-DATE-
19630810
-YEAR-
1963
-DOCUMENT_TYPE-
SPEECH
-AUTHOR-
F. CASTRO
-HEADLINE-
INSTITUTE FOR HYDRAULIC RESOURCES
-PLACE-
HAVANA LIBRE HOTEL
-SOURCE-
HAVANA DOMESTIC TV
-REPORT_NBR-
FBIS
-REPORT_DATE-
19630813
-TEXT-
CASTRO SPEAKS TO HYDRAULICS INSTITUTE

Havana Domestic Television and Radio Network in Spanish 2123 GMT 10 August
1963--F

(Speech by Fidel Castro before the Institute for Hydraulic Resources at the
Havana Libre Hotel)

(Text) Comrades of th Hydraulics Institute: in the brilliant report by
Comrade Faustino Perez, the essential has been said with regard to the
history, the antecedents, and the tasks accompanied, as well as the future
prospects of this institution. I really regret that television has been
turned on only now and so the people were not able to hear the speech of
Comrade Faustino as well as the truly moving, exemplary, and unprecedented
act in which the comrades of the Revolutionary Armed Forces turned over the
value of the work they performed in th cutting of cane, which value
approached 1 million pesos. Naturally, the value of the cane they cut was
even greater but the cost of the mobilization and the expenses that had to
be made had to be subtracted. Nevertheless, there was a balance of almost 1
million dollars.

I was telling Comrade Faustino that an investment increase of that million
pesos would now have to be discussed at the Juceplan so that it does not
happen that the million dollars arrives from one side and the investments
are restricted from the other side. So that million pesos must be included
in the investment plan (applause) although the assigned investment plus
that million pesos will not be enough. Because that depended much on
organization, on the ability to mobilize, and on the studies and projects
of the institute. We know that the institute is working intensively on the
studies and the projects and we have promised them that as they complete
the projects, we will begin to undertake the constructions.

The Paso Malo dam project was completed recently, for example, and we said
that the Paso Malo dam would go into construction on 1 August. We recently
made a visit but it still had not begun, and the date of 1 August has
already passed. But some equipment was there. Why were not other pieces of
equipment there? Well, some of the equipment was assigned on Juceplan's
lists of availables, but it turns out that some of the availables were
loaned out, so they were not available. That is one of the reasons.

And there were certain delays in the mobilization of that equipment.
Sometimes drays, trucks are needed for the mobilization of that equipment.
So a project that can begin on 1 August is delayed 15 days, and the project
will be delayed 15 days. When we arrived there the dump trucks were not
there. The dump trucks should have been there on the first or at least by
now. There were two compressors, two super D9's and one C-100. Those were
the only pieces there. The dump trucks were missing, as well as other
equipment.

What has to be done? Look for them, but rapidly. That is the procedure we
must follow, gentlemen, not that routine, that turtle pace to do things.
(Applause) The plan is complete. There is already a comrade to administer
the project. He is a magnificent comrade, a proven comrade. He has great
ability and he will organize the shops there in order to work two shifts in
the building of the dam. That is to say, they are going to work day and
night.

So there are some pieces of equipment that must be gathered and mobilized.
Sometimes there is difficulty in obtaining transportation but help should
be asked of the different organizations. For example, the army helped in
transporting the T-9's (as heard). It got the trucks and the equipment that
was needed and it transported the equipment. Many times one must go to
different organizations, but one must move, one must act. Above, all, when
there is a piece of equipment on loan, let it not be on the available list
until it is returned to the reserve equipment pool.

Well the Paso Malo dam will be begun on the 15th. We have lost 15 days; 15
days lost are 15 days that our agriculture, or economy, and our morale
lose. (Applause) In any case, we are going to see to it that that project
will be an exemplary work center, one of high productivity and high
quality. It is budgeted for 11 million pesos and we are going to compete
not only against time but against cost as well. We will see if that project
can be reduced to seven or six million pesos according to the productivity
of the workers there and the good organization of the shop. That is why we
are so interested in it, because it is the first of a large number of
hydraulic projects we must begin to carry out.

The plans for the Rio Buey dam are also complete. At the end of the year
the plans for the northern part of Las Villas will also be complete. The
plans for the Rio Contramaestre will be completed in the early part of next
year also. So work is being done at a rapid rate. There is also a credit of
12 million pesos for the acquisition of equipment. There is also some
equipment that is not being used to the utmost.

