Proletariat Blogging in the Heart of (UK) Predatory Capitalism! Exploring the Interface between Matter and Perception, Chinese Buddhism, Daoism, Hakka Ethnography, and All Aspects of Radical Politics, History, Psychology and Philosophy – 全世界无产者联合起来!
The #9Dic of 1902 is a date etched into our national dignity! In an unprecedented act of aggression, the British Empire, the German Empire, and the Kingdom of Italy launched a naval blockade against our coasts, deploying their warships. This unusual, unprecedented, and absolutely unjustifiable act met with an unwavering response from the great nationalist leader, General Cipriano Castro.
The CSA Navy was primarily tasked with defending the waterways leading from the coastal areas (and the open sea) into the Southern hinterland from attack by the Union. The secondary mission was to venture out into the coastal areas and the open sea to attack any approaching Union ship. The problem with this latter requirement is that once CSA ships were drawn away from the protection of CSA estuary and coastal batteries – the Confederate ships were often sitting ducks. This being the case, and given that stocks of new iron were low, the secondary objective was only rarely exercised. Of course, Confederate submarines did do some surprising damage to Union shipping – but this technology was still new, quite often unreliable, and usually deadly to its own crew. Despite being side-lined in favour of the CSA Army – the CSA Navy (and those who administered it) did an extraordinarily good job against incredible odds. African-Americans, both free and still in slavery, assisted the CSA in its naval requirements.
On a more practical level, the 50,000 Soviet military and civilian personnel that were sent to Cuba, when preparing for the deployment, where issued with fur-hats, balaclavas, and skies, etc, together with arctic equipment – to fool the US Intelligence community. Instead of traversing to the cold north-east – the Soviet Red Army was in fact deploying to the tropical south-east. Following the 1956 betrayal of Joseph Stalin by Nikita Khrushchev (playing to the Western and Trotskyite hatred of genuine Marxist-Leninism) – the authentic Socialist processes and institutions of the USSR were robust and possessed strength in-depth. The destruction of the 1917 October Revolution in the USSR would take just 36-years to achieve (1956-1991). In the 1960s it was the USSR that aided Cuba and not Socialist China (Mao Zedong had condemned Khrushchev and upheld the good reputation of Joseph Stalin) – a stance which led to the Sino-Soviet Split (1956-1991). Cuba could have requested help from China – but chose not to at the time. A position condemned by numerous Maoist groups – such as the Workers’ Institute in the UK.
This new act of aggression by the United States government against the Cuban people shows, once again, the true, cruel, merciless objective of these and so many other measures of siege and suffocation, which are applied against Cuba for the purpose of domination. It is a reaction of impotence in the face of the inability to bend our will and in the face of the respect, sympathy and support that the Revolution inspires among the peoples of the world.
The economic blockade, its reinforcement and the new aggressive measures will continue to weigh, with a very damaging effect, on our economy, the standard of living, the potential for development and the legitimate dreams of justice and well-being of the Cuban people, as has been the case in recent years.
I thank all those who contributed to the decision announced today by the United States to remove Cuba from the list of state sponsors of terrorism, where it should never have been and which, along with two other measures adopted, has had a high cost for the country and Cuban families .
It is a decision in the right direction, although it was taken late and with limited scope . The blockade and most of the extreme measures that were put in place since 2017 to suffocate the Cuban economy and cause shortages for our people remain in place .
The internationally-known London, England printing firm of “Thomas De La Rue & Co.”, prepared plates and stamps for the CSA until a Southern firm was found to take over the work. That firm, Archer & Daly, began producing stamps in 1863. The US blockade of as many Confederate ports as possible often meant that British ships carrying supplies from London, the UK, or the British Empire to the Confederacy – were often intercepted via acts of piracy on the high seas by the US Navy – with the goods confiscated and/or destroyed. The US government was continuously irritated by the continuous (undeclared) British support for the Confederacy – which for at least two-years extended into the realms of Post Office support! Of course, many of the best weapons the Confederate Army possessed were supplied by the UK. The Postmaster General of the Confederate Post Office Department (POD) – John Reagan (whilst traveling with President Jefferson Davis) – was arrested on the 8th May 1865, and imprisoned at Fort Warren in Boston Harbor. Reagan was pardoned and released from prison almost two years later. Jefferson Davis “refused” a Pardon (on the grounds that he had done nothing wrong) – and was subsequently released anyway.
SANGHA KOMMUNE (SSR) 