-DATE-
19630331
-YEAR-
1963
-DOCUMENT_TYPE-
SPEECH
-AUTHOR-
F. CASTRO
-HEADLINE-
SPEECH TO MEMBERS OF THE PURS
-PLACE-
RENE FRAGA MORENO SPORTS FIELD IN MATANZAS
-SOURCE-
HAVANA NATL RADIO
-REPORT_NBR-
FBIS
-REPORT_DATE-
19630401
-TEXT-
FIDEL CASTRO SPEAKS TO PURS IN MATANZAS

Havana National Radio and Television Network in Spanish 0224 GMT
31 March 1963--F/E

(Live speech by Premier Fidel Castro at the Rene Fraga Moreno sports
field in Matanzas to members of the PURS)

(Text) Comrades of the United Party of the Socialist Revolution, (applause)
people of Matanzas: (continuous shouting from the crowd) In recent days on
the occasion of a visit to the officials of our party in the province of
Matanzas, on leaving the offices, we met a large number of Matanzeros
(shouting continues from crowd) who had come to that place and who with
great enthusiasm asked us to speak to them, but there were no microphones
and I then promised that I would come to speak to the, (shouting) and to
all the people of Matanzas (someone shouts," and to Jovellanos") and to
Jovellanos, Cardenas, Union de Reyes, and all towns. (Laughter, crowd
continues to shout) and so we agreed with the comrade leaders of the party
in the province to hold this meeting with the members of our revolutionary
vanguard and with the people.

In three days this event was organized. This even was necessary. (Shouting)
Of course if is not simply with words that problems are resolved nor is it
simply with works that revolutions are accomplished. However, this meeting
was necessary. Among other things, so that the enemies but enthusiastic
province is the province which is geographically closest to Key West and
that zone of the territory of the United States. This province also is the
province where the United States radio stations penetrate the most.
(Shouting)

For those reasons and other reasons of the past which they do not ignore
such as the fact that one of the principal industries of the past in this
province was politicking, and in this province the traditional parties had
well organized voting machines, because by virtue of the existing system
there were many senators and representatives and politicians of all types,
who had a certain influence, above all in our rural areas. Because of a
number of circumstances they harbored the illusion that Matanzas provided
fertile soil for counterrevolution. (Shouting) Of course, facts, your
presence, the organization of this ceremony, the enormous multitude that
has gathered here tonight, is a good answer to the enemy and it is a good
proof that the Matanzeros are clearly defined (estan claros).

It is clear that ceremonies of today are not like those of the past. It is
clear that we are very far from those times when public employees, public
works employees, and whatever persons had anything to do with the
government were forced to attend ceremonies. Those time are long gone when
five pesos were paid to people for attending a ceremony because (he laughs)
today there does not exit a citizen in our country who needs to go around
begging or selling his presence for money, money which was brazenly stolen
from the treasury of the republic. Those times have been left behind; it is
no longer the atmosphere which is breathed in our country. Those repugnant
vices have been left behind. The politicians were left behind. The thugs
were left behind. The discriminators were left behind. The exploiters of
gambling and vice also were left behind.

When we say they were left behind, we do not believe that everybody was
left behind. It have begun by reminding you of this because we
revolutionaries must always have a period of comparison and this period of
comparison is the past. We must always keep in mind that period of
comparison in order that we might become aware of what we have changed. We
revolutionaries must be aware of the changes we have performed of the
achievements we have made, and we must be aware of the successes and our
errors. We must be aware of triumphs and our setbacks. We must be aware of
our strength and our difficulties.

(Editor's Note--At this point Fidel looks to his right an says to the
spectators seated in that section of the field: "The public seated on the
right side of the field would like to have some of the posters there
lowered." Evidently the posters were preventing the public from getting a
full glimpse of Fidel and the platform.) (Applause of approval)

And we revolutionaries must know the meaning of revolution. We must have an
idea of its causes and its trajectory. Above all, we revolutionaries must
remember that a revolution is the work of the people themselves, and that
the people of the present, the people gathered here, are not in the same
situation, nor do they look at life in the same way as they did yesterday.
Every man and women, old and young, as a citizen, as an individual, has a
different concept, of himself, of his rights to life, of the way of looking
at things--different from what it was yesterday. Here, today, every man and
woman feels something.

