SAM DOLGOFF also because lt rldlculed Castro's historie July 26th 1953 attack on the Moncada Barracks (now commemorated as a national hollday). The communlsts called the attack a «bourgeois putchist adventure,. Moreover, the communlsts took no part ln the flght agalnst Batista and sabotaged Castro's call for a general strike to unseat Batista. The communlsts came to Castro only a few months before the overthrow of Batista, when they saw that Castro was golng to wln. The revolutlon was made ln spite of the opposition of the Party. Since the Party did not, as in Russia, initiate revolutionary action and seize power, it was in no position to dictate terms to Castro in exchange for its collaboration. The Party was accepted only on condition that it acknowledged Castro's leadership and accepted without question all his ideological, political and economic policies. Castro dominates the CPC. The members of the Communist Party's Central Committee belong to Castro's clique. Castro himself (as already noted) is the First Secretary of the Party and his brother Raul ranks next. There is, of course, no democracy within the Party. Thus, when Anlbal Escalante was accused of «micro-factionalism, (a crime that is not even listed in the penal Code) because he tried to subordlnate Castro to the discipline of the Communist Party he was sentenced to 15 years at hard labour. « ... Escalante and bis lawyers were deprived even of the right to address a single word ln selfdefense to the court and the publlc documents contain no defense pleas of any kind ... , (6). The CPC does not make pollcy. Its function is to carry out government orders, not to govern, or as Maurice Halperln puts It; « ... the function of the CPC is to mob111zethe population for goals set by Castro himself ... , (7). In Cuba, the CPC fulf111s the same preponderant role as in Russia and the other «socialist countries,. The expandlng role of the CPC in the reorganization process is manifested ln its growing membership, which increased from 55,000 in 1969 to 200,000 in 1975. The estimated membership of the Union of Communist Youth is about 300,000. 85 % of armed forces officers also belong to the CPC. An interesting sidellght: according to Verde Olivo (organ of the Armed Forces) the composition of the Central Committee of the CPC was 67 % mm- (6) K. S. Karol, Guerrlllas in Power; New York, 1970, p. 472. (7) The Rlse and Decllne of Fidel Caatro; University of Callfomia, 1974, p. 133. 50
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