This Issue

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.13169/intejcubastud.6.2.0117
• Pages: 117-119
• Published date: 01 December 2014
• Date: 01 December 2014
• Author: Stephen Wilkinson

IJCS Produced and distributed by Pluto Journals www.plutojournals.com/ijcs/

edItorIal

tHIS ISSue

Stephen Wilkinson

As this edition of the journal was being prepared, the signs were very positive

that Cuba’s relationship with the European Union was entering a new and more

productive phase. The talks, aimed at creating the framework for a cooperation

agreement, that were started in early 2014 were bearing fruit. In this edition, we

publish a commentary by the highly respected Cuban scholar Carlos Alzugary

Treto, himself a former Cuban ambassador to Brussels, on the prognosis for

complete success.

We also include here an interview with the Historian of Havana, Eusebio Leal

Spengler, conducted by the French academic and author Salim Lamrani. In this

wide-ranging discussion, the learned and erudite Cuban specialist explains how

his plan for the restoration of Havana is transforming the city and changing the

fortunes, not only of the buildings but also of the people that live within them.

These two non-peer-reviewed contributions give a clear indication of the

many ways in which Cuba is advancing and transforming itself under the current

programme of ‘updating’ of the socialist system. This is a process that includes

a number of signif‌icant developments among which are the non-agricultural

cooperatives that have received little mention hitherto. The establishment

of non-farming cooperatives is a highly signif‌icant departure. Steve Ludlam’s

article notes the ambiguous treatment of cooperatives in historical socialist

debates in general and Cuban debates in particular. He examines how non-

agricultural cooperativism is now being theorised with a greater emphasis

on self-management and non-alienated forms of labour. Since the enabling

legislation in 2012, the creation of such cooperatives in Cuba has been rapid,

mainly due to the conversion of small-scale state workplaces in the service

sector, but such cooperatives, so far, remain a small component of the wider

shift of workers into non-state employment. Nevertheless, economic, social,

educational and media institutions are adapting to the economic, cultural and

representational needs and challenges of the new cooperativism. The legislation

IJCS 6_2 117 02/12/2014 11:03