2023-05-25 14:54:52
Cuba, what would become of you if you let your Apostle die?
If at any time in the known world it would make sense to remember the pitfalls that José Martí knew were contrary to the ideals of social justice, and to reflect on the subject, it makes sense to a particularly high degree when those ideals can be blurred or are blurred in contexts that are unfavorable. In this environment, it is perceived that it is easier to condemn egalitarianism than to stop to think about the fairness of equity, and defend it.
An in-depth sociological study is required on the inequalities in Cuba, not only during the colony and the neocolonial Republic. Neither in the economic sense nor in what is called the racial issue due to the diabolic racism, inequalities could disappear by decree with the revolutionary triumph of 1959. But now it seems that they are triggered by the reconsiderations in the modes of property, without discounting the that they can come from a corruption incompatible with a justice sociopolitical project that has cost great efforts and sacrifices, including bloodshed.
No matter how much the Revolution tried to do so, it was not feasible to eliminate historically rooted inequalities in a few years, and that perhaps sometimes would even go unnoticed. The different families came from past with their own advantages or disadvantages, and the social and economic inequalities —whose defense, especially by those who enjoy them or aspire to enjoy them, seems tempting— found explanations outside of economic prerogatives.
One of its validations, and well seen, were the merits achieved precisely in the service of the most democratic and just project that could be expected. Over time it would be appreciated that inequalities could be legitimized and grow through the family, with benefits for those who do not necessarily have on their side the merits that endorsed them in their origin.
New reconsiderations in terms of property, and other realities or concepts that were informing Cuban society, would serve to diversify and multiply the differences or —in a light way— to “democratize” them. That they would prosper would no longer be based solely on family histories, but also on individual strength, which seems to be associated with the vocation for prosperity, a vocation that in many cases may have favored relationships that in themselves are revenues, and material resources, such as Real estate useful for private businesses.
Martí himself, who did not need any material stimulus to act, behave and live as he did – his austerity, like everything about him, was sincere and authorizes us to consider that he chose to be poor, despite the talent with which he could have made a fortune. —recognized the social weight of the aspiration to be prosperous. In the text of 1884, “Itinerant Teachers”, where he affirmed that “Being good is the only way to be happy” and “Being cultured is the only way to be free”, he added: “But, in the common of human nature , one needs to be prosperous to be good”.
According to stages and claims, circumstances and interests, there has been a tendency not to quote that part of the text or, on the contrary, to underline it. Both positions fail due to a lack of basis, especially the one that seems to be associated with the desire for enrichment or their legitimacy to use it when they have the opportunity to do so. The concept of prosperity that Martí supported does not aim at enrichment, much less at immoral fortunes or those acquired through their exploitation —remember the reading synopsis that appears in his Daily from Montecristi to Cap Haitienquoted in the second part of these notes— that capitalize on “the concept, sincere or feigned, of human inequality”.
On the other hand, Martí did not fit into “the commonality of human nature”. His quote from 1884 should be read as representative of the understanding of a revolutionary politician called to lead the masses, perhaps even a people in which it would be necessary to reckon with a diversity of attitudes linked to the most ordinary of human beings. He could not, therefore, stick to idealizations, even if they were the noblest. Reality is in charge of evidencing the importance that the satisfaction of basic material needs has for daily life and for legality itself, especially when the people have been taught that they have the right to satisfy them, one of the great achievements of the Revolution.
In addition, it is also worth bearing in mind that Martí did not assume the search for justice by ignoring human complexities, which social relations and the traditions rooted in them reinforced, and do reinforce. He was also not encouraged by the personal resentment of those who get irritated by not having the material advantages that others reap by different paths: be it the most honest or the most spurious, and the chain of possibilities that mediates between those extremes.
Thinking specifically about our reality, although the assertion extends far beyond it, Martí’s thought and behavior can offer us light to defend social justice and to coexist —which is not the same as resignation— with expressions of inequality. The country is today marked by inequalities that do not escape relevant facts or some that could be described as ordinary or vulgar. But elucidating it would make these notes even more extensive.
The efforts to build socialism —which have not been fully achieved in any part of the world— are not only reversible, despite dogmas that ensured the contrary. Today those desires seem to be moving away, but those who understand social justice will not desert them, just as those who faithfully embrace it do not abandon original Christianity no matter what happens with corrupt clerics and questionable ecclesial hierarchies.
The reality includes today, perhaps as never before, something that the bourgeoisie has astutely promoted as the class for itself that it is, but counting on errors and deviations from its adversaries: the so-called poor of the right. They are a monstrosity that sometimes seems to be spoken of as if it were a farce, but the subject waits for a modern Aeschylus who treats it as the terrible tragedy that it is.
Faced with similar evils, it is worth saying that Martí was not a socialist ideologue, but —beyond what was imagined by manipulators of his texts, such as those born from his deeply critical reading of Herbert Spencer, and useful for today— he did not project himself against “ the socialist idea”, in which he saw dangers and paths to justice. Precisely his just attitude and spirit, and the ethical basis of his actions and pronouncements, provide grounds not only for remembering something said by Juan Marinello —“The world of José Martí is, in its depths, the world of socialism”—, but to sustain that Cuban socialism, when we are able to build it, will be profoundly Martian, or it won’t be socialism either.
Something is beyond any doubt. Martí knew the reality not only of Cuba, but of the world, notably in Spain, in several countries of our America and in the United States, the latter of such significance for the subsequent trajectory of politics on the planet. And with a vision that is explained in contrast to that reality, he maintained that the Cuban Revolutionary Party, as read in its Bases, which he wrote, had among its primary purposes “to found a new people and sincere democracy.” Fina García Marruz, a great student of Martí, whom she knew how to read, told the speaker that the author of Simple verses He had started that collection of poems at a point that humanity had not reached, and one may even wonder if it will have reached today: “I am a sincere man.”
Martí will continue helping us to unravel realities, and assume them in a revolutionary way, and with sincerity and a democratic, popular pulse. In this it will be vital to follow the ethics and reflective loyalty that his actions and his ideas supported and are inseparable. It was not and is not a question of a slogan that united Martí’s thought and the acts of his centennial generation in the events of July 26, 1953.
Recently a colleague, neighbor and friend, Francisco López Sacha, commented to me what could be seen as a summit in Fidel Castro’s oratory, for him, the moment of History will absolve me in which he exclaimed: “Cuba, what would become of you if you had let your Apostle die!” Today we can paraphrase that enlightenment and ask ourselves: Cuba, what would you be if you let your Apostle die, to which it is also worth adding: Cuba, what would you be if you let your Commander in Chief die, the Leader you saw in Martí the eternal guide of our people?
Add to that the power of orientation and the perpetuity of this guide are founded —the preceding notes will have shown it, no matter how incomplete they may have been— on ethical coherence and the reverberations of beauty.
#José #Martí #today #III