Castro wants harder work from Cubans

Press, 20 July 1979, Page 12

Castro wants harder work from Cubans

By

HUGH O’SHAUGHNESSY

in London

Fundamental questions about the organisation of society in Cuba have been raised this month by the man most responsible for that organisation, Dr Fidel Castro, the President. In a speech to the National Assembly he complained that labour discipline in Cuba is bad, that efficiency is not all it should be, and that, in some senses, things are better ordered in capitalist societies. Capitalism had the secret of labour discipline, he said, and Cuba must find its way of instilling it. The Assembly had made a report bitterly criticising the level of efficiency of public transport. In doing so it was merely formalising the complaints that are increasingly heard in almost any bus queue in Havana these days as the intervals between buses grow longer and the number of buses off the road for repair increases. The Cuban President was doing no more than echoing the sort of complaints which have been coming out of the Soviet bloc countries of Eastern Europe in recent months. Like the rest of the industrialised or partly industrialised world, the East European countries have been

suffering from the increase in world oil prices and governments have . been doing their best to cajole higher productivity out of workers in order to push up exports and earn the currency needed for imports of fuel and technology. But Cuba has its own special problems. Since Castro took over in 1959 the island has gone through a social revolution and has been making far-reaching experiments in the cause of an economic revolution. In the first years the policy was to move away from too great a reliance on sugar. At the same time great emphasis was placed on “moral incentives,” rather than money or goods, to spur the workers to produce. Diversification was a failure and “moral incentives” proved disappointing. By the end of the 1960 s the pendulum had swung right back to the idea of producing a record harvest of 10M tons of sugar. That, too, proved to b’e a costly, disruptive and heartbreaking failure, for which Castro himself accepted a good deal of blame. Today Cuba is producing as much sugar as it comfortably can, but is seeking, in a

much more realistic fashion than ever before, the way to exploit its natural resources. Sun and beaches for tourism, deposits of nickie, and newly planted citrus groves are ail being nursed along. For several years the Cubans have been quietly announcing that they are h'.jpy to go into partnership with capitalist countries in the exploitation of these resources. Above and beyond the seesaws of economic policy is the strategy of aiding “ the forces of change in Africa, notably in Angola and Ethiopia. Many Cubans who saw troops flying off from Havana for military duties in those countries did not realise that Cuba would become committed to the laborious, exhausting and less spectacular task of helping the Angolans and the Ethiopians with the most mundane job of driving motor vehicles or organising simple administrative procedures. But such has been Cuba’s role in the last few years, a role which has drained competent Cubans away from driving buses or organising train timetables in Cuba itself. Perhaps Castro feels that,

beyond even these major practical considerations, there is something wrong with interpretations of Marxist theory that he has been receiving from his Soviet and East European mentors. Never one to underestimate his own powers of innovation, the Cuban President may be thinking of experimenting with the organi atio.i of a Marxist State. If that is so, then the choice of the National Assembly in Havana as the venue for his speech may turn out to have been a significant one. When the Assembly was set up three years ago, Cuban officials claimed that it was modelled on the best features to be found in the various legislatures of the established Marxist countries. It rejected Western allegations that it would be just one more rubber stamp. Many Cubans are steeped in the centuries old tradition of the sugar-cane fields, working only some of the year and resting for the remainder. It is just possible that ’< astro will trust his Assembly with a debate on ways of turning his countrymen into a more disciplined and diligent workforce. — 0.F.N.5., Copyright. ± . ..*