-DATE-
19641114
-YEAR-
1964
-DOCUMENT_TYPE-
SPEECH
-AUTHOR-
F. CASTRO
-HEADLINE-
GRADUATION-ALVARO REYNOSO TECHNICAL SCHOOL
-PLACE-
CUBA
-SOURCE-
HAVANA DOMESTIC RADIO
-REPORT_NBR-
FBIS
-REPORT_DATE-
19641116
-TEXT-
CASTRO SPEECH AT ATHENAEUM IN MATANZAS

Havana Domestic Radio and Television Services in Spanish 0245 GMT 14
November 1964-F/E

(Live speech at the graduation ceremonies for the Alvaro Reynoso Technical
School).

(Text) Comrade graduates, comrade students, comrade students of the
revolutionary instruction schools, and, of course, comrade
professors--since you will hear us: of what importance is this function to
the Revolution? It has the importance of being the first graduation from an
agricultural technology institute--more precisely, the first graduation
from a technological institute devoted to the cultivation of sugarcane. The
first contingent is graduating from a technological institute of this type
created by the Revolution.

But that is not all. This is the first contingent to graduate under a
gigantic plan for the training of agricultural technicians. I think that
this can be better understood from figures: these are the first 91
graduates of the 40,000 technicians we propose to train in 10 years
(applause). But that is not all: this is the first military center for
technological training already in operation. What will the military
preuniversity and technological education centers be? Simply the merging of
two great interests of the fatherland and the Revolution: the importance to
the country of education and the importance to the country and the
Revolution of being organized and prepared to defend themselves.

When compulsory military service (SMO) was established, we faced the need
to solve the problem of what to do with the students. Were we going to have
on the one hand youths who were going to go through military service
schools where they would acquire discipline, good training, and good and
disciplined characters, or on the other hand were they, because of the need
for and the importance of study, going to constitute an important nucleus
of the people without discipline, without training, without organization,
and without the tempering military education gives? The idea emerged to do
both things--to begin organizing military centers for technological and
preuniversity education so that the young students, while completing their
study program, could complete with SMO, which was a problem for many. How
was it going to be resolved? It is being resolved in this way.

There is no doubt that both will benefit: study will benefit and the
military units will also benefit. Study will benefit because, as the
comrade director of the school explained, he has been able to observe, from
the moment this technological institute began to operate as a military
center, greater discipline, greater devotion to study, a higher level of
study, better attendance, and extraordinarily good conduct. This has made
the professors feel truly satisfied with the conduct, education, formality,
and correctness that military training gives the youths. Military service
will benefit because, logically, youths who are in technological institutes
of a preuniversity level have the knowledge necessary to be able to
understand military training and to handle the weapons which, because they
are more complex all the time, require a high level of education.

Thus this process has already been accomplished. Today 91 students who were
in that technical institute are graduating here, and at the same time 704
students who make up the contingents of the first and second year of this
military center of technical education are present (applause). Among the
704 there are over 100 in the second year. This means that things are
snowballing (laughter), giving us an idea of how the number of technicians
is increasing. This means that within three years--or perhaps it will take
them a little longer, four years because logically military instruction
will mean the extension of one year in the general study program--that is
why within four years, the number of graduates will not be 90; the number
of graduates will be a few hundred. Later on, the number of graduates per
year will be a few thousand.

In the program for training technicians, several technical institutes will
be dedicated to raising sugarcane just like this one. We hope to have five
technical institutes of this type: one in Mantanzas Province, another in
Las Villas, another in Camaguey, and two in Oriente. We will have one
technical institute for tobacco in Pinar del Rio and we will have seven
technical institutes for animal husbandry in Havana. This may seem somewhat
paradoxical, but it happens, the necessary installations are available in
Havana. Students from the entire country will come to them and return. This
does not mean that we will graduate students from those technical
institutes and that they will remain in Havana. A very few will remain, and
not in Havana. They will remain in the interior of Havana Province.

Technical institutes of the type here in Matanzas will be filled primarily
with rural high school graduates. However, some of those institutes will be
partly filled with agricultural workers who are taking course to raise
their educational level, particularly in the soil, fertilizer, and
cattle-feeding technical institutes.

Of the seven--no, of the--how many? The total was 7,000 students, six
institutes. How many did I say? I said seven (preceding recaptulation
numbered--ed.). There are 7,000 students and six institutes, calculated
more or less, because some have 1,500 students. Two of those institutes
have 1,500 students. Of those 7,000 students, 5,000 will be workers and
2,000 will come from the student centers.

However, even with those we would not arrive at the number of technicians
we want to train in that 10-year program. Where is the great reinforcement
going to come from, to reach the figure we have proposed? From the Camilo
Cienfuegos school city (applause). By next year, we will have 7,000
students in a group of institutes. In addition, we will have the students
in the other technical and cane institutes. It is to be expected that
within approximately three years, the number will reach between 10,000 and
12,000 students. However, even with 10,000 or 12,000 students we could not
reach our goals. But the school city, when it is finished, will mean--and
already it has 3,000 students and it has the equipment for 3,000. I do not
know the exact number, but it is close to this figure--a contribution of
20,000 students for this plan. Where will these students come from? They
will come from the rural junior high schools, and other will come from the
agricultural state farms and the peasant areas to the number of about
5,000.

This means that thousands of agricultural workers will, through that
program of training technicians, reach the eighth grade in the first place,
receive a technical education in the second place, and many of them will
also have the opportunity of economic agronomy engineers.

This requires maximum use of the rural basic secondary schools. What are
the rural basic secondary schools? They are the education centers where the
students from the countryside, children of workers and peasants, graduate
from the sixth grade. However, as the number of students in the schools is
now very great, even though the number of sixth grade graduates is not very
large, within a very few years there will be tens of thousands who will
graduate and many of them will be youths from the countryside who will
graduate from the sixth grade. From the sixth grade they will go to the
rural basic secondary schools. From the rural basic secondary schools they
will be able to go to the technological institutes.

This naturally requires construction of schools, adaptation of teaching
installations, and a very large number of teachers and professors for the
technological institutes. For this reason, of the first 500 students of the
Libertad soil and fertilizer institute who will graduate approximately
within a year and a half, the great majority will go the new technological
institutes which are being organized. They will go to the school city as
professors. Others will go to other technical centers.

With all this, comrade, everything is going to be very clear. In this way,
one thing will not be said first and another thing later, thus creating
problems as occurred with this first school. However, it was not anyone's
fault. It was partly because the ideas were not exact and could not be
developed well; nor could it be clearly seen what our essential needs for
technicians were.

