Severian
16th November 2006, 03:14
Originally posted by Andy Bowden+November 15, 2006 05:14 am--> (Andy Bowden @ November 15, 2006 05:14 am)
On the other hand, the worst period for artistic freedom and so forth was probably after 1971, with the Padilla affair.
Why was post-1971 the worst time for artistic freedom?.....What is the background to the 'Padilla Affair' - is there more to it than what seems to be simply described as the jailing of a critic of Castro? [/b]
Here's an article with some info about the Padilla affair and UMAP (http://www.blythe.org/arenas-e2.html) (towards the bottom of that page). If you read the whole thing, it ends up giving a partial history of the ups and downs of Stalinist political influence in Cuba. By way of its primary subject, gay rights.
The Padilla affair's been described as a sort of farcical imitation of the Moscow trials. By Abel Prieto, who was head of the Cuban artists' union (UNEAC) and a Politburo member at one point. A lot of people in UNEAC would describe the 70s as the "gray decade". If you've seen the movie "Strawberry and Chocolate", it's set in the 70s. It wasn't just Padilla - around the same time, some other people were stepped on in order to set a tone of cultural conformity.
Andy
[email protected] 15, 2006 06:37 am
My understanding is that the CPV criticised the Cuban Communist Party's line that guerilla warfare was suitable for all countries.
To add to my last post, the same person who said that the Cuban Communists were jailed for criticising the Cuban CP's line on guerilla warfare were also charged for discussing the Cuban economy with some Soviet representatives - infer from that what you will.
Oh, the second Escalante affair - the "microfaction". That actually marks a defeat for Cuban Stalinism. For background, it's necessary to go into the first Escalante Affair, which was more significant really.
Stuff in bold is from an article by the Australian Democratic Socialist Party (http://www.dsp.org.au/dsp/DLCuba/DLCuba.htm#7)
Escalante had been a longtime leader of the Stalinist Partido Socialista Popular, one of the three political organisations that fused in 1961 to form the Integrated Revolutionary Organisation, the forerunner of the Communist Party of Cuba (formed in 1965). ....Escalante was given the post of organisation secretary of the ORI. He used this post to built up a corrupt personal machine of former PSP members and excluding from responsible posts people from the other two organisations. This was the reason why Castro denounced Escalante in 1962 in a nationally televised speech, later published as "Against Bureaucratism and Sectarianism".
....
The diehard Stalinists from the old PSP were excluded from the ORI, which was renamed the Partido Unido de la Revolution Socialista (United Party of the Socialist Revolution). The members of the PURS were recruited according to a proposal made by Castro following the first Escalante affair: workers' assemblies were held in the factories and other workplaces to nominate candidates for party membership.
.....
After his dismissal as ORI organisation secretary in 1962, Escalante had been given a number of minor diplomatic postings in Eastern Europe. When he returned to Cuba in 1964 he was appointed administrator of a state farm. He organised a secret grouping composed of his former political associates in the Stalinist PSP, including two members of the PCC Central Committee. Beginning in late 1966 this grouping began to work closely with the second secretary of the Soviet embassy.
.....
On January 28, 1968 Radio Havana announced that after a three-day session, the Central Committee of the PCC had decided to expel Aníbal Escalante from the party. He and eight other former members of the PSP, plus 27 "accomplices", were arrested and put on trial. They were given long prison sentences.
....
Certainly, one of the issues behind the second Escalante affair was the dispute between the Castro leadership and the Kremlin over the "armed struggle" or the "peaceful" parliamentary road to socialism in Latin America. In August 1967 Cuba had hosted a major conference of Latin American left organisations at which there was a sharp exchange between Castro himself and the leaders of the Latin American Communist parties, which were backed by Moscow.
....
After the announcement of the arrest of Escalante, Moscow indicated its displeasure by sharply cutting back its supplies of vitally needed oil to Cuba.[/b]
Paragraphs reshuffled to put events in chronological order. It should be added that the "microfaction" was also charged with encouraging the USSR to influence Cuban policy by threatening to withhold aid. Certainly this has little to do with "free speech."
It's also interesting how people in Washington assessed these events:
On the first Escalante affair (http://www.fas.org/irp/ops/policy/docs/frusX/316_330.html)
On the second (with some background on the first) (http://files.osa.ceu.hu/holdings/300/8/3/text/14-1-69.shtml)
Later in 1968, the Cuban and Soviet governments apparently came to some compromise which preserved aid and trade. As part of this, Castro belatedly endorsed the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia. From late 1968 through the early 70s were the period when Soviet pressure had the most effect on Cuban policy.
I would have thought that the 90s would have been the timeframe in Cuba with the most siege mentality
Nope, Stalinist-influenced policies have definitely been in decline in Cuba since the collapse of the USSR. A major force trying to influence Cuba in that direction was gone - and there was a dramatic example how the growth of bureaucracy can doom a revolution.
Also, an anti-bureaucratic campaign called the "rectification process" had begun in the late 80s.
Even for those who look just at the treatment of the "dissident" groups and so forth, things have probably lightened up some since 1991. But that's a pretty minor consideration when assessing the degree of space for working people to discuss ways to advance the revolution.