Power corrupts? Absolutely
It is tempting to think of Castro’s recent announcement that he will go gently into that good night in terms of a redemptive fable, in which the passionate-revolutionary-turned-cynical-autocrat is reminded of his socialist roots; perhaps he saw a starving child on the streets, or a political prisoner evoked memories of himself as a young man. So tempting, in fact, that one is almost inclined to believe it.
Castro is the architect of one of the few true revolutionary states of the 20th Century. He can be said to have breathed life back into the socialist movement after the disaster of Stalin and the USSR; to have revived hope among socialists around the globe. Indeed, his first two significant changes, in the fields of literacy and health care, were, and remain, astounding successes. They do not, of course, justify the executions and other human rights abuses, nor the one-party state that was established, but they at least indicate that Castro was working on behalf of the people - that he was a man of socialist principle and conviction.
Personally, I am willing to give the early Castro the benefit of the doubt, though some might understandably be more cynical. For me, however, the turning point came with the Prague Spring revolution, when Castro expressed support for the invading Soviet troops even when European Communists, including Nicolae Ceauşescu, the Romanian leader, denounced it. Suddenly, he was on the opposite side of the fence: the Prague Spring, boosting hopes for true socialism, echoed his own revolution, yet this time he makes the politically motivated decision to support the Old Communism represented by the USSR.
And yet here we see him voluntarily surrendering his premiership. As I have already said, it is tempting to see it as repentance of some sort, some sort of realisation that he has lost sight of the principles with which me once inspired a nation. Alternatively, one could interpret it as nothing more than the inevitable result of having a prosthetic anus.
As far as I’m concerned, the answer lies in what happens next: the younger, beardless brother, Raúl will accede to the throne. I’m afraid that it’s hard to read any redemption into that fact, and one is forced to accept that socialism in Cuba is well and truly dead. As Trotsky said, socialism needs democracy like a human needs oxygen, and Castro’s egocentric autocracy is a prime example.
