On the necessary economic reforms in Cuba

The Communist Party of Canada expresses its firm solidarity with the Communist Party of Cuba, the government of Cuba and the Cuban people as they implement 176 new economic and social measures. These reforms, approved following consultation and debate, are a necessary and creative response to the unprecedented intensification of the U.S. blockade. As President Díaz-Canel has stated, these measures are fundamentally about “saving the Revolution.”

In summary, the reforms aim to decentralize economic decision-making, attract foreign investment, expand the non-state sector, and reduce blanket subsidies. They introduce elements like private banking and a real estate market, while shifting the state’s focus to macro-level planning. These policies are designed to address critical shortages, achieve food and energy sovereignty, and raise living standards under the immense pressure of a genocidal blockade by the United States.

We are aware that some commentators will misinterpret these measures as an abandonment of socialism and an embrace of capitalism. Such assessments are shallow and ahistorical. The Cuban Revolution is not betraying its principles; it is acting with revolutionary necessity. As Lenin articulated, the path to socialism requires the strategic use of “changes of tack, conciliatory tactics and compromises.” Lenin distinguished sharply between necessary tactical retreats, imposed by objective conditions to preserve the revolutionary movement, and the compromises of opportunists who sell out the working class. Cuba’s leadership is undertaking the former, making difficult adjustments to ensure the survival of the socialist state and, consequently, the only bastion of working-class political power in the Americas.

These are the decisions of a resolute Communist Party and government under siege by history’s most powerful imperialist country. While these reforms carry dangers, including the re-emergence of a bourgeois class and increased exposure to foreign malign influence, no one is more aware of these risks than our Cuban comrades. They are proceeding, determined to preserve public ownership and democratic control over the commanding heights of the economy and the social pillars of the Revolution: healthcare, education, and social security.

Comparisons to the strategies to build socialism under the NEP in the USSR, or in China, or Vietnam can be done at the level of particular policy, but as a whole they are superficial. Cuba operates under the most severe and intrusive sanctions in history and with particular economic, demographic and geographic realities. The duty of all democratic, peace-loving and progressive people in Canada is clear: stand in solidarity with Cuba, oppose the U.S. blockade, and demand that our government pursue an independent foreign policy of peace. We will continue to track these developments closely, confident in the revolutionary commitment of the Communist Party of Cuba.

Central Executive Committee, Communist Party of Canada