There is some equipment that is idle which, if we repair it, if we use it
in a rational manner--we can collect the equipment--so that every time a
project is complete another will begin.

Comrade Faustino spoke of a series of tasks accomplished, the state in
which the hydraulic studies were before the revolution, that is to say,
total abandonment and lack of attention. That is why he saved me completely
from the need of having to discuss these topics. Basically, it is up to me
to note the importance of hydraulics to our country. And we also lost a
little bit of time and we did so because the comrades who were at the head
of that department in the Ministry of Public Works made projects, plans,
and more projects, they talked and talked more and more and they did
absolutely nothing, that is the truth. (Applause)

I am not going to say that they were bad comrades. They are magnificent
comrades and they are all working well, but there was something missing,
which was since created: a hydraulic mentality. (Applause following
something shouted by a member of the audience--Ed.) Yes, some research,
some things were done, but that will was lacking. And it was missing
because there was no hydraulic conscience. So we began to acquire a
hydraulic conscience. Do you know who inculcated us with that conscience?
Do you know who? The drought, (laughter) the last two years of drought. And
do you know what else? The shortages, which made us meditate very seriously
on all these problems and on the technical and organizational aspects of
production. And we have learned plenty.

We have learned something during these four and so much years of
revolution, but the drought taught us much. It also made evident our
previous disorganization in agriculture. It also put us in a position of
having to overcome all those deficiencies and errors and to begin to
perform very serious work. It also showed us the deficiencies of the
construction work the low productivity, and it made us all make great
efforts to improve construction. That is to say that reality has been
teaching us much and it has been teaching us to work with responsibility,
to work with seriousness, with system, and with technology.

Last year it became very clear to us that it was necessary to create that
hydraulic mentality, that concern with hydraulics. Whenever anyone got the
idea of planting rice he dug a well and said: "There is water here," and he
immediately dug 100 more wells. After he had the canals made and the crops
was planted the first years, the water became salty as early as the second
year. Good intentions are not enough, that is why it is said that the road
to hell is paved with good intentions. I have seen so many blunders
committed with good intentions. (Laughter)

So what? There is no technology. An individual says: "What magnificent rice
can be grown here." But rice needs quantities of water per caballeria and
this must be calculated accurately and the water level must be studied, the
sources of the water must be studied, the prospects of salinity must be
studied. It is not simple matter of clearing, furrowing and spreading
water, although those who reach that point are almost magnificent
administrators because many did not reach that point. Many cleared and did
not furrow, many cleared and furrowed and did not sow; others cleared,
furrowed, and sowed and then found the water was saline. (Laughter) Those
were the most advanced. (Laughter)

But even the most advanced made those technical mistakes, so they did not
know the technology. They proceeded in a truly idealistic manner, possessed
of good intentions and enthusiasm, but technology did not exist for them.
They thought that the water would pour from the soil in the measure of
their desire. Often the water does not pour from the soil or it comes out
saline. Another solution must be found or--not go into an adventure of that
type.

Moreover, with the characteristics of our country--a long and narrow
island, without large rivers, rather with very short rivers, rapid torrents
when it rains, where the waters goes out to sea quickly--it was imperative
that we concern ourselves over water. Additionally, agriculture is, and
during this decade will be, the basis of our economy. Perhaps during the
coming decade as well, because we depend on our agriculture for our
development. There was a time when we did not know well what we were going
to do with agriculture, among other things, because we were influenced by a
series of ideas from the past, such as the problem of the cane, the lack of
a market for cane, the suppression of the sugar quota. For a time we were
disoriented until we discovered the enormous markets open to our products
in the socialist camp.

Then for a time we had a few idle thoughts about what we were going to do
and how we were going to do it. But now we are completely convinced and we
know very well that agriculture is the basis of our development, and we
have very good conditions for the development of that agriculture, among
others, the circumstance of the manner of availability of magnificent and
large expanse of land to develop big plans under the best technical
conditions and which promoted a good organization of the small farmers in
order to incorporate them also into the plans for the development of our
economy.

Agriculture is the basis of our country, which has nothing else. For
example, in mills we have a great capacity installed which is not 100
percent in use. That is to say that there is much more capacity than cane.
We could, we must use all that installed capacity so that sugar will serve
us as the basis for the development of our economy. It will be the basis
during this decade and also the coming decade. If that is so, if we depend
on agriculture, there is no secure agriculture without water, there are no
secure supplies plans without water. That is another reality: if
agriculture is the basis, water is indispensable.

