I don’t wanna just diss a country but I’d like to know what they consider a “home” and “ownership” under communism?
Personal property ownership (assets you personally use including the home you live in) are compatible with communism. Private property ownership (capital assets, a home you rent out) is not since those are the means of production and owned publically. I think this trips a lot of people up because the finance terms are not the same as the Marxist framework.
Ok… so where exactly do those 10% that don’t own a home, live?
Street
There are a few good videos on YouTube that I am too COVID to find and link right now. But homes are straight up houses, apartments, et cetera. Some are nicer than others, but they’re just houses.
As far as ownership goes, iirc if you’ve lived in the home 5 years (as in, you paid rent for 5 years) then you own the home. Like a rent to own in the US. I don’t know how that works currently, with a lack of capitalist landlords, but that was the agreement when they socialized housing. The government has the right of first refusal if you leave the home, with the exception that you can give the home to a family member or co-occupant when leaving. You can own up to two homes.
Also, despite being run by the communist party, they are not communist. They’re socialist, to use the Marxist definition. A transitionary state. Private ownership is still very much so a real thing in Cuba. They even have privately owned businesses. Calling Cuba communist is the same kind of error as saying the US is a direct democracy because the democratic party controls the Senate, or that the UK is a communist society because the labour party was in power. The party names are more… aspirational than anything else.
Thank you for this information do you have any sources?
Honestly, as of right now, not really. I gots the brain fog. But azure scapegoat I think is one decent YouTuber. Noncompete may have a video on Cuba, and I believe prof. Richard Wolff does as well.
I’m not a Marxist, though, so my knowledge of state socialism is cursory other than theory. I’m an anarcho-communist, and my knowledge and interests lie more towards that direction.
This isn’t on housing (I really can’t remember which video is good on that topic, but I know it’s a findable thing), but how elections work in Cuba. Worth watching: https://youtu.be/2aMsi-A56ds?si=SvD6sZeN5L5vvni9
I will say, one of the things to note about state socialist countries, even if you disagree with them, is they’re often derided for being authoritarian (and IMHO, they are), but they’re always less authoritarian than what came before. The USSR had problems, yeah, but it was leaps and bounds better than czarist Russia. Cuba has some issues, but compared to the open air slave-run casino it was before the revolution, it’s a damn sight better. And if you compare it to it’s neighbors, it’s doing amazingly well, even with the insane embargo. Just something to think about, democracy (in the sense of actual control by the people) has increased in each society that has gone that route. Imagine, then, what a place like the US, with our big talk democratic ideals would look like if it did. Just food for thought.
Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
https://youtu.be/2aMsi-A56ds?si=SvD6sZeN5L5vvni9
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I’m open-source, check me out at GitHub.
Why only 90% though? You’d think everyone would have a home if it’s government issued
Could be people that move with their job, or live in temporary housing etc. Who knows, im too lazy to Google and so are you.
You got me there
Kinda depends how you look at it… If everybody gets to own a similar equivalent of the house, you’d still own it and it would technically still be communism… 🤷♂️
That being said, I do know that this is not a valid argument in Cuba’s situation, but I still felt the mysterious need to point this out. 😅
