-DATE-
19660830
-YEAR-
1966
-DOCUMENT_TYPE-
SPEECH
-AUTHOR-
F. CASTRO
-HEADLINE-
12TH CTC CONGRESS
-PLACE-
HAVANA'S PALACE OF WORKERS
-SOURCE-
HAVANA DOMESTIC TV
-REPORT_NBR-
FBIS
-REPORT_DATE-
19660830
-TEXT-
FIDEL CASTRO SPEECH TO 12TH CTC CONGRESS

Havana Domestic Television and Radio Services in Spanish 0157 GMT 30 August
1966--F/E

(Speech by Cuban Prime Minister Fidel Castro at a ceremony in Havana's
Palace of Workers concluding the 12th congress of the Cuban Workers
Organization--live)

(Text) Comrades of the Central Committee, guests, comrade delegates to the
12th congress of the Revolutionary Cuban Workers Organization (CTC): This
has been the third workers congress since the victory of the revolution.
The impression we have all received is that the event has marked an
enormous thrust in the quality of our workers' revolutionary awareness.
(applause).

In the early days of the revolution our working class was still influenced
by political and social opinions which merely reflected the political views
of the exploiters. In those early days there were still many workers who
had not fully acquired a class awareness. Conflicts and divisions,
tendencies which to a certain extent reflected an entire past, particularly
the more recent past in the life of our country, could still be seen in
those early days. The revolution first of all had to win over the people's
minds, and the workers' minds were won over for the revolution as the
revolution became the revolution of the workers, as the revolution grew in
depth, as the class struggle exploded in all its strength.

The enemies of the revolution united. The interests affected by the
revolution united. They united quickly against the revolution. There often
were cases of workers and laborers who for lack of a revolutionary
awareness aligned themselves with the beliefs and reactionary views of
their class enemies, of their exploiters. However, while the revolution
encountered the tenacious resistance of the exploiters, it also met with
the growing, determined, resolute, and firm support of the workers of our
country.

A little more than seven and a half years have passed since the victory of
the revolution, and the progress made in our people's revolutionary
awareness has been in evidence at this congress. It used to be necessary to
make the word "unity" our slogan, because the working class was divided.
That slogan was necessary to combat an evil. However, it is possible that
no one has shouted the slogan "unity" at this congress. Why? Because the
workers are truly united (applause), because today the workers have the
same revolutionary awareness, because the workers of our country have made
considerable progress in the realm of ideology.

This congress has been characterized by the strength which stems from
unity. This congress has thus been able, not to combat the problems which
affected the working class several years ago, but rather to issue slogans
in keeping with the times, slogans in keeping with today's problems and in
keeping with today's situation and today's needs. This congress has been
characterized by the extraordinary concern of the workers for the problems
of production, by the extraordinary concern of the workers for the
fulfillment of today's obligations. The congress was the expression of the
will of our workers, expressed in the most democratic manner ever followed
in our nation, because it was the particular desire of our party with
regard to this congress that the party not propose candidates for any trade
union section, that even the militants of our party would not be the first
to propose them.

So it was from the workers themselves, from the very mass of the workers
themselves, in the most spontaneous manner and following the same mass
methods which have been so fruitful in the information of the revolutionary
vanguard, that those workers who in the judgment of their comrades should
represent them at this congress were nominated, discussed, and elected.

And this mass method has achieved splendid results. It has again proved its
advantages. It has proved how norms and principles become increasingly the
norms and principles defended and applied by the masses. It has proved how
extraordinarily difficult it has become, how practically impossible it has
become, for a poor comrade, for a lazy person, for a shiftless person, for
a lumpen, or for a wardheeler to be elected by the workers. (applause) And
it has proved how a social awareness of duty is developing. It has proved
how a powerful sense of morality is being formed among the masses, how an
insurmountable barrier is being erected to block the antisocial elements
while opening the way for the best to accept public responsibilities.

These results have been noted in the election of men and women who have
participated in the congress, in the spirit of all the debates, in the
depth of the analyses, in the vigor of the critiques, and in the firmness
of the resolutions. In this way the workers reap the fruit of a long
struggle, because to achieve this awareness, to arrive at these results
which today benefit all the nation's workers, a long struggle has been
necessary, a struggle of decades in which many self-sacrificing fighters
and workers gave the best part of their lives and in many cases sacrificed
their very blood. This is why we must say that the delegates who have had
the honor of representing the Cuban workers at this congress have reaped,
have had the fortune to reap, the fruit of a long history in our labor
movement.

This movement had its successes and its setbacks. It had its errors and its
achievements. But in sum, all this has contributed to what we have today.
We should not be forgetful and think that all the merit belongs to us, that
all the merit is the result of our efforts; rather we should say that we
are heirs who have the opportunity of reaping the fruit of what has been
sown for a long time.

This congress has been characterized by that position which tends basically
to look ahead. This congress has not devoted itself to historical tasks,
that is, to historical research or to historical analysis. It has not
stopped to analyze the past. It has analyzed the present, and it has
basically looked ahead.

Generally, premature historical analyses are not good, and, generally,
contemporaries are not the best persons to analyze events of the present or
the recent past. We believe that some day a calm objective analysis of this
procedure will place the praise or the blame--if it is a matter of
analyzing the errors which men may commit--where they belong.

While it is true that this congress did not analyze the past, that it did
not devote itself to a study of history, it did things which will really be
historical. Chiefly it made certain the steps which must be taken to insure
the success of the historic task which our country is performing.

It must also be said that in recent years one of the easiest tasks, or
rather, one of the most difficult tasks, was that of labor leader. We were
going through a transitional period. We were moving from one period to
another, from one role for the labor organizations to another role. Often
the honest leader was not the one who stopped to present those things most
agreeable to the ears of his comrades, but the most honest leader was he
who told his comrades the truth, who asked sacrifices of them, who asked
them to forego certain things.

It was not easy to be a leader during the early years of the revolution,
because it meant opposing many old ideas and old customs. It meant opposing
many past gains which represented a victory over capitalism, over
capitalism when every gain was something wrested from the class enemy,
something wrested from the exploiters, but which under a socialist system
might well represent a privilege enjoyed at the expense of the other
workers.

Unions under capitalism fight for certain gains. The demands of the most
powerful unions or the unions situated in the most strategic positions were
often met, whereas the weaker unions, those unions situated in nonessential
parts of the economy or scattered and without much strength, were
unsuccessful. Capitalism creates every possible inequality. The demands of
the more powerful sectors in the cities were generally met, while those of
other workers were not.

In any branch--the miners, for example--the revolution encountered an
enormous difference in the wage scale. Some workers earned three times as
much as others doing the same work. The wage difference was due to the fact
that the more powerful groups were able to have their demands met in their
factory or in their mine, whereas other workers, less numerous and weaker,
were unsuccessful. This very same thing occurred in many branches of
industry. Some had been able to win some concessions which others had been
unable to get. In this way were regulated the wages and the very limited
benefits the workers were able to win--as the result of the correlation of
forces between each sector of workers and as the result of conflicts.

And it was difficult, when the revolution triumphed, to cope with this
problem. For example, some had a Christmas bonus of one month's pay. Others
had nothing. The revolution did not have the means and resources to give
all the workers who did not get the Christmas bonus a similar amount or the
same conditions which some workers had gained for themselves. On the
contrary, the revolution, with its policy of acting to satisfy the most
urgent needs, to improve the condition of the most underpaid sectors of the
nation, had to ask certain sectors of workers to renounce some of these
benefits, to renounce some of these gains.

We must say that the revolution really found great understanding among the
workers, an enormous capacity for cooperation. We must say that the
revolution really did receive the support of the workers, even in those
matters which for many workers meant that they had to renounce gains which
had been triumphs under capitalism and which were privileges under
socialism. But, of course, words that are intended to get a man to
sacrifice something, to renounce something, are not the most pleasant sound
to his ears. And we must recognize the contributions and deeds of our
workers organization and the efforts it carried out.

Today our leaders do not have to cope with this type of problem per se. The
leaders have to cope with other types of problems, such as the problems
discussed at this congress, which basically have dealt with production,
with the quantity and quality of production; problems dealing with all
those questions which vitally affect the revolutionary process.

But speaking in all candor, can anyone perhaps suppose that the tasks of a
revolution are easy tasks? Can anyone perhaps suppose that even today,
despite the fact that we have made considerable ideological gains, we still
have a consistently revolutionary attitude among all the workers?

Can we perhaps assert that the day after the triumph of the revolution each
one of the workers of the nation changed his old ways of thinking, his old
ideas of society, his old attitude toward problems, his narrow, anarchical
outlook, his individualistic view of problems in order to acquire a broad,
collective outlook, a clear awareness of his social interests, of his new
role--the role he has been called to play in the revolution? No.

Because many workers were used to viewing work as an instrument of
exploitation, a means of making a living, an effort, a sacrifice, the best
fruits of which were enjoyed by others. For many workers the disappearance
of capitalism, the disappearance of an overseer, of the gang boss, of the
boss, of the rural guard, and of all that system which forced him to work
the most hours with the greatest intensity lest he starve to death--the
disappearance of that system simply meant the end of a number of pressures
which forced him to make that maximum effort.

