The Problem of Democracy in Cuba: Between Vision and Reality

by Carollee Bengelsdorf

Book Overview

Drawing on years of field research in Cuba, this text examines the relationship between socialism and democracy, in classical Marxist theory and in the practice of the Cuban revolution. While the author notes the roles that underdevelopment and external threat have played in undermining the possibility for democratic socialism in this century, she focuses specifically upon a theoretical heritage plagued by silences, absences and simplifications concerning...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0195090144
• ISBN13: 9780195090147
• Release Date: April 1994
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.1" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Well Written, but Bengelsdorf falls short enlightenement

Bengelsdorf illustrates the Cuban revolution as the most fervid attempt of fusing idealism with pragmatism. However, she also stresses the improbability of their revolutionary success. She describies the revolutionaries as a "straggly band of men trooping out of the mountains." She adds the sentiments of revolutionary leadership as she quotes Che Guevara, "institutionalization was neither `urgent' nor `vital' nor `decisive' given the early needs of the revolution." The depiction is critical as Bengelsdorf attempts to express the quixotic naivete of the revolutionaries, illustrating Cuban leadership as an attempt to establish the purest forms of Communism. Through the actions of Che Guevara and Fidel Castro, Bengelsdorf presents another example of challenge for a government in consolidating power and institutionalizing bureaucracy without contradicting the Marxist socialist project. Despite repeated attempts to lead a classes society, Fidel Castro found that even small doses of participatory democracy resulted in lethargic product output, and meager economic gain unable to sustain the demands of the masses. Bengelsdorf elucidates this topic with Castro's efforts to decentralize in the 70's. He stated, "All production and service units serving any given community-that is, the grass roots-must be controlled at the grass roots level." For the first time, the masses were responsible for their own domestic affairs. On the other hand, the construction of bureaucratic order slightly increased efficiency, but indirectly stratified class system with a vanguard ruling elite. Despite the difference of the two revolutions, Bengelsdorf inculcates the conception that the Russian and Cuban Communist experiments were attempts at achieving the purest forms of Marxism, fit with democratic principles. Over time, these attempts developed into more practical constructions, relying on more rigid, and inelastic order of structural organization, alienating the charisma of the Communist vision and dispensing with the political activism of the masses as an unattainable ideal. Benglesdorf examines the influence of the most visionary of revolutionaries, Che Guevara: "...his writings by and large disappeared. They were referred to only infrequently and, significantly enough..." According to Bengelsdorf, the intentions and ideals of the revolution become elements of yesteryear. The revolutionary body remained without the support of its former ideals. For a revolution that begin with the greatest hopes, and the most idealistic views with frenetic emphasis, the pure Communist-Socialist vision eroded into an insipid yet enduring government structure. The book adequately illuminates the topic of socialism and how democracy has strayed as a critical element of its formula. It examines the intentions of Marx's philosophy while juxtaposing its intellectual features with its real world applications; this clears up misconceptions concerning the successes and failures of

Crucial lessons about democracy

At no time since the 1960s has Cuba commanded so much American popular interest. A few years ago, Ry Cooder's Buena Vista Social Club projects reawakened interest in Cuban culture. A resurgence in interest in Cuban art, literature and music followed that `re-opening'. Then came the Elian Gonzalez diplomatic debacle which backfired badly on the once-powerful Miami Cuban-American community - leading instead to a flurry of federal and sub-national governmental initiatives to relax the three-decade-old restrictions on relations with Cuba. Still, when many Americans bother to think at all about Cuban politics, they still picture the repressive, authoritarian regime portrayed by the ultra-conservative Cuban American National Foundation (CANF). Carollee Bengelsdorf of Hampshire College adds important balance to this discussion by providing a remarkably rich and sensitive portrait of Cuban society and politics wherein she critically examines the relationship between socialism and democracy, both in classical Marxist theory and `on the ground' in Cuba. The book is divided into two parts. In the first, Professor Bengelsdorf explores an often ignored notion - that at its core, the classical Marxist project of communism shares fundamental characteristics and concerns with democracy. Moreover, Professor Bengelsdorf argues that if we are to salvage anything of the Marxist notion of democracy, we must first try to understand how it was lost. Thus, she searches for the roots of the divorce between socialism and democracy in the writings of Marx, Engels and Lenin, and in the socialist practices of the Soviet Union. In the second part of the book, Professor Bengelsdorf examines democracy in the context of post-revolution Cuba. In particular, she focuses on a succession of crises wherein the democratic impulse was explicitly raised - only to be reined in by the ruling elite. At each of these historical junctures, argues Professor Bengelsdorf, Cuba failed to break free from the limitations inherent in its Marxist-Leninist textual inheritance.So where does The Problem of Democracy in Cuba fit within the universe of Cuban studies? By necessity, its analysis of Marxism is neither especially comprehensive nor original. Nevertheless, the book is focused and well written. If Professor Bengelsdorf has failed at all, it may be in the way she, like so many other Cuba scholars, tends to view Cuba in isolation as an exceptional case, rather than to place Cuba within the larger comparative and interdisciplinary conversation. But if, on the other hand, Cuba really is exceptional, Bengelsdorf still seems to have dodged some very important questions: Were the sacrifices so often demanded of Cubans necessary in light of the gains actually achieved? Is the revolutionary project still viable? Does the old-guard leadership still deserve to govern? And most important, Has history simply passed the revolution by? Problems with Cuba's s