In the past he felt that he was nothing, that he meant nothing, and as if
he was worth nothing. Every man and woman see things in a different light
today. He knows that he is something, he knows that he has rights, he knows
that he can look at life in a different way. And there is no youth today,
there is no man or woman today--we could almost say that there is no
oldster today--who does not look to the future, who does not feel that the
future belongs to him. Above all, the youths: there is no youth today who
does not think about studying. There is no youth today who does not think
about learning something, about bettering himself, about reaching the point
of achieving in his lifetime a mission, a task, to live in a descent and
useful way inside his fatherland.

And even among the workers who already have established families and have
specific jobs there is an extraordinary spirit of improvement, the desire
to learn, the desire to study. They are all one people looking forward. It
is clear that in the past there existed minorities without material worries
of any type. There existed minorities who had everything. We do not speak
of those minorities because those minorities never were the people, because
those minorities never felt the sorrows nor the needs of the people,
because those minorities never gave a thought to whether a family went to
bed hungry, or a sick person lacked medicines or a doctor, or if a person
had no work, or if his children were not able to study.

That minority that had everything did not feel any sorrow about the rest of
the people, for their needs and if a woman had no work, she would not find
a school where she would be taught, she would not find a shop, and the
daughters of peasants would not find a scholarship to acquire useful
knowledge. No, because that exploiting and selfish society reserved the
worst of everything for the humble men and women of the country. And it is
those people, those forgotten people of yesterday who had no schools, those
forgotten people of yesterday who had no opportunity to attend the centers
of high education and the universities, those people who were not the
owners of factories, that did not own large estates, those poor and humble
people, those are the people who are making the revolution.

We must fight against our errors. We must fight against out shortcomings,
but let it never be forgotten by anyone that those errors and those
shortcomings are the errors and shortcomings of a people, of an humble
people, a poor people making their revolution. (Applause) The sages, the
intelligent, those who had great knowledge, the wise, those did not work
for the people; the wise, those who had much knowledge, left and they
always left believing that without them the people would not be able to
advance, that without them the people would not be able to organize, that
without them the people would not be able to produce.

Those who emigrated believed that the people would fail, that the people
would be incapable, that because they were the cultured and those with
experience, on leaving everything would come tumbling down. Of course we
have had to learn. The people have had to learn, and the people still have
much to learn. In many places we will find a comrade, a humble man or woman
of the people, who makes mistakes, commits errors, who does things
poorly--and of course the people have to fight incessantly against things
ill-done, against mistakes. But we must not forget that those humble men
and women of the people who commit errors many times trying to do things in
his understanding to the best of his ability is not latifundist, it not a
millionaire, is not a graduate of an American university, or from a high
school. He is a worker, a peasant, an humble man of the people.

Does this mean we must justify errors? No. It means that this fact explains
the mistakes of a people who must learn to march, who must learn to
administer their wealth, and who must learn to acquire knowledge in order
to be able, as a humble, poor, exploited, oppressed people to construct
their future. And we must not forget that. We must always keep in mind that
a revolution is the work of a people, the task of a people, and that the
solutions to the problems can only come from its intelligence, from the
people, their strength, their intelligence.

And the people must be aware of their difficulties. They must be aware of
the obstacles. They must be aware of the struggle they are waging, against
the past, against powerful and reactionary forces that are trying to create
all possible difficulties for the country. The people must be aware of the
fact that a revolution is not an easy task, that a revolution is not a
matter of a few days or months or years, and that this revolution is a task
that requires many years.

The people began to open their eyes with a revolution. They open their eyes
to a series of realities; they open their eyes to a series of truths. These
truths were not taught them by the petty politicians of yesterday. These
truths were not taught them by yesterday's exploiters. These truths were
not taught them by yesterday's thieves, but those who stole the school
funds, those who stole the hospital funds, those who stole the public works
funds, those who become millionaires overnight and whose names we used to
see later on election ballots.

