A Spanish Radical on Celia Hart — June
2008 (and the Dream of a “Socialist Tide”)
by Lois Pérez Leira
[The following article about
Cuba today, and about Celia Hart, was posted at the end of June 2008 on the
Barcelona-based web site Kaos en la Red (“Kaos on the Internet”). This web site, the work of a “collective”
of radicals in Spain, who favor a “plural anticapitalist
left,” has recently begun frequent posting of Celia Hart’s articles in Spanish.
[The CubaNews
English translation by Sue Green has been edited for Labor Standard. The
Spanish original of Lois Pérez Leira’s
article follows below, after the English translation.]
I return from Cuba with renewed enthusiasm. In recent days I saw a country and a people who keep alive the flame of that triumphant revolution of 1959. For the time being, Cuba is the only socialist country in the world. With mistakes and with many successes, the Cubans maintain the basic conquests of the revolution.
Nevertheless, it is necessary to carry out rectifications to enhance the socialist model.
The changes that Cuba needs are neither in Miami nor in the Chinese model. The changes have to be found in the deepening of the revolutionary process. The government must generate a “new revolution within the revolution” that will arouse and mobilize its people under the leadership of Raúl Castro, in a new phase of socialist construction.
The younger brother of Fidel, among other challenges, has to lead the fight against bureaucracy, one of the worst ills of socialism, inherited from the Stalinist model. He will also have the mission of fighting against corruption, a widespread social infirmity, due to the economic needs of the population, essentially the result of the North American blockade.
In this new stage in Cuba, he will have to enhance social incentives, increase labor productivity, and ensure a living wage. It is not good that there are two economies: one involving the dollar and the other, the peso. The dollars arrive in remittances from abroad or from tourism, but the peso economy is the economy of survival. These two parallel economies generate injustices and inequalities. They definitely increase social frustrations. It is not possible [although it may happen] that the doorman at a hotel earns several times more than a doctor. Such contradictions, if they are not remedied, run the risk of turning the revolution against itself, undermining socialist morality.
These modest observations on the problems of Cuba are not meant as interference in that country’s affairs, although in my view, the revolution belongs not only to the Cubans but to everyone.
[Having made these reflections,] I want to tell you, that I went to Havana to present my latest book, Cuba, os galegos e o Che [Cuba, the Galicians, and Che].
[Editors’ Note: The title of this book is in Galician, a language closely related to Portuguese and different from Castilian Spanish. Castilian is what is usually meant when speech or writing is called “Spanish.” Galician is one of four main languages officially recognized in the Spanish state (Castilian, Catalan, and Basque being the others). The subject matter of Lois Pérez Leira’s book, apparently, is the prominent role played in the Cuban revolution by Galician immigrants from Spain. — L.S.]
I had the honor and the luck of
having as my “guide” the outstanding writer Celia María
Hart Santamaría, daughter of two emblematic figures
of the revolution: Armando Hart and Haydeé Santamaría (daughter of Benigno Santamaría, born in Prexigueiro-Ribadavia
[in Galicia]). With Celia we traversed a portion of the history of the Cuban
Revolution. They were intense and
emotional days.
She taught me to look at the revolution with different eyes. We delved into the thinking of José Martí and Julio Antonio Mella. I told her of my love for Tina Modotti. She told me she felt the same way about Mella. [Editors’ Note: Mella and Modotti had been lovers in Mexico around 1928, up to the time of his assassination. — L.S.]
We spent the night on the Malecón. We talked about Trotsky and Guevara. Always there was the memory of Abel Santamaría and that of her mother, “Yeye” — both when she was in the Sierra Maestra and when she headed the Casa de las Américas. Celia spoke to me with devotion for Fidel. She defined herself above all as a Fidelista [follower of Fidel Castro]. She told me, in confidence, her latest irritation with Chávez, for his recommendations to FARC, an issue for which she has publicly chided him.
