after World War II ended in 1945 America's top enemy for 50 years was an economic system that seemed Unstoppable communism the extreme form of Socialism its Chief Champion Russia head of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics one country of nine million square miles that's our own country three times over or all of North America and a million square miles to boot the USSR threatened to export its system worldwide and had nuclear weapons to back up the threat the U.S risked Russian attack in the name of Freedom democracy instead of dictatorship the economic freedom of a free market filled with choices instead of a command economy where government does the choosing the idea of Socialism or communism though can be quite appealing an Economy based on sharing Collective effort for the common good in the 1930s this economic system actually seemed an alternative to the risky free market capitalism of Europe and the U.S then suffering a Great Depression with unemployment of 25 percent by contrast Russian workers were said to be fully employed happy equal why even orchestras said the propaganda films had no conductor no boss there is no leader you'll notice that the eye of the musician is always on his music but the image was a charade since bureaucrats not the market set prices and production quotas supply and demand never met since everyone got paid the same there was scant incentive to make good products command non-market economies eventually collapsed in Russia and elsewhere and yet a few countries still swear by socialism among the most extreme Cuba just 90 miles from Florida no longer supported by Russia Cuba is now struggling with the tensions between free market capitalism and government-controlled socialism for the economic tourist Cuba and especially its main city Havana is a surprise yes there are plenty of the expected third world vignettes the make work jobs the makeshift travel Arrangements a public transportation system bursting at the seams when the Soviet Union collapsed and its subsidies vanished people were nearly starving here but in recent years a major makeover has been in progress Cuba decided to sell its culture its climate its beaches to foreigners and so tourists poured in all over the country from all over the world hotels now abound especially in Havana and new ones are going up built by everyone from the Spanish to the Chinese the U.S forbids doing business with Cuba but Cuban joint ventures with the Japanese and Koreans have brought in household gear you might see at any American shopping mall and supermarkets offer an almost all Cuban clientele everything from Brazilian diet Jello to Jack Daniels and Johnny Walker red this year's sales at the super mercado up to this moment they are six million three hundred twenty four thousand dollars the average bill per customer is 17.36 that's right here you pay not in Cuban pesos but in U.S dollars encouraged after the Russians pulled out tourism and foreign investment help dollars now reach its estimated more than half the Cuban population in short it seems like capitalism is taking root on the other hand many Cubans still think capitalists are pigs business is dirty and that all production should be sold to and through the state as these real pigs will be as soon as they fatten up the state gives me everything I need the grain the breeding stock so my commitment is to them sometimes the private guys show up but I don't trust their scale with the state I always have confidence the government still issues every family a monthly ration book for enough food to survive dictator Fidel Castro has banned billboard advertising in favor of political propaganda featuring revolutionary martyr Che Guevara and slogans like this is the Socialist Revolution right under the nose of the U.S and when we tried to interview a would-be immigrant the Police Stopped us took our documents and wanted to take us downtown we sneak these shots from our van the government did let us interview prominent dissidents at least those who weren't in jail like elizardo Sanchez but they said Cuba is as unfree as ever what we have here is closer to the Soviet totalitarian system in absolute State Monopoly that controls virtually everything down to the barbershops in Cuba then an economics reporter can feel totally confused at some moments you think Castro has saved the command economy and right under Uncle Sam's nose at other times it seems clear the free market is burrowing irresistibly from within the elite Lenin high school we figured might be one place to sort things out since this is Cuba's training ground for the Next Generation a group of English speakers was waiting for us I tell you you're welcome and I hope you get satisfied with our school with our students with us thank you well thank you we got the red carpet treatment and it kept getting redder we don't want capitalins we have we want socialisms we are the same people we we have the same clothes the same sins it's not that the other country that you're better than me because you had a new Adidas and I don't the kids at Lennon High seem determined to sustain socialist equality even if it means no Adidas as for the market changes cube is made we don't want those changes we have to put them there they are there because we need them when we don't if we don't need them anymore we will fade it faded they will fade it that is phase out the free market experiment that Cuba has had to conduct now maybe these Market changes are temporary and schools like this will restore Cuba's purest past or maybe instead Cuba's many private markets are already beyond the point where anyone can fade them food production has exploded for instance because of free market incentives that let Farmers sell privately some of what they produce so incentives work clearly yes it's obvious that's the way it works everywhere incentives not only mean more food more available without long waiting lines they also mean better food at the private markets it's better quality this is what people are looking for there's less fat there's less bone you understand you even see socialism versus capitalism at the old ball game Omar Linares is a slugging Superstar who's had million dollar offers from U.S teams but turned them all down why I prefer to stay in Cuba because this is my country everything I have accomplished I owe to the revolution on the field the Socialist Party Line in the stands however entrepreneurship run rampant donde fast dollar five dollars it says a different name it's the way he signs he does it real fast he signs with another name no I don't know maybe he was in a hurry the question is can social equality hold out as the market marches in a question so much in the air it's the punch line of Cuba's top joke judging by how often we heard it the hotel Nacional gag a girl dumps her boyfriend the joke goes because he pretended to be a hot shot at Havana's ritziest tourist Hotel he swore he was the doorman at the Nacional the girlfriend fumes in fact you know what he does he's just another damn Cuban neurosurgeon in other words there are Cubans paid by the state Cubans paid by the market and less and less do their wages meet it was no joke to Economist in Cuban Exile Antonio Morales pita for me to become a professor I had to study 20 years I have to work very hard I have to sacrifice part of my use part of my marriage in order to to become qualified and then this other person has finished eighth grade or ninth grade in in grade school how's it possible that he's going to make 10 times more than I make I mean it doesn't make any sense because you're undervaluated you are undervaluated and eventually there are not going to be very many bright people because that's not of course not and of course not in Cuba the struggle between Market freedom and non-market rules grinds on you see it in Sugar Mills in the countryside parking lots in the city the streets of downtown Havana the question is can socialism hold out here in the face of a global market economy