Dear Editor,
Communism is what you have in Cuba. Little or no privately owned businesses. Everything must be state-owned. Only the comrade Leader will decide what will be produced. He will say things like 10 million tons of sugar must be produced; 5,000 medical doctors must graduate each year – and so all resources must go to achieve what the Leader wants. That’s called Command Economy. Communism is also Dictatorship of the Proletariat. Seizing power and setting up a dictatorship. That’s what Fidel Castro did.
Socialism is something else. America is a Socialist society. The generous welfare system is the definition of socialism. Monthly checks to pay the rent, another check for food, and free healthcare called Medicaid. From each according to his ability to each according to his need.
Garry Kasparov says: ‘You cannot build socialism in a poor, undeveloped society. No money there. But you can build socialism in a very developed, rich country like America. You must be developed first, before you can introduce Socialism’.
Guyana? Yes, you can do Socialism in Guyana and places like Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait etc. These are oil-rich countries. Lots of money there to pay for free healthcare, free education up to university level for all citizens. Also, generous, monthly welfare payments for the disabled, indigent, elderly – – to cover rent, food, clothing and pocket money. Socialism is really: from each according to his ability to each according to his need.
Leaders of Caricom countries would do well to focus on the fact that Cuba is a communist State, not Socialist – and this makes a whole lot of difference. The Cuban people have waited for far too long for a Gorbachev from among the Cuban politburo to rise up and put an end to the failed Communist system. The economy has totally collapsed; the government will fall soon unless Caricom countries choose to prop it up. Once the communist system is swept away, a new system – multiparty democracy and free market economy – will take its place. The economy will recover quickly to provide enough food, gasoline and jobs for all Cuban citizens.