[Editor’s Note: See Celia
Hart’s “Note” addressed to Chavez, “Una nota para el camarada Hugo Chávez: El sacrificio de los
hombres no se mide por las revistas de la moda,” thus far available only in Spanish, posted June 11,
2008, on the web sites www.apporrea.org
and www.rebelion.org —
L.S.]
Despite Chavez’s “putting his foot in his mouth” on the question of FARC, Celia has confidence in the Bolivarian Revolution, as she did from the first. And she hopes that Chávez will know how to set things right.
My outstanding “guide,” after Comandante Fidel Castro, is [Celia,] this Cuban contributor to the Internet, one of the most widely read in the world. Her opinion articles are posted by hundreds of alternative web pages. Her direct style and commitment to the world revolution has become a point of reference.
In just a few years, this woman, a physicist by profession, has projected herself as an anticapitalist thinker of critical significance, committed to the new times that are under way or coming on.
On the last day of my sojourn in Havana we went with Celia to the monument where the ashes of Julio Antonio Mella are, face to face with the historic staircases of [Havana] University. I had a strong desire to go there. And being there was a powerful emotional experience. Mella was one of the first American Marxists, together with José Carlos Mariátegui.
Celia María,
as I like to call her, and as her mother called her, never stopped telling me
stories of the revolution, and I never stopped asking her about them. I wanted
to know everything, in spite of the short time. I was eager to know the stories
I had never heard, and she continued telling me. Her reflections were always in
defense of the Cuban Revolution. They
were sincere, critical, revolutionary, hopeful.
Celia, together with Mariela Castro (daughter of Raúl), director of the Center for Sex Education, represents, in my opinion, the fresh air that this revolution needs. Two daughters of socialism, who are transcendent, both inside and outside of Cuba, because of their innovative and revolutionary thought.
With Celia, I could see Cuba from “another perspective,” not that of the “leftist tourist” who automatically likes everything without thinking. Or that of the tourist who only has the objective of “sexual release” at low cost. I could see the real Cuba, in which the patriotic thinking of Martí continues to pulsate, made into a reality in the form of Fidel and the triumphant revolution.
On this short trip, no subject
was left without discussion between the two of us. We became accomplices in
full, leaving out nothing. We declared ourselves eternal conspirators. We only
lacked making the world revolution, but we decided to postpone it until the
next trip. Celia dreams of a “socialist tide” that will reach all the shores of
the world. And I like that dream.
Lois Pérez Leira,
Writer
[The Spanish text of Pérez Leira’s article follows.]
Regreso de Cuba con renovada ilusión. En estos días pasados vi un país y un
pueblo que mantienen viva la llama de aquella revolución triunfante en 1959.
Cuba hoy por hoy es el único país socialista del mundo. Con errores y con
muchos aciertos, mantienen las conquistas básicas de la revolución. A pesar de
ello es necesario que realicen rectificaciones que potencien el modelo
socialista. Los cambios que necesita Cuba no están ni en Miami ni en el modelo
chino. Los cambios los tiene que encontrar en la profundización del proceso
revolucionario. El gobierno tiene que generar una “nueva revolución, dentro
de la revolución”, que entusiasme y movilice a su pueblo detrás de la
conducción de Raúl Castro, en una nueva etapa de construcción socialista.
El hermano menor de Fidel, tiene entre otros desafíos, encabezar la lucha
contra la burocracia, uno de los peores males del socialismo, heredado del
modelo estalinista. También tendrá la misión de luchar contra la corrupción,
una enfermedad social extendida, debido a las necesidades económicas de la
población, provocadas fundamentalmente por el bloqueo norteamericano.
En esta nueva etapa de Cuba, tendrá que potenciar el estimulo social, la
productividad en el trabajo y el salario digno. No es bueno que existan dos
economías: la del dólar y la del peso. La que llega en remesas de dinero del
exterior o el turismo y la economía de la sobrevivencia. Estas dos economías
paralelas generan injusticias y desigualdades. En definitiva potencian
frustraciones sociales. No es posible que el portero de un hotel, gane varias
veces más que un medico. Estas contradicciones si no son subsanadas, corren el
riesgo de volverse contra la propia revolución, minando la moral socialista.