The revolution meant the opportunity for the workers to free themselves
from all these pressures (applause), from this slavery, from excessive
work, from intensive labor.

How could anyone think that every worker would overnight become a being
aware of his vast social responsibilities, of his great duties? One thing
did disappear suddenly--their chains! (applause) Their chains were struck
off abruptly, but their awareness was not formed and could not have been
formed instantly.

Also, many workers did not have the gang boss over them any more, they did
not have the field boss over them any more, they did not have the boss over
them any more, they no longer had the rural guard over then, they no longer
had the specter of hunger over them, they no longer had the specter of
being fired over them, they no longer had the specter of unemployment over
them. And at the same time they did not have within themselves a
full-fledged awareness of their duties and their social obligations. This
is because this awareness is not wrought overnight. It was logical that one
of the consequences of this sudden breaking of the chains was a certain
loss of discipline, a certain reduction in work intensity, a certain
diminution in productivity, because those means which the capitalists used
to make the workers produce could only be replaced by a socialist
awareness, (applause) and a socialist awareness could not be wrought
overnight. The fullfledged socialist awareness still is not formed.

Hence, many workers who had great sympathy for the revolution, even those
with a great willingness to fight for the revolution, had an accommodating
attitude toward work, had an attitude of relaxation toward work. They did
not see work as the basic instrument for the liberation of a people. They
did not see in work the means of creating wealth, of creating benefits for
all. They did not clearly see in work their basic social duty. That
awareness did not exist and that awareness could not exist.

It is in this field in which we must strive today to make greater progress.
Naturally I am referring to an aspect of the problem, an aspect of the
problem any revolution encounters, although naturally it is not at all the
only aspect of the problem.

Lacking in the workers, in many workers, was a clear awareness of their
social obligations. The administrators, who in many cases came from the
very ranks of the workers, lacked experience, knowledge, know how. So all
those evils tended to accumulate. The attitude of a new administrator,
promoted by the revolution from the ranks of the people without any
experience in administration, was not, generally speaking, the attitude of
a man concerned with economic aspects. It was not the attitude of a man
concerned with the technical aspects of production. Many people tend to
think that these were easy tasks, but they really were not at all easy.

Running parallel to the lack of a generalized and solid awareness among the
working mass was the inexperience and lack of ability of those who had
recently been turned into administrators to replace the owners of
enterprises, persons who defended their interests as owners and saved
materials and saved the very last centavo.

The revolution wanted not only to mold awareness among the workers but also
to create awareness and create experience among the workers who had become
administrators. (applause)

There is something very strange in revolutionary processes, and
revolutionary processes have two facets: one is the theoretical facet and
the other is the practical facet. One is revolutionary theory, which
inspires and guides the struggle of the oppressed, and the other is what
revolutionaries practice. It is the task of making the revolution from the
seat of power.

When one agitates from a barricade, when one issues a revolutionary
proclamation, it all looks easy from afar. It all looks simple from afar.
Yet the most difficult task is the task of creating a new society. The most
difficult task is to convert ideas into realities. Ideas have countless
possible interpretations, a number of overtones. And stop to think what a
revolution is at the outset. It is a beehive struggling, working; it is a
struggling, working beehive of men who, though filled with good intentions,
lack experience, lack knowledge, lack training. And suddenly there is
thrust on the shoulders of these men the task of making the nation move
forward, administrating everything.

And of course our revolution has known various kinds of men: men who are
aware of their limitations, men who are aware of their ignorance and hence
are cautious about what they do; but also men who are not aware of their
limitations, men who are not aware of their ignorance. and the most
dangerous thing which can exist is the social field is not an ignorant
person but an ignorant person who is not aware of his ignorance. (applause)

An ignorant person who knows his limitations is not dangerous. An ignorant
person who is not aware of his ignorance is indeed dangerous. In the
revolution experience tells us that the vast majority of men act in good
faith. Logically there are persons who do not act in good faith. There are
hidden enemies that take advantage of the trust placed in them; they resort
to deceit in an effort to cause damage. They are class enemies who, because
they possessed certain knowledge, discharged certain functions, and they
took advantage of these functions to do damage.

However, experience tells us that the majority of the men in the bosom of
the revolution act with the best intentions, with the best intentions, with
the best good faith, but it was not idle talk when someone once said that
the road to hell is paved with the best intentions. We have seen persons
commit a multitude of errors, persons inspired by the best intentions in
the world. We have seen men who acted in one manner and men who acted in
another manner.

These persons were evidently mistaken but thought they were doing things
right. They thought they were doing things the best possible way in the
world. Of course, these difficulties, these inconveniences that present
themselves in all revolutions, do not and cannot discourage
revolutionaries. If this revolution has fought against anything, if it has
placed special emphasis and stress on anything, it is the struggle against
ignorance.

A revolutionary can be defined in many ways, many ways. But since
revolutions are not made by privileged classes, since revolutions are not
made by the so-called cultured classes, since revolutions are made by the
exploited masses, the revolution is, in the first place, the work of the
masses, which do not monopolize culture and experience. In the first place,
the revolution is the work of ignorant masses struggling against their own
ignorance (applause), against their own limitations. And if I were asked
what was the principal merit of a generation that undertakes a revolution,
my reply would be: having made the revolution and having marched forward
despite their great ignorance. (applause)

The tasks of today, the tasks of today--what is the principal merit of
today's tasks? What is the most impressive and extraordinary thing? To see
how a nation confronts it obligations, to see how a nation undertakes a
great work--and that great work is undertaken while there is still not a
very clear awareness--to see how that great work is undertaken without
experience, with hardly any technicians, without any cadres; to see how the
people must confront that task on the march, forming their cadres,
acquiring experience, overcoming their limitations. Many tasks will be
easier for the coming generations.

A young worker was speaking here a while ago, and he was explaining how
many technicians are studying, how many technicians we are going to have in
1970, how many technicians we are going to have in 1974; and he spoke of
40,000 technicians who are experts on soils, on the handling, attention to,
and exploitation of cattle and soils. In fact, by that date there will be
approximately 50,000 agricultural technicians, in general. (applause) How
easy the tasks will be then! How easy to achieve will the goals then be!
How relatively easy it will be to get from our soil and sun, our natural
conditions in general, the resources they are capable of supplying!

However, how difficult it is to achieve that when among thousands of
foremen there is not a single technician from a single technological
institute! How difficult when, in many cases, they have a scholastic level
that barely rises above the second or third grade! Those 40,000 technicians
will possess at least a preuniversity level. They will have studied
agricultural techniques in modern books. They will have studied with the
best equipment. They will know the laws of agriculture well. There is no
doubt that the tasks will then be much easier.

Just today--and we had the occasion of confirming such a case recently--it
was necessary to appoint as administrator of an enterprise--it was more
than an enterprise, it was an important industry which the Moa industry
(sentence not completed). The cadre that managed that industry had to be
used in other activities related to the development of that industry, and
it was necessary to name a new administrator, and a cadre was chosen who
had studied in the ministry's administration school for more than a year.
But although he was a cadre who had worked successfully in another field of
production, he had never worked in a mine, had never worked in an industry
in that field. He is a capable cadre. We do not have the slightest doubt
that he will be successful in his new task. We do not even have the
slightest doubt that he is already having success.

However, when we observe these realities we realize and meditate on how
many difficulties we deal with at the present time in confronting the
tasks. Naturally, that industry also completely lacked technicians. It was
encouraging for us to see that in Mao, which is an industry that was still
under construction when it was nationalized, which the imperialists thought
would never begin to operate, which the imperialists believe our people
were incapable of putting into operation, already was 16 young technicians
who graduated in recent years and who, with qualified workers, keep that
industry in operation. Those 16 are very few, but they are something. The
day will come when there will be hundreds of that type of technicians in
our country, but we already have 16. (applause) Some years ago we had none;
now we have 16 technicians trained in the revolution, technicians on whom
the revolution can count.

And the day will come when our country will have a large enough number of
cadres so that when the administrator of an industry is appointed it will
not have to be a man from another branch who completely lacks any knowledge
about that industry, despite the optimum administrative qualifications he
may possess. The time will come when, to administer any industry, there
will not only be men with administrative vocations but also men with
profound technical knowledge about that industry, with great experience,
with full knowledge of the productions processes of that industry. The day
will come when not only the administrators of factories and enterprises
will have to possess great technical knowledge; the day will come when one
will not be able to be a political leader--hear this well--the day will
come when one will not be able to be a political leader without great
knowledge about production processes. (loud applause).

Let us say, to begin with, that most of us were completely ignorant of
those processes, about the processes of agricultural production and about
the processes of industrial production. And that can be the case with the
first revolutionaries, with the first revolutionary rulers. It is not
enough to have a revolutionary vocation to be a leader. It is not enough to
have the passion of a revolutionary, to have the blood of a revolutionary;
it will be necessary to have great training, profound knowledge of economic
problems and of technical production processes. Because in a
capitalist-bourgeois society anyone can be a politician; in the capitalist
society the politicians are the servants of the bourgeoisie. The
politicians are simply (applause) the representatives of the bourgeoisie
who discharge political management duties. The enterprises, the monopolies,
their technicians, their administrators take charge of production.