The first groups from this technical institute will go to another technical
institute to teach. We also think that in the future, in order to enroll in
these agronomy schools it will be necessary to graduate from these
agricultural technological institutes. Previously, they had to have a
bachelor's degree to go to the agronomy schools, and sometimes some youths
from the cities with a bachelor's degree had practically never seen any
other flowers than those in the park. They studied for various
reasons--some because of vocation, others because their parents had land.
These were the circumstances, all in all. These were the circumstances, all
in all. In the future, the way to enter the agronomy schools will be
through the technical institutes. However, it will not be a massive
entrance. Why? Because practically all the graduates from the technical
institutes will enroll in the universities. They will continue studying
while they are in productive work. However, for this we have to create
large numbers of university professors, because there will be an increasing
volume of students who will not be in the university; they will be in
production. Therefore it will be necessary to create facilities for the
students who graduate from this school and are already in production while
continuing to study. It will be necessary to create the most modern means
of communication, facilities for the continuation of the courses, and
facilities for examinations.

However, at the same time, a small group of one out of 10 or one out of 20,
according to their experience and vocation, will be selected. They will not
be sent into production when they finish the technological institute; they
will be sent to the university, where they will be able to acquire
high-level knowledge and specialties in the various subjects of these
sciences, and they will be sent to the research centers.

In this way everyone will have the opportunity to be an engineer--some
through one path and others through another path.

However, our agronomy schools will have a reduced number of students taking
classes at the universities and a very large number of students who will
not be in the university, but in production. Selections will have to be
made, and many of the future technicians for work in the research centers
and many of the future specialists in agriculture, in those subjects which
require a great amount of specialization, will come from this source. This
plan is aimed at these objectives.

We want this to create the base so that our country will become a country
with one of the most advanced agricultural systems of the world. Since
perhaps it is possible that similar movements for producing technicians for
agriculture do not exist in other countries, it would not be a utopian or
unrealistic ambition to hope that our country may be converted into the
foremost country in the world in the field of agriculture.

Naturally, our position in this field is today very far from first place.
Our agriculture today, as in most of the underdeveloped nations, is an
agriculture which is extraordinarily backward. It lacks a technical base
and technicians. It is sufficient to say that 60--I do not recall exactly,
but it was between 60 and 80 of our present state sugarcane farm
administrators have a third, fourth, or fifth grade education. Naturally,
these comrades are improving themselves. They are studying, they are taking
a technical course every year; but naturally, it is at a very low cultural
and technical level.

With these procedures and along this road--I do not know if I am a bit more
optimistic sometimes, but it is true that I tend to be optimistic--I dare
say our country will become one of the leaders in the world in the
technical development of its agriculture, and I confess that at the bottom
of my heart I have the dream that our country will one day lead all the
others (applause). This is not the product of fantasy, because dreamers are
those who think up impossible things or who do not do the things required
to implement an idea. But when everything necessary is done, there is no
fantasy.

It may be that if we had spoken that way during the early part of the
revolution, it might have seemed a bit less possible, but now that we are
seeing the plans advancing already; now that we see the university cities
growing; the scholastic city; now that we already see thousands of workers
improving themselves; now that we see the extraordinary interest being
aroused throughout the country in technology and study; now that we see
that formidable technical force already on the march; now that we know that
within 10 years we will attain that goal, that we will unfailingly attain
the goal of incorporating 40,000 technicians into agriculture; now that we
also know that those technicians will be trained under the best conditions;
now that we know that we will not cease the effort until there is a
research center in each technical education center and until they have all
the laboratories and all the equipment and all the books--and not only all
the books, but the best and most modern books in that field; now that we
know that the youths are quality youths, now that we know that they are
youths imbued with a strong concept of discipline and responsibility, now
that we know that those youths are full of awareness and trust in the
future, now that we know that those youths are inspired by the future we
dream of for our fatherland; we do not have the slightest doubt, it is not
possible for there to be the slightest doubt that our ambition is not a
fantasy.

It may be that we are only just beginning. It may be that within a year,
two years at the most, what today is a desire to study and become
technicians may become real fanaticism. We are barely beginning, but what a
great number of requests for books can be seen everywhere! We are barely
beginning, but what interest is seen! We are barely beginning, but all the
provincial committees of our party have already set aside one day a week
for study circles and that movement is already extending to all the
regional committees of the party. The study circles organized by the party
comrades are being attended by the comrade administrators of the
agricultural groupings, the comrades who work on the various levels of
agriculture, the comrades of the unions, the ANAP comrades, the comrades of
the Federation of Women, and even the comrades of the JUCEI have asked to
be included in the study circles in some places. Thus, a party is being
formed that has a vocation to acquire a (word indistinct) technical level;
a party is being formed that as years pass will have cadres with a truly
profound knowledge of the problems of the economy, agriculture, and
technology.

And it is not that our country wishes to develop in the field of
agriculture only, not simply, what our country must do is take advantage of
the fantastic potential of agriculture. Our enemies have claimed at times
that we have renounced industrialization. No! In the first place, that
agricultural development requires the development of industry, and
moreover, in our situation agriculture is the foundation for our
development. Agriculture is what will give the country the resources
necessary for the development of industry in general. If it were not for
sugarcane, if it were not for the reserves we obtain from sugarcane, no
ships would enter Cuba: not even a single train, a single plane, a single
transport would move. Without sugar, we would not even have light. We
would not have the resources we must import. Sugar pays for the immense
majority of the country's imports.

Of course, unfortunately we have only sugar. But within a period of time we
will have much more than that. We will have many more products from
agriculture and they will become important sources of the resources that
are important to the country. But we will not be left with only sugar, nor
with the sugar we had. We will have other products we did not have in the
past.

With those resources, we will be satisfying not only our immediate consumer
needs-the immediate needs of our development also. If we make this great
effort in agriculture, it is simply because from agriculture will come the
basic resources for the development of the country.

Our country has ideal conditions in its soil, in its soil and its climate.
In our country, a machine can work practically the entire year in many
types of agriculture. In many countries, a tractor has to stop completely
during many winter months. Machines have to be stopped. In many countries
of the world the growing cycle is completely halted for many months.
Pastures do not grow one centimeter. No plants grow. In our country, the
growing cycle continues practically throughout the year. The amount of
sunlight received by our soil, with a more or less ideal climate for
agriculture, with a climate which does not have those tremendous variations
of cold and heat, with a relatively high amount of rainfall, makes for
ideal agricultural conditions.

