Background reading

Statist utopianism and the Cuban socialist transition
Masters thesis (awarded a High Distinction)
View/download my thesis by clicking here
Contents
Abstract 3
Dedication 4
Acknowledgements 5
Introduction 6
Statist utopianism 9
Methods and limitations 12
Chapter 1: Statist utopianism 13
Utopianism and statist utopianism 15
Imposing communism 17
Capitalist vestiges 20
Transcendence and suppression 22
Binary exclusivity 29
Diagnosis 33
The state and statist utopianism 35
Soviet War Communism 37
Conclusions 41
Chapter 2: Cuba’s Revolutionary Offensive 42
Incentives and consciousness 43
The persuasion of force 47
Statist utopian ‘great leap forward’ 53
Conclusions 59
Chapter 3: Cuban state socialism 61
Pendulum bias and policy zigzags 62
Peculiarities of Cuban state socialism 70
Statist utopianism and Stalinism 75
Conclusions 81
Conclusions 83
References 87
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Cuba's Socialist Renewal
By Marce Cameron. Published May 2010, 32 pages. Read online or download as a PDF

Contents
‘This revolution could destroy itself’ 
Radical renovation 
Critical juncture 
Currents of opinion 
Storming heaven 
Sovietisation 
Rectification 
Special Period 
Vicious cycle 
Gains of the Special Period 
Venezuelan revolution 
Youth 
Post-Fidel era 
Changes under Raul 
Paternalism
Property, decentralisation and participation
Revolutionary optimism

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Translated by Marce Cameron

Here is my translation of the explanatory document published together with the final version of the Guidelines adopted by the Cuban Communist Party (PCC) Congress in April and the National Assembly of People's Power in August 2011. As far as I'm aware there is no official translation of this document. Please note that this is an unofficial translation.

This is just the text of the translation. It does not include my introductory comments on various chapters. You can read these on my blog, together with the corresponding chapter, beginning here


Alternatively, click here to view all the instalme
nts of the translation and my introductory comments sequentially. 

The Spanish text is here.

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Fidel and Raul: landmark speeches in recent years


Fidel: Havana University, November 17, 2005
Fidel warns that the Revolution could destroy itself through its own errors and outlines his vision for a radical overhaul of Cuba's socialist model. In November 2010, he told students that the ideas he broached then are as relevant 
as ever.
This official translation does not include Raul's numerous departures from the prepared script. I've translated key excerpts from his additional comments here.

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Cuba: Continuity and political change 

Carlos Alzugaray Treto is a Cuban writer, diplomat and professor, lecturing at Havana University and the Raul Roa Garcia Higher Institute of International Relations. With degrees in history and diplomacy, a master's degree in contemporary history and a doctorate in historical sciences, Alzugaray Treto is considered an expert on US-Cuba relations. He has had a long and impressive diplomatic career, serving as Cuba's ambassador to the European Union from 1994-6.

Cuba fifty years on: continuity and political change is a superb summary of the political and economic challenges facing the Cuban Revolution today.  It was f
irst published in Spanish in Cuba's Temas magazine. Here is my translation of this essay. Thanks to Norman Girvan from the University of the West Indies for compiling this illustrated PDF. You can also read the instalments on my blog here.  

In Nov
ember 2011, Temas editor Rafael Hernandez spoke at a forum on organised by the Inter-American Dialogue think-tank in Washington, DC. Here is his presentation, in English. Keep in mind his US audience. WATCH VIDEO

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Luis Sexto's Progreso Weekly commentaries

Luis Sexto is one of Cuba's finest and most respected journalists. He writes about Cuba as he sees it with a rare combination of subtlety, lucidity, human warmth and a provocative, gritty realism that embraces Cuba’s contradictory reality.

In 2009 Sexto was the recipient of the Jose Martí National Journalism Award, Cuba's most prestigious. He is also a commentator, poet and Professor of Social Communication at Havana University.

He has a regular column, Coloquiando, (Spanish) in the Friday edition of the daily newspaper of Cuba's Union of Young Communists, Juventud Rebelde. His commentaries often spark lively online discussions and debates that Spanish readers can follow.

He also writes for Progreso Weekly, a pro-Revolution bilingual news and commentary site based in Miami, Florida and Havana, Cuba. There is an archive of Sexto's Progreso Weekly commentaries on Cuba in English (click "Show other articles for this author"). Here is my selection: