Financing Heroism

Financing Heroism / 14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar
Posted on September 8, 2015

14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, 7 September 2015 — The old
controversy between material incentives and moral incentives seems to
return to the fore amid "the updating of the Cuban economic model."
According to an article published in the newspaper Trabajadores
(Workers) under the signature of Gabino Manguela, the Heroes of Labor
today lack the attention they received at the time when the State was
the one that financed this simulation of a union.

The writer notes that "the decision was nothing short of traumatic, but
certainly, it was impossible for the economy to sustain this
multi-million peso level of financing, which some years exceeded 20
million Cuban pesos."

In the first half of the '80s the stimuli to the "Heroes of Labor" and
the "National Vanguards" still consisted of trips to socialist
countries. I remember a discussion that I had with an important official
of the Cuban Workers Center (CTC) when I was looking for information for
a story for the magazine Cuba Internacional. The union leader insisted
that these trips were a gift from the commander-in-chief [Fidel Castro]
and that this should be reflected.

I tried to convince him that this was not "politically correct" in our
publication (which was, preferably, distributed abroad) because it gave
the impression that the commander possessed an enormous personal
fortune, which he could dispose of at will. The official stood up and
slammed his fist on the desk telling me that I didn't understand
anything. "The most important thing is that this trip is not to go on an
excursion abroad, but a gift from Fidel. This is what makes it a moral
stimulus!" he shouted.

What has happened now, it seems, is that this "petty cash" has
disappeared from the nation's budget and that in certain circles of
power it was mentioned as "the commander's account." The final use of
these funds was the investment in the Battle of Ideas, dissolved by Raul
Castro.

Now it is intended that the material incentives, those that cost money,
such as a week in a hotel in Varadero, depend on the resources of some
company, both for the Vanguards and the Heroes; thus these expenditures
are not considered "unearned gratuities" but as another method of
payment, deducted from the earnings of the business and obtained thanks
to the extraordinary efforts of its best workers.

Trabajadores, the publication of the CTC, wonders if it would be so
difficult for entities and ministries that have in their ranks these
Heroes of Labor, to finance – with their profits – one week a year with
a companion, at no cost, at one of the first class tourist centers. It
also suggests that those who have cars are helped to acquire spare parts
and tires. There are barely 150 of these nationwide, many of them retired.

The problem is that all this remains restricted under the crass chapter
of material stimulus and no longer has the charm of being "a gift from
the Maximum Leader."

Source: Financing Heroism / 14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar | Translating
Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/financing-heroism-14ymedio-reinaldo-escobar/