-DATE- 19600314 -YEAR- 1960 -DOCUMENT_TYPE- SPEECH -AUTHOR- F. CASTRO -HEADLINE- MARCH 13 ANNIVERSARY -PLACE- HAVANA -SOURCE- HAVANA UNION RADIO -REPORT_NBR- FBIS -REPORT_DATE- 19600314 -TEXT- CASTRO SPEAKS ON MAR. 13 ANNIVERSARY Havana, Union Radio, in Spanish to Cuba, Mar, 14, 1960, 0454 GMT--E (Editorial Report) In a hookup with other Cuban radio stations, a live speech by Premier Fidel Castro was broadcast at a ceremony in front of the University of Havana in honor of the martyrs of the Mar. 13, 1957 attack on the presidential palace. The Premier asserted that two great tasks confronts the Cuban people: To defend the revolution and to see to it that it progresses. The occasion, he said, could best be symbolized by the idea of a man working with a rifle at his side. "We cannot abandon our rifles or our work. If we abandon either we are lost, and in either case the revolution would be defeated. This revolution must be carried forward with both rifle and work. Our noble cause should have no enemies but it has. They threaten the work of the revolution and also make it lose time, energy, and resources." Recently, Castro said, a Yankee paper reported that we had spent so many millions in arms. Neither this paper nor anyone else should care about what we spend on arms. We are not going to tell them how much we have spent. We have to account only to the Cuban people. What must be pointed out, however, is that most of the revolution's resources are not being invested in arms; they are being invested in tractors and machinery. I wish we did not have to spend a single penny on arms. That is how it should be, if our sovereignty were respected. If we have to spend on arms the fault lies with the criminals and their associates. Castro asserted that Cuba's arms should not worry anyone because they are not for the purpose of attacking others but for Cuba's defense. The nation's task is not easy, he stated, adding that we must worry about aggression and about counterrevolutionaries; about the fight against unemployment and illness; about underdevelopment and misery. Castro said that without foreign aid our enemies would be nothing; they could be defeated by our children. He then asked: When are planes that bomb our sugar mills, our people and our plantations, going to stop? When are military maneuvers going to end? When are aggressive threats going to cease? He then said it seems we will have to live several years under present conditions. Our people must prepare for a long battle because the causes which motivate these aggressions are strong. We must prepare for a long fight but we do not care how long it may be. We are willing to pay the price for progress and sovereignty. The Premier declared that in spite of all campaigns against it, the revolution is finding sympathy among a considerable number of Latin Americans and also among persons in the United States. Cubans, he said, have been victimized by monopolistic news agencies but the revolution now has sufficient means of information to arrest the campaign of counterrevolutionaries. But friendly writers and pens must be sought abroad. Students, Castro declared have an important task--to mobilize the nuclei of friends which the revolution has on the continent. The battle is to win opinion abroad. He warned: We must be ready for every contingency; we must not take a single step backward; we must not sacrifice an atom of our rights. We are ready to face anything because we know that we are going to emerge victorious. Referring to the Platt amendment, Castro said it was imposed by force, imposed on a people already disarmed. For generations, he declared, Cubans have been exposed to threats. The threat now is an economic one, he said, adding that a reduction in Cuba's sugar quota could come at any time. It is a threat held over us. The President has such a plan to submit to Congress; it is a reprisal. Some in the United States oppose such a measure because it would be a reprisal. But we are ready to resist economic aggression. We would have to spend less and make greater sacrifices but we will do so. The present revolution, Castro said, is strong because it has the people behind it. If this were not so it would be weak and impotent. Only a revolution supported by the people can defend itself from many enemies. This unity of our people must be maintained for we are opposed by powerful forces. We want to leave something for future generations. Proof that the people are resisting and can resist is to be seen in a letter we received today. Addressed to the President, the labor minister and me, it states that the sugar trade union has agreed to tell the government that Havana sugar workers are ready to freeze conditions of labor and wages and if necessary to have wages lowered. That is a most revolutionary action taken by any labor sector. These workers are aware that enemies want to strangle us economically and they have taken steps to back the revolution. These workers say that if the sugar quota is lowered they are willing to accept less pay. Castro declared that on a day when honor was being paid to those who had sacrificed for