In the capitalist society, a senator, a minister, a legislator can be
completely ignorant of economic matters, of agricultural matters, of
industry. What does it matter? They were not responsible for the production
processes. They had nothing to do with the economy. They would collect the
taxes; they would collect their large salaries and would steal the largest
slice of the budget.

But under socialism, under the socialist system, the leaders, the cadres
must be the main driving force behind the production processes, behind the
development of the economy. They have to seriously concern themselves with
economic problems. A revolutionary cadre under socialism cannot be ignorant
of the economy or of the production processes in agriculture and industry.
how can one conceive of a political cadre, a political leader at any level
who is ignorant of economic problems, of production processes, and of
production techniques? Yet we are offended that many of our political
cadres are ignorant of production processes. Logically, in an agricultural
region of the country the political leader must possess a minimum knowledge
of agriculture and agricultural techniques, or of industry if he lives in
an industrial area.

Unfortunately, unfortunately, many of our political cadres and many of our
administrative cadres are still quite ignorant of production techniques. We
have made an effort to enable our political and administrative cadres to
study. We have distributed technical books to all of our party cadres, to
our administrative cadres. Unfortunately, we must say that often our
administrative and political cadres become involved in their daily work,
the harvest, the sowing and mobilization for this or that, and do not make
a point of sparing even a minute to study. They do not spare even a minute
to study. It is impossible that we should reproach ourselves for not
creating conditions to give our political and administrative cadres time to
study.

And what happens? What happens? If, for example, a political or
administrative cadre ignores the importance of fertilizers in agriculture,
it could well happen that there is a delay in the application of the
fertilizer or of a specific product, and he is not able to recognize the
importance of the consequences of the delay. He is not able to see the
effects of the delay on production and, therefore, does not take the
immediate necessary steps to resolve that situation.

We must say, and this should be considered as a criticism, that we already
possess a party, a good, militant fighting party, possessing magnificent
political cadres--magnificent because of their convictions, their loyalty
to the revolution, their working spirit, their devotion; yet throughout the
length and breadth of the country there is an answer that is most common to
questions asked. The answer is: I do not know. I do not know. How much
fertilizer has been applied? I do not know. If he says so much, we ask: Do
you know to what type of cane such and such a type of fertilizer was
applied. I do not know. Do you know how many hectares of land were plowed?
I do not know. Do you know how many cows there were in a dairy? I do not
know. Do you know how many caballerias have been sown to this and that
crop? I do not know? (applause)

Is it that they are apathetic or lazy? No! They are imbued with a desire to
work, to do things, but there are some basic concepts. We could say that
the first condition of a political or administrative cadre should be that
he is insatiably curious, that he is implacably inquisitive.

There are other cadres who, when one asks a simple question, reply: Just a
minute, let me look at my book. We really believe that a many, a cadre,
must have a great amount of data and details in his head. When you want to
know if a man knows or controls or does not control the activity, ask him
about this activity. To the intent that he is able to to answer precisely
and with confidence, you can say that he has mastered his activity, that he
has the situation under control. There are some persons who habitually take
notes and who ever write down the most simple details. They can never give
you a precise and immediate answer, above all on a series of essential
matters. They have to look for the answers in their notebooks or files.
Well, in a certain sense this is not a bureaucratic method. There are
persons who say: I cannot remember anything. How are they going to remember
if they never use their mind?

Gentlemen, there is a minimum of data, above all the essential data, that
every responsible man must keep in his head. There are many details that
are impossible to keep in one's mind, but there are details that do not
need to be written down. When that man is alone, when that man has to
think--and at times a man has to think when he eats, when he goes to bed,
when he travels and has to think--how can he carry a file cabinet on his
back? The man whose thoughts are actions depend on the file cabinet in his
office does not think when he goes home, or when he travels or walks.
Perhaps he sleeps better than everyone else because he does not think.

Naturally those are problems of methods, problems of methods. Naturally we
cannot blame any cadre for his deficiencies without blaming ourselves. We
will not find people who know how to do things spontaneously. Any person
who arrives at a place and does things perfectly well, without having any
experience whatsoever must be a genius. In reality, the cadres just be
taught to work, and obviously we have not been sufficiently able to teach
them to work, to work well. (applause).

We must make a confession. The central task of the revolution nowadays is
the agricultural effort. This congress has worked under the slogan of
focusing the effort on agriculture, and our party--our party, our party
cadres--are they perhaps focusing all their efforts on agriculture?

Are our party cadres fully aware of all the problems of agriculture in each
of the regionals in which they work? No! Unfortunately, no! Some of our
cadres are better informed, others less well informed. But it is
indispensable that the leadership cadres, both the political and
administrative cadres, be fully aware of all the agricultural problems in
their regions, and that they can give a prompt, clear, and precise reply to
any question put to them.

I do not have the slightest doubt that our party has a number of
magnificent comrades--magnificent, devoted workers, full of enthusiasm--but
who, unfortunately, are still very ignorant about production techniques.
Unfortunately, the daily work, the accumulation of responsibilities resting
on their shoulders has not permitted them to study, has not permitted them
to improve themselves. We believe that if one speaks of focusing the effort
on agriculture, the first ones, the very first ones who must focus their
efforts on this and try to master and control the situation are our
political cadres.

We have spoken of focusing efforts on agriculture. Very well, we should say
that as a principle, a principle in the efforts of the revolution in
agriculture, a slogan of our cadres is that any goal for any crop must not
remain unfulfilled. (prolonged applause)

Agriculture is a very difficult activity. An entire series of natural
factors, a series of imponderables, influence agriculture. Sometimes it is
a hurricane; at other times it is a drought; at other times it is a plague,
an excess of moisture, rains, or floods. Agriculture activity is a
difficult and complex activity. The absence of technical cadres is very
great, very great. Then the effort the party and the administrative cadres
must make is tremendous, enormous. And if all the weight of the effort is
not placed on the fulfillment of the tasks, then many tasks may remain
unfulfilled.

There are a series of factors that have affected agriculture. In the past,
hundreds of thousands of country workers were out of work. With triumph of
the revolution the number of construction workers, for example, tripled,
and they came mostly from rural areas. The needs off the defense of the
country, the development of our revolutionary war in the rural areas led to
the incorporation of many rural men into the ranks of the revolutionary
army. The increase of our armed forces, imposed by the special needs of the
country. brought to the ranks of our Revolutionary Armed Forces a large
number of rural workers. The agrarian reform, which made landowners of tens
of thousands--almost 100,000--of tenant farmers or sharecroppers who worked
as salaried workers part of the year, led to the situation in which all
these people, who had credit with which to work their lands, devoted
themselves entirely to their plots.

Students--the student of the school center spoke here of more than 10,000
agricultural workers in the technological institutes for soils,
fertilizers, and cattle feeding--the development of a series of new
agricultural activities led from a situation in which there was a great
surplus of labor to a situation of a labor deficit. This is one of the most
serious problems of our agriculture. Moreover, there is a period in which
the harvest has not ended, in which the rains are beginning and one must
attend not only to all the tasks of the harvest, but also to all the spring
plantings and all the cultivation tasks.

This produces a considerable labor deficit. What is the solution for that
problem? The solution for that problem--the only solution for that
problem--lies in machines, in machines. Sometimes agricultural problems
arise because it does not rain, and sometimes because it rains--early and
in abundance. This very year--during no previous year had there been so
much land ready for planting, for the planting of sugarcane and secondary
crops, in short, all the spring plantings--the rains began early and came
rapidly, constantly. If it rains frequently on any soil prepared for
planting, the result is that weeds sprout; the result is that new tasks
must be performed to be able to plant that soil.

Well now, as long as we sow cane by hand, fertilize manually, and clean the
fields manually, there will not be enough forces and manpower to sow all
the caballerias that must be sown to meet our former and increasing needs.
This means that we have to produce for an entire nation, not producing so
that a few may eat a lot and others may eat a little, but rather so that
the needs of a nation, a nation of over 7 million inhabitants, may be
satisfied. (applause) Therefore, sowing cannot be done manually. There is
some specialized sowing that must be done manually, but only of a few
crops.

However, the solution to the problem rests in machines, and we must
recognize that we have not paid enough attention to machines. We have not
paid enough attention to sowing and cultivation machinery. Much attention
was concentrated on such machinery as canecutters, which are indispensable.
We concentrated our attention on a series of tasks related to the harvest
but not on a series of tasks related to cultivation.

