Word: karol
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...essence of Castroist thought as put by Che was to heighten the political consciousness and international brotherhood of all socialist countries and peoples oppressed by imperialism. While maybe a viable strategy for Cuba, to the Russian doctrine of peaceful coexistence, Karol stresses this was a heresy. The Castrcists also believed that "Latin America lacked the basis for the peaceful transfer to socialism": their second theoretical violation of Russian doctrine according to Karol. Regis Dubray who theorized the Cuban strategy in Revolution in the Revolution? emphasized that only a unique Latin American solution would liberate the area; in other words...
...only partially rethought development problems. Chronic food shortages, bad distribution and grave imbalance between supply and demand due to the island's "socialist inflation" all pressed Castro in 1968 to decide upon a new era of belt tightening which after five years would bring the island out of underdevelopment. Karol remained pessimistic of this plan, pointing out that Fidel envisioned a quick political solution ignoring the real problem of changing social relationships to fit the demands of the people and instituting real "grass-roots socialist democracy...
Again Castro opted for programs based on economic growth instead of ones that would raise political consciousness. As a result of this lack of faith in the masses to know what is best for themselves, Karol argues that Castro and a handful of leaders have had to decide the most minute day-to-day problems...
Castro's return to the realm of pragmatism coincided with a reconciliation with Russia. Not only did Fidel abandon his ideas of active connivance in Latin American guerrilla movements, but, Karol argues through his fiercely anti-Stalinist perspective, Castro adopted the Russian model of development of the 1930's based on low consumption and high investment behind a centralized and vertical power structure operating in the name of the dictatorship of the proletariat. Karol indicates that, to justify this new position, Castro made several theoretical distortions, and abandoned his earlier anti-Stalinism and recognition that Cuba was not a proletarian...
...warnings of economists that a ten million ton zafra [harvest] in 1970 was unattainable (Dumont argued that 1975 would be a more realistic date for such a goal), Castro made it a matter of honor to fulfill the revolution's goals. Emphasizing political spirit and good will- a factor Karol ignored in his Russia 1930's comparison- the harvest brought temporarily renewed optimism, as any Venceremos will tell you. Yet the cost of the failure was staggering: serious dislocations in the economy resulted because most of the labor force was diverted to reach the pipe dream. This winter, serious food...