Revolutionary enthusiasm in Cuba, relations with the USSR and the ideological legacy of Che Guevara: an interview with Carlos Tablada

The paper represents a conversation with Carlos Tablada, a leading contemporary Cuban economist, philosopher and sociologist. The interview reveals the peculiarities of the Cuban revolution at different stages. Tablada provides details of the history of the Popular Socialist Party of Cuba. He reflects about how he began to study the ideological heritage of Che Guevara, highlighting nuances of his communication with the Soviet academics from the Institute of Latin America of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. Tablada interprets Ernesto Guevara's speech delivered in Algeria in 1965 in a specific way, in the context of trade relations between developing countries and countries of the Socialist Bloc. Tablada also covers his experience of work in the Cuban state enterprise EMPROVA during the implementation of the System of direction and planning of the economy proposed by Humberto Perez. Tablada expresses his own critical assessment of the economic khozraschet that Cuba adopted from the USSR after joining the CMEA (1972) and holding the First Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba (1975). He comments on the grave consequences of the aggressive policy of the United States towards revolutionary Cuba. Tablada also reveals the peculiarities of trade relations between Cuba and the USSR and the actualization of Che Guevara's ideological legacy during the period of "rectification". At that time, Cuba faced a crisis due to changes in the terms of trade with the COMECON countries and tried to resist a number of negative socio-economic consequences of the introduction of khozraschet. Tablada comments on the specifics of Cuba's plight after the collapse of the Socialist Bloc. The footnotes to the interview provide comments on Tablada's statements, especially on those that are controversial.