The Exaggerate Socialism Of Raul’s Cuba

Cuba’s post-revolutionary economic history was penalized by the twin sets of distortions stemming from its former, artificial trade relations with the CMEA and from the very nature of the state socialist model, let alone the severe costs imposed by the US embargo. Conversely, Cuba’s centralized resource allocation system and the consistent priority accorded to the satisfaction of basic needs were instrumental in engineering a remarkable accumulation of human capital and an extraordinary development of public services, and serendipitously endowed the country with a lingering comparative advantage in some advanced, knowledge-based services sectors. However, the tension between Cuba’s exceptional human development achievements and the weakness of their material foundation cannot be maintained indefinitely. The intrinsic deficiencies of the central planning mechanism, the need for expanding the role of the market and of monetary-commercial relations, and the inescapability of respecting the law of value and the socialist principle of distribution according to work should be fully acknowledged and translated in a structural reform program. The ultimate goal of such a program should be that of definitely superseding the traditional state socialist model, leading to a transition towards a specifically Cuban form of market socialism.