Searching for the ‘Conceptualization’ With a Member of the Cuban Communist Party

After much searching, the important documents that will govern part of the life of the country did not appear. (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Desde Aqui, Havana, 6 May 2021 — A former colleague of the microbrigade that built the building where I have lived for 36 years, visited me on Wednesday afternoon to help him search on the internet for the update of the Conceptualization of the Cuban Economic and Social Model of Socialist Development that was recently prepared in the Eighth Congress of the Communist Party.

My neighbor, who has been a Party member for more than 40 years, assumed that since May 5th is Karl Marx’s birthday, the date would be propitious to publicize what is supposed to be “the theoretical, conceptual and action guide for the construction of socialism in Cuba.”

When we searched the sites that are dedicated to these topics, the only link that appeared refers to the text that was approved during the Seventh Congress, but there is no trace of the updated document or the “update project.”

Another old link where the reader is invited to “read the definitive texts of the Conceptualization of the Model” announced to us with its embarrassed face that “this page does not work.”

An intense search on the official sites for Granma and Cubadebate only yielded the resolution issued by a commission of the Eighth Congress, chaired by Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz, where in its first agreement what was called “the actualization project” of the aforementioned conceptualization”] “with the modifications incorporated.” But obviously a resolution to approve a document is not the document itself.

It is true that the aforementioned resolution offers some clues, but strictly speaking, what stands out the most are the obvious, such as that Cuban society is in the historical period of construction of socialism, that the Communist Party of Cuba — unique, following José Martí, following Fidel Castro, Marxist and Leninist — reaffirms its leading role and that the ultimate goal is to achieve a nation “Sovereign, Independent, Socialist, Democratic, Prosperous and Sustainable,” presented thus with all the terms capitalized.

Platitudes aside, those who want to know if the updated conceptualization would prohibit or regulate the concentration of property and wealth, will have to wait until the text is finally made public. In this regard, there are only two exhausting paragraphs in the resolution that express the terror with which the timid reformists try to hint at their riddles.

Here I quote them verbatim so that the most intelligent can determine if they are closing in order to open or if they are opening in order to close.

“Recognize, regulate and achieve an adequate functioning of the market, so that centralized administrative measures, in interaction with macroeconomic policies and others, induce economic actors to adopt decisions in accordance with the interests of the whole society.”

“As part of this, it is defined that it is necessary to prevent producers or marketers from imposing bad practices, speculation and conditions contrary to the interests and principles of society, regardless of the form of ownership or management.”

Perhaps the publication of this resolution could have the objective of making people believe that they had already read the updated conceptualization and, additionally, be intended mislead analysts. The fact that more than fifteen days have passed since the end of the partisan event and that its most important result continues to be unknown is a blow to the communication policy of the PCC.

In the end, I think I only managed to make my neighbor nervous, as he asked me not to tell anyone that he was searching for these things, lest it be taken as a lack of discipline.
____________

COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.