CUBAN PARTY, BRAZILIAN CRISIS, ETC,
Recently Che Guevara, the well~known Cuban leader, spent a few days in Algeria,’ While there he granted an interview to the weekly Révolution Africaine [April 18]. The following is a translation from the French text of this interesting discussion:
se
cisstion: One of the characteristics common to Algeria and
Cuba’ is at, contrary to experiences such as those of the USSR and China for example, revolutionary movements of imprecise nature took powers ne arenas to build socialism, ran into the problems of
Ph
_ ube rather:
Answer: In Cuba we had three problems:
(1) Who could be a member of the party?
First of all, those who were former members of our movement, affiliated on the basis of an imperfect system of elections organ~ ized under all the uncertainties of the underground, etc. But all the former members had to appear before the masses on the- "Job and be admitted by them before they. could Joins
Next, those who were. simply. elected on the job. -The masses were: urged to elect those whom.we- call exemplary workers; that is, citizens who distinguish themselves-in. their productive activity first. of all. But, since an. exemplary worker mynot be politically worthy, a commission of our movement discussed with him in order to judge his capacity to be a good militant and referred him to his electors with the necessary explanations, if need be until a solution was reached.
(2) What is the role of the party in the state?
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At the beginning we committed an extraordinarily bad error in making the party an organ of administration, whereas, as we came to understand later, it should have been only the ideological motor and the political controler. :
As an ideological motor, the party must explain and popularize — in depth the national decisions of its leadership and of the state,
As political controler, the party watches and abstains from administrating, At any level except the top one, the party organizations must not impose their point of view on the administration, but only pose the problem before the higher bodies of the party itself. Even when, for example, the director of a factory is at the same time a member of the party, he must act as a militant in his cell and an administrator in his enterprise,
(3) -What are the relations between’ the party and the state?
We have not yet found a solution to this problem. We are searching empirically for a road, Elections in their Western form seem false to us, For example, a legislative body shaped by bourgeois methods becomes either a brake on the state or a gathering of "yes men." We have maintained the old administrative structure and we have not made a new constitution, but we have introduced empiric changes when it was necessary, iIn.short, we lack a completely new organization of the state. We count on the party~to find'a solution to these questions; °° °° > csc ot or :
Q:- But since a-party and a state exist despite everything, are ou_ looking: for -the:sotution to the problems tn their relations in — the direction of separation of powers or fusion? ~~
A: As I said, the task of each of these two pillars of our society is particular but the policy is the same. The three most important personalities of the state, who are at the same time the three main authorities of the party, personify the unity of the line and application of our domestic and foreign policies,
Q: There is a problem which faces all the revolutionary move-= ments in the world: the fusion of the party and the state always leads finally to the fusion of policies and ideology. For example, Suppose that the state is obligegd to practice a SEC of eacorar coexistence, while the party believes that such a po icy is not correct. . . Are you searching for a means to permit the party and the | state to maintain their independence with regard to each other?
A: Yes, we think that this independence must exist. But, we acknowledge that we are searching for the formula which we lack on this subject,
Q: With regard to the second problem which you pointed out, bearing on the distinction between the administration and the party,
have you found:a concrete system for applying it?
A: We cannot say that we have really found a system of this kind, but: we have a principle which I explained when I said that we considered: the administration and the party as two parallel hierarchies, ‘But I must make clear that we have not sought a solution in the sense of barring members of the party from exercising certain administrative functions or vice versa (contrary to what we did in the unions, since-we established, for example, that a factory director could not’ be a member of the union). In.other words, we tried
regard to persons, © 0
Q@: When there is a conflict pakween the administration and and e partys who who has” the final word? ;
A: We discuss together: but the party makes the final decision,
Q: After the coup a! état in Brazi il, : what do you think of the situation in Latin America?
A: In 1961, we participated at Punta del Este at an economic conference which was to give birth to the Alliance for Progress under the patronage of the United States... We exposed secret papers which the Venezuelan patriots had seized in the American embassy at Caracas, At that time Teodoro Moscoso was. ambassador of the USA to Venezuela, The filched papers revealed that Brazil, in the strategy of the United States, occupied a key position in: Latin America, They concluded that they had to tiquidate. the- progressive eft in that country.
The United States hoped to finally succeed in isolating Cuba from the rest of Latin America, Up to now Brazil had blocked this maneuver, Today all this is changed.
..Faloén Briceno, who is traveling all over the’ American continent, has the firm hope of gaining rapid condemnation ‘of. Cuba, this time with the aid of the new Brazilian authorities. .
Nevertheless the calculation of the United States is perhaps a mistaken calculation. From its key position, Brazil om the eve of. a civil war, is capable of drawing into the movement. the countries having a common frontier; that is, the major part of Latin Amerioa,
Q: Must it -be concluded from the collapse of the Brazilian left that 2 reformism is condemned to defeat in Latin America?
AL Assuredly, In. Latin America every classic army is a class army and all the bourgeoisies are counterrevolutionary classes par excellenos, -
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Q: What _is the position of Cuba with regard to the next con- | ference of nonaligned states?
A: In principle, Cuba is not hostile, . But it is. my turn to. ask you a question: Do you consider Venezuela, whose government is fighting against its own people, to be a nonaligned state?" No, it is not. Now Venezuela is to participate in this conference, . .«:
Q: At the last Afro-Asian conference which was held in Algiers, man delegations expressed the view that to get out of the impasse created by the Sino-Soviet conflict, it was desirable to have the adherence of the Latin-American movements,
A: In principle, Cuba is in agreement on joining. She woyld reinforce the anti-imperialist contact of the Afro-Asian peoples, For the other Latin-American movements, it's a question of who would be invited to join. If it were those that are supported by the present governments in power, believe me, they will in no way reinforce the Afro-Asian solidarity movement. |
SPY PLANE