We have read some newspaper reports about the development of the congress,
the norms, the slogans of the various sectors, and I remember that the
metalworkers spoke about the construction of 40, 50, or 60 collection
centers, if my mind does not fail me. They spoke about the construction of
hundreds of plows, of hundreds of harrows, of 2,500 grasscutters. That is
very good, very good just think: 2,500 grasscutters! The grasscutting
problem belongs to the medieval age, to the age of capitalism and feudalism
when everything had to be done by hand. However, how can we conceive today
of a man cutting hay with a machete. Furthermore, who wants to cut hay with
a machete nowadays? (applause) A special effort was made with the
grasscutters. One grasscutter--hear this well--does the work of 50 men in
cutting hay. Some 2,000 grasscutters can do the work of 100,000 men.
Result: as we do not have the 100,000 men, and if one grasscutter is not
available, and the pasture fields are not weeded and become cluttered with
hierba sala, maribu, or aroma, or part of the working force becomes
involved in the cutting of pastures and leaves other activities unattended
(sentence not completed)

I was surprised that--if I remember well--I did not see a single word about
canesowing machines. I did not see a single word about fertilizer
spreaders. I did not see a single word about cultivating machines.
Gentlemen, in this country the sowing of cane by hand must end. (applause)
The spreading of fertilizer by hand must end. The cleaning of cane by hand
must end. (applause) And really, we must request and demand a greater
effort from the metalworking branchy of our industry, from our technicians
of that branch, from our workers of that branch in general. Certainly, if
there are 10,000 or 12,000 caballerias prepared for the sowing of cane, if
machines are not used for sowing and fertilizing, the result is that it
rains, it rains all over the island, and when 2,000 caballerias have been
sown manually we must run for the plows and tractors to prepare the ground,
to plow again so that we can sow once again. In that manner, if the rains
are intense the spring could pass without all the caballerias being sown.

If we do it manually, we cannot and we will not be able to do the job. In
the business of agriculture one must always be in fighting readiness, in a
number one state of alert with the seeds, machinery, and equipment ready,
so that if a rain shower falls one can quickly take advantage of the rain.
We have to go into action within a limited time; we have to face the
inponderable.

There is a single method nowadays, a modern method of solving problems:
machines. It is obvious that neither among our agricultural-administrative
cadres nor among our political cadres of the agricultural regions is there
a clear, precise, and definitive awareness of the role of machines. We have
asked a farm administrator: Have you not received so many fertilizer
spreaders? I do not know. Oh, yes I did receive them. Yet he has the people
and students spreading fertilizers manually.

Voluntary work is very important. The work of the students is very
important. It is important economically, and it is important from the
standpoint of their training. But apparently the idea of receiving
volunteers leads to wanting to solve all problems with volunteers
(applause), with students.

No! The day that the labor force is in sufficient supply, we may have to
use manual labor in agriculture because of the good it does a youth to know
what physical work is. However, we must naturally solve agricultural
problems with machinery, with machines. There are some tasks that cannot be
solved with machines, such as coffee and tomato harvesting. There are a
number of tasks that cannot be done with machines, but this is precisely
the work in which we can and are incorporating tends of thousands of women,
because those are jobs the women can do. (applause)

With regard to the work of women, there is something we want to clarify
because it concerns us. We have wanted to give impetus to the incorporation
of women into agricultural jobs--but let it be well understood, understand
it well--into certain agricultural jobs, such as coffee picking, work on
truck farms, in orchards, poultry farming--a number of activities that
women can do perfectly well. However, when we speak of the incorporation of
women into agricultural work, mark well that we are not thinking of having
the women do some of the rough work the men do in the country. It will able
agricultural work that women can do, but let us not try to resolve the
shortage of labor through women and repeat the story of the volunteers. We
have been promoting the incorporation of women into jobs that women can do,
but let it not be thought that women will be weeding the sugarcane with a
hoe. But to think that a volunteer or a woman will be available to do that
work, particularly for a woman to come fill the vacancy created by
laziness--no! (applause)

Otherwise, there will never be a solution, which is not volunteers,
students, and women, but rather machines. I will not say that everyone will
not have to join in to solve a problem in a special situation, but it is
very good to clarify these concepts, these views. Let it be known that we
do wish to bring 1 million women into production in 10 years, but in tasks
that cannot be performed with machines, tasks that are not rough tasks
unfit for women, but tasks that are perfectly possible for women.

What we must think of is a better organization of the labor force,
solutions such as have been emanating from this congress, the organization
of the brigades, methods that will lead workers to make a maximum efforts
through improvements in the organization and in the solution of the
shortcomings we have--work similar to that done by the party comrades in
Artemisa (applause), where they achieved a considerable increase in the
productivity of the workers through a correct analysis of the problems.
Through correct solutions they were able to considerably increase
productivity.

Of course, we are not going to use women to fill the places of agricultural
workers who work three or four hours because of organizational
shortcomings.

Gentlemen, there is something that must be quite clear: the revolution is
the abolition of the exploitation of human labor but not the abolition of
human work. To liberate the worker from the exploiters does not mean
freeing the worker from work. Of course, gentlemen, the time may come when,
with three or four hours of work by active persons, by means of very high
productivity, all needs may be satisfied for a human society. But it is
utopia, a dream to think that with three hours of work, four hours of work,
while productivity is still as low as an underdeveloped country like ours
has, we are going to satisfy our needs, which are twice as much; that we
are going to feed, dress, and shoe the entire population--no!

Some of our administrators, many of them who came from the ranks of the
workers, release a man occasionally from the fields. They have the
tendency, as some comrades have explained to me: "This comrade has made
many sacrifices, he has struggled much, so let us take him from here and
put him to watch this turbine. Let us take the other from here and put him
to do something else." (laughter) So every now and then they free an old
comrade from the fields.

They will not free us from shortages in that way. The field is hard, but
how can we free ourselves from the fields as long as we do not have all the
techniques, all the machines?

We have said that the day will come when almost all those hard jobs will be
done with machines, not only with machines but with air-conditioning in the
machines. The day will come when the tractors will even have
air-conditioning. At this time of the day the work is hard. Who has said,
who can say that we can free ourselves from those rigors simply by
lessening the effort, lessening the work? Who has said that any problem can
be solved by freeing ourselves from those efforts?

It is clear that in the future men will do all those jobs which are
difficult today in another manner. Some decades ago man crossed the
Atlantic on sailing ships, and today he does it aboard a Cerro Pelado
(applause) or in a plane in a matter of hours. Comrades, compare Columbus'
trip with that of those who fly Cubana Airlines to Prague or any European
country. Compare the trips of the vikings with the Tu-114.

Mankind is acquiring means and instruments that are easing the work. During
a recent visit we made to Moa we saw the procedures used to extract the
mineral at that open-pit mine. There is an enormous crane there, and a
worker operating the crane loads the enormous trucks to move the ore to the
industrial plants. That man, and I was timing it with my watch, loaded four
tons of ore every minute.

With four shovelfuls he loaded a 15-to 20-ton truck. All that work was done
by man by hand in the past. Some decades ago all that was hand labor,
shovels in hand. How many tons can a man shovel into a truck? And we were
estimating that that man on that crane does the work that 200 men did in
the past, employing possibly one-third or one-fourth of the energy one man
had to employ. Similarly, fertilization--fertilization by plane. An Antonov
plane spreads in one day the amount of fertilizer that 200 men spread by
hand. A trained pilot, with an Antonov and with less energy, can do the
work of 200 men. Machines have been made for something. And the advantage
that socialism has is that socialism sees no contradiction between the
interests of people and machines, between the interests of workers and
machines.

Capitalists wanted to introduce machines here to mechanize farming, for
instance, for bulk sugar. All the workers went on strike because bulk sugar
displaced port workers. Cigar-making machines caused tremendous social
conflicts because the displaced the tobacco workers and the worker had to
oppose the machine. That is one of the principal contradictions in
capitalism, in that machines conspire against the interests of the workers.

In socialism we have the enormous advantage that that contradiction does
not exist. On the contrary, there is absolute coincidence of interests
between the machine and man, between the machine and the workers, and we
should profit by these advantages. Naturally, processes have not been
mechanized in all activities. Machines do not increase productivity to such
a high degree in all activities, but it is with machines and only with
machines that we can resolve those problems. We must resolve those
problems. Have we perhaps become aware of that?

Are these problems perhaps something that we can see clearly? No! We must
say no. It has been said that we want volunteers, we want students, we want
women; and in one case, we want prisoners. A plan was mentioned, let us say
a work plan. It was said: We must use prisoners. I said that the prisoners'
work has to do with their rehabilitation. (applause) Are we perchance going
to turn the country into a concentration camp? And when any plan is going
to turn the country going to send prisoners there and fence the place with
barbed wire? No. The revolution does not believe in slave work. (applause)
The prisoners work for their rehabilitation so that they may improve their
living conditions, so they do not have to live with their head stuck in a
yoke, so the jails are not a place where men live stacked up, and so that
work may serve as a training device.

People often think of any easy solution. It is easier to say: "In this
plantation we need so many prisoners" than to assume responsibility for all
the work. If it is simple work, why not contact the Federation of Cuban
Women, the party, and organize shelters and carry out all pertinent
activities so that the work can be done by women. That work can also be
done with machines, and, therefore, one must not seek the easiest solution
without giving it a lot of thought, without making an effort or using one's
imagination. I am sure that an infinite number of problems can be solved,
can be attended to with a little imagination.

This summer in Oriente 50 caballerias of tomatoes were raised by women.
Even child nurseries were organized where women could leave their children.
As the city is some distance away, women's brigades moved for one week or
15 days to do various jobs. This coming year, instead of 50 (several words
indistinct), 200 caballerias of vegetables will be planted in the Oriente
mountains. (Applause) This work can be done perfectly well by women and
will be handled by 8,000 to 10,000 women from Oriente. In Oriente women
have not only joined the vegetable-raising activities, but many who have
distinguished themselves are already training to become brigade
leaders--leaders of women's brigades for agricultural work. Naturally I
wanted to stress this fact, because much has been said about the work done
by the women, students, and volunteers.

