The long delayed VI Congress of the Cuban Communist Party took place on April 16-19 in Havana and discussed the Guidelines on Economic and Social Policy for the Party and the Revolution. The Congress was timed to coincide with the 50^th anniversary of the attempted Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961, when Fidel Castro proclaimed the “socialist character of the revolution”.

The Cuban Revolution had always caught my attention. How was it possible for a planned economy to survive on a small island, less than 90 miles from the most powerful imperialist country on earth? Why didn't Cuba fall in the early 1990's together with the Soviet Union? What is the current situation in the island and what are the perspectives for the future?

Wednesday 3 November in Havana marked the start of a three day conference on “Socialism in the XXI century” organized by “Cuba, theory and society” under the auspices of the Havana Institute of Philosophy. Among a small number of foreign guest speakers was the editor of Marxist.com, Alan Woods. We publish here the report written by Alan on his return.

HAVANA, Cuba, Nov 5 (acn) British journalist and writer Alan Woods described the whole judicial process against the five Cuban antiterrorist fighters -incarcerated in the United States for more than 12 years now- as shameful for the US legal system.

We are publishing this article which we have received from the Cuban Communist Frank Josué Solar Cabrales as a contribution to the debate over the future of the Cuban revolution and the changes that are presently being proposed. See also Jorge Martín's article Where is Cuba going?

On September 13, a statement by Cuba’s trade union (CTC) published in Granma announced a whole series of sweeping changes in the country’s economy. These measures are the result of the serious economic crisis affecting Cuba, which has been hit hard by the recession in world capitalism. This underlines Cuba’s dependence on the world market and the impossibility of “building socialism in one country”.