Quotable

“I oppose those who defend…the production and organizational schemes that have exhausted their role in history. For example, those who believe that all [small shops] must be maintained at all costs because that’s socialism…Lies. Socialism is the [state] control over the means of production, but not all, only the main ones, those that really define the economy of a country…I disagree with those who believe socialism will collapse just because a group of bricklayers form a cooperative to build a house, or a plumber fixes a plugged drain or a mechanic fixes a car…I disagree with those who believe that…any change will result in [socialism’s] destruction…It’s the other way: The socialism that does not change, that does not adapt to new situations, is condemned to failure. Remember the socialism of [eastern] Europe.”

– A. Ríos Hernández, in a letter to the editor of Granma, cited in this Herald story on the remarkable letters appearing in that paper. Other notes on these letters here, here, and here. Last Friday’s letters are worth checking out too, including the first, from R. González Arango, who says it’s high time that Cuban officials say where they stand on the issues under discussion in the letters column.