It is clear that our country does not have agricultural resources alone.
Our country also has mineral resources which we must aspire to develop
fully. Above all, there is a resource in our country which is more
important than all the rest: the people. Among its many natural resources,
this country also has magnificent people, and another natural resource--it
is natural also because it is said that revolutions are natural--is the
Revolution (applause), and another great resource, which is a result of the
Revolution, is socialism (applause).

However, what is happening is that this world is much used and little
understood. There are many people who believe they are socialist, whom we
could very well lend to the capitalists for the capitalists' rejuvenation
(laughter, applause). The opportunities offered by socialism for developing
our economy are incredible. If, for example, technology is the base for
production, if technology is the base for which no substitute can be made
for achieving high productivity, do you suppose that a plan such as this
could be carried out under the capitalist system? Do you believe that
40,000 agricultural technicians could have been trained here before? It is
possible that in 50 years not even 400 would have been trained. I say 400
as an extraordinary exaggeration, for there were many graduate technicians
who had never even seen a cow (laughter). Not even 400 in 50 years! Only
under the conditions created by the Revolution, only under the conditions
offered by socialism for long-range planning, only under the conditions it
offers for the rational utilization of natural resources can such a plan be
carried out.

Only when the available resources of the country are used under the
socialist regime--the enormous expenses of land where great enterprises may
be carried out with technology and machines under optimum conditions--can
we aspire to raise 10 million tons of sugar as a minimum on practically the
same amount of land as is used today. Only by replacing manual cutting of
cane by machine cutting can we aspire to those amounts. Only by increasing
yields to double and more than double can we aspire to those amounts.

The advantages offered by an organized and planned economy are incredible.
The advantages offered when that development can be carried out in an
orderly manner, using all resources in a rational manner, are incredible.
There is practically nothing impossible under those conditions--nothing is
impossible. And some may ask: "Well, why are there difficulties in some
things? Why do some problems exist? without taking into account that
problems are being overcome and left behind.

At any rate, there are many people who call themselves socialists and who
have not one hair which is socialist. There is the socialist administrator
who thinks nothing of wasting 100 pesos. There is the socialist
administration who does not care if he increases salary expenditures over
the value of production, the socialist administrator who fills an office
with bureaucrats (applause): "revolutionary and socialist," and he does not
care about a dollar wasted or earned! Unfortunately, this type of
pseudorevolutionary still exists in large numbers. Unfortunately, this
irresponsible type still exists in large numbers. Unfortunately, people who
do not care about money still exist in large numbers. However, we must not
worry, we must not be concerned: we are going to sweep them out with this
new generation we are training (applause)!

When we began in the mountains, and we were only four, there were times
when we saw a small troop of 24 enemy soldiers pass by. We could do
nothing, but we thought: "The time will come when they will not pass." As
we grew and the number of fighters became more and more, as we acquired
more and more experience, and more knowledge of the terrain, there were not
only 24 soldiers who came, but 200, 300, and 400, but they did not return.

It is clear that during these early days the number of those who know is
very small, and the number of those who believe they know is very large,
and the number of those who believe they know, and know nothing, is
immense. The number of those who believe that problems are very simple,
easily solved, and that they can be resolved routinely, automatically,
without stopping to think for a minute, is large. A number of those who do
not care if they tear up equipment is large. The number of those who
cannibalize equipment, who do not have the small amount of patience to
carry out the necessary transactions, is large. The number of those who
waste is large.

However, we must not worry. There are two things which are increasing:
consciousness: on one hand organization, on the other--and a new force on
the other, there are three things. (as heard) Consciousness is being
created among all the people. Organization is being created primarily
through our party. The spirit of responsibility and seriousness is being
created. Experience, knowledge, a better trained number of cadres, and the
training of many of our cadres through improvement studies is increasing
rapidly. These things will make themselves felt.

However, it is well that some ideas, some concepts be made very, very,
very, clear to us. When someone spends a peso, let him know that the peso
he is spending is not his, that is belongs to the people and that when one
spends a peso--let us say that when a capitalist spent a peso, he tried not
to waste it. Whoever spends a peso belonging to the people has a much
greater obligation. Let not the one who spends the people's money without
caring if he wastes it call himself revolutionary or a socialist, or even
an honorable man.

This is one of the worst crimes that can be committed: that of wasting,
squandering, throwing away the people's money. Every centavo handled by a
revolutionary who is at the head of an enterprise, an organization--any
place, is a centavo belonging to the people, and each centavo means the
sweat of the people, the work of the people. When someone thoughtlessly
invests 30 pesos where 10 would do the job, he is throwing away the
people's money. When someone grants high wages in the department where he
works, he is giving away the people's money.

There are some types of officials who, when transferred from one place to
another, cannot go unless they take all their friends. There are some cases
of astonishingly high wages, and when we see some huge wages in some
organizations, we see a type of official of relative unimportance who has a
salary higher than that of the chief of an army; an armed forces comrade
with very great responsibilities sometimes has a salary smaller than
someone who shuffles papers of little importance in some office.

When it is seen how these high salaries have been created in some places,
they say it is for this or that reason, and we ask why, and it is
essentially because these are the petit bourgeois, the petit bourgeois
doing things for the petit bourgeois. It is the petit bourgeois mentality
introduced into the socialist state. Naturally, those people forget that
this is a revolution of the workers and peasants: They forget that this is
a revolution of the workers for the workers, and not a revolution of the
workers for the petit bourgeois (applause), and that this revolution has to
revolve around the interests of the workers and not around the interests of
the petit bourgeois.

These are those who think it is quite fair that someone who works inside
with air conditioning, performing unimportant work, receives very high
wages, 400 and more pesos, while someone who is milking some 30 zebu cows
every day, practically risking his life, is earning 80 or 85 pesos
(applause).

It is clear that this does not mean that we must go running and pay the one
who is milking the zebu cows 200 pesos. No, because that is exactly what
the petit bourgeois do. They forget economic laws, economic realities, and
forget that when they put more money into circulation, there is less meat,
milk, and vegetables, and the result is the queue and the ration booklet,
and that before putting more money in the people's pockets, they must put
more products on the market (applause).