What could these persons teach the people? What could they say to the
people? If, on a night like this one, we could bring here any of those
petty politicians, what would they promise the people?

If we were to bring here any of those thieving, corrupt persons, would they
be able to discuss things with any of the citizens present here? (Shouts of
"No" from crowd) Could they talk with any of the citizens whose eyes have
been opened? What could they promise us? The past? Certainly, there is no
doubt that they could start talking about Marti and Maceo--these
politicians never made a speech without starting to talk about Marti and
Maceo.

The falsely, cynically and hypocritically invoked the names of our apostles
of independence. Since they have nothing concrete to say--except the
concrete mask on their faces--they had to reach for the clouds, hoodwink
the people, and then send their gangs of small politicians to buy votes, to
tell a farmer that it he voted for them, he would be able to enter such and
such a hospital, where, certainly, he would have to sleep on the ground.
They told him that if he wanted a modest job, perhaps in public words, he
had better give them his vote and if he could bring in so many votes, he
would get a small political job in the provincial government, or in the
municipal government, or somewhere else.

It was the past of a country without industries, the past of an
underdeveloped country, the past of a country with a million illiterates,
the past of a country with 600,000 children without schools, the past of a
country where all the rural population lacked medical attention, where
hospitals were miserable, where in the parks whites had to stay on one side
and Negroes on the other. (Applause) The past where only the high and
mighty members could enter the aristocratic clubs. Where did the people go?
Where did the people study? To what hospital did the people go? What was
the future of the people? Where did the people live? In proportion to the
increase in the population, the slums multiplied, the number of dirt-floor
huts multiplied, vice multiplied, politicking increased, and all those
evils multiplied, evils which revolution has eradicated.

That is what the enemies of the revolution can promise, but more
concretely, what could these murders of children, these murders of women,
these murdered of workers and peasants offer? (Applause) What could they
offer the people, those bands of criminals who one day murder practically
an entire family, and the next day cowardly murder a militiaman and another
day murder an administrator and another day murder a military
revolutionary? Alas, all humble men of the people--victims of the
criminals. All of them honest men of the people, victims of the criminals
who sow terror, to make the cowards and the timid hesitate, who sow terror
to make the educational campaigns of production fail, to make the efforts
of the humble people fail.

Who sustains those murderous hands? Who pays those murdering hands? The
exploiters of yesterday, the imperialists in whose midst they harbor
themselves. In whose name do they act? In whose name do they murder a
humble worker who lives from a modest salary honorably maintaining his
family? In the name of the millionaires of Wall Street. In the name of the
United Fruit Company. In the name of the thieves. In the name of the
landowners. In the name of the speculators. In the name of the owners of
sugar centrals, and in the name of the rich. In the name of the foreign
enemies of the fatherland they take the life of a child. They take the life
of an honest father of a family. They take the life of an honorable worker
who has nothing from life but work, who has known nothing from life but
struggle, who has known nothing from life but sacrifice, who has known
nothing from life but duty, and they murder not the coward who surrender,
not the coward who collaborates with the murderers. They murder the
patriot. They murder the brace. They murder those who fulfill their duty.
They murder the revolutionary.

That is the way that plagues of criminals and parasites try to obstruct the
efforts of the people. One day we were profoundly impressed because we were
visiting a scholarship student's quarters and a young lady, crying
disconsolately, explained to us that her brother had been murdered be a
counterrevolutionary band. She wept and implored but to use all means and
all forces to combat the murderers. These murderers are not men who are
prepared for battle, their mentality is that of those who want to sow
terror through crime, not through battle. They follow the instructions
given them by the CIA. They sow terror, but to come out and face the
troops--never. First against armed men--never. They hide in caves, they
bury themselves and from there perpetrate their crimes.

In this province of Matanzas, the imperialists pledged themselves to
create, reorganize, and sustain several of those groups, which received
orders to begin their activity at the beginning of the harvest. It is known
that the people's efforts must be mobilized during the harvest, that it is
necessary to mobilize ten and tens of thousands of men to cut the cane. It
is known that that is our fundamental task and that during the harvest it
is neither possible nor convenient to devote large forces to fight these
enemies, since the fundamental task of the nation is the harvest. And they,
taking advantage of the circumstances, began their activity at the
beginning of the harvest.

