-DATE-
19620606
-YEAR-
1962
-DOCUMENT_TYPE-
INTERVIEW
-AUTHOR-
F. CASTRO
-HEADLINE-
NOUVELLE CRITIQUE REPRODUCED IN REVOLUCION
-PLACE-
HAVANA
-SOURCE-
RADIO CENTRO
-REPORT_NBR-
FBIS
-REPORT_DATE-
19620807
-TEXT-
CASTRO INTERVIEW IN NOUVELLE CRITIQUE

Havana Radio Centro in Spanish 1800 GMT 6 August 1962--F

(Text) The chief editor of NOUVELLE CRITIQUE, Jacques (Arnol?), has
published his interview with the prime minister of the Cuban Revolutionary
Government, Maj. Fidel Castro, and it has been reproduced in the newspaper
REVOLUCION. (Arnol?) asked this question of the supreme commander of our
revolution: You have led a revolution. If you were to describe your
experiences to intellectuals, what would you say?

Castro replied that in the first place, he knows in fact that there are
many undesirable intellectual circles. He said that in Europe ideological
struggles have always developed well. In Cuba ideological struggles were
dormant. The political atmosphere was heavy. There were other problems. As
a matter of fact, I am not an intellectual, I am a man of revolutionary
action, Castro said.

Certainly, there has been a tendency for intellectuals to forget the
masses, to place themselves over the masses, or as it were, a tendency to
refrain from convincing the masses. In this way, they get to build a world
for themselves, an ideal world. Then they discover that this world differs
from reality. Fidel added that it seems to him that he will always see
difficulties in attaining the union of these two worlds. The life of the
revolution has also taught me how difficult it is to combine revolutionary
theory with actual practice. It is one of the most difficult things. There
is a tendency towards an artificial application of ideas to real life.
Frequently we want to suit reality to our theory.

(Arnol?) asked Fidel if it is that tendency toward idealism to which one
ought to attribute the fact that there has been such long neglect of the
problem of norms in agricultural and industrial enterprises and whether the
breaking of the law of personal interest could have been considered
feasible during the socialist development of the economy.

Fidel replied yes, and said that we are actually analyzing this at present.
The problem is to find the equilibrium in material stimulus, that is to
say, wage rates and norms, the bonuses of moral stimulation. In our
revolution moral stimulation is an important matter. You have seen, he said
to the newsman, the importance which is afforded the designation of
exemplary workers in enterprises. The worker ought to be the hero of
society. First, it is necessary to begin by pointing up the dignity of
work, the honor of work. Children must be given a communist consciousness
with respect to life and it is possible to do so, it is possible to create
it.

The chief editor of LA NOUVELLE CRITIQUE asked Fidel a question about the
literacy drive. Fidel said that only socialism is really interested in the
education of the masses and only socialism can unite the human forces to
liquidate the secular past. Only socialism can liquidate illiteracy in one
year. In addition to all these advantages, Fidel added, our decision was
made after considering the benefits which accure to the youths who would
teach the illiterates. We wanted to enlist youth in a great task. We knew
that these benefits which the teacher would obtain would be equal to those
derived by the pupil. This has given a sense of responsibility to girls and
boys. It has given them a knowledge of the peasant's life and their
everyday tasks. All this has had great repercussion from the point of view
of national unity.

Regarding the organization of the United Party of the Socialist Revolution,
Fidel said in another part of the press review: We are striving to unite
the party even closer with the masses. We are going to keep that
tradition--the election of members and collective leadership. We are going
to have a great Marist-Leninist party. We think that Cuba will be a
politically and culturally developed state. We know everything that is
happening here is important, both our errors and our successes. All this
will be useful for the Latin American peoples. A revolution is not an easy
thing. It is easy in books. It is more difficult in reality.
-END-