On September 13, the newspaper Granma, official voice of the Cuban Communist Party published a communiqué (1) by the Central de Trabajadores de Cuba (CTC - Cuba’s only union) in which the official labor union announces, justifies and defends the labor adjustment measures the Cuban government has implemented, “following the process of modernizing the economic model and the projections for the economy for the 2011-2015 period” which foresees for the coming year “a reduction of over 500,000 workers from the state sector and their transfer to the private sector”.

The reply (not by chance) of Fidel Castro to an American journalist’s question, admitting that “the Cuban model doesn’t work, even in Cuba” and the shameful and cynical pronouncement by the CTC announcing, justifying and defending the firing of half a million Cuban workers – a measure decided unilaterally by the government of President-General Raúl Castro – clearly show that the Castro brothers are saying goodbye to socialism but not to power, and that in order to continue in power they are ready to implement an economic policy of naked capitalism.

The moment has arrived, for those who continue to believe that the Castro regime was making a socialist revolution and that the role of the CTC was to defend the Cuban worker, to confront their naïve credulity with the harsh reality. We hope this reality will lead them to recognize that Castro’s “socialism” is nothing but state capitalism and the CTC the most miserable and brutal yellow union in the service of Cuba’s ruling class.

This new betrayal by the Castrista union leadership does not surprise us. For many years we have been denouncing the farcical syndicalism the Cuban workers have had to suffer. But now their “classist” and “revolutionary” demagogy is grotesquely exposed, as well as their true role to control and subjugate the Cuban working class. The Cuban workers react with angry accusations loudly proclaiming (2) their disappointment in and their rejection of “state unions” as a tool for those in power.

For an autonomous, independent and combative labor movement in the service of the Cuban workers!

For Libertarian Socialism!

For a Free and Libertarian Cuba!

September 2010

MLC (Movimiento Libertario Cubano) (Cuban Libertarian Movement) -  movimientolibertariocubano@gmail.com
GALSIC (Grupo de Apoyo a los Libertarios y Sindicalistas Independientes en Cuba) ((Support Group for Libertarians and Independent Sindicalists of Cuba) -  cesamepop@orange.fr

(1) http://www.kaosenlared.net/noticia/pronunciamiento-central-trabajadores-cuba-propoposito-cambios-cuba
(2)  http://www.kaosenlared.net/noticia/dudas-sobre-medio-millon-cubanos