>> You actually think jailing dissidents will help preserve the gains of
>> revolution>
>> -- Luke
>
> Of course it will.
Depends on what revolution you are talking about.
A serious issue is whether Castro's measures do not themselves defeat the revolution, reduce the political ground from which resistance to colonization grows, and ultimately increase the demand for ever more rigid forms of control. State force is usually no substitute for popular mobilization; perhaps if people had a strong sense of participation in the revolution there would be less need for such paranoid measures. If the whole thing is based on a cult of personality and surveillance (which I don't believe) then it may evaporate with Castro gone. But this is an empirical problem: we should look at Cuba and see if people are mobilized by their revolution despite the bureaucratic elements.
By way of answer to Doug's question, then, I'd say that the best way for the Cuban revolution to survive US aggression would be to radicalise the revolution, do as much as possible to make sure it is a social revolution that people feel enthusiastic about and motivated to defend it without oversight. I'd also say that there also is a very good case for doing exactly what Castro tried to do in the 60s, and spread the revolution internationally. Of course to do that you'd have to actually spread the revolution, rather than cynically foment diversions for Uncle Sam. State repression seems to me a very defensive strategy, but revolutions, like guerrillas, have to remain seized on the initiative.
Thiago Oppermann