And how much work it takes to produce a peso's worth of a product, be it
milk meat, vegetables, sugarcane, cotton, or any material goods--how much
work they cost! And how easily some people spend a peso! How easily some
people waste a peso! Sincerely, those who spend a peso easily do not know
how hard it is to produce a peso worth of material goods. It may be that
the milkers of zebu cows know well how much work must be performed to
product a peso worth of mil, but the office bureaucrat does not; he never
saw milk produced; he consumes it, but he has never seen it produced nor
does he produce it. Obviously, he does not have a clear idea of what it
costs to product material goods. In truth, the bureaucrat produces pesos
like a magician who pulls them out of his hat (laughter). You may have seen
someone in the circus who takes a little dove out of his hat. He takes out
eggs and the like. That is how people with a bureaucratic mentality get
pesos. But it is one thing to get pesos and another to get meat, mil, food,
clothing, shoes, housing, and everything the people need. That does not
come out of a hat, that does not come from someone's imagination. That
comes from work; it must be worked for and sweated for.

When you see the--I was going to say the embezzlers; it used to be the
embezzlers, but now we must speak of the wasters. But I do not know what
the difference is--one did it out of bad faith and the other because of
idiocy. The result is the same or worse because the embezzler can be put in
jail, but who knows where the idiot should be put? Sometimes an idiot is
taken from one spot and sent to another so that the poor fellow will not
feel bad or crushed, but he commits another and worse idiocy (laughter).

Honestly, we have said that there are some people to whom it would be
better to give an even higher salary and retire them. It would be a
thousand times cheaper for the country than to have them blundering about.
As you have seen, no dove came out of here (laughter). That is the trouble
with those who forget economic laws, the meaning of money. That is why one
of the first things to be asked someone who is given a post in which he
must handle money is whether he know what money is. If they at least knew
the meaning of money, what it is, and that money is worthless unless it is
backed up by a product; if they know that when they spend money and nothing
is produced, they are simply harming the economy, stealing from the people,
then they are more qualified to hold a post.

Many people have heard bells but do not know where they are. They have
heard about socialism and they think that socialism is a party. They think
it is a picnic, a game. I am going to tell you why some people think
everything is so easy: because many people never even fired a firecracker,
many people never even killed a fly. Suddenly there was a revolution and it
seemed that the revolution fell from heaven! Many people do not have the
slightest idea of what a revolution costs, of the sacrifices a revolution
implies, and therefore they cannot love the revolution very much.

One loves what one has fought much for. One loves what has been hard to
obtain. Many people thought that revolutions were very easy because they
awoke on 6 January--1 January--to hear that there was a triumphant
revolution in the country, that Batista had run off, and that the
revolution had triumphed.

They said: "How easy! We went to sleep fresh and we arose with a triumphant
revolution!" And they thought that everything was easy. There are bunches
of idiots like that around. They have that mentality. They do not know what
money is, and moreover they think that everything is easy.

To put it simply, those petit bourgeois, idiotic, and ignorant elements
must be fought--hard and everywhere. That is the task of our party and it
should be the task of our people because of the importance of creating an
awareness. We know that awareness is being created among the people. We
know that the forces which will overcome all those evils are in the party
and in the people. They will overcome all those currents. They will
overcome that miserable petit bourgeois spirit which still persists in the
Revolution. They are the forces that will overcome all those negative
factors.

But do not confuse those people with the counterrevolutionaires. Even so,
there are people who do much more harm than 500 counterrevolutionaries
combined. There are some around. They are around. Of course,
counterrevolutionaries are impotent. But an idiot in an important post can
do the damage of 10,000 counterrevolutionaries. I think that everyone
understands those things, the people understand, but they are things that
must be stressed here in a school where the first contingent is graduating
because it is necessary that the new forces--and this must be made clear to
you so that you will not fall into the error of easy things. This must be
made clear to you so that you will not fall into those errors.

You may recall what we spoke of in Las Villas Province--that one of the
things that gave us concern about young people is that many young people
have obtained many things too easily in this country. Of course there is no
justification for including you among those young people: you have studied
for six years; you have earned your training, a job, consideration. Of
course, that was much easier than it could have been achieved in the past.
That is to say, you had the opportunity and you have made good use of the
opportunity. Magnificent conditions have been created for youth.
Magnificent opportunities have been created for youths.

The Revolution means precisely this guarantee of opportunity to each youth
born in this country, the guarantee of education for each youth born in
this country; the guarantee of the right to occupy a decent place in our
society for all youth born and reared in our country; the right to live in
dignity, honorably, decently; the right of each youth to occupy the place
that belongs to him because of his qualifications, character, and virtues.
This is the Revolution. The Revolution means the creation of these rights
for everyone without that former hateful distinction between the rich and
poor, the rights of all youth born in this country and the rights of all of
you and your children. This is a hope which your parents had. This is the
opportunity which the common people of this country desired for their
children for centuries. They always had discrimination, injustice,
exploitation. The Revolution means this beautiful thing, privileges, this
great thing of being able to give every man, every human being, these
rights.

You must realize this because this awareness should develop in you more
than in anyone. You can say that you have been growing up with the
Revolution. You have been becoming adults with the Revolution, and it is
necessary that you more than anyone understand these things. We want the
youth to be well-educated, well-schooled, well-organized, well-trained, and
well-informed. The Revolution has perhaps no more important task than
this--the preparation of the new generations for a superior life, a better
life, a different life.

This is the most sacred task of the Revolution, the most essential and
important task. This is the most decisive task of the Revolution--that
youth be trained to live much better, so that they will reach a much higher
level of cultural, material, and social life. Youth must understand these
things more than anyone so that in the future these things which we are
criticizing will not exist.

However, watchfulness will be necessary so that they will not exist.
Awareness, conviction will always be necessary. It will be necessary for
this spirit to be formed in the youth. This will be the task, obligation,
and daily work of the Revolution, of our party. How do we organize the
party? By selecting the best, selecting the vanguard workers from each
center--those whom the mass of workers know to be dignified men--to form
part of their vanguard. Because of this, our party is acquiring more
prestige every day, and because of this it is acquiring more moral
authority with the masses--because it is the selection of the best. To be a
member of the party does not imply any kind of privileges; it means
essentially obligations, it means sacrifices, it means work. You, as youths
who are graduating, must aspire today to belong to the ranks of the
Communist Youth and you must aspire, as workers, to the honor of someday
becoming members of our party wherever you go to perform your tasks,
wherever you go to practice the training you have acquired.

However, above all I want to emphasize that you must not consider
yourselves as having graduated tonight. You have completed one phase, have
finished one stage of your studies; you must not feel that you have stopped
being students tonight. You have finished at the technological institute
and now you are passing on to production, but we continue to look on you as
students. Naturally, a bit of good advice alone would not solve everything.
We will, of course, reward those who go on studying. Those who make an
effort, those who show an interest in studying, will be rewarded.

