Why The Special Period?

[Karl Marx's Camel]

Why did the special period happen?

[Sir Aunty Christ]

Is this what you're talking about?

Special Period (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Period)

Wikipedia is a great thing.

It probably had to do with Cuba's reliance on the USSR.

[Karl Marx's Camel]

So basically Cuba was living on Soviet money, and when they didn't receive their economic assistance, Cuba fell apart?

[Sir Aunty Christ]

I'm not an expert on the subject (in fact I didn't even know that this "special period" had occurred) but if Cuba was reliant on Soviet oil and if Cuban-Soviet trade agreements collapsed after the end of Communism in the USSR then the economic situation would have got pretty bad in Cuba.

[chebol]

That's the short version, yeah. It's important to also understand the reasons for Cuba's dependence (the Soviets wouldn't let them develop a balanced economy), and that Cuba has largely overcome the challenges of the "Special Period in a Time of Peace", so that the economy is now one the fastest growing in the hemisphere (nay, world), the resurgence of racism, sexism, homophobia, poverty and crime that came with such an economic collapse are rapidly being overcome. Cuba is almost at the point is was 20 years ago (not quite though - the energy shortages are a particular problem, as are building material shortages. Food's in surplus, and we can talk about education, medicine, etc, all day).

The key problem, imo, remains the Battle of Ideas. It has not yet been won. Not only against the outside aggressors (esp the US), but against the apathy and cynicism of an entire generation of youth who have grown up seeing the worst of the Cuban revolution, and none of the best. I'm guessing our friend SmokingMan is one of these (but I could be wrong).

Last time I was over there I had a number of good, long "street conversations" (what do you call somehting that takes place in the street but involves almost everyone that walks by???) on this topic. The vast majority of people were positive and optimistic about fixing this problem, and saw the role of youth in leading the Venezuelan revolution as a key part of this solution.

A good book on this, and other, more technical aspects of Cuba in recent years, is Isaac Saney's book "Cuba: A Revolution in Motion". It deals with the problems of the Special Period, and their solutions, the legal system, the Union system, the electoral system and the debate around it, and more.

The next issue of the journal LINKS (just sent it to the printers) is focussed on Cuba, particularly some of the debates that have opened up there since the fall of the Soviet Union.
http://www.dsp.org.au/links/index.htm

[Floyce White]

"Special Period" is the Cuban phrase for "worldwide economic depression." It coincided with the defeat of the Soviet Bloc in the Cold War, and the end of Cuba's trade relations with the USSR (sugar for petroleum).

[Karl Marx's Camel]

, and the end of Cuba's trade relations with the USSR

Cuba couldn't have just bought oil, like everyone else?

[BuyOurEverything]

In the period leading up to the Special Period, Cuba was essentially a colony of the Soviet Union. As well blame Africa for no being able to just buy their own AIDS medication. Cuba is a tiny country and with the United States embargo and hostility they desperately needed a powerful trading partner and ally and the USSR was in the market for new countries. And they did buy their oil, just for subsidized prices. It happens all the time. What's the obsession with Autarky?

[Karl Marx's Camel]

Cuba was essentially a colony of the Soviet Union.

You mean, economically speaking?

A little off-topic, but didn't they involve themselves a lot in South America and in Angola, which the Soviet Union was very uneasy about? I remember they went into Angola without warning the Soviet Union, and the leaders of the SU said that not notifying the "socialist block" was treason and that this act could not be forgiven.

[Floyce White]

NWOG: "Cuba couldn't have just bought oil, like everyone else?"

Petroleum is traded only at official exchanges, and only in US dollars. Cuba has no virtually no trade with the US, and very little USD earnings due to the boycott. The USSR allowed Cuba to trade commodity for commodity, since the growing, semi-underground vodka industry required more sugar than the USSR could made available.

[Janus]

Also, agriculture experienced major problems because Cuba had been so reliant on fertilizers and pesticides due to the major state-owned farms. I think they set up a good example after this by switching to more organic and decentralized farming techniques.

[BuyOurEverything]

You mean, economically speaking?


Yes. They certainly had their disagreements, and Cuba largely resented the relationship but they really didn't have much of a choice at the time. There were definately differences of ideologies, but when it came down to it, Cuba was reliant.

[Severian]

The error Cuba made was to act as if the USSR, and favorable trade relations with the USSR, could last forever.

The Cuban economy was geared to those trade relations. Early plans to move away from sugar production were scrapped, since the Soviet Union bought sugar at such high prices - and sold oil and other products at such low prices.

As long as those trade relations lasted, it made sense to gear everything to maximizing sugarcane production.

Of course Cuba could and did buy oil "like everyone else" during the special period - that was the problem! They bought it at high world-market prices - and sold sugar at low world-market prices. (It should be pointed out that most sugar traded internationally is sold at some preferential price; the world-market price is the dumping price.)

Cuba had lots of gas-guzzling Soviet machinery, including mechanized sugar harvesters. (Most other sugarcane-producing countries rely more on stoop labor.) And few sources of energy other than imported oil.

Cuba also had to (and has to) buy food on the world market, and had to pay to ship it longer since U.S. exports were denied them until recently (and still only available for cash and under other limits.

The biggest problem with Wikipedia's version is it gives short shrift to the recovery from the special period - an impressive accomplishment of Cuban working people. It's not just Castro who says the special period is over - its generally referred to in the past tense by Cubans.

Working people found ways to increase food production, (http://www.themilitant.com/1996/6013/6013_18.html), substitutes for Soviet imports, ways to save energy and to earn more hard currency on the world market. Industrial workers took more control over production (http://www.themilitant.com/1996/6017/6017_17.html)

By 1997 the worst was clearly over. (http://www.themilitant.com/1997/6128/6128_25.html)

BTW, the phrase "special period in time of peace" should emphasize that it was seen as comparable to the economic effects of war or of a U.S. naval blockade. The revolution's leadership had foreseen that possibility, and prepared for it. Those preparations were adapted to deal with the "Special period in time of peace."

[Viva Fidel!!]

The special period did start after the fall of the Soviet Union. What made the conditions of the "special period" worse was the Helms-Burton Act that was passed in 1996 by the United States, which made the embargo on Cuba stronger.

[Clarksist]

The error Cuba made was to act as if the USSR, and favorable trade relations with the USSR, could last forever.

I agree.

But I also think that might be a tad harsh. I mean who else were they going to turn to? And when they did, I think the economic relationship developed gradually. That, and who the fuck knew the USSR was gonna collapse in on its combersome self?

But don't get me wrong, I do agree.

[Sentinel]

Guevara hoped to industrialise Cuba fast and make it self-reliant, but the soviets weren't too enthusiastic to help with that. They didn't sponsor a factory Che wanted for example. Or so I read in a book.

Che was a little pissed off at Kruchev, although I have no idea whether or not the Soviets actually could have afforded to help more. Perhaps someone can shed a little light on this.

[Janus]

They didn't sponsor a factory Che wanted for example. Or so I read in a book.
Yeah, I think it was a steel factory or something like that.


although I have no idea whether or not the Soviets actually could have afforded to help more. Perhaps someone can shed a little light on this.
They could've but they thought it impractical as Cuba didn't have that much resources for industry. They had the same attitude towards China (even though China had plenty of resources).