Then there is an entire series of problems also related to water, such as
the water supply of the population, which is another serious problem; such
as, the water supply needed by industries, which is another serious
problem. This leads to the deduction that no development is possible in our
country if there is no development of hydraulic resources. It can be said
that hydraulics is a basic, fundamental activity in the economic
development of our country.

Agricultural plans, for example, will depend fundamentally on that, the
development of agriculture will depend on that. We have cleared much land
which was not even planted later. We have used equipment on that. In the
future we must use all the equipment in the development of all those
regions which will be irrigation regions according to our draft plans.
Moreover, we must know how to use water rationally just as we must know how
to use land rationally. Sometimes we begin to plant rice two kilometers,
three kilometers, or four kilometers from a sugar central, using expensive
water with which double the area of cane could be irrigated, producing
80,000 or 100,000 arrobas of cane per caballeria. It is not right for us to
use that land so irrationally and even less that we use the water so
irrationally.

We must use land, cultivate it, rationally; and we must also use water
rationally so that it will yield greater value. If a few comparative
studies are made, it is demonstrated how rational use of water can
represent extraordinarily greater gross production when it is devoted to
one crop than when it is devoted to another. So it must be the
circumstances of the soil, the cost of water, the abundance of water, which
determines whether we should use that water in rice or cane or pasturage.

We will achieve a very developed a very advanced agriculture, an
agriculture of which we will be able to be proud when we have fulfilled all
the requirements of organization, technology, and rational use of natural
resources, that is to say, the soil and the water.

There is another question: fertilizer, which is expensive and which is very
important to agricultural production. When water is not sure, the use of
fertilizer is very risky because the fertilizer can be lost. So where
should be use our fertilizers? Principally, we should use our fertilizers
in all those places where the water is sure. A study into prescription must
also be made because we know points where it always rains, just as there
are other points where rain is scarce. Very rational agriculture must be
carried out there. What kind of cane will be planted there? What kind of
pasturage will be planted there? There are some types of cane that take
drought better and there are types of pasturage that resists drought much
better than other types.

Fertilizer should not be used where it is not very certain that one can
count on rain. There are areas that even without irrigation one can be
almost certain of rain because year after year, for certain geographic
conditions, they have had rain even during times of drought. All those
things pertain to the hydraulic institute--the prescription study, all
those problems.

Our country has the intention of giving great impetus to cane between 1965
and 1970. There are plans to produce between eight and nine million tons of
sugar. How are we going to do it? Between 1965 and 1970 we are going to
plant at least 20,000 caballerias of irrigation cane. Once the old cane
areas are reestablished, the leap between the traditional production of the
country to the eight or nine million tons will be accomplished through the
sowing of 20,000 caballerias of irrigation lands. So all the draft plans of
the hydraulics institute must be perfectly coordinated with the National
Agrarian Reform Institute (INRA). The hydraulics comrades must say which
are the potential possibilities of building dams, of disposing of water,
and report that to the INRA, and then the INRA will say: "Well, we will
invest our resources in such and such regions, which will be irrigated
lands, and our equipment, our means, our investments in order to fulfill
our goals within those lands." The INRA, in turn, must be closely
coordinated with the Ministry of Public Works, which must be creating teams
that specialized in construction.

They already have a team that is working quite well in the Gilbert dam in
Santiago de Cuba. Now they are going to create a second team for the Paso
Malo dam. And so every time we want a team for hydraulics construction, do
not disperse it, because that is not a good system, because a group of
works is formed to build something and then it is dispersed and they all go
to build something different from what they had been building.

So if we have a group of workers who build, let us say, thermoelectric
plants, that group of workers must be retained and it must be sent to build
each new thermoelectric plant, which is their specialty. And those who know
how to work on dams, make them specialists, and expand our program of
construction in that manner.

What should be the goal in a country like ours, which depends on
agriculture, which is long and narrow, and which, having water, can obtain
fantastic results? With our soil, there are many crops we can plant during
any season if we have water assured. There are some soils from which we can
obtain two harvests, even three. It is possible that no European country
with a very advanced agriculture can get as much out of water as we can.
And this is the proof: There is an experiment being carried out near Bauta
in which they have 60 cows on one caballeria of land with pasturage and
irrigation. Without irrigation they cannot do that, but do you know how
much the milk those cows product is worth?--the average of 13 liters of
milk those cows produce? Well at the price the farm is paid for the mil,
the gross value is nearly 30,000 pesos, 30,000 pesos in milk can be
produced by one caballeria of land with irrigation and fertilizer. Tell me
what country of Europe can achieve that? Tell me if that can be achieved in
Holland, although Holland has as production of 6 million tons of mill, an
enormous and extraordinary production, and the average they have in the
provinces producing the greatest amount of milk is less than 30 cows,
including small ones, per caballeria of land. Yet we have already seen that
one caballeria of land can sustain 60 producing cows with irrigation and
fertilizer.