It is known perfectly well because we demonstrate in the Escambray once
that when we want to we can find even a needle. (Applause) It is perfectly
well known that when the revolution mobilizes its battalions of the
proletariat and peasants, it sweeps clean.

It is perfectly well known that only a revolution can withstand those
tactics. It is clear that when the revolutionaries rise up in arms, the
bourgeoisie and the oligarchs can never frustrate the action of the
revolutionaries.

But here we see the imperialists trying to use the tactics that the
revolutionaries have used in liberating themselves, the tactics that were
used in Algeria, the tactics that were used likewise by the revolutionaries
in South Vietnam (applause), the tactics we ourselves used, the tactics
that are employed by the Venezuelan revolutionaries (applause), the tactics
that are employed by the Guatemalan revolutionaries (applause), the tactics
of the revolution which imperialism has copied for us by the
counterrevolution.

But how, in the Zapata swamps for example, can these tactics prosper, if
the revolution has 1,500 charcoal burners there who are members of the
militia? (Applause) How can they hope to succeed, against the
revolutionaries of Vietnam, for example? They even use chemical warfare;
the concentrate the population in villages to deprive the revolutionaries
of its support; they lay waste and devastate great areas by the use of
chemical products, to deprive the revolutionaries of the protection
afforded by the trees.

But all these tactics prove useless. All these tactics will fail, because
the revolutionaries represent a just cause, because the revolutionaries are
on the offensive, in revolutionary combat, because the revolutionaries do
not wait until the country is invaded from the outside, as they know that
they and only they have to achieve victory. They do not murder and sow
terror.

The imperialists have tried to copy these tactics of revolutionaries, but
the mentality of a counterrevolutionary will never be the mentality of a
revolutionary. The mentality of the counterrevolutionary will be crime,
terror, and one of awaiting for the foreigner to come and invade.

And here is this province, at the end of January, and at the beginning of
February, two workers of La Cor were murdered. A family, with two children,
was shot to death; and thus several crimes were committed.

The revolution did not mobilize many forces. The revolution mobilized a few
forces, but these forces were well disciplined, well led, and coordinated
its action with the political forces, the security forces, and the result
is that in a little over 30 days they have mopped up more than 60 percent
of counterrevolutionary elements. (Applause) And in a few more weeks they
will mop them all up. The revolutionary forces have already put the main
band of murderers out of action.

Those who murdered those two children, and those who murdered two members
of the Committee of Revolutionary Orientation fell yesterday. (Shouts and
applause) The entire band and its leaders, a certain Enrique Infante, a
soldier who served Batista, fell yesterday.

Criminals will always fall. Those who murdered Conrado Benitez fail; those
who murdered Manuel Aspunce also fell. (Applause) Those who murdered Abel
Pinceim fell, and that is the fate of the criminals. That is the fact of
those who murder children, teachers, and workers, and of those who wanted
to make themselves deserving of the imperialists by committing these acts.

But as they dreamt of imperialism's triumph, justice reached for them,
punishment reached them, and, in spite of the tactics, and the training
they have received from the CIA, the revolution is sweeping them out,
yanking them out form their caves (Applause).

It has not been odd to find some of these bands living in the house of a
"batiblanca" (term used for women preachers--Ed.) (Applause) These
individuals who preach that people should not use arms, not work on
Saturdays, not go to school on Fridays, and not render honor to the flag,
had in a basement an entire band of murderers--that is the band which
murdered the children. (Applause)

Do you now believe in the prophesies preached by these people? In their
words? They are the people who offer marvels in the next world (shouts).
They do not tell the rich: Leave your millions, your comforts and suffer in
this life so you can reap the benefits in the order, but they tell the
workers, the exploited: Suffer, work, and sacrifice yourself.

