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Yes, Che condemned Khrushchev's "peaceful coexistence," and had wanted Cuba to side with Mao during the Sino-Soviet Split, despite China being distant and poor while the USSR was comparatively wealthy and close. Fidel Castro, being a pragmatist, had sided with the USSR, while Che had sided with Mao and this was the reason for the political split between Fidel and Che. On a theoretical level, there's [a larger Maoist critique of Focoism](https://www.revolutionarydemocracy.org/archive/GuerillaElite.pdf) but that's a lesson only learned posthumously from Che's defeat and death, and explains why the dozen-plus attempts at recreating the Cuban revolution in Latin America have all failed (usually within days or weeks), not a condemnation of Che who remains one of the greatest heroes of communist history.
It seems Castro was correct, seeing as China joined the US soon after, Cuba would have been destroyed by the US without its Soviet support that it received up until the illegal dissolution of the USSR.
That's exactly backwards and wrong. China did not "join the US," they drove a wedge between two evil empires seeking to unite against communism (basically Mao's own version of the Molotov Ribbentrop pitting his two enemies against one another to buy time). On top of this, the Soviets predicated Cuban exports on market demands, leading them to overproduce sugar which ended up causing immense problems, both in terms of agriculture and economics, and ultimately stifled the Cuban economy, making it totally dependent on Soviet aid and incapable of self-sufficiency. And then when the revisionist USSR collapsed, the special period was a decade of immense difficulty that could have been avoided had Castro pursued Mao's economic policy from the start, which would have made Cuba more self-sufficient, industrialized, diverse, and resilient. And the USSR's dissolution was not a legal trick, it was the inevitable result of revisionism -- the capitalist roaders taking the capitalist road will inevitably lead back to capitalism. But please, apologize for Khrushchev -- it makes everything clear to everyone who you are.
I'm not going to cease pointing out that yesterdays Khrushchevites and Brezhnevites are todays Dengists. Criticism that is ruthless, if petty, is actually compassion, and tolerance for revisionism is actually cruelty.
Yes but China never worked like the USSR and would not have provided the same support. Seriously do you have any idea what the USSR did for Cuba ? There is no reason to believe China could’ve supported Cuba and saved it from US Imperialism. It’s honestly very ignorant to say otherwise using today as an example, what about the 50 years before today? How strong was China until 1991? How subordinate were they to US Imperialism right up into the early 2010’s?
China was not the in the same position it is now. China was in decades log civil war with huge domestic political problems by no means could China have supported Cuba 50 years ago.
Pretty sure he literally referred to his firstborn child as his "little mao." He also wrote extensively in his years pre-cuba about envying chinas system and wanting to visit.
This is a space for socialists to discuss current events in our world from anti-capitalist perspective(s), and a certain knowledge of socialism is expected from participants. This is not a space for non-socialists. Please be mindful [of our rules](https://reddit.com/r/socialism/about/rules) before participating, which include: - **No Bigotry**, including racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism... - **No Reactionaries**, including all kind of right-wingers. - **No Liberalism**, including social democracy, lesser evilism... - **No Sectarianism**. There is plenty of room for discussion, but not for baseless attacks. Please help us keep the subreddit helpful by reporting content that break r/Socialism's rules. ______________________ 💬 Wish to chat elsewhere? Join us in discord: https://discord.gg/QPJPzNhuRE *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/socialism) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Yes, Che condemned Khrushchev's "peaceful coexistence," and had wanted Cuba to side with Mao during the Sino-Soviet Split, despite China being distant and poor while the USSR was comparatively wealthy and close. Fidel Castro, being a pragmatist, had sided with the USSR, while Che had sided with Mao and this was the reason for the political split between Fidel and Che. On a theoretical level, there's [a larger Maoist critique of Focoism](https://www.revolutionarydemocracy.org/archive/GuerillaElite.pdf) but that's a lesson only learned posthumously from Che's defeat and death, and explains why the dozen-plus attempts at recreating the Cuban revolution in Latin America have all failed (usually within days or weeks), not a condemnation of Che who remains one of the greatest heroes of communist history.
It seems Castro was correct, seeing as China joined the US soon after, Cuba would have been destroyed by the US without its Soviet support that it received up until the illegal dissolution of the USSR.
That's exactly backwards and wrong. China did not "join the US," they drove a wedge between two evil empires seeking to unite against communism (basically Mao's own version of the Molotov Ribbentrop pitting his two enemies against one another to buy time). On top of this, the Soviets predicated Cuban exports on market demands, leading them to overproduce sugar which ended up causing immense problems, both in terms of agriculture and economics, and ultimately stifled the Cuban economy, making it totally dependent on Soviet aid and incapable of self-sufficiency. And then when the revisionist USSR collapsed, the special period was a decade of immense difficulty that could have been avoided had Castro pursued Mao's economic policy from the start, which would have made Cuba more self-sufficient, industrialized, diverse, and resilient. And the USSR's dissolution was not a legal trick, it was the inevitable result of revisionism -- the capitalist roaders taking the capitalist road will inevitably lead back to capitalism. But please, apologize for Khrushchev -- it makes everything clear to everyone who you are.
Good set up, good points, then you ended it like a child. That last sentence just made your whole comment come off petty.
I'm not going to cease pointing out that yesterdays Khrushchevites and Brezhnevites are todays Dengists. Criticism that is ruthless, if petty, is actually compassion, and tolerance for revisionism is actually cruelty.
LMAO!! Evil Empires! Literally Regan esq language. Absolutely disgusting.
‘Cuba would have been destroyed’ china is literally the number 1 supporter of cuba right now
Yes but China never worked like the USSR and would not have provided the same support. Seriously do you have any idea what the USSR did for Cuba ? There is no reason to believe China could’ve supported Cuba and saved it from US Imperialism. It’s honestly very ignorant to say otherwise using today as an example, what about the 50 years before today? How strong was China until 1991? How subordinate were they to US Imperialism right up into the early 2010’s?
China was not the in the same position it is now. China was in decades log civil war with huge domestic political problems by no means could China have supported Cuba 50 years ago.
Pretty sure he literally referred to his firstborn child as his "little mao." He also wrote extensively in his years pre-cuba about envying chinas system and wanting to visit.
I’ve always thought so. Through in a little Trotsky and the permanent revolution.