Cuba Pt. 3: Che Guevara and the Building of Socialism w/ Helen Yaffe

In this episode, part 3 of our ongoing series on Cuba, we're joined by Helen Yaffe for a conversation exploring Cuba's transition to socialism after the revolution through Che Guevara's contributions. Helen Yaffe is a professor of Latin American political economy at the University of Glasgow. She is the author of We Are Cuba! How a Revolutionary People Have Survived in a Post-Soviet World, and Che Guevara: The Economics of Revolution. She is also the cohost of the Cuba Analysis podcast and the documentary  Cuba's Life Task: combatting climate change. The episode begins with a brief introduction to Che Guevara—providing an overview of Che's life and biography. We then discuss what the Cuban revolutionaries inherited in terms of Cuba's semi-colonial economic and political state—unemployment, poverty, inequality, underdevelopment, and dependency. We talk about how socialism became the guiding light of revolutionary Cuba and how the revolutionary government became more radical in response to the United States' attempts to sabotage it. We discuss Che Guevara's role in developing the productive capacities of Cuba and his many roles ranging from President of the National Bank of Cuba to Head of Ministry of Industries (MININD). We also discuss his unique approach to laying the foundations of socialism in Cuba which put just as much emphasis on developing consciousness as developing materially. We contrast this with the Soviet system, which Che was critical of.  We then explore the role of intellectual, political, and training education in the emerging socialist state of Cuba, which had experienced a mass emigration of managers and business owners after the revolution and had a working class which was accustomed to viewing labor as an exploitative endeavor and not as means of liberation. Finally, we explore Che's legacy and tie it into present day Cuba, which is still under siege by the imperialists.  Further resources: We Are Cuba! How a Revolutionary People Have Survived in a Post-Soviet World Che Guevara: The Economics of Revolution Let Cuba Liva: Donate Support the Nuestra América Flotilla to Cuba Related episodes: Listen to our ongoing series on Cuba Listen to our ongoing series on China Intermission music: "Señor Martí" by El Guajiro Upstream is entirely listener funded. No ads, no promotions, no grants—just Patreon subscriptions and listener donations. We couldn't keep this project going without your support. Subscribe to our Patreon for bi-weekly bonus episodes, access to our entire back catalog of Patreon episodes, and for Upstream stickers and bumper stickers at certain subscription tiers. Through your support you'll be helping us keep Upstream sustainable and helping to keep this whole project going—socialist political education podcasts are not easy to fund so thank you in advance for the crucial support. patreon.com/upstreampodcast For more from Upstream, visit www.upstreampodcast.org and follow us on Instagram and Bluesky. You can also subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.