They come to the peasant, the peasant who was not schooled, who recently
learned to read, with a little book. They did not teach the peasants to
read because when there were more than half a million of children without
schooling and one million illiterates, they did not come to teach them to
write and read. No, they wanted until the revolution taught all illiterates
to read and writer. They waited until the revolution sent more than 15,000
teachers to the fields and then they came behind, with their books and lies
(applause)--and displaying an unusual activity.

We must learn to recognize the enemies. We must learn to recognize class
enemies. Let the people not forget that the wealthy classes, the well-to-do
classes, were cultured, knew how to read and write, as the peasants say.
They were malicious people who used a certain psychology to deceive people.

Do not forget that some of the people in these categories are abroad and
some are still here. Do not forget that these people still survive, and
still have considerable resources, and that in the island, especially in
the interior, there are still land holders and many bourgeois with much
money who know, talk, and conspire among their class, who ally themselves
to these counterrevolutionary sects, who give them money, because these
bourgeois will never resign themselves to the proletarian triumph.

No, they aspire to establish their regime again for a return of conditions
for their enrichment at the expense of the proletariat. Do not forget this
truth, that people can become rich only by exploiting others. No one become
wealthy with the produce of his own effort. Many times you have heard the
bourgeois say that what they have, they have earned with their work. Yes,
they worked hard, as bourgeois, as exploiters, as the foreman worked with
the whip, as the former owners of slaves and the colonizer of the early
times in our country who perspired a lot making the Indians work. And thus,
there have been bourgeois who have made a great effort, exploiting others,
and say, what I have is the product of my work. But that was work as an
exploiter.

Of course, we must not consider individuals personally to blame. Each
society produces a specified type of man, and capitalism, which is the
fierce battle of man against man, produces exploiters. Many men become
exploiters in the midst of that society. Do not forget that the class enemy
is present, talks, conspires and tries to sow discouragement, distrust, and
destroy the faith of the revolutionary.

Do not forget that there are still rich people with considerable resources.
These are the people who go along the road and pay 20 pesos for a turkey.
They are the people who do not allow the peasant to come to town, and if
the peasant does come to town, he already has his turkey sold to mister so
and so. These people try to corrupt the peasant with their money, and to
fill him with greed, by making the peasant want to sell his chickens at a
unreasonable price. Do not forget that the bourgeois lack nothing. Do not
forget this.

You might ask: "Why isn't such a thing eliminated?" But this cannot be
eliminated right away, because the revolution is not a one-day task.
Revolution is not easy. When great industries are nationalized, a great
task begins--a task to organize them well, to administer them well, to
supply them will all the parts they need, and to make them produce in an
efficient manner.

Then beings a great effort, an effort of organization and production. This
is not done in one day. The creation of a new social order cannot be done
in one day. The peasant who used to pay rent and was exploited, who used to
be visited by the rural guard, the sergeant, who stole the chickens, pigs,
and fine cocks. This sergeant did not even respect the peasant's family.
That peasant who has been liberated by the revolution, who was a victim of
ignorance, is an ally of the workers. If measures are taken, and sales are
prohibited, the problems created are much more serious.

And so, what did the revolution do? It set a limit on what could be carried
in an auto, because all the gentlemen would come with their shiny autos,
and many (good-for-nothings?) who have their taxis left them by some
bourgeois on going away (applause); they would go through the countryside
buying and selling, and making a lot of money, 20 or 30 pesos every day,
charging whatever suited them and working a few hours, and speaking against
the revolution in the bargain.

And all those evils exist. They are our present enemies, the class enemies
that obstruct, that create problems. They are what make sit necessary to
adopt measures, to establish rationing. Without rationing, it is not the
worker who draws wages or a salary who goes to buy out the stores. It is
were just for the workers, there would be no problem. It is the bourgeois
who go to buy up everything, to take everything home with them, and leave
the worker without goods.

That is to say, the men who produce, the men who work, the men who create
material wealth, would not get the things. The loafers, the parasites,
would have everything. (Applause)

But the people must realize that the struggle against their class enemies
is not waged in a day or won in a day. The history of revolutions teaches
that this struggle lasts many years, that is a long struggle, and that the
peoples have to struggle hard and put forth great efforts in this battle.
And the enemies are there; you know them, you see them, you know who they
are, in every quarter, every place. Ask what they want, and they want
capitalism, they want exploitation of man by man, they want privileges,
they want parasitism.