We are going to develop the cane fields, primarily and then the cattle
industry. Those are going to be pillars of our economy until 1970. That is
analyzing things in a very realistic manner.

Now industry must turn in this direction: the chemical industry of
fertilizer production for agriculture, mechanical industry for the
production of machinery for that agriculture. Our research, research into
derivatives of sugar. And, naturally, together with this, there must be the
development of industries such as refining, the thermoelectric industry,
light industry, because there is also a series of enterprises that can be
built without large investments.

Now, in August, we are going to receive the technical and economic report
of the steel industry. When that report comes we must study it well in an
economic sense, to see what it means, how much must be invested, how much
will that mean, what will be the cost of each ton of steel.

And after we make that analysis we must decide if we should build a steel
mill or if we should invest those hundreds of millions of pesos, which the
steel mill would cost, in the chemical industry, principally with a view to
the development of our agriculture because we cannot make mistakes on those
things. Fortunately we have already reached the age of revolutionary
maturity and revolutionary reasoning in matters of economic problems or, at
least, in matters of knowing how to orient our steps.

It may well be that we will have to wait until 1970 to develop a steel
industry so why rush to make the mill now when there are other much more
important things, much more urgent. When our agriculture has reached its
peak of development and we have all those resources, then we must begin to
develop other branches of our economy. But for the time being it is
agriculture, and among the investments that must be made, almost as basic
investments, are the investments for hydraulic projects. So our dream
should be that not a single drop of water is lost, that no a single drop of
water reaches the sea. That is what it must be; that no a single riverlet,
arroyo, river, absolutely nothing remain undammed--in addition to the use
of drainage, the different types and systems of damming, the system for the
injection of water in the phreatic mantle, and the use of subterranean
water. That means that we must make an exhaustive study of all the
possibilities of obtaining and storing water.

That is a fundamental question for our country. We have reached the
conclusion fortunately, opportunely, so that such a fundamental part of our
economy is not left behind. So a new organism has been formed and we are
satisfied with the manner in which this organism has been organized and is
working. We were very leased to see in the report of Comrade Faustino the
analysis of the number of workers it has. That means that it is possible
that large numbers of workers who, when that hydraulics mentality did not
exist, were practically not contributing anything to the country, are today
yielding five, ten, or an incalculable number of times more from their
efforts than they were yielding a year ago.

It is good that they have the exact figure of the number of employees and
what each employee is doing; the exact figure of the workers, including the
section that helps the technicians. That is very good and we are very happy
that there is an organism that has that concern over the number of
employees, over the work, over the yield of the employees because there are
an infinity of organisms here which do not have the remotest idea of that,
nor do they even know how many people are working. (Prolonged applause)

We believe that that is a truly revolutionary concept and we believe that
is really being socialist, that is really being Marxist-Leninist.
(Applause) Because there are people around there who are super radicals in
talk but they do not even know where they are standing and they do not know
that socialism must begin with work, with organization, with the rational
use of resources because that is what socialism is for; capitalism is there
for squandering, capitalism is there for wasting the work of the workers,
capitalism is there for abusing resources.

We already know that much was stolen under capitalism. There is no stealing
in our revolution, but there is a waste of money. (Applause) There are no
embezzlers, but there are misspenders in our revolution. (Applause) There
are those who call themselves, consider themselves exemplary citizens,
socialist administrators but they do not even have an idea of costs nor how
much production costs them.

We must put those ideas into the heads of the people, the administrators,
the masses so that the masses will participate in that struggle. It has
been proved that when opinion and a conscience is created, that has
tremendous force. Look at how work is improving on the fronts of the
revolution. But I want to stress this, something I heard, something that
was expressed here about the rational use of the work force because there
are new organisms there that are full of bureaucracy because those
organisms originated in an organizational chart. The organization chart
came from somebody's head. That heat could have had its feet on the ground
or on the moon. (Applause)

And after that chart came out, the product of a mind which, perhaps, had no
experience of any kind, which, perhaps, was incapable of analyzing
realities, and which, perhaps, lacked practicality, the organizational
chart was filled with people. They began looking for people to put them
here, in such and such department, in the other, in the other, in the
other, and then they found their organizational chart full. How nice! That
was a type of abstract picture of the organization. (Applause) That is to
say, they made something that was their idea of what the organization
should be and they sat down in an office and then did not know what to do
with so many people, and the people go around bothering each other.