However, this should not lead us to forget the machines. Volunteer work is
great; above all, it is great for the volunteer workers. Volunteer work is
one of the things that has educated the city people the most. Many of our
people who had never done heavy work, many of our administrative employees
have felt a tremendous satisfaction in knowing that they could do such
tasks as canecutting. Volunteer work will remain basically not an
instrument of production but rather an instrument for education, training.
(applause). The sooner we place the work of the students and volunteers on
that plane, the better. (applause) We can do it to the extent that we place
an accent and a stress on the machines. Naturally we will not have all the
necessary machines from one day to the next. We will not have them as fast
as we should have them if we do not have a clear view of this problem.

If we place the accent and the stress on the agricultural effort which is a
wonderful slogan, then let us also emphasize the construction of machines
and development of mechanized work. We are marching toward a large sugar
production. Along with sugar we have produced an entire line of other
articles--cotton, rice, chickenfeed.

Many persons ask: Why are there no eggs and fryers? It is simple: because
all available time is devoted basically to egg production. It was estimated
that we would be 4 million chickens short. Well, we are almost 6 million
short. Last year by this date the free distribution of eggs in the free
market was suspended, because the 4 million chickens--4 million--were not
sufficient. We had to increase the number of chickens. We do not have
enough feed to produce fryers. A certain amount of fryers are raised for
diets. However, we do not have enough time.

We thought that whether we could or could not obtain corn or some other
product through out foreign trade exchange, we should develop the
production of chickenfeed so as to add to the amount of eggs that are being
produced for a consumption of 90 million eggs a month. Some 90 million eggs
are being consumed by the country without taking into account the eggs
being raised by the peasants in state-owned farms, which amount to 90
million a month. (applause). It was felt that 60 million eggs would be
enough, but that amount was not enough. Some 90 million eggs are being
consumed. As it is a food item that is easy to distribute--egg distribution
is much easier, not like a chicken where one is given a leg, another a
wing, and another the gizzards--it was decided to focus attention on the
available food for egg production. Well, we are thinking of gradually
increasing the production of poultry in order to produce 6 million chicks
monthly by 1970. We must undertake a program toward that end.

We must resolve the greater part of our rice needs. At present there is a
mission of Cuban technicians abroad visiting several rice-producing
countries in order to plant in Oriente Province alone at least 5,000
caballerias of land, taking advantage of the water projects that are being
built. The lack of rice this year has been something that has been felt. We
can only do that with machinery.

The increase of grain production for feeding poultry, of rice, of all
crops, such as cotton, must be achieved with machinery. With regard to
sugarcane, we will not be able to resolve those problems with traditional
harvests. In the task of canecutting a considerable advance has been
achieved through mechanized loading. Most of the sugarcane was harvested by
machinery. What does that mean? When sugarcane was cut and loaded by hand,
the agricultural workers had to load 40 million tons of sugarcane. Can you
imagine anything more absurd than a man putting 10 little pieces of
sugarcane on his arm to put them on a cart and then bending down again to
grab 10 more little pieces of sugarcane to load them, too? Well, in this
country 40 million tons of sugarcane were loaded in that manner. Of course,
the loaders, which have been a considerable advance in the mechanization of
work, today load most of those 40 million tons.

And how could a worker cut and load? Well, there were workers who had to
work 15 and 16 hours to cut and load 200 arrobas of sugarcane. Today no one
does that. A large part of that productivity has led to the lessening of
working hours, but the machines are part of the mechanization.

Regarding the problem of the collection centers, the problem of the
canecutting machines we must reach the point of mechanization at which with
120,000 or 130,000 workers we can cut and load all the sugarcane for 10
million tons of sugar. Of course, we will not be able to cut all of it by
machine. There is land on which it is difficult to use machines. Part of
it, a minimal part, will have to be cut by hand, but the collection centers
will enable any cutter to cut double the amount of cane (?formerly)
produced.

During these years of 1967 and 1968 we will still have to have a very big
mobilization. These are two very hard years for us that still remain.
Already this year, as you know, since it has been published, there are
about 60 collection centers under construction. Well, there will have to be
hundreds of collection centers, and they will be in operation by 1970. Then
the harvest will be carried out with more than 100,000 workers. That is the
solution to the problem, not more volunteers, more weeks, more months every
year. Special attention must be paid to the machines for the cutting of
sugarcane, for the planting, for everything. And this is a point which we
especially wish to stress tonight.

We feel that, having established the agricultural effort as the central
slogan, which is a great slogan, we are putting our principal efforts into
agriculture during these years. Does this mean the abandonment of industry?
No! Industry needs many qualified personnel. Industry needs many technical
personnel. Those technical personnel are being trained. Industry needs
great investments and plans. Any factory takes months and, at times, years
to plan plus years for construction, with scores of qualified technicians
and workers.

Our country is making a serious industrial effort in the principal fields,
such as electricity and construction. You know that two cement factories
are being built which when expanded, will have a capacity of almost 1
million tons. Efforts are being made to contract for another cement factory
capable of achieving a production of another 2.5 million tons of cement by
1970. Everybody, everybody is extremely interested in the development of
the construction industry, and above all in cement production. Why? Because
cement affects all the economic plans. The coffee growers need cement for
the dryers. Livestock raisers need cement to build milking barns and other
types of barns. Hydraulic works need cement. Sewage construction, waterwork
construction, in fact, all the agricultural activities, all the industrial
activities need cement. For some time the cement which is produced in this
nation has not been enough.

What is the most pressing problem? What is the most constant request from
the citizenry? There request for houses. We know that the majority of the
problems which we hear about in the streets, anywhere, are the housing
problems. In this housing matter something very interesting has happened.
No one thought before, of course, that an administrator would solve this
housing problem; that a politician would solve this housing problem. No one
came to mind. Because of urban reform, because of the number of persons who
today do not pay rent for a house, and because hundreds of thousands of
families have solved the problem, there has been created in all those who
live in a hut, in all who live in a room, in all who live in any unlivable
house, the thirst for housing, the need for housing.

Many times when we meet the people almost anywhere there are always a
number of people asking for a house. This is for us one of the most
distressing problems, most distressing. An infinite number of problems can
be solved. Scholarships--practically everybody has been getting
scholarships. Though that demand has been an unusual one, generally
everyone has been taken care of. Many problems can be taken care of, but
there is one problem which worries us because they are asking for something
which could only be solved by producing the formula of Mandrake the
Magician--that is, pulling a house out of a hat for the one who asks us for
a house.

There are some people who have told us: Look, I was waiting for a chance to
see you. Lucky opportunity. More than an opportunity, it really happens to
be opportunism. Why? Because they say you can solve this problem. Yes, I
can solve it by bothering someone else. How? We find someone who has a real
need for housing, a true need because there are four or five living in a
room. There are a number of houses that have been built or which are not
being rented at the time. If anyone of us is going to solve that problem by
taking one of those houses out of the housing fund, it means taking it away
from someone else who was going to get it. But possibly, instead of having
four living in a room, that person has seven living in a room.
Unfortunately, we must admit that in our country there remain some habits
from the past. Really, many people think of the public official, the
administrative official, the governor, or whatever you want to call him, as
a sort of servant.

We like to visit a construction project often--a factory, a farm. We want
to see all the problems that interest us relating to the progress of that
construction. This sometimes presents us with a number of problems to be
solved, problems of supplying a working center. These problems are those of
seeing that the workers have ice water to drink or that they need a
truck--a number of collective problems that can be solved. The tragedy is
that when collective problems are solved there come 10 who say: I have a
problem. I was waiting to talk to you so that you could get me a house, the
house, the house, the house. It is then that the problems begin to crop up.
The problems are such that we who must visit the construction sites
concentrate on the problems and think about collective solutions for all.
(applause)

Many times people make us worry because they ask for things we cannot give.
We suffer anguish to see many people, many people, still using requests for
favors as if it were the times past, as when one formerly had to ask
someone for a favor to get someone into a hospital. In those days, to get
someone into a hospital one had to ask somebody for a favor. To get
somebody to study, one had to ask for a favor. To get somebody to study,
one had to ask for a favor. Favors, favors!

Our people are accustomed to thinking about the individual. They do not
understand that we are humans of flesh and bones, that we must concentrate,
not merely think. We must dedicate ourselves to basic matters which
interest many people. Many times people wait to see us about a problem,
thinking that the bad thing is that it is a problem which can be solved;
but it is a painful fact that they ask for things one cannot solve, and
that if one solves them it is through an incorrect method--incorrect! This
is doing someone a favor by depriving someone else of his rights. This
would be solving problems by political means. We cannot be politicians. We
cannot do this by solving the problem for one. There is need for housing,
of course. The worry, the desire, of so many families to have a house is
understandable. Yes, yes, this is understandable and reasonable.