Después de esta modesta reflexión, que no se entienda como intromisión, en
los problemas de Cuba, aunque considero que esta revolución no es solo de los
cubanos, sino de todos.
Quiero contarles, que fui a La Habana para presentar mi ultimo libro “Cuba,
os galegos e o Che”. Tuve el honor y la suerte de
tener como “guía” a la destacada escritora Celia María Hart Santamaría, hija de
dos emblemáticas figuras de la revolución: Armando Hart y Haydeé Santamaría
(hija de Benigno Santamaría nacido en Prexigueiro-Ribadavia).
Con Celia recorrimos una parte de la historia de la revolución cubana.
Fueron días intensos y emotivos.
Ella me enseño a mirar con otros ojos la revolución. Recorrimos el pensamiento
de José Martí y de Julio Antonio Mella. Le conté mi amor por Tina Modotti, ella
me dijo que sentía lo mismo por Mella.
Trasnochamos el malecón, hablamos de Trotski y de Guevara. Siempre estaba
el recuerdo de Abel Santamaría y el de su madre “Yeye”,
tanto en la Sierra Maestra, como cuando dirigía la Casa de las Américas. Me
hablo con devoción del Fidel. Se definió ante todo como Fidelista. Me contó en
confianza, su último cabreo con Chávez, por las recomendaciones a las FARC,
tema que ella le regaño públicamente.
A pesar de esta “metida de pata” confía en la revolución bolivariana, como
lo hizo desde el primer día. Y espera que Chávez sepa rectificar.
Mi destacada “guía” después del Comandante Fidel Castro, es la escritora
cubana en Internet, más leída en el mundo. Sus artículos de opinión son
colgados por centenares de pagina web alternativas. Su estilo directo y
comprometido con la revolución mundial la ha convertido en una referente de
consulta. En tan solo unos años, esta física de profesión, se proyecto como una
pensadora crítica anticapitalista, comprometida con los nuevos tiempos que
corren.
En mi último día de permanencia en La Habana fuimos con Celia hasta el
monumento donde están las cenizas de Julio Antonio Mella, frente a las históricas
escalinatas de la Universidad. Tenia ganas de estar allí. Sentía emoción. Mella
fue uno de los primeros marxistas de America, junto a José Carlos Mariátegui.
Celia María como a mi me gusta decirle y le decía su madre, no paraba de
contarme historias de la revolución y yo de preguntarle. Quería saber todo, en
poco tiempo. Tenia avidez de conocer las historias nunca contadas y ella me
seguía contando…Sus reflexiones eran siempre en defensa de la revolución
cubana. Eran sinceras, criticas, revolucionarias, esperanzadoras.
Celia junto a Mariela Castro (hija de Raúl) directora del Centro de
Educación Sexual, son a mí entender, el aire fresco que esta necesitando esta
revolución. Dos hijas del socialismo, que están trascendiendo dentro y fuera de
Cuba, por su pensamiento innovador y revolucionario.
Con Celia, pude ver Cuba desde “otra mirada”, no la del “turista de
izquierda” que todo le gusta sin reflexionar. O la delturista que solo tiene el
objetivo de la “descarga sexual” a bajo coste. Pude ver la Cuba real, donde
sigue latiendo el pensamiento patriótico de Martí, hecho realidad en Fidel y en
la revolución triunfante.
En este corto viaje, ningún tema quedo sin discutir entre los dos. Fuimos
cómplices de la nada. Nos declaramos eternos conspiradores. Solo nos falto que
hiciéramos la revolución mundial, pero decidimos postergarla para el próximo
viaje. Celia sueña con una “marea socialista” que llegue a todas las playas del
mundo. Y a mi me gusta este sueño.
Lois Pérez Leira
Escritor
http://www.kaosenlared.net/noticia/celia-maria-hart-santamaria-marea-socialista