For partisans of the Cuban revolution, one of the most encouraging features of it was the absence of many of the repellent aspects which deform other workers' states.
While institutions of proletarian democracy have been developing only slowly, the peculiarly malignant bureaucratic arbitrariness and worse associated with the Stalinist pattern, seemed to have been avoided. The sentencing of Anibal Escalante and his associates to long prison terms was carried through in such a way as to place a question mark over this assesanment.
Revolutionaries will view the general line of Escalante with distaste. He is an old-line Stalinist who has opted for Whruschevist peaceful co-existence. Everyone is well aware that tensions between Moscow and Havana ran high because of the basic difference on strategy . This is the context in which the collision of Escalante and the Castroists took place, =
In such situations Trotskyists defend the right of those they disagree with, such as Escalante, to promgate their line, inside the party and outside the party. They may, of course, be expelled from the party if they break its discipline, and if they go as far ae to act against the welfare of the revolution, the state may deal with them, The distinction between expressing opinions and taking some sort of action , such 8s material sabotage, ia fundamental.
The worry and concern of the editors is that the Cuban leadership may have lost sight of thie fundamental difference.
If one reads Raul Castro's report (1)much of it is simply concerned with the activities of Escalante in developing his tendency. Amongst the verbiage the only point which would seem to count as an offence against the state is that which alleges that Escalante passed confidential documents to the Kremlin with the suggestion that the U.5.5.R. use economic pressure against the Cubans to bring them into line politically. Wo clear distinction was made between this and the expression of opinions - everything was lumped together.
Having said this one must also say that the report (on internal evidence alone) does not appear to be in any way dishonest. It is possible to obtain a clear and plausible picture of the platfrom of Escalante from it. It avoids resorting to grotesque distortions and still less to describing the persons aimed at as monsters inapi red by the most abom— inable designs. There is no parallel with analogous accusations in other places. ( /ithout referring to the classical Stalinist documents, it suffices to point to certain documents againet Liu Shao-Chi, the false and tendentious character of which is instantly transparent and which present the victim as a frightful monster who had been plotting with capitalism since the twenties. ) Nevertheless a disquieting precedent has been set,
(1) see World Outlook Vol.6 Nos. 7-10
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