If not, they invent papers because we have great inventors of papers and
paperwork. (Applause) Of course they must use those people in the offices
in something. That is why we insist that the more people there are in work
that does not include material goods and the fewer people in the direct
production of material goods the less abundance of resources for the
country will result.

The aspiration of a country which wants to go far is to have the largest
number of its citizens in jobs that are directly a related to the
production of material goods or with imperative useful services because
there are many services that are imperative: the teacher, the doctor, the
office workers also, when he is doing a useful and imperative service, not
when they have him there killing time.

Then, naturally, what happens? No one wants to do a harder job. Who then
will have to be there demanding that he work more? One must go there to the
Gilbert dam where there are men working under a single foreman working
savagely and those men must be asked to work harder. If one goes to an
office of one of the bureaucratic departments, what good would it do to ask
them to work harder? They would fill out twice as much paper and they would
bother twice as much as they are doing now. (Laughter, applause)

Those are the things we must bear in mind. When men concern themselves with
all those problems they will be thinking in a revolutionary manner, they
will be thinking honestly, they will be contributing decisively to the
creation of a much better society, they will be contributing decisively to
the creation of abundance, working with seriousness, with responsibility.

This institute has the advantage of being a new organism that has emerged
without those vices. Therefore, it must try to continue to develop with
that idea and with a great spirit of coordination with the other organisms,
without that niggardly and closed sectarianism which is sometimes observed
and which we observed when we went to the Paso Malo dam. The work had to
begin. There were some small barracks there that belonged to the Paso Malo,
and we found that the comrade who was administrator said: "They have not
given us those two houses, which are necessary." Who has them? the
scholastic city. But why were they not turned over? Because it is said that
it takes four months to turn them over.

The comrade who is in charge of the construction of the scholastic city
told him that he needed four months to turn over those two houses, but he
had the material, resources, means, and labor force to build four houses
like those two in four days. There were even some around there that were
unfinished. And I thought: "how absurd this is."

In the final analysis, he is doing a fine job there. He is a very valuable
comrade architect, he is very hard working. His name is Altamende, but I
use this opportunity to criticize him, not him alone, but all those who do
exactly the same thing.

He is a very hard working comrade, but you can see: it is a project nearby,
which has some houses there which are needed to begin work immediately (On
the dam--Ed.) and it was said that it would be four months before they
could be turned over. That is lack of spirit of cooperation with the other
project, as if one project in no way concerned the other project, despite
their proximity.

Cooperation sometimes is missing when the projects are further apart and
when the relationship is not seen so close at hand. We have many cases in
which there is a lack of a spirit of cooperation. Of course, the comrades
of the INRA must not get angry when the comrades of the Hydraulic Institute
speak to them of cooperation; neither should the comrades of public works,
because that cooperation is necessary as is the disappearance of that
sectarianism in which each sector thinks it is the most important and gets
jealous when another sector says anything, wants to discuss, or to speak.
That is no way to progress. And all those petty bourgeois manias must be
eliminated. (Applause)

The Hydraulics Institute was born with that spirit of cooperation and work
and we urge you, comrade, to maintain that spirit, to maintain that spirit
of responsibility, to maintain that economic view of the rational use of
the labor force, to maintain the antibureaucratic spirit, and to have an
exact account of each of the men who are working and performing a service,
just as you are doing now in each of the categories. The country needs that
kind of organization. We may, perhaps in the future, have to reorganize
some of the new organisms with old vices.

Many times they create an infernal but unnecessary obstacle. Who said that
was socialism? There are some people here who apparently think that
socialism is to mix everything up and confuse everything and make things
impracticable and inoperable. That way they would even consolidate the
(word indistinct) here. (Laughter) And they invent some absurd, very
absurd, centralist parallel organizations, against which we must struggle
and which must be eradicated.