Many people, because of the need they are facing do not think. There is no
reasoning. There is no discussion. We have found people in a traumatic
state, really traumatic. I live underneath a staircase! I live underneath a
staircase! It almost seems that we are to blame that they live under a
staircase. What is our duty as revolutionary leaders? Is it to tell
everybody "yes" and then not solve anything for them? No! Is it to consider
and solve all the problems of this type which we meet on the road? No. The
correct solution, the revolutionary solution, is that we push housing
construction; that we, above all, push the building of cement
factories--the first factory, the second, the third, the problem of
(?foundations), installations, the problem of pipes, all the things which
are needed to build at least 100,000 housing units per year--100,000
housing units.

If we are able to increase the housing construction output to 100,000
housing units per year, we will solve the problem in 15 years, in 15 years.
The housing shortage in this country--the need for housing is approximately
1 million units--one million housing units. This is counting those who do
not have a house and live underneath a staircase, those who live in huts.
Studies show that there is a need for 1 million houses.

For this we must invest at least 1 million tons of cement. In addition, we
also must mechanize the construction so that 20,000 or 25,000 workers can
build 100,000 houses. But all the construction labor force cannot be
dedicated to housing alone. This becomes, then, a problem which takes time,
a problem which calls for the prior development of the construction
industry, the mechanization of construction, cement production, and all the
rest of the things which are required to build a house. Streets must be
built, there must be running water. When you install running water--in
other words, sewage pipes--you must build a sewage plant at the same time.
If you don't, then we will have the same thing that happened on the Isle of
Pines.

In Nueva Gerona the sewage pipes were laid where the sewage plant was not
finished. Since in those houses the ditches for the sewage pipes were never
dug--the houses use septic tanks instead--the water runs down the streets
in Nueva Gerona, spilling over the septic tanks. Now the problem is most
critical. How can the problem be solved so that there will not be
epidemics? We must get a pump truck to do the work that the sewage plant
should do.

Almost no Cuban towns have a sewage plant, nor do they have sewage pipes.
All the towns want their sewage plants. All the towns, of course, want
their sewage pipes laid. All the towns want their schools. All the towns
want a medical dispensary or a hospital. They all want their roads, sports
fields, stadiums, and in addition they all want the economic development of
the area. In addition, they all want housing. But in addition to housing
they want fresh milk in the morning for breakfast. In order to have milk
there must be dairies, and to have dairies with hygenic milk there must be
cement. (applause)

Then, what we have learned is an awareness of our needs, and in addition to
the awareness of our needs, the hope of solving them. But what happens if
the pressures are tremendous, the resources are limited? A party comrade in
Baracoa calls us and tells us about the problem of the movie theater. There
is not enough room for the people.

There is not enough for the people at the movies. We must have a new movie
house. There are long lines at the movies. Another one asks for something
else. All ask because they see the needs. All want to solve the problems,
but the resources are limited. And the problem of the correct distribution
of resources becomes a serious problem. I assure you that if we donated the
knack we have for asking for things we would solve the problems of this
nation much sooner.

If there is no bread because the bakery is old, then we have another
problem with the supply of bread. We will probably need cement for the
bakery, or for this or that, or for industrial installations. If there is
no doctor, that is a tragedy. If there is no school, that is another
tragedy. And with the limited resources we have we must invest well and
solve, according to priorities, each of the problems which arises. Let it
be known once and for all that it is necessary for the citizens to
understand that the public administrators are men who are fulfilling a
task, that they are at the service of a social collective interest, and
that their time and energy must be used for this.

Let us all fight together, because this is not a matter upon which one can
preach a sermon each time one is asked for something that cannot be solved.
I know from experience that there is nothing more inadequate than a sermon
in a pressing situation. I know this from experience. It is ridiculous; it
is ridiculous to preach a sermon to an individual who is desperate because
he is living in a room with eight people. How can this man understand at
this moment when all he can see is the room, the ambiguity, the house that
might come down on him? what philosophical reasons can this man understand?
Or what valid reason, be they unphilosophical, can this man understand? He
believes that this is his chance--that he won the lottery--because on this
day he had the chance to solve the problem. No, we must educate ourselves
collectively. We must achieve this awareness collectively. (applause)

There are some people who say there are empty apartments. There could be
three empty apartments, unfortunately. The policy followed is that when an
apartment is vacant it is given to whomever needs it. By some mistake, by
some error, by a mistake from the institute or whatever, there could be a
number of apartments which are vacant--sealed, as it is termed. All that
has to be done is to assign those three apartments and that is the end of
it. In other words, the problem is not solved because there are 3
apartments in a block or even 3,000 unassigned, because what would solve
the problem is a million apartments.

At other times an apartment has been given to someone else who had less
need for it. Sometimes it happens that we have to take a technician to some
industrial site. We cannot take him chained. One cannot handcuff and tie
him so that he will go to some town in the interior. Unfortunately this is
the way it is. Then that technician must be provided with certain
facilities. Often it is true that a person gets an apartment when he has
less need than someone else because industry, the nation, needs that
person. If we bring in a foreign technician we cannot expect him to sleep
in the park, because then he will not come. We must give him an apartment.

Sometimes the apartments have been assigned badly--that is true. What can
be done? Men are not perfect and unfortunately people interpret things
incorrectly. But that is not the crux of the problem; that is not the crux.
The crux of the thing is that there is a need for a million houses. A
million housing units were needed because of a series of landslides. It
became necessary to give priority to many families who lived in houses in
the path of the landslides. House distribution through the unions was
halted--two leaders had been on top off the list for a month--yes! Some got
houses without being on a list because they lived in houses that might
crumble. Thousands of families in the Republic's capital--thousands--have
been relocated for health reasons, and we have had to give them a house.

Very well, housing needs are tremendous. Those in Havana need houses and
ask for them. The population grows. However, the situation is even worse in
the interior of the country. The situation in which the workers of Moa
lived was tremendous. It became necessary, if those workers were to have
minimum living standards, to develop the industry there, to devote some
quantity of cement in Moa for housing construction.

Conditions in Nicaro were even more horrible. It became necessary to build
the town of (Bebita--phonetic) to solve the problems. Housing needs are
even worse in the country's interior--worse! Our needs are great. We must
be cognizant of this problem.

It is very salutary for the citizenry, the collective community, to become
aware of its problems. It is very necessary and very salutary. To the
extent to which we become cognizant of our problems, we will all work, all,
for the solution of these problems. In our revolution under socialism, no
contradictions exist or can exist between the people and their leader.
There is not nor can there be any antithesis between the people and their
leaders. Our duty is to do the utmost, to do what we can and then some!

Our duty is to think of finding solutions to the problems, to ponder the
difficulties, and to solve them. When we cannot do this and if we are
incapable, let them change us. We need nothing more than to recognize that
we are not useful, because men under a revolution have certain
responsibilities. That kind of employee should be a man bereft of any
attachment to his office. Such men should be aware that public work is the
kind of work that is most compelling, more arduous--it is the kind of work
that most demands our living in tension--to work, to strive to the utmost
to solve the problems. The men of the revolution are not the politicians.

We must show the people, show the people that their leaders will earn the
right to lead the destinies of the people only when they become capable of
giving their utmost and doing their utmost honestly, without demagoguery,
without deceit, and without playing politics! (applause) The people and the
revolutionary leaders must educate themselves in this concept--off men who
have a task, a job, within the society, perhaps the hardest one, perhaps
many times the bitterest, perhaps in many instances the most tense.

Under socialism these contradictions do not exist. The solution of the
problems is not merely the province of the leaders. They are the problems
of the leaders and of the people, of the government and off the people, and
of the people and the government. Within socialism each citizen must be
responsible. Each citizen must become aware that the weight of a big
responsibility rests upon his shoulders.

It falls to us to teach this to the people--not cult, fanatics cult, not
blind obedience, not magic formulas to resolve problems at the entreaty of
men. We believe that men play a very limited role. We believe that the less
indispensable men are, the better. We used to look upon the official, the
minister, as a mythological figure. Some people wee awed because a local
councilman would shake hands with them. If a mayor greeted them one day,
they would be thrilled.

How can anyone dream of talking to a minister? He was a figure from another
world. These differences had to disappear with the revolution. These
differences have disappeared with the advent of the revolution. I know of
no official of the revolution who resembles any of those of the past.
(applause) I know of no citizen from among the people who does not feel
perfectly free to speak with any man of the revolution without getting
nervous or thinking that this is a feat.

The people must cooperate to get the men who bear responsibility to
approach them, not to drive away the men who bear responsibilities because
you drive them crazy. Sometimes the problem arises that a known comrade has
to go to the beach, but he cannot. Why? Well, because he has to go where
the others go. Then this poor man gets swamped by about 20 who want him to
resolve problems. They scare him away. They frighten him away from contact
with the people. They deprive him of the possibility of going to the
source, where the most is learned, where the most is known; that is, the
people.