Now you are going to work. You must, of course, begin by understanding that
the knowledge you have acquired must be supplemented through practice. The
knowledge you have acquired of agriculture in general and cane in
particular must now receive the test of practice. You will continue to
receive books; you will enroll in the university. You will even go on doing
study exercises. You will not be dispersed. You will go, those who are
going in to production now--apart from those who are going into research
and those who are going to the university to prepare for teaching--the
approximate 60 who are going into production will go in teams of six
students, as you know. The comrades were telling us there are some very
good ones, and others so-so, but in general we have tried to balance the
teams. Quite proper. And they are going to work in teams. We are even
thinking of assigning them to one single province, this one Matanzas
Province (applause), which is a cane-growing province, to be nearer the
school, to enjoy greater facilities for receiving materials. In the future
we will send them to other provinces. Since you are the first, and this is
entering a stage where it is still necessary to gain experience, especially
regarding the process of this program, you will be nearer, with greater
facilities, with more contact with the school.

The teams will be sent to determined places. And why in teams? Above all so
they will keep the study team. And they must try to organize their lives so
that every day they devote some time to studying, and if possible one whole
day to studying every week, so they will keep up the program and continue
studying at the same time that they are working as technicians in
production.

What is a technician? An intellectual of production? No. A gentleman who
sees the others working and does nothing? No. Let no one imagine that the
title of technician gives him the right to become a sort of aristocrat of
production. You will have to work in your specialty, in the technical line.
Naturally, the most effective way to work and make use of knowledge is, let
us say, as the person in charge of a plot of cane. But you cannot yet go to
a plot of cane. You may know a little more about cane than the rustic who
is there, but the rustic who is there may be a bit tougher than you, may
have more character and a bit more experience. I will not say this is true
in every case, but you must acquire a little more maturity before you can
administer a plot.

Now you must seek to have cane-growing techniques applied and generalized.
You must go to the farms, the groupings. You must more or less see the
types of soil; you must try to have a soil map made of the entire grouping
for example, have a study made of the different kinds of soil--in that you
will still need advice--the different varieties of cane, the different
physical characteristics of those soils, the productivity per
cabelleria--how much this is producing, and this, and this, and why.
Because your mission is to try to have technical knowledge applied to cane
growing, and you have already acquired some specialized knowledge of that,
and I am sure a team of you will soon be in a condition to solve technical
problems, to know the reasons why productivity is so low there, why it is
higher over there, what elements are lacking in the soil, what work the
land needs, what cane variety would be most suitable.

We must apply technical knowledge to raise productivity per unit of land.
The day must come when every plot of 15 or 20 caballerias is known, when
the soil in each plot is mapped: the physical characteristics, the chemical
characteristics of each plot. The day must come when there is not an
analysis just once a year; the day must come when the soil or the cane is
analyzed several times during each harvest. That is to say, we must attain
a technical level at which we are in a position to control or influence
every factor that determines a big harvest, by the use of fertilizer, by
the use of suitable farming methods, by the use of suitable varieties. But
we must be in a position to know what is happening every month on every
plot. We must attain that degree of technical progress; naturally, we
cannot do so now, because many more trained men and women are required for
that. We need many laboratories, many laboratory technicians, because
(several words indistinct) as test be run or an analysis made and have it
done in time. It is also necessary to have available all mechanical means
and all chemical means.

I am not speaking about irrigation, for we have to assume that we will
never have all the land under irrigation. Naturally, with irrigation we get
better crops and have more assured production, but we have to learn above
all to obtain the maximum production by using natural (word indistinct).
The goal is the day when each cane lot will have a technician present who
will follow the entire process of the cane harvest from the sowing to the
cutting, follow the process month by month with absolute control of all
factors that could have a bearing on production. Of course, we cannot
aspire to that now. You will go to specific organizations and see very good
and very bad cane; you will see places where poor techniques are being
applied.

In the book on cane which you received, which was published in Las Villas,
and whose production is quite deficient--but a better publication will be
made. Did you get the book? You did not receive it? (Students answer: No).
Then what are the books printed in Las Villas University for? Are they
going to sugar candy with them? (laughter) Did you receive the book on cane
diseases? (The students answer: Yes) But what about the book on sugarcane
growing? (Students answer: They said that it had been sent to you). Me?
They sent me one. If they sent them in a mail package or by railroad, they
went elsewhere. All I know is that I have only one book. In any event, do
not be too concerned about that. We feel that that book will be printed,
perfectly translated, with photos and graphs, complete by no later than the
end of January. That is a very good book, a very good book. However, it
will not be the only book.

Several comrades told me of another book concerning the last cane congress.
This book contains all the techniques that have been applied in different
parts of the world. I believe that this book will be very interesting
because many of those experiences are and can be useful to us--not all. You
will see, through the most specialized cane studies, that some techniques
which yield good results under some conditions do not yield exactly the
same results under other conditions. However, many things are applicable
worldwide. In the business of cane, you will see many factors that have
worldwide application and, as you become more acquainted with the land, you
will observe the physical and chemical characteristics of soil and climate.
In many countries the soil and climate are very similar to ours. You will
see that some techniques have worldwide application. Of course, other
techniques have to be adapted to the conditions of a specific country.
However, we are going to do everything possible to see that you receive all
the books, and not only the books, but lectures, pamphlets or everything
printed on cane.

We can utilize the experiences gained everywhere in the world in addition
to those we gradually acquire in our country. We should arm ourselves with
that knowledge. Undoubtedly, with any army of sugarcane technicians armed
with knowledge of what has been done with cane everywhere in the world and
with the research we may carry out, we can produce cane for more than 10
million tons of sugar. What is strange is that the l0-million-ton harvest
have practically been sold already. It is said that we have sold the sugar
we have not produced yet. In other words, we have sold what we have to
produce each year. Year after year we have been selling almost 10 million
tons of sugar. However, I am sure that in 1970--what will be the problem of
1970?--in 1970 we are going to have the 10 million tons and we are going to
set the goal of producing 2 or 3 million tons more.

But the matter does not depend on producing sugar on more land--no. Here,
the problem is to raise production on the same land area. Because once we
reach 10 million tons, we are going to continue going up without increasing
the land area by one inch. We need the land for something else. We are not
going to produce cane only. And here this factor comes into play: when we
reach the levels we are talking about--in regard to absolute control in
each lot--we can be working with the same land area as we now have with
present levels of technology but on levels which naturally are increasing
year after year. On the same land area which we will use to produce 10
million tons, we will later be able to produce much more sugar. I have not
the least doubt of that. You also will not doubt that in the least. You
have seen the yields that have been obtained in other countries.

