Translating Solidarity

Following the Guevara's principle to prioritize moral incentives over material ones, the Cuban government promoted voluntary labor during much of the Revolution. Most clearly outlined in Guevara's classic 1965 essay, "Socialism and Man in Cuba" the aim was to encourage all Cuban citizens, particularly the island's idealistic and initially enthusiastic youth, to make altruistic contributions to the collective, replacing the selfish alienation of capitalism with socialism's selfless sacrifice for the greater good. In July 2011 the Cuban authorities eliminated the most important remnants of this system by suspending the Student Work Brigades, the Pioneer Action Force, and the University Social Work Brigades. As Cuba's official youth-oriented newspaper Juventud Rebelde explained, such labor mobilization strategies had proven time and again to have an "unfavorable correlation between cost and return." Meanwhile the readers of the blogs in their original Spanish jumped in to help in ever increasing numbers.