I’m not sure if anybody else would have had the prestige and influence to go against the grain and usher in a period of reforms of Cuba’s economy and society. He challenged some of the outdated thinking and practices in the party as well. In doing so he breathed new life into the Cuban Revolution. It’s ironic that many of the economic reforms that Gorbachev introduced in the mid-1980s and met such derision within the communist movement were not that much different than what Cuba and other socialist countries have done since in their economic reformation process.
What made Gorbachev’s reforms different was his readiness to give up the party’s monopoly on political power and its control over civil society too, including the media and other means of communication.
Written by
Sam Webb
I'm a long-time socialist and activist, but new to the blogging world. I hope to bring a different perspective on politics, sports, culture, and Marxism. Besides blogging, I also leave plenty of time for swimming, hiking, ESPN, music, reading, drinking good beer, and, not least, my family and friends. I wish I could play basketball, but my knees ruled out that possibility long ago.
While I currently reside in New York, my politically formative years were spent in Portland, Me. and Detroit during the 1970s and 1980s. I graduated from St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia (where I played basketball) and received a MA in economics from the University of Connecticut.
I was the national chairperson of the Communist Party, USA from 2000 until 2014 when I stepped down at the convention. In 2016 I resigned from the Communist Party two years later. We were no longer on the same page.
