Cuban ‘Notebook . —
"A BILLION TIMES BETTER THAN BEFORE. .. '
By Ernest Mandel
LErnest Mandel, ‘editor of the Belgian socialist weekly La Gauche, reoently visited Cuba. He reported his over-all impressions to readers of La Gauche some weeks ago. (See World Outlook, May 29.) He is now continuing with sidelights.]
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The seven hundred fishermen of the town of Manzanillo ~~ ‘one of the main ports of the province of Oriente, near the Sierra Maestra -~- were fair game for the fish merchants before the Revolution. The dealers were proficient at organizing superabundance during the good season; the fishermen had to sell their catches at a small fraction of the price paid by the consumers, - The revenue was not sufficient to keep the fishermen going for the rest of the year, So they fell into debt to the dealers and had no choice but to accept their offers. oe
In addition, their equipment was old ‘and dangerous. People were poor and didn't buy much fish, Many fishermen were unemployed a good part of the year,
The Revolution changed all that. An old fisherman told us when: we questioned him: "Things are a billion times better than before, It!s as different as night and day. Here, everybody is
behind Fidel and the Revolution,"
Besides increased income, the fishermen enjoy freedom, dignity, peace of mind, the certainty of working for the welfare of the people, the pleasure of working together without degrading com~ petition,
It was not difficult to understand his aeitomette,
The Revolution freed the fishermen of Manzanillo from the slavery of the market and servitude to rapacious dealers, .-..They set up a co-operative which guarantees fixed prices to the fisher~ men for each kind of fish -- 26 centavos a pound for fish called "sierra"; 40 centavos for shrimp, etc. The co-operative in turn sells the fish to a commercial unit of the Fishing Institute, | ECOPEMAR, It charges a little bit more than it pays. The difference covers its costs of operation, investments (refrigerators, new boats) and re-equipment.of boats, Eighty per cent of the fishermen have turned their boats over to the co-operative -twenty per cent continue to retain ownership (from now on they must cover the cost of repairs and re-equipment themselves).
For 1964, the norm of production has been set at a catch of 2,000,000 kg. [one kilogram = 2.20 pounds]. Up to now the oatoh™ has averaged out at 250,000-kg. a:month, even though the first months of the year were * ehe- "dead seasons
Total income for the 700 fishermen, with their 372 big and
small boats amounts to around 200,000 pesos a month, the average fishérman getting 250 to 300. pesos a month, some. of the more suc-~ cessful reaching 400 pesos a month; that is, two to three times the earnings they made“before the revolution, Thé legal exchange rate for the peso is $1 U.S.3; its purchasing power is about 50 cents, The figures are obvious -- not bad for an underdeveloped country, is it? This is what explains the revolutionary enthusiasm of the fishermen, ..
The co-operative has a.very democratic structure; it enjoys a large measure of self-management. The administrator, a government functionary, is named by. the Fishing Institute. His pay is 250 . pesos-a month (that is, less.than the bottom bracket among the fish-~ ermon), He is assisted -by a committee of five fishermen, elected at a general assembly, who discuss all the problems of management and investments and who can ask for recall of the administrator, Sharing of the profits is decided on by the general assembly,
The Revolution not only brought the fishermen of Manzanillo full employment and a decent standard of living (the sale of fish _ has greatly increased in the island). It also made it possible to replace the filthy hovels. in which many of them-used to live with a beautiful new village of graceful buildings whose gay colors shine in the sun.. The co-operative decided the day it was. founded in
July 1959 to build the new village; it. was complete two years later.
Will the fishermen become. a privileged. layer in the country? No. As their catches increase, thanks to more and more modern equip-= ment placed at their disposal, the price of fish will go down, Their income cannot go above the present level, at least for some years to come, But they know that this lowering of the price of fish auto-" matically increases the real revenue of the whole working population of Cuba, And they accept this perspective with enthusiasm; they have. only. one. desire: that. the: Cuban people..as a whole reach the standard of. living they have achieved and that they-will be | able. to defend with all their might the. Socialist.Revolution. . ~
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