cuba – DYFI Study Circle, Delhi

DYFI-CUC organised the seventh study circle of this year. Today, we really put to the test everything we have learnt about historical materialism so far. We read Chapter 6 of What Is Marxism: Socialist Society.

The chapter speaks of what socialist society is likely to look like. It says that imagining a socialist society is not about taking all our favourite utopian ideas and combining them, but rather thinking of how an economy organised along socialist lines will realistically look. Socialist society, after all, emerges from capitalist society, with all its vestiges. The transition to the higher form of socialism – communism – will be impacted by these vestiges.

We had wide-ranging discussions in the course of reading this chapter: the relationship between centralisation and democracy, central planning and quality of services, international relations from a socialist country’s point of view, women’s lives under socialism, and the question of caste-based reservations. We also discussed at length the new Constitution of Cuba, and the extensively democratic and consultative process of its drafting. The goal to create a communist society was included in the new Cuban constitution not at the insistence of the party, which had left the phrase out, but through public demand. We spoke then of bureaucratisation in the Soviet Union, and political consciousness in Cuba.

We will keep Chapter 7: The Marxist View of Nature, as reading for homework, given that it is a chapter on Marxist philosophy that requires close, careful reading. Next week, we will discuss that chapter and read Chapter 8: A Guide to Action.

We hope to see you there, and do send us your questions and thoughts!

Revolutionary Greetings,

Central Unit Committee

Democratic Youth Federation of India – Delhi

DYFI-CUC organised the fourth study circle of the year – an emotional one, because we heard Salvador Allende’s last speech before he was killed by a CIA-led military coup. He addresses the women, workers and farmers of Chile and denounces imperialism and foreign capital. In the final seconds of the recording you can hear explosions, and then, silence. Not a happy video to watch, but as Allende said: social processes can be arrested neither by crime nor force. History is ours, and people make history.

Appropriately, we read the fourth chapter of Emile Burns’s What Is Marxism?: The Imperialist Stage of Capitalism.

The chapter is about Lenin’s explanation of the development of capitalism since the death of Marx: the imperialist stage is characterised by the export of monopoly finance capital and the dividing up of the world among finance capital groups.

We discussed concentration of economic power in Indian finance capital, the role of bank nationalisation in helping capitalism progress, attempts in Europe to reject austerity and why they failed, and the imperialist aggression against Venezuela.
Speaking of Venezuela, CUC members visited the Venezuelan embassy on Friday to attend a solidarity meeting against US imperialism. If you are in Delhi, we urge you to visit the embassy and sign the solidarity statement.

Next Sunday, we will read Chapter 5: Class Struggles in Modern Times. If you would like to come for the next study circle, please try to read the first four chapters. If you cannot, we will be happy to answer doubts and queries.

Revolutionary Greetings,

Central Unit Committee

Democratic Youth Federation of India, Delhi

Tag: cuba

Study Circle 7 of 2019 – How do we build socialism?

Study Circle 4 of 2019 – Imperialism