At Eleventh World Congress, it was decided to send comrades to industry to change the centre of gravity of sections. The term "turn to industry" implies a denigration of proletariat to only "industrial proletariat", but in fact, it included all employers. Bensaïd discusses certain weaknesses in the adoption of this policy, and arguments against the policy.
In this recording Bensaïd explores the consequences of the state, the networks of clandestine immigration on the one hand and of the social, revolutionary and workers’ movements on the other hand regarding the development of populist legislative measures such as the expulsions in the name of “public order” (which is more and more widely discussed in populist groups across Europe). He then mentions the emergence of successful movements like the one of the “without papers” in France or a caravan of the undocumented in Germany. In this framework, Bensaïd recalls the importance, of self-organization and joining forces to fight against ideas which make us remember Nazism in the 1930s.
In the Cuba lectures, Bensaïd focuses firstly on the strategy of taking power in the Cuban Revolution in comparison with the Nicaraguan strategy. Secondly, he discusses the formation of revolutionary leadership through the revolutionary process; and thirdly, he analyses the transition, namely the destruction of the bourgeois state and the foundation of a workers state. In this first session of the lecture, Bensaïd starts his talk with a survey of historical facts on Cuba in 1950s as a semi-colonial state strongly dependent on American imperialism with large sectors of industrial workers, agricultural workers and unemployed. He depicts the socio-political background and the emergence of the guerrilla movement in 1958. This part ends with the historical moment when the guerilla movement connects with the urban workers' movement, which culminates in the general strike in April 1958. Both the general strike and the military counter-offensive were failures. However, this period witnesses an expansion of self-administration, albeit very limited. The proclamation of agrarian reform law by the leadership of the guerilla, which starts to act as a pre-government, is a turning point.
In this second session of the lecture, Bensaïd starts with an organisational and political analysis of the Cuban Communist Party. After talking about the emergence and organisation of the guerrilla movement, Bensaïd emphasises the overlooked dimension of the urban workers movement in the Cuban Revolution alongside of the guerilla warfare. He outlines the demands of urban workers movement, and strongly underlines the combination of the urban workers movement with the guerilla insurrection. He covers the discussions and criticisms around the general strike in 1958 and its aftermath.