That is why the local organisms must be created. What does the Mincin do
with a store near Baracoa or in another little town over there, and the
other (ministry--Ed.) with a movie, and the other with something else? I
know that some comrades are too recalcitrant to understand those things and
they think that centralization is the holy remedy of organization. They
have not realized that it is not the same to centralize a large industry.
It not the same to grab Esso, the Standard Oil Company.

When socialism comes to the United States, almost everything is already
organized because the monopolies have established their organization. But
in an underdeveloped country full of tobacco stands and rubiaceous trees
(timbiriches), the tobacco stand and the artisans cannot be consolidated.
(Applause)

Then happens what happened to the INIT, which had a bar in Baracoa. I do
not know if I have already spoken publicly about this question. I do know
that I have told it privately several times. It had a bar in Baracoa but
the clerk or administrator of that bar was drunk all day and the INIT took
six months to find out. That was a scandal, a shame, a loss of prestige. If
that bar had been managed by an economic junta of the community, inspected
by the party and by the mass organization, the man would not have lasted
even six days, and possibly not even six hours drunk without being removed.
No one has the authority, no one can resolve what authority the party can
have in one of these places where there is no life whatsoever, where
everything is nationally centralized. What authority can anyone have there?
What can anyone resolve? No one can resolve it.

Of course the counterpart of centralization can be anarchy and the
diversity of norms. But the solution is not to keep one the evils. What one
has to seek is very well planned decentralization. So that everyone knows
what he can and cannot do. But there has to be a local life. If a dog dies
in the street and other places, well they may have to wait for a decision
by the central planning board to get the dog removed from the street.
(Laughter)

Because if local authorities do not exist, if there is no local life, then
there is no one to make a decision. And as a matter of fact we are studying
that in some places in order to gain experience, and precisely because we
do not want to indulge in that ideation, of taking an organization out of
our head and after the organization takes (momentum?) (momentera) the force
of the reality of a thing that came out of our head. This is what is often
done by people who commit national blunders. It is preferable to make a
local blunder, to try out things locally. We are doing this. We have the
aspiration, because it is an imperative necessity, or decentralization.

The party comrades in Guines are carrying out a very interesting
experiment. Nevertheless they have already committed an error in my
opinion. It is that they eliminated centralization at the national level
and have established centralization at the regional level. And they try to
administer the grocery store in Catalina de Guines from Guines.

It is the same problem on a lower scale. And every locality, no matter how
small, ought to have its economic junta so that it can manage some of the
enterprises there and with authority over the inspection of the party,
replace, change those people who do not work out. And that the watchful eye
of the people and of the responsible comrades of the revolution will be 30
kilometers away and once a month it shows up around there and the man in
charge of the enterprise does not listen to anybody because it depends on
the man 30 kilometers away and goes around once a month.

This is why we must seek decentralization forms that are practical. And
each one of these experiments naturally should be discussed as they go. We
have seen the El Cano. (Experiment of a fully socialized city--Ed.) The El
Cano experiment has worked out marvelously well. You know that El Cano was
the first socialist city in Cuba--really socialist. In other words
everything is socialized. It has worked out very well through a local
junta. They have obtained an income of 150,000 pesos in one year. There are
only 10 employees in the local junta and they have resolved many problems.
We have to say later that part of this income stays in the community
because we have to make it interesting for the community.

When we were leaving El Cano one day, we went to investigate. We found that
the people were very happy but a woman approached us with some sort of jar
filled with black centavos, then she told us about it. She said, "look at
this foreign exchange I have been saving, but the situation is not very
good here." I said, "what's that, I have heard many people say it is very
good." She said, "yes, yes, but they are still squandered. They are still
squandered here." You do not hear such things in other towns. Why? because
the people in other towns do not have anything to do with the man who
manages the enterprise located here. They also do not care whether it goes
well or not. But there (in El Cano--Ed.) investments have been made in
parks, social circles, children's centers. And while part of the funds are
used for social benefits another parts goes to the regional to help those
towns with less development, and another part goes to the national level.
The entire community is interested in the workings of everything: the
movies, the inn, the grocery store, because this is direct interest.

This is why another of the things we have discussed in the institute is
that there should not be centralization and that the chiefs of provinces
should have the authority to make decisions. That they ought not be nominal
positions because at times many chiefs of provinces, all have to call on
the phone, all have to consult. And this centralism--an infernal thing,
horrible!

