And it's important to remember that both Lenin and Castro faced odds
so huge that no reasonable gambler would have taken them.
Standing against the power of Corporate Capitalism, the might of the
USA and Great Briton combined.
Of course we never hear these two revolutions called Capitalist
Defeats. But they were. A couple of Davids tossing their sling shots
at the mighty capitalist giant. Fidel Castro will find his place in
history and live forever, just as sure as the name of Joe Hill will
never die.
Carl Jarvis
On 12/7/16, Roger Loran Bailey <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
http://themilitant.com/2016/8046/804660.html
The Militant (logo)
Vol. 80/No. 46 December 12, 2016
(Letter from Jack Barnes, Socialist Workers Party National Secretary)
Fidel’s life work: ‘Cuba’s socialist revolution, its example & ongoing
march’
The following letter was sent to Raúl Castro Ruz, first secretary of
the Communist Party of Cuba, Nov. 27.
Dear Compañero Raúl,
There were two great socialist revolutions in the twentieth century, one
in Russia, the other in Cuba. Neither was the product of a single
individual. Both were the result of the operations of capitalism itself.
But without the presence and political leadership of Vladimir Lenin and
of Fidel Castro Ruz at decisive moments in those historic battles by
working people, there is no reason to believe either revolution would
have been victorious.
Apart from Lenin and Fidel, the history of the twentieth century — and
the twenty-first — is unthinkable. Both of them, Marxist students of
science and history, gave their lives to uprooting the dog-eat-dog
exploitation, oppression, and compulsion on which the capitalist world
order depends and replacing it with a workers state, with new social and
economic relations based on the liberating capacities of working people
and the youth they inspire.
Fidel belongs to Cuba first and foremost, to the men and women of José
Martí and Antonio Maceo. His highest achievement was forging in struggle
a revolutionary cadre, a communist cadre, capable of leading the workers
and farmers of Cuba to establish the first free territory of the
Americas and successfully defend it for more than five and a half
decades against the determination to destroy it by the mightiest and
most brutal empire the world has known.
But Fidel belongs to the working people of the world as well. From Latin
America and the Caribbean, to Africa and Asia, to North America and
Europe, he showed us in action what proletarian internationalism means.
During Cuba’s historic sixteen-year mission aiding the people of Angola
and Namibia against apartheid South Africa and its promoters in
Washington, Fidel demonstrated his unmatched political leadership on a
world scale. He also proved, as the Rebel Army combatants of the Sierra
knew well, that he was one of the toilers’ greatest military commanders
ever.
All this is why Fidel became the most loved as well as the most hated,
the most slandered man of our lifetimes.
As Fidel said in his farewell words to the Seventh Congress of the
Communist Party of Cuba in April, “We all reach our turn.” He cannot be
replaced, but his life work, Cuba’s socialist revolution — its example,
and above all its ongoing march — stand as his monument. He needs no other.
For our part, members of the Socialist Workers Party and Young
Socialists will continue to do everything in our power to publish and
spread the truth about the Cuban Revolution and Fidel’s leadership, to
make it known to working people in the United States and throughout the
world. With unshakable confidence in the working class and its allies,
we will continue to organize and act on the course Fidel
uncompromisingly presented to the world in 1961, a month before the
victorious battle of Playa Girón: “There will be a victorious revolution
in the United States before a victorious counterrevolution in Cuba.”
Comradely,
Jack Barnes
National Secretary
Socialist Workers Party
Related articles:
Cubans mobilize to back their socialist revolution
Remarks by Raúl Castro at massive tribute to Cuban revolutionary leader
Fidel Castro
Millions turn out in Cuba for Freedom Caravan
Cuban leaders speak at Chicago ‘Solidarity Evening’
Workers, youth affirm commitment to revolution
Sign the petition to free Oscar López!
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