Putinismo and revolution

On September 23, The Wall Street Journal, a well-informed newspaper of American business circles, reported that the Cuban military will henceforth study the creative legacy of Vladimir Putin.

So, the “eternally living Marxist-Leninist doctrine” was supplemented by the Cuban comrades with one more section. Moreover, unlike Marxism-Leninism, which remains in Cuba a powerful but completely useless ideological weapon, putinismo, as this word sounds in Spanish, has an applied meaning. The "Putin Doctrine" should help a new generation of Cuban leaders prepare for regime change.

In the distant sixties of the last century, Fidel Castro, inspired by the thesis “A rifle gives birth to power”, turned his keen eye to China, deciding that some kind of Maoism should become the basis of his course. However, it soon became clear that this model does not feed, a bet on one's own strength, which was good for a giant continental country, for a tiny island near America - death. Havana then hastily adopted the Soviet ideological model, which it conditionally called "Brezhnevism" - it provided truly inexhaustible resources for the survival of Cuban parasitic socialism.

"Gorbachevism" the Castro brothers resolutely rejected, calling it "open revisionism." And Yeltsin's strategy was generally considered a crime against all progressive mankind in favor of Yankee imperialism.

But how can putinismo, a mixture of semi-authoritarian political methods of government and crony capitalism, be useful to Cuba? The fact is that a new generation of leaders aged 45 to 55 has matured on the island, who are ready to replace the “old guards” who have already crossed the threshold of the ninth decade. Some of them are party nomenclature workers, but the core is made up of the military, members of the family of Raul Castro and other senior army officials.

Under the leadership of Raul, a real joint-stock company was formed on the island called "Government of Cuba, Ltd", consisting of the new Cuban aristocracy. Absolutely indifferent to the old ideological stereotypes, she creatively reworked the experience of Russian "effective managers". The Cuban military is now not so much busy defending the country from "possible aggression of imperialism" as managing numerous travel agencies, cigar and rum production, air and sea transportation. As well as the trade in old Soviet MiGs with North Korea, as evidenced by the detention of smuggled cargo in the Panama Canal zone in July of this year.

But to keep in check all this guard of new merchants-managers, a strong hand is needed. Such as Putin's. It must simultaneously smooth out conflicts between "shareholders", provide citizens with the necessary living wage and keep power in their hands, repelling the attacks of domestic and foreign opposition.

Putin can be proud - his "doctrine" has gained worldwide resonance. And the fact that so far only one island has taken it into service, and, most likely, for a fairly limited historical period, these are trifles.