|
Socialist Action's dear friend and
collaborator Celia Hart died along with her brother Abel, 48, when her
Volkswagon Bug struck a tree on Sunday, September 7 in Havana.
Celia, 46, is survived by her two sons José Julián and Ernesto,
who were 16 and 11.
During a brief outing we took with Celia
following our May 2008 four-day Toronto conference on "Socialism
in the 21st Century," Celia reluctantly accepted from Socialist
Action a gift of a skateboard for her son Ernesto. Ernesto, an avid
skateboarder, was named after Ernesto Ché Guevara, who Celia insisted,
to get the political juices flowing and focus her audience on the
essentials of revolutionary strategy, followed in the footsteps of Leon
Trotsky.
We do not know if this tragic accident was
associated with the murderous hurricanes, whose 200-mile per hour winds
have wrought massive devastation on the houses of at least 200,000
Cubans. Celia and Abel's death was reported in the Cuban newspaper, Granma,
The story was briefly reported by Associated Press. Funeral services
were scheduled the day following the accident.
Celia and Abel were the children of Cuban
Revolutionary heroes Armando Hart
and Haydée Santamaria. Armando, now 88, was a leader of the Cuban
underground prior to the 1959 revolution that brought Fidel
Castro's July 26th Movement to power. He served as
Cuba's first Minister of Education and later as Minister of Culture. It
was Armando who first introduced his then physicist daughter Celia to
the ideas of Leon
Trotsky upon learning of her disillusionment with
the "really existing socialism" that she experienced while
earning her BA/MA degree in physics in what was then the German
Democratic Republic. Celia received her Ph.D in physics in Cuba.
The books by Isaac Deutscher
on Trotsky’s life and Trotsky’s classic exposition of the
counterrevolution that unfolded in the Stalinist-dominated USSR, The Revolution
Betrayed,
opened a new vista of revolutionary socialist politics to Celia, who
has since devoted herself to Trotskyist politics and related
organizational issues.
Haydeé Santamaria participated with Fidel in
the July 26,1953 attack on the Moncada Barracks
that signaled the beginning of the Cuban Revolution
and the end of imperialist domination. Haydée was a guerrilla fighter
in the war that defeated the U.S.-backed Batista regime.
On the morning of Celia’s death she sent us a
Spanish-language article in defense of the Cuban Five
drafted by Celia and her associates in several Latin American
countries. She asked that we publish it in the October issue of our
newspaper.
Socialist Action and Labor Standard had long
labored to prepare for publication a book of Celia's writings, some 32
articles/essays in total. Translated and edited by George
Saunders, with the help of Gerry Foley and others,
the publication was only awaiting an introduction that George and I
were preparing. After a too long delay, we had finally reached the
point where it was a top priority on our agendas. Unfortunately, it was
too late for Celia's enthusiastic eyes and warm loving heart. We are
pledged to complete this project soon and include in it a number of
Celia’s most recent essays.
With Celia’s agreement we decided on an
interim project, that is, to publish in pamphlet form a collection of
five of her articles and interviews. These are included in the
Socialist Action/Labor Standard pamphlet, Celia Hart Speaks: The
Cuban Revolution and a World in Revolt, published shortly before
our international conference in Toronto in May, 2008.
Celia was profoundly impacted by her
conversations and exchanges with SA/USA and SA/Canada comrades during
our Toronto conference and with her discussions with our comrades in
the Mexican United Socialist League (LUS). Our Canadian comrades Barry
Weisleder and Elizabeth Byce had made plans to visit
Celia over the holiday season to continue our discussions.
In an email of September 4 Celia told us that
she had explained to her associates and collaborators in Latin America
that, "… Socialist Action was the group in the US that had the
most in common with me." In was in that email that we discussed
new plans to meet in Cuba.
Our first contact with Celia was via email
several years ago when we agreed to publish the aforementioned book of
her writings. Before that we were stunned and overjoyed to read her
scathing attack on Stalinism and her defense of Trotsky’s theory of
permanent revolution in her essay, “Socialist in One Country” and
the Cuban Revolution. We published this immediately as a Socialist
Action pamphlet with an introduction that I proudly drafted.
In early 2007 Celia and I met for several
days in Mexico City, where we discussed two additional projects that SA
would undertake, a visit with her friend Antonio Guerrera, one of the
imprisoned Cuban Five, and our agreement that Celia would present two
major talks at our Toronto conference.
Having reached the final stages of completing
our too long delayed book of Celia's writings, we have initiated the
first steps necessary to visit Antonio. Our New York comrades have been
engaged in work building the national demonstration planned for
Washington, D.C. in defense of the Cuban Five. Socialist Action was the
first groups to initiate a number of years ago a broadly-sponsored
conference in San Francisco featuring Cuban Five attorney Leonard
Weinglass.
We will follow through on another agreement
with Celia to publish a third pamphlet devoted to her writings in
defense of The Five.
Celia's last email a few days before her
death indicated that she was in collaboration with revolutionaries in
Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Panama. It appeared that
she was interested in having SA be a part of this collaboration or
"regroupment" as she described it. We had hoped to discuss
this further in the months ahead.
Celia was a staunch defender of the Cuban
Revolution and an unswerving supporter of its historic leader Fidel
Castro. But she was at the same time deeply concerned that the unending
pressures of U.S. imperialism could result in the emergence of currents
within the Cuban leadership that favored the restoration of capitalism
in the manner of China. Her reference to this concern is clearly stated
in her last communication.
Celia was proud to tell us that her defense
of Trotskyist ideas had not gone unnoticed by the Fidel Castro she
loved, admired and knew since her childhood. A letter from Fidel to
Celia not long ago conveyed his appreciation of Celia's writings and
concluded with the assertion that Celia was not to be discouraged from
expressing her views. "No one will hurt a single hair on
your beautiful head," said Fidel, a delighted Celia told us.
Celia took pride in being part of a Havana
Book Fair event in February 2008 where a Spanish-language translation
of Trotsky's Permanent Revolution
was prominently displayed with many copies sold. Celia was a featured
speaker during that time in a public presentation on the importance of
this book. (See the last item in our pamphlet, Celia Hart Speaks, p.
63.)
Celia's tragic death comes at a time when her
authentic advocacy of Trotsky's fundamental ideas is gaining a broader audience
across Latin America. Her life was cut short by a fateful accident that
will deny us her revolutionary insights into critical world events.
Celia's efforts to rehabilitate revolutionary Marxist continuity by
being among the leading advocates of Trotsky's contributions will stand
the test of time.
Socialist Action will redouble our efforts to
circulate her views widely and to continue the work she so vigorously
and joyously began. We did not always agree with Celia, but we shared a
common Marxist framework with which to pursue important issues in
future discussions when the test of life itself makes it easier to
evaluate the validity of each other's assessments.
We believed that the publication of our book
of Celia's writings would be the first of several. This will sadly not
come to pass. Regardless, Celia's loving words and profound
appreciation of the absolute necessity for the revolutionary
transformation of society to rid the world of rapacious capitalism and
imperialism will never be forgotten.
We follow in your footsteps dearest Celia,
friend, comrade and ferocious fighter for the liberation of humanity.
We will send our profound appreciation for
your life and work to your family and friends.
-Jeff Mackler, National Secretary, Socialist
Action
|