In fact, our country has the highest percentage of sugar in the world, but
on the other hand, our country is among the countries with the lowest
yields on cane per hectare. You well know that there are lands that have
been producing cane for 100 years without a pinch of fertilizer; that land
is practically exhausted.

When fertilizers and proper cultivation methods are applied in the proper
varieties there will be no reason for us to lag behind any country, because
we can produce as much cane per caballeria as the country that produces the
most and we can obtain a greater yield of sugar than any other country. If
in addition to a high yield of sugar, we achieve the maximum yield of cane,
we too can publish our little book and participate in congresses and speak
about our little cane and what we have done with it. It is a shame that the
name of Cuba does not appear in any of the books you have seen. Some
countries produce one-tenth as much sugar as Cuba and have carried out 100
more research projects than Cuba. The name of Cuba barely appears in
technical books even though we are developing experimental stations.

Well, we are not going to worry about that, that the name of Cuba--that
does not matter. We mention this as a good proof of what has not been done.
The name of Cuba will be known in relations to the amount of tons of
sugarcane we are going to produce year after year. There is no doubt that
we will achieve that. You know that there is sugar discretion, but the cane
is growing (audience laughs). No one mentions that, but everyone knows how
the cane is growing here and there, and especially in this province the
cane is something to see. I have seen some cane plants that look like palm
trees (applause). But no one knows exactly how many tons will be produced.
That is the problem. (passage indistinct)

The problem rests on the harvest, and we will have to really carry out a
national mobilization, a great effort, to be able to cut the cane. The
machines are arriving, but naturally the number arriving do not as yet
resolve the problem. The problem will be solved in later years; for some
time we will have to make a great effort during the harvest. But it is very
important, because by winning the battle of the harvest next year we win
the battle of the economy. If the harvest battle is won, we will have won
the battle of the economy (applause). We have no doubt that we will win the
battle by a good margin.

Of course, we do not have the problem of cane only; we also have several
other agricultural lines that have to be dealt with. Next year we will also
have to win the battle of starchy vegetables (applause). We plan to do away
with the starchy vegetables ration book by the end of 1965. We also have
plans for meat and milk production. For example, next year this province
will produce double this year's milk production. In other words, milk
production has increased greatly in this province and so has cane and
starchy vegetables production.

This was the province that the counterrevolutionaries tried to take as a
base, the province that the CIA tried to fill with bands, spies, terrorist,
murderers of workers (shouts). They tried to turn this province into a
counterrevolutionary nucleus. And look what we have in this province. We
are cramming it with technicians (applause) and we have invaded it with
sugarcane, we have invaded it with sugarcane.

Furthermore, morale is much higher than when the CIA bands were roving
about. The cane is better cultivated, better cared for. Consequently, the
counterrevolutionary enemy was dealt a defeat. The counterrevolutionary
enemy was crushed here (applause). In fact, the counterrevolutionary bands
lasted approximately 45 days here. When the anti-bandit battalions arrived,
they were cleaned out in 45 days (applause). Then the battalions went to
Las Villas and finished mopping-up operations there. Things have really
become difficult for counterrevolutionaries.

It is strange that in agriculture Matanzas Province has taken first place
in the country (prolonged applause). That is good, because geographically
speaking it is the closest to Miami, and the CIA made the greatest efforts
here to infiltrate counterrevolutionaries and arms and has found that
Matanzas Province is in the first place in agriculture. One can say that
this province has taken a tremendous leap--a tremendous leap--and is
continuing to advance. This should also be credited to the province.

We have been discussing some matters with comrades in the province to the
end that, for example, from the milk increase next year the quota assigned
to the capital will continue and the rest will remain here in this province
(applause). As Havana Province has increased its agricultural production,
for example, some fish is being sent here, and the production increases
obtained in other items--(sentence unfinished). For example, this province
will receive a weekly amount that will improve supply. Weekly quotas of
meat have been increased too. However, production increase obtained in the
province should be felt in the province. These increases should be felt in
the province. Naturally, we have to supply the large population centers. We
plan to see that most of production increases achieved in each province
revert to the province obtaining these increases. For that reason, we
believe that consumption will increase considerably in Matanzas Province.

When we agreed to make certain shipments of fish to the province--we are
beginning but cannot begin in all the towns at the same time, we are going
to go town by town--we told the comrades of the province, the comrades of
the party: "Well, the fish that we will sent to Matanzas will mean 60,000
pesos more in monthly consumption. Look, if we send 60,000 pesos on one
side, and on the other side, the wage funds are increased by another 60,000
pesos, we have made no gain." We proposed a deal to the comrades of the
party. "What deal?" they asked. We said: "Well, we will send you the fish
on condition that you freeze all office jobs." (applause) We told the
comrades: "You will have to make sure that not a single space more is
allocated to any office; and not only that: if a new factory is built, do
not fill it with new people, but take into consideration those factories
with surplus personnel. Therefore, let us increase production without
increasing the wage fund. Furthermore, you must see to it that not a single
farmer goes to work in a store, a new factory, or a tourist center."
(applause).

That has happened in many places. Farm workers have been put to work in
stands or in tourist centers and taken out of the farms, where we need
manpower the most. For that reason, we brought to the attention of the
party comrades throughout the province the need for establishing order
here. Some have made progress along this line; others have begun. Order
must be established here, gentlemen. That transfer, that migration of field
workers to the cities is absurd. We have had to say: "No one leaves the
fields except to study. They will be the only ones permitted to leave the
fields, and they must return to the fields after completing their studies."

We have a basic need to prevent continuation of the transfer, the
migration, of field workers to the cities. The cities have more than enough
personnel for each new industry, new service, that is established. What an
absurd error it is to bring farm workers to fill city jobs! That will be
one of the tasks of the party, and these are some of the commitments the
party comrades made. They also committed themselves not to allocate new
vacancies when new factories open, but to transfer workers from several
centers that have 50 or 100 surplus workers.

And they might ask: "And what about the youths?" Well, for the youths we
have something else--studies. We are not really concerned about giving jobs
to youths. We are aware of the employment picture nowadays. The problem we
have in the field is not (a few words indistinct), but lack of manpower.
Those problems exist in many places in the country. The situation is
different now. Before, it was said "Forty thousand youths have reached
working age and have no jobs." Now we say: "Forty thousand youths have
reached age to study." Because if everyone, every youth, has an opportunity
to study and every youth has an opportunity to receive a scholarship and
prepare himself, our business today is precisely to turn each youth into a
technician, not to create a vacancy to give an insignificant job to a youth
where he might go to seed for the rest of his life. What the country must
not do is create vacancies for youths. For youths we create vacancies in
technological institutes, schools, and universities. When we send them to
work, we will send them as leaders, creating vacancies for youths, because
the Revolution is concerned with raising the productivity of every working
enterprise and with raising the capability and training of all youths.