the nation, it was fitting to strengthen the spirit of sacrifice. When those being honored today made their sacrifices, victory was far distant, he pointed out. These martyrs, he said, should be gratefully remembered and the revolution must not be a mere word. There must be readiness to make any sacrifice required. The people, the Premier said, may not understand university reform as well as land reform but it is just as necessary and important. Reform, he said, should apply to all universities in the nation. Advantage must be taken of the opportunity which comes but once. What is done today will pay off well in the future. A new Havana university, Castro stated, will be named after Jose Antonio Echeverria. We have the name for it but no resources. What are we going to do? We are going to build it using the resources of the people. We will use the services of architects and engineers and "many arms" will be put to work. The work will be purely voluntary. Not a single stone will be laid unwillingly. We have collected for arms and other things; later we shall collect funds for this university. We hope that the fifth anniversary of Mar. 13 will see the commemoration of the new Havana university center. This is another reason for defending the revolution. Castro spoke 2 hours and 21 minutes. Rolando Cubela, president of the Federation of University Students, who preceded the Premier, said that as the Mar. 13, 1957 anniversary was being observed "we cannot help thinking back and we are filled with great indignation in seeing how there still are in our country those so lacking in understanding as to try to hinder the revolution and shed more blood for their paltry interests. Can these people not see that the people are happy and satisfied with this revolution?" All Cubans, he said, "must sacrifice to the utmost so that this revolution shall not be frustrated." University reform, Cubela stated, "had not been completed as quickly as we had hoped. But the chief aspiration of all university students--the university city--already is being planned: On this Mar. 13 we can say here that the university is with the revolutionary government. The university brigades named after Jose Antonio Echeverria have one mission, one obligation: Defend our revolution. In face of the worst plots and threats and aggressions, threats of whether marines are coming or not, we can say: With Fidel the country will prosper." Faure Chaumont, secretary general of the revolutionary directorate, who likewise spoke prior to the Premier, echoed Roland Cubela's observation that after a year of great achievements it seemed incomprehensible that there can be persons "still seeking to point out defects in the revolutionary regime's work and create obstacles for the government." We think, he said, that perhaps most of these people never suffered under Batista's tyranny, never went hungry, never were ashamed. What do they want? What are they aiming at? "The citizens of this new Cuba," Chaumont declared, "should have unshakable faith, determined to go forward without stopping the revolutionary work for an instant. This is a work that cannot be stopped. This work is not to reaffirm anyone's enjoyment of power; the greater the obstacles the stronger the revolution and its work will become." The Cuban revolution, he said, will spread through Latin America so that the Latin Americans can wage war against imperialist aggression. When that day comes, the Cuban revolution, the Latin American revolution, the world revolution, will decide the final freedom of all subjugated peoples. MINISTRY ISSUES TEXT OF NEW LABOR LAW Havana, COCQ, in Spanish to Cuba, Mar. 12, 1960, 2250 GMT--E (Text) The Labor Ministry today issued the text of the new labor law approved by the cabinet. Among other important things, the new law deals with the right of the worker to protection in his job; the dissolution of the intelligence committees (as heard--Ed.) in the ports of the republic; and the solution of many questions facing the labor department. The law considers reconciliation as the most suitable means of solving any possible labor conflicts. The Labor Ministry is also granted the broadcast facilities for handling the transitions made necessary by the pertinent resolutions. According to the new law, problems will be solved in three stages, beginning with labor-employer reconciliation in the labor delegations. The establishment of labor courts has been virtually completed. The law stipulates that any worker dismissed from his job without a firm decision having been reached by a competent authority will have to be reinstated immediately by the head of the proper delegation. To be reinstated the worker has only to request it in writing within 30 days after his dismissal. The head of the delegation will decree the requested reinstatement and the worker will return to his job. The head of the labor delegation is to appoint a delegate with orders to accompany the worker to his place of employment to have him reinstated. The law deals with everything in connection with registration, modification, or annulment of collective labor contracts. -END-