The tone of this book is self-evident on its jacket: it shows a seated Che Guevara, cigar in one hand, covering his eyes with the other hand in a gesture that seems to proclaim in despair, what has Fidel done to the Cuban Revolution? The theme is The Revolution Betrayed, Part 2. The first betrayal was claimed by the liberals in 1959, the second by the Guevarists in 1989.
Despite my first reaction—that this was a volume produced to rescue the wonderful memory of a utopian revolution for the benefit of aging European activists— I have come to the view that the book is worth reading. In fact, the scope and detail of the coverage are appropriate for two disparate audiences. First, readers with little knowledge of the Cuban case will be able to follow with ease a fairly complete analysis of the revolutionary experience. Second, those more familiar with Cuban history will still benefit from exposure to different interpretations of events, policies, and individuals. Janette Habel is well acquainted with the scholarly literature on Cuba.
Following a brief preface by François Maspero (masterfully compressing decades of Cuban history), the first three chapters of the book undertake a detailed review of the Cuban economy, ranging from the importance of sugar and foreign trade through the economic debate of the 1960s, the implementation of the Soviet-style economic model (SDPE) from 1976 to 1985, and the retrenchment represented by the Rectification Process of 1986–1990. At this point Habel asks a question that is still applicable today: “What economic and political decision making is the Castroite core prepared to concede?” (p. 74). In later chapters dealing with the absence of political democracy, the Ochoa case, Soviet-Cuban political and economic relations, and other topics, the discussion is less crisp and the focus less sharp. The last chapter is a confusing mixture of Marx, Lenin, China, Che, Nicaragua, the Soviet Union, and the applicability of material incentives and conciencia.
Overall, many observers of Cuba are likely to share Habel’s conclusions: “The decisive control of Fidel Castro and his henchmen over major economic decisions, combined with the Communist Party’s monopoly of power, have the effect of hiding responsibilities, concealing incompetence and corruption, and of favoring bureaucratic complicity” (p. 163). Habel also concludes that Cuba’s “independence can only be preserved by challenging the bureaucratic model which is now devouring the revolution” (p. 236). Time is of the essence, because the plate is almost empty.
