this post was submitted on 09 Nov 2020
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Changing perceptions about socialist states has to come from the bottom up, not the top down.
Look at how Bernie's entirely truthful, extremely moderate statements on Cuba's healthcare and education programs was wielded against him. That's what happens when political leaders try to change the tune about socialist states in a country that's been strongly anti-communist for most of the last century. We have to have those conversations on the ground first.
Telling your buddies that Cuba is great helps. So does a prominent politician saying the same thing. Running away from the history of socialist projects doesn't help because:
If you tell your buddies Cuba is great, the worst that can happen is they'll think your political opinions are shit. And because you get to have an actual exchange with them -- i.e., whatever you say about Cuba isn't filtered through network media and social media until it becomes nothing more than "@hagensfohawk loves commie dictators" -- you have a shot at breaking through superficial talking points and getting your buddies to reconsider what they know.
If a politician says Cuba is great, well, we know what happens -- Bernie did it not even a year ago. He gained zero support from the left that he didn't already have. All it did was launch a few fresh media cycles of "Bernie's a commie!!1!!!" And while you're right that they'll call you a commie anyway, playing the same hits gets old after a while and loses its effectiveness. Giving them fresh meat can't help and only hurts.
The only way to change that is if you and I have enough conversations with our buddies to where "hey, Cuba's actually good" becomes a majority opinion.
I guess if your only goal is to win office, then sure, saying Maduro is an authoritarian won't hurt. But if you goal is to build class consciousness and move towards socialism, then it definitely hurts.
She's not saying Maduro is an authoritarian here, though.
There are dozens of better ways to build class consciousness than talking about countries no one in America really knows about except in talking point form. Talking about universal healthcare instead of getting into a struggle session over a country that hasn't existed for 25 years is one of them.
Well obviously giving everyone a history lesson doesn't in and of itself build class consciousness. But running away from your own history while celebrating social democracy (which is crumbling elsewhere by the way) doesn't do it either.
Just off the top of my head she could have called bullshit on his framing and segued into talking about socialism: what it is, what it's goals are, how it is relevant to the vast majority of the American working class, what a socialist methodology in building a new world would imply, etc. But she'd have to have those hidden power levels to begin with, which she doesn't. What you see is very often what you get with these things.