Cuban CP “Reforms” Open the Door to Counterrevolution

Under intense pressure from U.S. imperialism, the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) has announced a series of economic reforms that, if implemented, could well lead to the destruction of the gains of the Cuban Revolution. The reforms, now unanimously approved by the National Assembly, would dismantle what remains of the planned economy and allow almost unfettered private ownership and imperialist economic penetration of the island. Defenders of the Cuban Revolution must oppose these measures, which are an open door to imperialist-backed counterrevolution.

PCC leader Díaz-Canel claims the reforms are necessary to “continue the process of socialist construction” under the guns of U.S. imperialism. No! They are a surrender to imperialism. The “investors” who will descend on the island are the hedge-fund vultures, as well as the Miami gusanos who were kicked out in 1959, and who will seize Cuba’s industry and resources to line their own pockets. They will completely dismantle the remaining gains of the revolution in areas like healthcare and education and ensure that, one way or another, the PCC is driven from power.

PCC leaders claim to be implementing the China/Vietnam “model,” which saw the introduction of market mechanisms and imperialist investment under ultimate state control. This is not what is happening. The measures Díaz-Canal is pushing are exactly those dictated by the U.S. rulers, who are hellbent on destroying the only workers state in the Americas. In response, the PCC leaders have relied on the fools’ gold of negotiations with Washington. The result has been ever-escalating attacks by Trump and Rubio. With the economy in shambles thanks to the U.S. blockade, compounded by bureaucratic mismanagement, the PCC leaders are now moving to sell out the revolution.

The real parallel to what is happening today is not China or Vietnam, but the Soviet Union in the late 1980s. Widespread privatizations and concessions to imperialism under Mikhail Gorbachev paved the way for the destruction of the world’s first workers state, a disaster for the workers of the world. Through their lies, corruption and economic mismanagement, the Soviet rulers of that country drove huge layers of the population to the right, massively aiding the drive to counterrevolution. The same threat hangs over Cuba today.

Fight the PCC Leaders’ Betrayal!

It is urgently necessary to forge a left opposition to the PCC leaders’ course, seeking to rally the Cuban working people against the destruction of their revolution. Everyone knows that the current situation—daily blackouts, dire shortages of food and medicine, economic collapse—cannot continue. Two sharply counterposed alternatives now face the Cuban people: capitalist counterrevolution and the untrammeled rule of U.S. imperialism, or a fight for genuine socialism, purged of bureaucratism and based on workers democracy and solidarity with working people around the world. The latter course is not easy, but it is the only road forward. We must not let the revolution be destroyed without a fight!

We appeal to dissident supporters of the PCC and Unión de Jóvenes Comunistas, independent left-wing activists and others to come together around a fighting socialist perspective. The starting point is to end all conciliation of the imperialists and appeal to workers around the world to stand with Cuba. Hoping to wait out Trump and get a progressive U.S. administration in 2028 is a total dead end. Time is fast running out, and the Democrats, like the Republicans, are proven enemies of the revolution, enforcing the blockades and sanctions for decades. Workers in the U.S., including black and Latino workers, are being ground down by incessant capitalist attacks. These are the allies we must look to.

Washington’s oil blockade is only effective because it is being enforced by governing elites elsewhere in Latin America: not just Delcy Rodríguez’ Venezuela but also the “progressive” governments in Mexico and Brazil. Rather than the PCC’s incessant praise for these governments, we must demand that they break the U.S. blockade, resuming and massively increasing fuel shipments to Cuba. That means calling on working people in such countries to take action independent of and against their own rulers. This would not only directly aid Cuba but drive forward the anti-imperialist struggle throughout Latin America.

A left opposition must call on the Communist Party of China to stop its own conciliation of imperialism and provide massive aid and personnel to rebuild Cuban infrastructure. The Chinese working class, with its unparalleled social power, must raise the same call. Shipments of rice and other humanitarian aid are nowhere near enough. If Cuba shows it is ready to fight, this could rally hundreds of millions of toilers in China and the Global South.

To leftists abroad who have mobilized in defense of Cuba while supporting the policies of the PCC leadership, we say: change your course! It is now clearer than ever that defending the Cuban Revolution means fighting the Díaz-Canel government’s overt capitulation to imperialism, backed explicitly by Raúl Castro.

Within Cuba, a left opposition to the PCC leadership must appeal to workers and peasants to seek a different course. Many Cubans, especially younger Cubans, hate the policies pursued by the PCC that have led to great inequalities and hardships. But they are not being offered a road forward. Opening Cuba up to the imperialists will produce vastly greater inequalities and destroy real gains achieved through the 1959 revolution. The problem is not economic planning, but bureaucratic mismanagement and corruption. And real socialism requires workers democracy, not the suppression of dissident socialist views and repression of legitimate protests.

The coming weeks will show whether a genuinely socialist opposition to the PCC leaders’ disastrous course can be forged. Time is fast running out. It is of historic importance that genuine communists rise to the occasion and fight for the defence of the Cuban Revolution!