And in the institute there is the opinion that there ought not to be
centralization. Centralism has been confused with centralization. There
ought not be centralization. And the chiefs of provinces should be
responsible, competent functionaries with authority to make decisions. And
this is very important. When there is no authority in the province to
resolve anything, the party comrades can do nothing. They can not resolve
with anyone over there. And with this (mess?) (rollo) of the national
consolidated (enterprises--Ed.) and it is everywhere you turn, consolidated
enterprises over here? (laughter) all these consolidated enterprises,
another consolidated enterprise of this here, another consolidated
enterprise of that there (laughter and applause) unit H this and unit H
that. (Laughter). It has become a boring thing, a tedious, intolerable
thing. Instead of a garage that works well and takes good care of the
people--that is more important than to go around putting up huge signs
saying that this belongs to some consolidated enterprise. Who know how much
paint has been wasted over here putting up signs for consolidated
enterprises. They are enormous signs.

It is much more political, much more socialist, much more revolutionary
that that enterprise and that place should operate well and serve the
public. And let it not happen as in some cases that when they took
something out, and they put an administrator there, they put in a complete
loafer who does not take care of anybody. They other one was a capitalist
who protected his interests. This one (the replacement--Ed.) is a loafer
who is unwilling to protect anyone's interests. He has an assured salary
and does not worry about serving the public. (Applause) Let no one think
that this is revolution. Let no one think that this is socialism. This is
to confuse sloppiness with socialism. We have an infinitely higher concept
and we know that it is a matter or organization. A Yankee monopoly used to
manage 10,000 caballerias of land. And it did not manage them poorly. None
of the owners were here, all the stockholders were over there. But since
they had good organization and they chose people well, and they demanded
responsibility of them, it would work well. Why should not we be able to
manage those 10,000 caballerias right here? Or any enterprise? Why, there
were companies of that monopoly that had ten sugarcane mills here and
factories of various types.

The situation is that we have to apply correct organization methods. We
must apply correct methods. And then we will begin to see the immense, the
gigantic advantage of social property--the people's property (and
control--Ed.) over the means of production. The socialist property in which
resources are not wasted anarchically, in which all resources are channeled
in one direction and all the strength in one direction.

This allows for much swifter and more far-reaching development. Above all
it is a society of generous men. It is not a society of wolves but of human
beings.

And what we have really seen is an extraordinary change in man's mentality
in our country. We have seen the wolf mentality disappearing more and
more--that, capitalism inculcates, man is the enemy of man. Every one is in
a desperate struggle against all th rest in order to survive, and this is
being replaced by a social conscience. By the awareness of the need we have
for others and that our strength is in the others and they are not our
enemies. Because this is the advantage of a well-organized society, with a
just social system that permits the use of all the forces of that society,
on behalf of each and every one of the men of that society.

But this is not a matter of desire alone. It is not a matter of a dream.
This requires a very great effort of work, or organization, or constant
correction, of study. When we make a criticism the imperialists go ahead
and publish it over there. They think that by so doing they can discredit
us. It is just the contrary. Our success lies in knowing what our weak
points are and fighting them, mobilizing the masses against our weak
points. And we shall get far this way. What does it matter what
imperialists say.

Let us see what the picture will be after 10 years. Let us see what the
differences will be between the nations that have taken our path and the
nations that keep on the path of the Alliance for Progress. Let us see the
outcome. We do not care. We have great faith, great assurance, and great
confidence, but we must, as a matter of fact, always keep on fighting
against what goes wrong and we must create an awareness against what is
wrong--we the revolutionaries--not the counterrevolutionaries, no, the
counterrevolutionaries do not have the right to criticize. Simply because
whoever does not participate in a patriotic work and a revolutionary work
has no right to criticize. (Applause)

The revolutionaries have the right to criticize in order to improve their
work. Positive criticism which is not that sometimes foolish criticism that
crops ups, such as some gripes that we read, (Castro use the word descarga
meaning to unload oneself of a gripe that appear in Cuban newspapers under
the column head: "Descargas."--Ed.) and some of these gripes are really
imbecilic and we cannot tell who is the greater imbecile, the one who
writes it or the one who receives it and reproduces it. And while we are
talking about this we ought also to analyze how the enemy subtly at times
confuses with this.

There are well-taken criticisms but a person has to be very well-informed
in order to be able to distinguish between a well-made criticism and a
badly made one.

Anyone with some experience realizes that when there is a ridiculous and
foolish criticism it can be answered by sending a letter to the person who
made it and explaining things to him, and when it is a criticism with
certain strength, that is positive, then it ought to be published, because
then the enemy takes advantage of the (presumable foolish--Ed.) criticism.
Because everything, everything in life has to be done well, even criticism.
And everything that is badly done is bad. Everything that is done sloppily
does not give good results. And we should inculcate these things in
ourselves.

