From Unity, 30 May 2009

Socialism is the future: build it now!

by Lynda Walker

May Day is always a day of pride for co

mmunists, but this year was very special for those who went to Cuba on the fiftieth anniversary of the Revolution. A 33-strong delegation organised by the Belfast and District Trades Council visited Cuba. The delegation represented a number of trade unions and trades councils, and from the youngest, aged two, to the oldest, aged ninety-five, they all appreciated the Cuban hospitality.
     The programme included a meeting with the teachers’ union, at which a cheque for £10,000 was handed over for the hurricane fund by Brian Campfield and Kevin Doherty (president and secretary of Belfast Trades Council), Brenda Callaghan (council member), and Brendan Mackin (Belfast Unemployed Resource Centre).


Some Belfast Trades Council delegates on May Day

     The group met the Federation of Cuban Women, where an open and frank discussion took place. The delegation learnt that many social problems exist, and the Cubans are trying to deal with these by providing social programmes and paid initiatives for those at risk. The question of domestic violence was discussed, and the group were told that there are Women’s Centres in each province, which provide help, advice and education for women. Programmes also exist in schools to win young people away from the ideology that subjugates women. Regarding prostitution it was said that “pimps” and others who help to sell women were dealt with as criminals but that the women themselves were encouraged and educated away from prostitution.
     The Committee for the Defence of the Revolution exists in all neighbourhoods, and so problems in residential areas can de identified and dealt with. CDRs play a major role in localities. Discussion also took place around the question of “househusbands,” equality in work and the home, and housing issues. The delegation learnt that more than 90 per cent of the population own their own home. They can pass a dwelling on to their relatives, but they can sell it only to the government. Overcrowding is a problem, and some families deal with this by building outwards or upwards; but that is not always a possibility.


     The delegation were also pleased to meet two veterans
who fought in the Revolution fifty years ago.

     May Day itself was magnificent. As the march set off across Revolution Square there were home-made placards, Cuban flags and banners waving, many from other countries, making this a truly International Labour Day.


Revolution Square on May Day

     The culmination of the visit was a trade union solidarity meeting, where delegations from all over the world met to show their solidarity with each other and with Cuba in particular. About five hundred people were present. More than forty-one people spoke. A delegate from the American Longshoremen’s Union opened up the proceedings. Country after country recognised that Cuba leads the way: “They show love and humanity, and the right to a better world.” The Nigerian delegate said that they share their lot with Cuba, “the first country to show a human face.”
     Several delegations took this opportunity to show their solidarity by presenting cheques for generous amounts. The delegate from Ecuador spoke about the recent success in elections and said how “we are doing away with the neo-liberal construction. Rafael Correa [the President of Ecuador] has met Evo Morales, and they are going to look at the food problem.” Many referred to the changes that are taking place in Latin America, changes that are helpful to Cuba and changes that that Cuba supports. Students from a number of countries who are studying in Cuba—medicine and so on—also spoke.
     Speaker after speaker called for the release of the “Five Heroes,” the Miami Five. A delegate from Ireland spoke, though it is not clear who she represented when she told the audience that “there were casualties inflicted on the British occupational forces.” Her speech was clearly out of line with the focus of the meeting, and it is hard to know which trade unions or solidarity groups in Ireland would support such views.
     During the lunchtime there was the opportunity to meet (and give Unity to) communists from South Africa, Palestine, the United States, Viet Nam, Greece and others who were in the trade union delegations. About five hundred people were present, and one highlight of the solidarity meeting was when Jack Edwards, 95-year-old veteran of the British Battalion in the Spanish Anti-Fascist War, was given a standing ovation. The chairperson of the conference remarked that “when it comes to solidarity, age is no object, as Jack has shown.” Jack and his daughter, Dr Margaret Sampson, had travelled as part of the delegation with the Belfast Trades Council. Jack was in a wheelchair throughout the visit, and this meant that he was restricted in where he could go, but there were herculean comrades who lifted him on and off the coaches. Facilities for the disabled are very limited in Cuba, except in the more up to date tourist hotels.
     In the following week Jack also met 91-year-old Universo Lipiz Rodrigues from the city of Matanzas. He and some of the Trades Council delegates had met in November 2008 in Barcelona. This was a very emotional meeting. Lipiz not only fought with the International Brigades but was also imprisoned in five prison camps and two concentration camps. He and two other Cuban comrades escaped from Dachau with the help of a friendly German officer. He returned to Cuba to fight alongside Che, Fidel and others in the Cuban Revolution. He was also one of the founder-members of the CDRs and worked in the early literacy campaign. Pauline Frazer, daughter of a British brigader, will write up this history, which she got when she visited him.


Joe Law, Lynda Walker, Jack Edwards and Margaret Sampson
meeting Universo Lipiz Rodrigues and his daughter, also the CDR leader (left).

     The delegation also visited Santa Clara, where Ernesto Che Guevara and his comrades are laid to rest.
     The delegation enjoyed the politics, and the sun, and they learnt about the achievements of the Cuban people. They also acknowledged the fact that Cubans have many problems to overcome, not least those relating to the American blockade, food production, and the effects of the tourist industry. Enthusiasm was evident, and hopefully this will spill over into building solidarity with Cuba at home and abroad, to building a progressive movement here, and eventually to building the road to socialism in Ireland. As the South African communists say, “Socialism is the future—build it now!”


Turkish comrades in front of the José Martí Tower


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