By Dalia Acosta
HAVANA, Oct 23 1997 (IPS)

A “summit” which gathered representatives of more than 100 leftist parties closed Thursday in the Cuban capital calling for a modern-day version of socialism, removed from dogma.

The three-day meeting, ‘Socialism Towards the 21st Century’, drew some 200 participants, including Cubans and delegates from Europe, Asia and the Americas, as well as 18 secretary-generals of communist parties.

No such gathering had been held since the fall of the Berlin wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union (USSR) and the east European socialist bloc.

The “new image” advocated by participants is based on the recognition that the left must take a variety of forms depending on the conditions in each country, rather than what they described as the “erroneous” view held in the past of the need for “one single abstract model of socialism for all.”

The gathering also stressed the need for “an adequate correlation between plan and market, equality and efficiency, centralism and democracy.”

“It is not true that socialism has failed; it was those who had the historical responsibility of carrying it forward who erred,” said Jose Ramon Balaguer, a member of the Political Bureau of Cuba’s Communist Party.

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