After all, our people were a slandered people which our exploiters had
taken for a nation of simple people, a nation of superficial people, a
nation of foolish people, even the jokes and stories told about Cuban tried
to portray the Cuban as sharp person. There were even many who thought that
the Cuban was sharp. But what kind of a sharp Cuban is it when he was
miserably exploited here by the capitalists and the imperialists, but still
they tried to make him believe he was sharp.

Nevertheless, this people of ours has demonstrated some magnificent
qualities: for revolution, for organization, for work, for serious and
analysis. And it is really surprising the degree to which the cultural
level of our masses is climbing. And this is a great treasure because the
more the people know, the less the imbeciles can change. The more the
masses know the less number of imbeciles can go around doing sloppy work
that affects, and is detrimental to, the people. (Applause)

And this awareness becomes strength, becomes a formidable tool of the
nation which goes on crushing--if not, just think bout the many things that
took place two or three years ago that do not take place anymore. So many
things that used to be said are not said anymore. Note how much more
responsibility there is among everybody. Because even though I am
expressing some of our evils here with clarity and frankness, still, it is
very obvious that our nation is progressing by leaps and bounds. In other
words, the conscience, the level of the people, the indispensable spirit
for victory is progressing by leaps and bounds. And it is precisely because
we are moving forward on every front that we must be increasingly severe
and more demanding and more critical of things that go wrong and overcome
all the vices that still exist.

And just because of this we ought to feel the honor of belonging to the
institution to which one belongs. We ought to work for it. As in your case,
those of you who are working in the Hydraulic Resources Institute. You
ought to try to make your organization a model. Try to prevent those vices
from cropping up. Try to overcome those things that go wrong, so that every
year they can be presented here, so that year after year you can make a
report such as the one that was made here with statistical data, with
concrete facts. Because this is encouraging in an extraordinary way. I am
sorry that at the moment there was no television because the people are
cognizant, very cognizant of things done right and things done wrong, of
what is done with responsibility and what is done irresponsibly, and so
that year after year you can gather and analyze the work and describe what
you have done, and set forth the weaknesses, and overcome them.

Because if we work everywhere as you are working here, if we work on all
fronts and there are already many fronts such as the education front which
is another front where a great quality leap has been made, and the results
will not be long in coming. And you can begin to see them, you can begin to
feel them, and you can begin to see the proximity of the moment in which
all the effort we have made in education, in elevating the culture of all
the workers, and in molding hundreds of thousands of youths, in increasing
our registration of primary pupils from 600,000 to 1.2 million. The results
will not take long to see. Because right now there are constant requests
for secondary school graduates to study such a thing, preuniversity
graduates to study such and such a thing, primary school graduates to study
such and such a thing. And already the revolution in its past four years
has doubled from 600,000 to 1.2 million. This is what will guarantee for us
the employment of technology, technology in our production, technology in
the creative work of the people. This is what it will guarantee for us.

Perhaps this is one more reason why we should no go all-out for
agriculture. Because other types of industrial development requires certain
technicians which we will not have immediately. And on the other hand we
have good technicians in agriculture. Perhaps it will be in the decade of
the 70's to the 80's when it will be our turn to spur those branches of the
economy that require tens and tens of thousands of technicians, because at
that time we will have available those tens and thousands of technicians.

But you can see how we are moving ahead in this work front. Today we really
see a general advance in the affairs of the revolution. But this
organization should try to set itself up as a model within the agencies of
the state because of its efficiency, its methods, its conscience, its sense
of revolutionary honor, its sense of responsibility, its conviction of the
importance of its work. And if we should but achieve these levels of
organization and conscience in every front, then we will have a most
brilliant future. And it is for that most brilliant future that now we see
with more clarity and more certainty that we have to fight, we have to
work, because success molds efforts, success with sacrifices. And success
in life of man and in the life of the peoples, the fruit of their labor,
compensates the efforts that must be made to attain it.

Many congratulations comrades! (Applause begins) and many congratulations
to the president of this organization, (Applause increases) Comrade
Faustino Perez! (Applause climax) and many thanks to the technicians, the
Soviet technician, (Applause continues) and the Bulgarian technicians who
are helping us. Fatherland or death! We will win! (Applause)
-END-