By my revolutionary experience, I have never been better informed than when
I talk to the people, when I meet with workers, with students (applause),
with peasants. (prolonged applause) In my lifetime I have known two
universities, one in which I learned nothing and another in which I learned
everything. (applause) This is the contact with the people, with their
worries, problems, with their anxieties, with those things that worry them.
I know of no man who considers himself a political cadre who does not have
the compassion to feel deeply the people and the problems of the people.
(applause)

Any defect can be forgiven, but no indifference. That is why the political
cadre cannot be molded in a university. The political cadre cannot be
molded in a school. In a school the culture of anyone who has the innate
instincts of the political cadre can be developed, of anyone who has a
vocation as politician. Being a politician, is a vocation, including a
transitory function. The less the masses take part, the more important the
politicians. The more the masses participate, the less important the
politicians become.

The day will come when there will be no politicians. The day will come when
each citizen is the politician, the day in which each citizen is a
political cadre. The day will come when this hateful function of cadres
will disappear--in socialism.

Under communism it is said that the state should disappear. The state is
known as a cohesive force. Engels said that the administration of
people--the government of people--would be substituted for by the
administration of things. That is the society we want to achieve. That is
the society which we aspire to reach, the society in which the masses have
the maximum participation, total participation.

But be very careful with the slogan. Be very careful with twisted
interpretations. Unfortunately, the worst fate to which political ideas are
subjected is their erroneous interpretation. Revolutionary theories have
suffered that terrible illness which is erroneous interpretation, because a
slogan is interpreted in 25 different ways by some people. They interpret
one idea in 25 different ways and they apply it in 50 different ways.

Political problems are not simple. That is why it is necessary that the
masses have a clear political awareness. And we want the awareness of our
masses to be not an awareness of cliches, an awareness from manuals,
because another thing which has done great harm to revolutionary ideas is
manuals.

When I dare talk about these things, I have no alternative but to ask
forgiveness from the experts and the learned, because in this matter there
are many experts, there are many learned. they flay the man who diverges
from the manual. There are brains who have servile habits. There is the
vice of the mental satellite. I am not going to dwell on this theme, but I
know from experience that when I have had the audacity to think, to reason,
and to air these beliefs which, in my modest opinion, are revolutionary
(sentence not completed)

Of course I do not claim nor should anybody claim that he has the absolute
truth. No one should claim that he is infallible. I, at least, have never
believed that I am such. Often I have believed that I was correct about
something and often the facts have coincided with these beliefs. This is no
reason to believe that we are incapable of making mistakes, but we are
capable of thinking with independent criteria.

We are capable of departing from the manuals. We are capable of daring to
exercise the right of using our heads. (applause) Only insane people, only
insane people can believe that they monopolize the truth. The papacy is a
medieval institution, and papal infallibility is the thing most alien to
Marxist thinking that can be found. Many minds have contributed to the
development of revolutionary ideas; many minds have contributed to the
development of revolutionary ideas; many peoples have contributed. It is
not fair to scorn the contribution of anyone, of any mind, of any people.

In our own country, in our own ranks, unfortunately, there are men who are
scandalized when they hear a word, an argument, a reason that is not
exactly as it appears textually in the little book. Experience teaches us
that the incorrect interpretation or the literal interpretation of the
little books has caused an infinite number of errors. He who does not wish
to err with the thoughts of others must be capable of thinking with his own
mind. If you think with someone else's mind, when that mind errs or says it
erred, you must go around like a parrot to say that you, too, erred.
(applause) And there is nothing sadder than to err on account of another.

Moreover, all revolutions are very complex processes, very complex.
Moreover, they are very dialectic processes, and all processes commit
mistakes. There are great truths and great mistakes in all of them. Of
course, we can be mistaken many times, but, logically, it is not the first
time.

There was a time in which very few thought as we did. There was a time in
which we were only a handful of men who thought of the possibility of
revolution, of the possibility of armed struggle, of the possibility of the
conquest of power. We do not throw it up to anyone that he made a mistake.
Many situations have been presented during the course of this process, and
there have often been differing points of view among several people. It is
the facts that judge in the final analysis and have the last word. The
peoples do not and cannot believe in people who frequently err. The peoples
do not and cannot believe in blind people, and those who lead nations to
error or failure, whoever they may be--even one of us--must stop
immediately.

There are men who have a little more vision. There are others who have less
vision. There are men who have been more correct, others who have made more
mistakes. We are facing new situations in a series of matters in which we
are obliged to use our own heads. We face nothing less than the task of
constructing socialism. We face nothing less than the task of marching
toward communism. And how is socialism built? And how is communism built?
It is precisely around these points that there is a great variety of
shadings in revolutionary thinking, around which there is a great variety
of currents in the revolutionary movement.

We respect the views of others. Let each build his socialism or communism
as he sees fit, but please let them also respect our right to build our
socialism and communism as we wish. (prolonged applause)

I do not accuse anyone of wanting to impose a road on us, of course. In the
first place, I speak of the servile persons who have no faith in the
ability of their nation to follow a road. Fortunately, fortunately,
although there are no peoples better than others, peoples can be educated
in one way or another, and our people have very definite mental
characteristics, very definite idiosyncrasies.

There is no nation with a greater sense of the ridiculous than this nation.
In our country a ridiculous person cannot remain undetected; he is quickly
spotted. No people are sharper or quicker to suspect--that is, suspect the
evil, discover the evil--in the positive sense of having the ability to
laugh at the ridiculous, to discover any little maneuver. A character has
but to act as a politician and he is immediately spotted--a phony, and he
is immediately detected; a pharisee, and he is recognized; a ridiculous
person, and he is uncovered.

Honestly speaking, it is very fortunate that certain characteristics, a
certain sense of humor, and a certain sharpness exist in our country and
among our people. Indeed, one must become familiar with the idiosyncrasies
and the psychology of our people. Those who are unfamiliar with its
characteristics collide, collide against it. Our people are allergic to
imposition, allergic to abuse, allergic to cliches, capable of thinking
into infinity but devoid of fanaticism. They are a people who tolerate no
lies, a people who cannot be told that so-and-so is a god! They are a
people who cannot be sold a bill of goods. Fortunately, these are the
characteristics of our people.

Our duty as leaders of an incipient revolution is to develop this spirit
among our people: their sense of criticism, their capacity for calm and
objective analysis. It is our duty to point out these virtues of our
people. It is our duty to stress them; it is our duty to develop them. We
should never renounce these virtues. Never in this world should we fail to
give our modest contribution to the revolutionary cause (applause), the
revolutionary experience, and--mark this well--without trying to impose on
anyone our way, our means, our system. this path still needs much
clarification among ourselves.

No one should arbitrarily, unilaterally, capriciously try to say, "This is
the path because this is the path," only because one believes without
regard to any other consideration or any other criteria that this is the
path. The important thing is that we should develop our own path. It is
impossible for all of us to think the same. We believe that the path to
communism is an entirely new path of which mankind has had no experience.
The case could occur in which a country thinks that it is building
communism when in reality it is building capitalism. This could happen. We
want to build socialism and we want to construct communism.

Since we have no manual, no index, no guide, and inasmuch as no one has
tread this path, we have the right to attempt to tread it with out means,
our procedures, and our methods. Indeed, it will not be myself or anyone
else within our party's Central Committee who will decide. It will be the
majority of this Central Committee, or the unanimity of this Central
Committee when a series of matters is discussed within this Central
Committee.

There are things which have not really been discussed. We will hold, next
year at the latest, the first congress of our party (applause) We do not
doubt that it will be an event of utmost importance in the ideological
field. A number of matters that have arisen and have been discussed
somewhat academically, a number of things--motivation, whether it should be
moral or material, and self-financing, the budget problem--will have to be
decided.

On these matters no little confusion exists. Each one will bring his own
ideas to this congress on these matters. This congress will decide the
methods for this country to use and the path this country will follow. This
will be the time when revolutionaries will have to be clearheaded as never
before, the time to talk about the emphasis necessary to create a man
capable of living under socialism, to create a man, to develop a man
capable of living under communism. Many revolutionaries have been trained
by reading certain books on political economy, certain textbooks, certain
literature with no critical sense, without any critical sense.

On this occasion men will meet to discuss things. This will not be a
meeting of wisemen. Men, not wisemen, will meet. However, each one will
defend his own point of view. The militants, the people, the delegates to
the congress will hold discussions. Thus, these doctrinal matters will take
an important place in the minds of our revolutionary militants, of our
revolutionary militants, of our political cadres. I have my ideas on all
these problems and have not wanted to use the influence of my office, the
influence which my words might have on the people, so that it might be said
that we want to impose a point of view.

We know that not all of us think the same. We know that all of us who
believe ourselves to be revolutionary do not think the same. We know that
there are shades of thought. We also know that some take offense if on some
26 July I advance a few ideas which I honestly believe to be revolutionary.
I do say that I will not refrain from advancing them whenever they apply,
and I say that (applause)--I say that never will I try to take advantage of
any edge to impose them. But I will never stop defending them with the same
conviction with which in my entire life I have defended my ideas.

There were times when we were accused of adventurism. There were times when
we were said to be dreamers and deceivers. Many times it was said that we
were these things. How could we defeat Batista and his army? Many times.
Few are the times when you have seen us bring up someone's past mistakes,
because this is a good way to destroy men. Few times have you seen us
exploit someone else's errors or humiliate or crush men. Never have you
seen us do this, but rather you have seen us with open arms.

