Cuban leader Fidel Castro has pledged to continue the fight for But the revolution is now under threat, given the situation in the Soviet Union. ALAIN KRIVINE AND JEANETTE HABEL, leaders of the French Ligue Communiste Revolutionnaire, visited Cuba in July. The following interview, translated from 'Rouge', the LCR's newspaper, records their impressions. The translation is by Patrick Baker. Q: How did you come to visit Cuba?
AK: We were invited by the Communist Party after discussions with Cuban comrades in Paris. A trotskyist delegation officially received in Cuba is quite a first - it shows how things have changed.
We visited factories, building sites, universities, barracks and held political discussions at all levels. These covered many subjects very frankly: economic reforms, relations with the USSR, stalinism, democracy and pluralism. We explaned our analysis of 'stalinism and the politics of the Fourth International.
At the end of the visit, we met Carlos Aldana, secretary to the Central Committee. Outside of the official meetings, we were able to meet people from other milieux, giving us a broader picture of the problems of the revolution. Q: Alain, this was your first visit to Cuba. What were your impressions? Trotskyists visit AK: I knew a number of third world countries and some in eastern Europe. Other than a few points, no comparison is possible - there were no beggars, no shanty-towns, no unemployed.
A second striking thing is the economic crisis, particularly relating to food, which seems to have hit the old Hungarian buses which are about to give up the ghost, which you can't get spares for. (ou have to queue to get rationed products, without any certainty that the rice or the meat have actually arrived.
Apart from that, there are hardly any shops or newspapers left in Havana, which is serious. Faced with this sudden poverty, the egalitarian traditions of the revolution remain nonetheless. As for the leaders, the situation is more contradictory.
Totake one example, it was reassuring to sit down to dinner with a vice-minister at his house and hear him say, terribly put out 'You know, with my ration book, I only have the strict minimum and can't invite people round.' But a few hundred metres away, a senior official was sleeping above his garage containing six cars. Q: Alain speaks of a lack of food. What effects does this have?
JH: When you get to Havana, it's true that you are surprised by the length of the queues. Thev are longer and more numerous than before. Difficulties with supplies are made worse by transport problems, so daily life has become very hard.
Food has been rationed for a long without taking. into account the food blockade, implemented by the US for the last 30 years. It even includes medicines and could be extended soon, given that Bush has been conside 1e amendment penalising American companies that trade with Cuba via a third country.
Second, the consequences of events in eastern Europe. The USSR is only respecting one point of the 1990 agree ment- oil. So a whole series of foodstuffs like powdered milk and wheat no longer come. All of this explains the considerable reduction in quantities available to the population.
Supplies of petrol have been reduced and become less regular. This makes daily life - which was already hard -worse through its effects on transport. The number of buses has been reduced, for example. This creates enormous difficulties for the people and also in transporting food from the countryside to the towns.
The third comes from previous errors in economic policy. One example - the Cuban leadership is trying to solve the food shortages through a plan which mobilises workers from every sector and volunteers from Havana. 70% of the population live in towns and cities, and they have to be fed in a situation which is much harder than before.
The plan aims to increase production of fruit and vegetables in the outskirts of the capital, but it's too early to judge how successful it's been. But everyone's saying the same thing: why has it taken 32 years for decisions to be taken making Cuba self-sufficient?
The answer lies in relations with east European countries and a political analysis of these regimes - which the Cuban leadership never really made. They relied on stable supplies in the very long term. Now, some people are demanding the re-establishment of free peasant markets The questioning of the self-enrich ment of the 'Kulaks' by Fidel evidently in Cuba, a base of support for supposedly 'democratic elections with the blessing - and of course financial aid - of the USA. The idea is that if this created conflict, that would provide an excuse for So it really is a dangerous situation -in the aftermath of the Gulf war, the US government is convinced that it can lestroy the Cuban revolution by snap ping its fingers. This is why withdrawing aid to Cuba has been put forward as an essential precondition of US aid to the Soviet Union. Cuban leaders are asking themselves how much they were sold have discussed the problems connected with the fall of stalinism, democracy and pluralism AK: The events in eastern Europe have really shocked people in Cuba. depended on trade with these countries for 85% of our supplies. Then the Berlin Wall fell and we went with it!, a revolutionary commander told us. Some leaders, who never accepted stalinism, are developing an analysis similar to But most people we met believed in 'Russian socialism' anyway, even if they'd never liked it much.
In particular, they say that they don't receive foreign aid any more. However, all of the leaders we met regretted 'having tried to copy the USSR others only when pushed. So the 1968 invasion of Čzechosovakia is no longer defended by The feeling of having been betrayed by the 'socialist camp' is being reinforced. The official argument consists of hiding behind the 'rectification' campaign, started in 1986, as a struggle against bureaucracy.
Part Two of this interview will appear in Socialist Outlook No 8 No. 7 Sept. 14, 1991
Standing room only in this bed, fellas! In SO No.3 Julia more than vulgar insult to inCulture flow from a singular doctrine or Reviewed by Gill Lee If the sight of a grown adult fellating a wine bottle or sticking her hand in her crotch while fully clothed excites or shocks you then you'll enjoy this film more than I did. The main shock of 'In Bed with Madonna' is how tame it is.
As a role model women can do worse. Madonna is sexually assertive, controls her own business empire, likes women and is anti-homophobic. She also stands up to the Moral Right, refusing to self-censor her show in Canada and Italy.
But, as the movie shows, she has achieved her power to project this image by leaving be hind her aging father, alcoholic brother, first finger-fucking woman friend and recreating herself as Madonna the star.
The role model of Madonna is one of individual escape from oppression. Madonna has made it, why can't we all?
The 'real life' of the story behind the Blond Ambition tour is filmed in grainy black and white, while colour and light are reserved for the pulsating concert scenes. Unlike a real documentary, 'real life' here is being acted out for the camera. As Warren Beatty savs 'She doesn't want to live off camera. What's there to say if it's not a partial - in both senses of the said in front of the camera?' Madonna has reshaped her past to make it shocking' while denying those from her past who have similarly reshaped their lives, dignity and earning power. Her overawed childhood friend asks Madonna to be her child's godmother and is told I'll get back to you' -which Madonna never does.
Her father comes on stage to hear 'Happy Birthday' sung by 20,000 fans while in 'real life' Madonna didn't get time to shop for a present for him.
Madonna's attitude to her entourage of dancers is one of control and patronage. 'All my dancers are emotionally crippled in some way or another. That's part of why I chose them. I like to mother them', she says. Five out of six are gay, the majority are black. Only one of the dancers, the heterosexual, is developed as a 'character in the film, with Madonna defending him from the bitchy queens who make up the rest of the group When the young woman make-up artist reports she has been drugged and raped, Madonna laughs. Before each concert Madonna holds a short prayer meeting for the singers and dancers to pray for a 'good voice - and to berate them for in-fighting.
Madonna on stage is energetic, exciting and gets on top. Off-stage she seems too busy creating herself as a star to do any living. did for the Soviet people in
time, and Cubans have bought basic goods in state shops. This system was
little one said... In Bed With Madonna