We have another little problem to discuss: There is a series of tasks being
carried out by women. For example, in the past one would set up a hatchery
and bring any peasant and say: "Pancho, take care of these chickens,"
(audience laughs) or one would bring a farm worker to do a job that he
would not want to leave. We have said: "That is a job that can be done
perfectly well by women and an activity that can be a source of employment
for women." We have many women that can work in chicken-raising. Not a
single store job must be created for men (applause). When we establish a
tourist center, unless it is a specialized job, as the chief or the like,
let us put the women to work. Here the wife, the companion, or daughter of
any worker can work (applause). We have to be very careful with the
employment of our working force, with the employment of human resources.

We are not planning the use of (slaves?)--how many (slaves?) are to be used
and how they are to be used. The most valuable, the most important thing a
country has is its labor force. It must be applied in a rational and
orderly way. Hundreds of thousands of cows have to be milked. (Some are
fierce cows?) (laughter). Who will milk them? Production must be raised.
Tractors have to be operated, trucks have to be operated, combines have to
be operated. There is hard work to be done. Who is to do it? Those who can
do (anything?), let them leave the women the other work which is not so
hard (laughter, applause). There are many who are proud, who say they are
men of spirit; well, let them not hide in the shade. Leave the easy work to
the women (laughter, applause).

This does not mean that women cannot do much work. It does not mean that
women cannot operate a tractor, a mechanical milker; but we do not have
this mechanical milker. It is indubitable that there is some work which is
too hard, which women cannot do.

There is this problem: even though some women comrades are serving in the
armed forces, there are many units in the armed forces and many weapons
which must be handled by men. We must use many men in the armed forces. We
have all kinds of special work which, because of its social characters, its
roughness, must be done by men. It is logical that we should make a
selection of a whole series of jobs that we will try to have done by women,
that by reason of their social characters, their nature, are more suitable
for women.

The Revolution has offered many opportunities for work to women, while
there was great discrimination against women in the country previously. Now
we must continue this struggle. We must continue to create, select, a whole
series of jobs and see that women comrades work at these, bearing in mind
that the problems of our country in the future will be problems of labor
force. Therefore it is essential that we apply technology to production,
mechanize production. The more men and women we have producing material
goods, the higher will be the people's standard of living. The more men and
women we have consuming without producing, the lower will be the people's
standard of living. This is the great secret of a country's prosperity.
This is the great secret: We must have an ever-increasing proportion of men
and women producing material goods or services.

Naturally, we have an infinite number of jobs, such as doctors and nurses,
which are very useful for the people. They are not producing material
goods, but they are producing an inestimable good--health. We have tens of
thousands of teachers, professors; they are not producing material goods
but they are producing a great service. There are many sectors which are
not producing material goods but are producing services. The administration
produces services, too. What is bad is excessive development of
administrative functions. This is bad. All services are necessary, but
there must be a balanced distribution of the labor force. No service must
be developed excessively. We must always avoid this. We must apply the
principle of trying to produce the maximum; we must try to increase the
productivity of labor so that each year the total amount of goods will be
greater. The more houses we build, the more shoes, the more clothing, the
more roads, the more schools, the more hospitals, the more consumer goods
in general that we produce, the higher will be the people's standard of
living.

The more production goods--for part must be invested--we devote it to
consumption; part of the work, of the (fruits?) of work, is devoted to
producing the tools of work; is devoted, is invested to guarantee economic
development. But in sum, the higher a people's production is, the higher is
its standard of living. Hence it is a delusion to think that the standard
of living is raised by distributing pesos. That is the lie, that is the
deception in which many people are ensnared, believing that the standard of
living is raised by distributing pesos. Distributing pesos which are not
invested in production actually lowers the standard of living; that is the
truth. The standard of living is raised by increasing production.

Under capitalism, the capitalists strove to increase production. Why? So
they could make more money. The situation under socialism is different.
Production will be increased so the people will benefit. For who will
consume all the increase in production? The people. The contradiction that
existed under capitalism does not exist--the struggle for more pay. Why?
Because when the worker was fighting for higher pay he was trying to wrest
a peso from the capitalist, who was going to spend it on luxuries; today
all production goods go to the people. Production is for the benefit of the
people, although we must be careful not to produce for the bureaucracy, of
course; we must not fall into exploitation of man by the bureaucrat. That
is why we keep warning and warning and warning that we must not create and
work for the parasites, either, for we have done nothing if we used to work
for the capitalists and now work for another kind of people who are not
capitalists but consume a great deal and produce nothing.

That is the secret of raising the people's standard of living, and that is
what we must understand. The struggle of all the people must be directed to
boosting production. For year by year, to the extent that production is
increased, there will be more material goods for everybody.

That is the main principle, the essential fact, that every citizen must
know. It is a fact that definitely cannot be disregarded. And so those are
the basic things I wanted to emphasize to the comrades here.

If something remains for me to touch on, it is just a small detail. It is
that you are going to earn now according to your training. We are going to
establish a little formula. There is the socialist formula that everybody
contributes according to his work and receives according to his work, and
the communist formula that everybody contributes according to his work and
receives according to his needs. Our will be a little formula we might call
the precommunist formula: everybody will receive according to his training.
That is, you will receive the pay warranted by the degree of training you
have received. If one of you is very brilliant and is named leader of a
group, he will go on earning the same pay, not as leader of a group, but
according to the degree of training he has.

Incorporated into the university, your pay will increase when you graduate
from the second year, when the second year of agronomy, of agronomic
engineering, is completed. And you will again receive more pay when you
graduate as agronomic engineers. But there is something I want to say for
those who do not study. Those who do not study are going to remain at the
same pay level until they are (ministers?) and retire (laughter, applause)

What is that? Simply because the country needs study, the country needs
technical knowledge, and we must use every means of stimulating study. This
is of interest to the country, because a trained man, a man with technical
knowledge, can produce five or 10 or 100 times more than a man without
technical knowledge. That is why he does not have to be a Reynaldo Castro
as a worker. Technical knowledge can do as much as 20 Reynaldo Castros.
Renaldo Castro is an extraordinary example of a man with individual
capacity for work, but without a doubt, if Reynaldo Castro is a whiz at
cutting cane, what would he be as an agronomic engineer? And I ask you, how
would Reynaldo Castro produce more, cutting 1,000 arrobas a day, or as a
skilled agronomic engineer at the head of a cane unit? Which way do you
think he would produce more cane? (Audience reply indistinct). At the head
of a cane unit.

