Revising the concept of a free lunch

Raúl’s promise of a new socialist model continues to evolve in practice:

The Cuban state began a trial program yesterday that closed state-run lunchrooms in four government ministries and instead provided workers with a small stipend for lunch, equivalent to about 60-70 cents. The idea is to see how well it works and whether the lunchroom closures should be extended to workplaces in the rest of the country. As the system stands, the state provides free lunch—usually rice, beans and maybe a little meat—to 3.5 million Cubans daily, at a cost of more than $350 million a year to a cash-strapped government.

This test, then, is significant to the continuing evolution of the country. As Nick Miroff of GlobalPost put it, “For the nearly half-century that Fidel Castro ruled the island before officially stepping down last year, Cuba’s socialist system has tended to place ideology and egalitarianism over efficiency, creating a series of entitlements guaranteed to all Cubans, often at the expense of quality.” Raúl, on the other hand, is out to eliminate inefficiency in order to create a socialist system that will be sustainable over the long term, even if it means getting rid of the free hot lunch.

Likely benefits of the new policy: Cubans who pack lunches will see their take-home income increase; work attendance could increase, as workers only get the stipend if they show up; the Cuban state will save considerably; and the black market for lunchroom items would necessarily disappear (today, around 20% of imported goods destined for lunchrooms are stolen either for personal consumption or private sale).

Likely drawbacks? Unclear. So far workers seem to have mixed feelings: some like the cash stipend better, some say it is only enough for a cheap meal at a snack bar. The lunchroom arrangement received its fair share of criticism previously—for low quality and variety, mostly—so an attempt to solve the problems of the old system might be simply… appreciated.