Here is a very logical point, a very clear tale: the more that is in the
hands of a few, the less will be in the hands of the masses. It is obvious
that when a government is for the benefit of the masses, when every
individual has the right to receive a share, a great deal divided among
many gives only a little. For a great deal divided among many to give a
great deal. It is necessary to multiply it by dint of work and production.
(Applause)

Capitalism is a great deal divided among a few, and for the majority, the
least minimum so its members can reproduce to provide children to work in
the factories and businesses of the bourgeois. The mission of the great
working mass of the peasants and workers was to work for the bourgeois'
brothels for the amusement of the bourgeois. That is capitalism, and the
worms want it. They want capitalism, they want the formula of a great deal
for a few.

And we want a great deal for many. Logically, (applause) logically, in
dividing up what we have among many, each one gets little, because our
country was a country without industry, it was a country without
development, without economic development. And when the people took power
and took over those asserts, no abundant heritage had been left them in
factories. Everything had to be imported. They charged us dear for
everything we brought in.

And of course, when the people took over control of their wealth they had
to face many problems. First, the hatred of a class evicted from its
privileged position; second, the hatred of an imperialism from which the
exploited nation had freed itself, third, the people's inexperience. In
trying to replace the bourgeois in administration, in the factories, in
organizing the state, men and women were full of good will and enthusiasm,
but they had never done this before.

And those difficulties are the ones the people must conquer: the class
enemy, the imperialist enemy, inexperience--as I said at the university on
13 March, the past and its vices, the past and its ignorance. Against that
the people must fight, and in the vanguard of the people must be the party.
And that is what the party is: The vanguard that gathers together the most
enthusiastic, the most determined, the firmest, the best of the nation, the
best of every place of work, the best of our rural areas and of our cities.

The party is the organization that must direct this great battle against
those evils. The party is the organization that must be on every front,
rectifying everything that is badly done, fixing everything that can be
fixed, or explaining everything that cannot be solved. (Applause)

It is necessary to struggle to fix everything that is not going well. It is
natural for many things not to be going well, because of the reasons we
have been explaining. And it is necessary to struggle to fix everything
that is going badly, and to explain what cannot be solved.

And in this province the revolution has had shortcomings. In this province
our mass organizations have had shortcomings. Our revolutionary
administration has had great shortcomings, and our political apparatus has
had great shortcomings. (Applause) And the enemy, the enemy takes advantage
of the mistakes, he takes advantage of the shortcomings, and tries to
utilize them, to weaken revolutionary faith.

How should revolutionaries react? As you have reacted here today, by saying
"present," (applause) expressing faith in the revolution, filling this
stadium--to such an extent that many were unable to get in--to say first of
all, "this is our revolution; we are for the revolution. (Applause).

We have a right to say that we have an active part in the revolution, we,
the revolutionaries. The counterrevolutionaries do not (crowd shouts). They
do not want to fix what is going badly, but to destroy the revolution. The
revolutionary wants to improve what is going badly, be defending the
revolution all the while and putting the revolution ahead of life itself,
(applause) because the revolution is our dignity, the revolution is our
future, the revolution is our life.

And for our comrade leaders, there are the persistent efforts they have
been putting forth during the past few weeks, explaining problems,
contacting the central government to explain some problem or some need, to
ask what problem can be solved or find our which one cannot be solved, and
in turn explaining to the people, so that nobody will believe that
something goes unsolved for lack of will, but, if in any case, because it
cannot be solved for the time being.

