Just Published: "The Cuban Communist Party at the Center of Political and Economic Reform: Current Status and Future Reform"

(Pix © Larry Catá Backer 2015)

With normalization of relations between the United States and Cuba, it becomes even more important to understand the basis of the political and legal system of Cuba  It is long past the time for political bromides and sloganeering to serve as a palatable substitute for rigorous analysis of the realities, in theory and application, of the premises and frameworks within which Cuban leaders understand and approach the issues that face them.  Indeed, in approaching issues of Cuban policy and governance, it is essential to be careful to strip analysis of the usually overwhelming need, in studies of Cuba outside of that Republic, for statements that either fawn on the current regime or assume, without more, its illegitimacy. This is particularly true with respect to investment regimes that present both opportunities and danger for the Cuban state and investors. And it is especially important with respect to Cuba, a fairly unique Marxist Leninist state regime.

I have just published one small effort toward understanding the context in which these policy issues must be considered. Larry Catá Backer, "The Cuban Communist Party at the Center of Political and Economic Reform: Current Status and Future Reform," Northwestern Interdisciplinary Law Review 8:71-129 (2015).  

The Abstract and Table of Content follow.  The article itself will be available online and for the moment the issue may be accessed here.

Larry Catá Backer, "The Cuban Communist Party at the Center of Political and Economic Reform: Current Status and Future Reform," Northwestern Interdisciplinary Law Review 8:71-129 (2015)

Abstract: Under the leadership of Raúl Castro, Cuba has embarked on a series of perplexing changes that have focused on internal institutional reforms and their impact on the Cuban economy. No consideration of these reforms can be complete without a study of the Cuban Communist Party (PCC), especially in comparative perspective. The thesis of this essay is that ideology is decisively important in any discussion of “reform” in Cuba. Western analysts have sought to subsume ideological issues within “transition” arguments—that ideological issues will evaporate once Cuba makes the jump from a Marxist-Leninist planned economy model to a Western oriented free market democracy. This essay argues that the inverse provides a more useful basis of analysis: that transition arguments are necessarily subsumed within ideological arguments. The ideological basis of state organization provides the key to understanding the likelihood of the success and direction of reforms to any of the sectors of state policy. The PCC’s now quite mature ideological framework has helped shape and constrain the organization and operation of the Party. That ideological framework also shapes and constrains all efforts to “reform” or develop Cuba’s economic, social or political model. Yet the tensions created by these contradictions between PCC ideology and the conditions of Cuba need not lead invariably to a choice between Marxist-Leninist and Western style democratic state organization. After the Introduction, Section II, considers the centrality of ideology to the ‘problem’ of Cuba. In Section III, the essay examines the consequences for Cuba of the choice, made by its vanguard party, to follow a distinct path toward the articulation and application of Marxism-Leninism in the organization and exercise of power. Section IV then connects the ideological path of Cuban Marxism-Leninism to state practice. With a focus on the possibilities and constraints of the reform efforts since Raúl Castro assumed power. Section V then focuses on the alternative to ideology and economic reform offered through Chinese Party and state practice. Section VI then unpacks the consequences of ideological possibilities by considering Cuban approaches in the shadow of the Chinese alternative. Lastly, Section VII weighs the consequences of the quality of the transition that is coming to Cuba, one that need not lead Cuba away from Marxist-Leninism and a Party-State system. Each is considered in turn in light of the essay’s thesis: Variations in Marxist ideology matter (no monolithic communist ideology), sustainable economic reform is possible within a Marxist Leninist State-Party system, and that ideological systemic ossification in Cuba, as in the United States, can lead to crisis and paralysis. It is in that context that one considers the questions: does the Chinese model provide a framework for Cuba? Is it too late for reform of the Cuba CP? If reform is possible, what should be its objectives and strategies?

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

I. INTRODUCTION. 74

II. THE CENTRALITY OF IDEOLOGY AND ITS PATH WITHIN CUBAN MARXISM. 82

A. IDEOLOGY WITHIN MARXIST-LENINIST PARTY-STATE SYSTEMS. 82

B. THE CHARACTER OF IDEOLOGY WITHIN CUBAN PARTY-STATE MARXISM. 84 

 III. THE CUBAN IDEOLOGICAL PATH—FROM REVOLUTION TO LINEAMIENTOS. 87

IV. FROM IDEOLOGICAL PATH TO STATE PRACTICE; THE CONSEQUENCES OF CUBAN IDEOLOGY ON ECONOMIC REFORM: OCCUPATIONAL LICENSING, COOPERATIVES AND LEY 118.  94

V. CHINA AND ALTERNATIVE PATHS TO MARXIST- LENINISM. 100

VI. UNPACKING THE CONSEQUENCES OF IDEOLOGICAL POSSIBILITIES—CUBAN APPROACHES IN THE SHADOW OF THE CHINESE PATH. 105

VII. IDEOLOGY AND TRANSITION—CUBA AT A CROSSROADS. 119

A. THE IDEOLOGICAL CHALLENGE FOR CUBA.119

B. IDEOLOGY AND THE CUBAN AND CHINESE PATHS TO SOCIALIST MODERNIZATION. 123

VIII. CONCLUSION. 125