typos. And sincere thanks also to Gary Teeple, who agreed to serve as external examiner, and to Conrad Herold, who provided the spark which set this analysis in motion. Each of these peopie has offered knowledge and insight, and I have benefited a great deal from the various disciplines and perspectives they represent. kstly, I thank the innumerable friends and family members who have torerated my obsession with Cuba for the past two years. I dedicate this to Lucia and Maxwell Rupondo, who made communism a way of life, and my partner Joanna Shniad, without whose encouragement, commitment and understanding tkrb cau!d never have been written. capital: a labour relationship in which work is imposed for the express purpose of fueling accumulation and reproducing itself, rather than satisfying a specific need; a process in which objectified labour, i-e. property, is combined with labour objectified through the work-process to produce still more objectified labour, i.e. a commodity market capitalism: a political-economic system for the management of capital relations, generally characterized by private ownership of property, the buying and selling of labour-power, and the market as primary mechanism for determining productive goals, prices and wages socialism, actually-existing: a post-market political-economic system for the management of capital relations, generally characterized by state ownership of property, command mechanisms for surplus-value extraction, and a state- planned strategy for accumulation; esp. related to states headed by official Marxist-Leninist Parties socialism: any number of utopias or political-economic systems which post-date market capitalism; generally characterized by socialization of ownership or abolition of property and mechanisms for mass democracy; in this thesis, socialism generally refers to actually-existing socialism Approval Page Abstract Acknowledgements Definitions Table of Contents I. Introduction Cuba in the Emerging World Order Making Sense of Socialism: class analysis in a post-modern age Notes to Chapter One II. The Revolution: class and socialisms Revolution and State The 'Push for Communismf: Che Guevara and the moral revolution From Development to Crisis: Cuba's 'retreat' to socialism Notes to Chapter Two Ill. Restructuring Sociatism Crisis and Rectification The 'Periodo Especial' and Socialist Restructuring Notes to Chapter Three IV. Capital and Class in Cuban Socialism Socialism, Capitalism and Alternatives in the Emerging World Order Theorizing State Socialism: situating capital and moving beyond Notes to Chapter Four V. Towards a Political Conclusion Politicat Implications of a Class Analysis of Cuban Socialism Notes to Chapter Five References 132 Chapter One ~~TRODUCTION Cuba in the Emerging World Order With the collapse of the Soviet bloc, Cuba lost 85 percent of its foreign trade, as well as its primary sotme of political and ideolagical support. Between 1989 and the present, the country has undergone a period of dramatic restructuring that has left no sphere of life untouched; by its own definition, Cuba is attempting a thorough reform of its pofitical and economic structures in order to safeguard specific achievements as the country moves into a new era, one characterized by greater integration into the world economy and a significantly re-defined 'socialist future'. As the means of such restructuring, Cuba has introduced wide- ranging changes in recent years: the legalization of foreign ownership of property and of private enterprise, a sharp increase in joint ventures between the Cuban state and private foreign capital, the end of official 'full employment' and the re-establishment of the right to hire and fire labour, the opening of private markets, and the dismantling of many state farms and their transformation into workers' cooperatives. This research will reinterpret the origins of the contemporary Cuban crisis and efforts at reform in order to understand how it has developed historically and why restructuring is taking the shape it is.