And there is the effort that has been displayed by our comrades of the
provincial leadership of our party, the comrades of security, and the
comrades of the army, fighting the enemies (applause). But behind the
fight, behind the battle against the enemies, there is a political advance,
a mobilization of political cadres, to go into the countryside of the
province to talk to the allies of the proletariat, with the peasants, with
the small farmers of the province, asking about their problems, explaining
things to them, urging them to produce, to improve production in every
respect, at the same time that the organizations dedicated to helping the
peasants--through the distribution of fertilizer and seed and material
needed for the work, of credit, of goods, and of storing the products--get
coordinated, and overcome their shortcomings, so that not a single malanga
will remain unharvested, not a single orange, even a small one, will remain
unpicked (applause), because the people have purchasing power, and it is
necessary to harvest everything that is grown and provide handy means and
handy procedures for the country people to transport their products and
have an interest in transporting their products, and explain to the
peasants the problems of the revolution, in interest the revolution takes
in them, the respect the revolution has for their interests as small farms,
men who work hard, who do not exploit anybody, and counteract the lies of
the counterrevolutionaries and the frauds. Go to the countryside, talk with
them, get to know them, strike up friendship with them, and tighten the
alliance between our workers and our peasants. That must be a basic task of
the party; encourage production in every respect, in the countryside and in
the factories, study every administrative shortcomings, coordinate, solve
problems, ask for support from the central government, because it is a fact
that the revolution--and we were speaking of this just recently--lacks a
series of connective organizations. (Sentence as broadcast--Ed.)

First of all, there must be the party, interested in everything, vigilant,
to take an active part in everything and for everything, for a solution of
problems. But besides that, we must organize the local authority that will
see to local interests, solve local problems. And we are already carrying
out an experiment in Havana province, in the Guines municipal district. It
is necessary to establish provincial organizations, because at times there
is no link between the locality and the central government. At times there
is a problem at one place and nobody who could solve it knows about it.
With the party established in each municipal district, every place--with
the local organizations--there will always be somebody struggling to
rectify what is not right, to coordinate, to explain, so the people can see
that their vanguard is alert, fighting the enemy, encouraging, and at the
same time providing solutions.

And since the enemy chose to bend his efforts to making this province a
counterrevolutionary province, we are all going to strive to make this
province a most revolutionary province (applause). We are going to show our
enemies how the revolution works; we are going to show the bourgeois, the
imperialists, how the revolution works and how it is winning the battle
against them. We are going to develop the revolutionary awareness. This
revolutionary awareness must be developed so that every man and woman will
understand, so that every man and woman will have faith in his revolution.
This is their revolution, (applause) this is their opportunity, their great
opportunity--the opportunity our people never had after 30 years of
fighting for independence, an opportunity our people never had in 60
previous years, because if it had this opportunity years before, imaging
how much it would have created, how much it would have done, how many
resources we would have developed for all.

We should not have had to start from the bottom to prepare, to eradicate
ignorance, to mobilize tens of thousands of young people who will be our
future technicians, much better trained than those produced yesterday by
our study centers because today our youth study-two, three, and four times
more than yesterday. (Applause) Even adults are improving themselves
through study, because we have had to start at the bottom.

Our country will reap the fruits of its efforts of what it is doing today.
These fruits will not fall from the skies--we must raise them ourselves. We
must seize this opportunity created by our history, a history which has
meant much not only for us but for all America because many of the problems
already solved by the revolution--illiteracy for example--are what the
imperialists say they will solve with their Alliance for Progress in 10, 15
or 20 years.

The problems of unemployment and health which the revolution has solved,
are what the imperialist says will be solved by them in 10 or 15 years. The
sending of doctors to the fields--one of the first things done by the
revolution--the sending of teachers to the far corners of the country, was
done by the revolution.

The revolution ended the exploitation of peasants. The revolution applied
agrarian reform at the very beginning. The revolution eliminated abuses in
housing. The revolution has done in four years what they have said they
will do in 20. But how will they do it? What teachers will they send to the
jungles? What doctors will they sent to the jungle? These people do not
understand the common man, the man from the fields.

Today the revolution gives all workers and peasant in every corner of the
country an opportunity to study, to become a technician, a doctor, a
teacher, a professor, and an engineer, (applause). What child in our
country (singing, more applause, rhythmic shouts Fidel, Fidel, Fidel). And
we are very pleased indeed to see the teacher here because teachers have a
very fundamental task in the revolution.