There is no doubt about it, because a man with those characteristics, with
that determination, with that industrious spirit, working, inspiring,
accompanying that spirit, produces infinitely more cane as a highly skilled
technician than in cutting cane with a machete. And that is not all. Put
Reynaldo Castro on a machine and he will cut 10 or 15 times as much cane as
he does with a machete. That is introducing a bit of technology--the
machine.

Now then, it is not the same thing when the man cuts cane yielding 30,000
arrobas as when he cuts cane yielding 90,000. The tractor driver who plowed
that land, who cultivated that land, does not produce the same if that land
yields 30,000 arrobas instead of 100,000. That is technical knowledge,
which multiplies everybody's work.

So we are going to stimulate technical training, and you will improve
yourselves in life to the extent that you increase your preparations and
engage in studies. Are some of you allergic to books? I am sure none of you
is allergic to books; otherwise you would not have finished now; but if any
of you is allergic to books, then what is to be done? He will have to
resign himself to the pay that corresponds to his level of training. And I
truly think that if not all--we must aspire to see all of you study, we
must aspire to see it become a commitment of honor for you to graduate as
agronomic engineers some day.

And I promise you now, the next ceremony when you graduate as agronomic
engineers at Las Villas University (applause)--that day when you graduate
will be a more solemn graduation than this one, and it will be a much
bigger graduation than this one, and it will be a much more important
graduation than this one--the day you graduate as agronomic engineers from
Las Villas University. You will be given every facility to do that. You
will have (in your work?) the opportunity to see day by day how you
progress--the results of technical knowledge. And you will have moments of
great satisfaction. Seeing these comrades here, who were visibly moved when
they came up to receive their title, when they came to receive their
reward, when they came here to receive their diploma on behalf of the
group, I noted that they were visibly moved--I am sure you will feel that
kind of emotion often during your life in the country when you see the cane
growing; when you see you have a 100,000 arroba yield of cane--150,000,
200,000; for with irrigation and the use of fertilizer it would not be hard
to obtain cane like that in a year. You will have many moments of emotion
and many moments of satisfaction when you see the results of your work, how
nature responds to science and technique, how nature responds to man's
work. You are going to experience many moments of satisfaction when you go
over the fields, every time you win a battle, every time you achieve a
goal.

All of you are young comrades. It could be said that none of you has
anything at all to prevent him from achieving that. For us it is very
important because you are the pioneers; if you carry out this program, if
you get there, if you graduate, behind you will come a great mass.
Therefore, what you do, the result of your work, whatever successes are
achieved in your case, will be more or less an indication of the successes
we are going to obtain with all the others, the successes we are going to
obtain with the comrades who are in the first and second year, the
successes we are going to obtain obtain with the labor technological
institutes. Hence, for us, for the Revolution, for the country, the most
important thing is for you to go on studying, to organize your lives well.

The comrades in the school, the comrades in the university, the comrades of
the ministry, the comrades of the Communist Youth organization must all
observe attentively how you progress; how you live, what you do, how you
organize your lives; how you are doing in your studies, what hours you
spend daily in the study clubs, what days you devote every week, what
months you devote in a year preparing for your examinations; how the
programs are coming along, whether they are on schedule, how you receive
materials, whether the schedule for materials is adhered to; how the
University of Las Villas is operating, how the School of Agronomy in the
University of Las Villas is functioning; looking out for you, sending
materials, organizing lecture courses on time. We all must make an effort
to provide you with the greatest facilities so that this program may be
carried out, because on the fulfillment of this program depends the future
of the country, abundance for the country.

We have no doubt but that we can be among the peoples who attain a very
high standard of living, and not in far-off years. We will be able to take
our place among the best-fed peoples in the world within a few years
because we are going to create an agriculture not of quality alone; we are
going to create an agriculture of quality. We are not going to occupy
ourselves merely with seeing how many liters of milk we produce, but with
the quality of those liters of milk; not just how much meat, but with the
quality of that meat; not just how many starchy vegetables and fruit, but
with the biological value of those vegetables and fruits.

These are concepts never put forward under capitalism because capitalism
governed itself by the law of profit, capitalism concerned itself solely
with quantity; it did not concern itself with quality.

When you make progress, when the comrades of the party and the comrades in
the study groups progress with their programs, they will understand the
significance of this, they will understand the value of the quality of
products to society and human health, because in many countries supposed to
be very developed, which produce great quantities of goods, the people
suffer various diseases resulting from lack of attention to the quality of
products.

We are going to have an agriculture not of quantity alone, but an
agriculture of quality. We will support that aspiration with the tens of
thousands of technicians we are going to train--agricultural technicians,
research men, laboratory workers-- and with the means we will have, the
knowledge we will have at our disposal, the fact that we will be informed
on all research performed throughout the world on these matters, we will
succeed in guaranteeing not only sufficient quantities of products for
extraordinary levels of consumption, but the quality of products as well.
With all that, we will achieve not just a much higher standard of living,
but also a much higher standard of health for our people.

So then, comrades, the main commitment we want from you is to continue
studying, to become agronomic engineers. Aside from the fact that I think
we will have an opportunity to see each other often, our next appointment
with you is--in five years? (applause) (indistinct words from audience)
Four in agronomy? I think it is five (audience says four years). But do not
believe you are going to lag behind the ones who go to the university every
day. You will not be left behind. In any case, if you can do it earlier,
all right, but we will get together again in 1969 (applause), more or less
on a day like today, at the University of Las Villas, 13 November or
sooner. If you graduate sooner, we will get together sooner--in 1969--to
mark you graduation as agronomic engineers.

And when we have attained that goal, all that mass will follow behind you;
and behind, in addition, will be tens of thousands of young people. That is
the sure road to success, the sure road to victory, for we are fighting for
something. When you see people moved at a function, when you see people
enthusiastic, when you hear the comrades in the chorus sing a revolution
song in a grand manner, all this is for a purpose, all this has something
behind it, all this is dedicated to the people, all this is for the sake of
the people, all this is for the Revolution, and all for the future of this
country. That is the splendid future, the shining future, that inspires the
masses, for which the masses fight, for which the people work, for which
men make sacrifices, for which they have given their lives on the
battlefield, in fighting, in (word indistinct), everywhere, for that: for
that future, for that tomorrow. That future is the one we have to build,
and it is the future in which you must take part in a decisive fashion--in
a basic way. Fatherland or death, we will win!
-END-