Andrew Salkey

The revolution changed the lives of working Cubans in myriad ways, usually for the better. Before the revolution, hundreds of thousands of workers, especially sugar cane cutters, were unemployed for more than half the year. Their wages were kept low by the foreign corporations, and they could expect no redress from a government that cooperated with the corporations. After the revolution, seasonal unemployment virtually ceased, and the wages of all workers were increased. In addition, the government implemented a number of social security programs to improve the lot of the workingclass Cuban.

Andrew Salkey, a Jamaican novelist, attended a cultural congress in Havana in January 1968. During his stay he toured the island and interviewed a number of ordinary Cubans. In this excerpt, he talks with an unidentified student of political science in Havana about the future of "Fidel's Utopia." The...