It can be said that the teachers have the most important task in the
revolution. They are the ones who have to wage the battle against
ignorance. They must forge and mold the clear intelligence of this
country's children. Today every child has an opportunity to learn in our
country, and this is a source of great pride for us Cubans. This cannot be
said today in any other nation of our America. Every child has an
opportunity to learn, regardless of where he lives or how many brothers and
sisters he has. It he wants to learn he has the teachers and the
opportunities. This way, not a single mind will be lost. Great will be the
future of the country which will not lose a single mind of its sons.
(Applause)

This is something fundamental and of special important to the revolution.
Human intelligence and human work is what creates and produces. For that
reason, in the Oriente mountains, in the pre-vocational school, there are
at present nearly 4,000 students, who are studying the first phase, and
next year we will have 6,000 students in the schools of Las Minas del Frio
(applause) who will be meeting gradually our future needs, the plans for
improving our present teachers, who year by year are bettering themselves
to fulfill their sacred duty. For that reason we should glance to the
future, because the future belongs completely to us.

No matter what our enemies say, (applause) our enemies do not think of the
future. Our enemies think of yesterday. For us, it has dawned, for them, it
is dusk. For them, night has fallen forever. We are enlightened by the
first days of the morn. A brilliant sun will shine our way. That path is in
view. May we know how to traverse and defend it.

The path has not been obstructed. Our nation has never had a smooth
path--it was long and arduous for our fighter, for our manbices. They
fought long and hard. For us, that path will not be easy. It will be
lengthy and difficult, but therein lies the merit of our people, therein
lies the greatness of our people, and that will be recorded in the history
of this nation--a history being written today not by the parasites, but the
humble. This will be the history written by the humble, not thieves, the
crafty, but by those crafty in another sense--those who by carrying in
their chests the best hearts and in their brain the best minds, have not
been able to develop before, but this history is being written today.

What is most important in our revolution is the fact that it is not the
revolution of the powerful, the rich--not their history--and for them, but
is the history of the humble against the powerful. It is the history of the
humble confronting obstacles and overcoming them.

What would have told anybody in our country that this people could have
succeeded in rising up and holding its ground against the Yankee
imperialists? Who would have told anybody (applause) in our country that
this little country would have been able to effect a revolution like this
one against the will of the Yankee rulers?

And that will all their gold, all their might, all their weapons, they have
not been able to defeat the revolution, they have not even been able to
weaken it, and that with the support and solidarity of the proletarians, of
the humble, who in other parts of the world also effected their revolution,
the humble folk of Cuba, the proletarians and peasants of Cuba, would be
able one day to stand erect and resist, and after four years say: The
revolution stands, despite aggressions, despite the blockades, despite the
desperate efforts of the imperialists?

It stands, and it is strong; it stands (applause), and it is militant; it
stands, and has a fighting spirit. And this gathering today means that,
what matter today's difficulties, what matter today's sacrifices, what
matter the things we lack for today? (Applause)

Today we lack some things. We cannot give everybody everything, because we
have to distribute what we have among everybody; and we distribute what we
have among everybody (applause) and we have all received a right to the
future: All of us are lighted by the rays of the dawning.

People of Matanzas, this is the second time I have met with you since the
triumph of the revolution. The last time was 7 January. (Applause) Then the
revolution had not yet gone deep. The revolutionary awareness had not made
progress. We were an enthusiastic people, but we were still unable to see
with the same profound perception as today, with the range of today. We had
not gone through the tests we have known now. But there is something
important, there is something significant. This function was organized in
three days, and today there are more men and women here than received me on
7 January 1959. (Applause)

And there is a difference: These are men and women with awareness, men and
women who know what they are going (applause), men and women who
understand, men and women who will be true to the death of fatherland and
the revolution. (Applause) Therefore, people of Matanzas, we can say here
today that we will win (applause), that we will win the battle against the
counterrevolution (applause), that we will win the battle against the
imperialists (applause), that we will improve on every work front
(applause), and that in Matanzas the banner of the revolution will fly ever
higher, and that this lesson will never be forgotten by the enemies of our
country, and that this night, this function, will never be forgotten by us
revolutionaries.

Therefore, people of Matanzas, let us shout louder than ever: Fatherland or
death, we will win! (Applause)
-END-