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Yoani Sanchez

Yoani Sanchez

Posted: June 7, 2009 12:59 PM

Red Medalists: Their Sport? Leaving the Communist Party


Among us there exists a frequently practiced sport, but one whose statistics and events are not mentioned anywhere. This is the sport of surrendering the Communist Party card, for which many of my compatriots have been preparing for years. Most important is to train the senses to find the right moment to stand in the assembly and say, "Companeros, for reasons of health I can't continue to perform the task you have assigned me." There are those who claim a sick mother whom they must care for, while others announce their intention to retire to spend time with their grandchildren. Few of the testimonies of those who have ended their militancy include the honest confession that they've ceased to believe in the precepts and principles imposed by the Party.

I know one who found a novel way to get out of the meetings, the unanimous votes, the calls for intransigence and the frequent mobilizations of the PCC (Cuban Communist Party). Like a boxer, trained to endure until the sound of the bell, he went to what would be his last meeting at his workplace with the Party core. He surprised everyone with the novelty of his argument, really swinging from the left when no one expected it. "Every day I buy on the black market to feed my family and as a member of the Communist Party I should not be doing this. Because I must choose between putting food on the table for my family or abiding by the discipline of this organization, I prefer to resign." Everyone at the table looked at him with disbelief. "But Richard, what are you talking about. Here most people buy on the black market." The rehearsed "blow" came to end the brief round, "Ah... then I'm leaving because I don't want to belong to a party of hypocrites, who say one thing and do another."

He left the red book with his name and surname on the table where he would never sit again. The medal of a champion was given to him by his own wife when he returned home. "Finally, you're free of the party," she said," while planting a kiss and handing him the towel.

Yoani's blog, Generation Y, can be read here in English translation.

 
 
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07:48 PM on 06/08/2009
Lift the Cuba Embargo?
You don’t need to look further; here you have the answer from the “horse” mouth:
“It is necessary to impose financial, economic and material restrictions to dictatorships, so that they will not take roots for long years….Diplomatic and morals measures do not work against dictatorships, because these make fun of the Governments and the population”. Fidel Castro
(Excerpt from the book “Fidel Castro and Human Rights”, Editora Política, Havana, Cuba, 1988)
Link: http://www.cubanet.org/CNews/y09/abril09/09_O_3.html
photo
HUFFPOST COMMUNITY MODERATOR
writerjohnny
10:48 AM on 06/08/2009
Stalin was NOT a communist. Mao was NOT a communist. Castro is NOT a communist. Cuba and revolutionaries who threw out the corrupt US-backed regime were misled into taking the soviet model in exchange for support against what would obviously be attempts by the US to retake the island. Stalin and Castro were both dictators who practiced fascism and not leaders of nations practicing the dictatorship of the proletariat. The Communist Party in Cuba is in name only and the main reason you have to break party rules and buy on the black market is the US led embargo and policies of the US dominated by Cuban "exiles" whose families ran when their dream of a mafia playground got pulverized by Cuban farmers.
08:20 AM on 06/09/2009
Yes, and communism works in monasteries and nowhere else.