Viva Cubanos!

 “In Defense of the U.S. Working Class” by Mary-Alice Waters, 2018

This pamphlet is based on talks by members of the Socialist Workers Party in Cuba in 2018. The SWP was formerly a Trotskyist organization, but went towards Castroism in the 1960s. Waters and a delegation of workers and one farmer visited Havana to participate in the #12 annual Scientific May Day conference that year.

There were several focuses of her speech. One was an attack on the liberal idea that all workers who voted for Trump in 2016 were 'deplorables,' in the stupid phrase uttered by Hillary Clinton. 'Sexist, racist, anti-gay' as the chant goes. Many of these voters were dealing with economic problems that impacted their feelings about which candidate to vote for. Certainly Clinton did not fit the 'anti-establishment' bill. The SWP later made frequent efforts to talk to right-wing workers, especially during CoVid. She utters nothing about fascist growth during this period though. One speaker even claims 'anti-black' violence is on the downswing because constant KKK lynchings are no longer common - though he does mention Charlottesville.  So they bend the stick the other way.

The second axis was a somewhat tired rendition of labor movement and progressive victories in the far past, from the 1930s to the 1960s, then to the wave of successful teacher strikes in the U.S. in 2018 – West Virginia, Arizona, Kentucky, Oklahoma and others. She keeps coming back to these strikes in poor, anti-union, right-to-work-for-less states as proof that labor is not dead. Perhaps a little too much. The editor cites labor actions in the port of Los Angeles, the restoration of voting rights for ex-felons in Florida, labor activism at hotels, fast food joints and mines, along with protests around the killing of black youth as more proof. A laundry list like this is possible nearly every year, though now in 2023 labor and the Left are moving in larger and larger dimensions.

Lastly is the insistence that socialist revolution was possible in the U.S. - but as to when, she does not have a 'crystal ball.' I was actually surprised at this. She asks 'Can this working-class actually handle real state power?' and answers in the affirmative. She claims 'time is on the side' of the revolution. Is it? She reiterates the tired cliché that only a revolutionary party will be needed to facilitate and lead that process. Presumably the isolated and sectarian SWP is that party, though their newish crypto-Zionist position on Israel won't help. Participating in Cuban May Day festivities is a feather in their hat. Over a million marched that year. But does that translate to support in the U.S., except maybe from a few in the pro-Cuban milieu? No.

A carefully chosen group of SWP members spoke at a panel discussion - a rail worker, a former miner, a Georgia farmer, a musician, a retail worker and a former meat-packer, along with Waters. My real question is what would a 'new' reader, unfamiliar with the SWP think of this pamphlet? It hits all the 'correct' notes in a way, but also seems somewhat abstract, synthetic and bloodless. Here in Minneapolis the SWP might send an elderly member to a demonstration to sell a pamphlet or paper, but that is about it. I'm not sure they even participate in the two local Cuba committees but I've got to believe they send someone. Minneapolis used to be one of their strongholds 'back in the day.' Every organization has its partial successes and time in the sun. Yet the social and economic situation, along with the condition of the labor movement and the Left actually determine the real power of Left organizations. This pamphlet won't help the SWP.

Prior blog reviews on this subject, use blog search box, upper left, to investigate our 16 year archive, using these terms: “The Real Balfour Declaration,” “Let's Rent a Train,” “Revolution in the Air,” “Who Killed Malcolm X,” May Day in Minneapolis, 2023,” “Soldiers in Revolt,” “Summer on Fire” or the phrase 'vanguard party.”

And I bought it at May Day, where we carry many Left pamphlets.

Red Frog

November 29, 2023