Then how can it be conceived that the revolution gained strength? Then how
can it be conceived that what was the work of a small handful of men is
today the work of an entire nation? (applause) If we had been a little
group of sectarians entrenched in the privileges of our victories and our
achievements, closing the doors to everybody, this revolutionary movement
would never become a movement of the masses and the people. We would have
fallen into the absurdity of denying the right to die to those who died in
Giron because they would not have been in the mountains. (applause) This is
the right to defend the revolution as their own work, to give for it their
blood and their lives.

Nothing has satisfied us more than to see that our ideas were embraced each
day by a larger number of the nation's men and women--that many who did not
believe would later believe, and that many who did not understand later
understood. We never were nor will we ever be sectarians. Those who want to
accuse us of being sectarians commit an error. They are committing a great
injustice, because we have always fought against all types of sectarianism.
We have always opposed the exclusion of anyone from an opportunity simply
because he does not come from our original ranks. There is no greater
injustice then to present the revolutionary leadership, then to
discriminate by using some kind of exclusivism or intolerance. On the
contrary, we have been a systematic enemy of, systematic preachers against,
these proceedings. There is nothing more absurd or ridiculous than
sectarianism. Some have attempted to hide behind this accusation to defend
their ineptness, to defend their inability.

We men, of what value are we men in a revolution? Of what importance are
the offices? Men of the revolution are removed sometimes because they leave
to perform a more important task, sometimes because they take up a task
which is more commensurate with their capacities, and sometimes because
they are exhausted or because they are tired out. Sometimes they are
removed because they have burned up their energies in carrying out an
obligation. If we are truthful, I can say from personal experience that I
have always been more demanding of those with whom I have closer friendly
relations or those whom I have known longer than others.

Amid the revolution we must never allow, and we will never allow, any
discrimination, persecution, exclusion of anyone, or sectarianism of any
kind. If we should proceed in this manner we would be unworthy of the
confidence of the people, unworthy of exercising power in the name of the
people.

The exercise (applause) of power, the exercise of power is one of the most
difficult tasks entrusted to men. To abuse power is the easiest thing to
do. The abuse of power is the most frequent thing that happens. Many have
abused power. Unfortunately, not many men have exercised power calmly,
objectively, with moderation.

Power is something very serious. I believe that our people are not as
allergic to anything else as to the abuse of power. I have always preached
among all of my comrades in the revolution that we must be extremely
cautious in the exercise of power. Badly exercised power can cause
tremendous damage. It can commit tremendous injustices. When you think
about someone, when you think about the men whom you choose to occupy posts
of responsibility, always ask yourselves if the man in question will keep a
level head when he is given authority and power, if he is capable of
exercising power, because we have had many abusers of power in this world.

Unfortunately there have been few men who have exercised power serenely. We
will be the foe, as we have always been, of anyone abusing power. This does
not mean that we will be able to prevent the occurrence of isolated abuses,
the occurrence of errors. However, in our revolutionary conscience we have
never deliberately tolerated anything that can be considered abuse of
power.

Exclusion or persecution from a position of power is an abuse. Some who
have plotted, some conspirators who, when a change is made in the post of a
comrade, come up with conspiracies--these are the conspirators who are
scandalized if they hear a word that is not included in the manual. We
would like to see that kind of people exercising full power. We would like
to see them in our place. We would like to see how much patience they
possess, how much tolerance they could exercise.

I have no objections to repeating today what Is said when I was nothing
more than an ignorant man, on 8 January 1959 (applause)--an ignorant man
with an enormous responsibility on my shoulders, with enormous authority in
my hands--when we descended from the mountains, victorious. I do not
hesitate to repeat what we said on that occasion, despite our ignorance: We
will always be patient, and when patience runs out we will seek more
patience. (applause)

Instinct, instinct more than wisdom prompted us to say this. Today
experience confirms this point of view. I hope that men who wield authority
in this country will always guide themselves by this nor, that they will
mold their behavior by this thought. I hope that our country and our people
will never have to endure abuse of power. I hope that our country in its
revolutionary process will never have to endure these aberrations, this
hypertrophy. The revolutionaries, the initiators of revolutionary processes
enjoy great prestige among the people, great authority over the people.
They can do a great deal of good with that authority, but they can also do
a great deal of harm.

We hope that in future times few or no men will wield the authority which
the initiators of this revolution have had, because it is dangerous for men
to wield so much authority.

The safest thing for the people will be this security which we have
discovered by using methods involving the masses. This solid opinion, this
infrangible barrier which the masses raise against opportunists, against
phonies, or those who lack (?talent) and capacity--the ambitious and the
abusers of power--if the masses recognize that no man who possesses these
faults can lead a union or can become a member of the party, then the
awareness of a people, the solid opinion of a people will be a stanch
barrier against the ambitious, the opportunists, the phonies, and the
abusers of power.

This congress and the manner in which it has developed is an example for
all revolutionaries. We are not going to speak here of the attainments of
the revolution. We believe that the revolution and its works has much to be
proud of. It has attained great successes. However, the task before us is
so overwhelming, so enormous, that what we have done is nothing, nothing in
comparison with the tasks ahead. As the revolution develops, needs grow,
and the recognition of what we can and must do also grows. Our obligation
becomes greater.

We cannot say that everything goes perfectly well. We cannot say that this
is a path strewn with rosepetals. What we can say is that the revolution is
advancing. What we can say is that the masses are becoming gradually more
aware, that they have more strength, and that our revolutionary process is
acquiring more momentum and more confidence in its final victory, more
certainty in each one of things that it performs. We are aware off the fact
that our country is writing--fate has dictated us to write--a glorious page
in this history of this continent and that it feels worthy of this task. It
feels capable of continuing to write this page without anyone restraining
it, without intimidating it.

There will be some who might appeal to the people's instinct of
preservation and suggest that they abandon their most sacred obligations in
the international field for the sake of security, for the sake of avoiding
dangers. However, we know well the thoughts of our people. More than timid
people, more than people who think about self-preservation, we have serene
and heroic people of the October crisis (applause), serene and heroic
people from each one of the difficult moments, serene and heroic people who
will never retreat a single step before the enemy (applause), serene and
heroic people who want no security for the price of surrender (applause),
serene and heroic people who love their work, who feel a profound love for
their work, who work for their welfare, who struggle for the future, but
who will never desire the attainment of their future at the unworthy price
of betraying their internationalist duties! (applause)

We are a people filled with love for our small island with no hegemonic
ambitions of any kind, a small nation which, within its boundaries and the
limits off its natural resources, has all that is necessary to build its
happiness. But that nation [Unreadable text] not forget that imperialism
exists. Imperialism threatens us at the same time that it oppresses our
brothers on the rest of the continent--an imperialism which threatens us at
the same time that it attacks our brother Vietnamese (applause) an
imperialism that threatens us (applause), that threatens us at the same
time it intervenes in Santo Domingo. (applause) We will never forget that
we are part of that world which is against imperialism, and the defeat of
that world would be our defeat and our enslavement.

We know that our freedom will never be a complete freedom, will never be a
complete freedom until the rest of the nations are also free. We know that
in our struggle against imperialism we would never win if we did not take
support in the strength of all who struggle against imperialism. The
alternative is to act like an ostrich, to stick our heads in a hole and
leave our throat our in the open. I do not believe that this nation would
ever listen to those who preach or those that would preach the cowardly,
unworthy, infamous policy of the ostrich.

We have an international policy. That policy involves risks. We do not try
to fool anyone. And our line, our direction is one of complete solidarity
with the revolutionary movement. (applause) We know that involves risks,
but we do not try to fool anyone. (applause) This policy also implies the
only path that in our judgment our nation can follow. The imperialists have
tried to do us all possible harm. They have attacked us. They have
blockaded us. They have tried to defeat us by the use of all available
means, but the imperialists will never find in the Cuban national hateful
enemy (applause), never a cowardly enemy. The imperialists will have an
enemy and a consistent enemy as long as there is imperialism.

According to a cable, the New York TIMES wrote recently that the hostility
between Cuba and the United States was greater than the confrontation
between the United States and any other communist country, excluding
Vietnam. It is true we do not deny or hide our profound hatred toward
imperialism, our irreconcilable hostility. We are aware of this. We are not
ones who are unaware of the risks, who ignore the danger--we have them. But
to renounce that danger would be at the cost of renouncing our
revolutionary nature. And I ask (applause) if there is a single one here
(shouts from the audience) among the representatives of our workers who
renounces danger! (continuous shouting) I ask if there is a single one who
renounces the role, the dignity, and the honor of being revolutionaries.
(continuous shouting and applause from the audience; audience shouts: "No!
No!")

At the same time we consciously follow a policy, at the same time we follow
this policy of defiance and challenge, of unrelenting struggle against
imperialism, we interpret the will of our people. Had we been submissive,
we would never have been able to carry forward the revolution. Those who
give up before they even wage a battle will never win a victory.
Imperialism is powerful, very powerful, but Batista was also powerful, very
powerful. We are a small nation, but when we took to arms against Batista's
army we had even less. Of course, our struggle against imperialism is not
the same as the struggle against Batista. But our struggle against
imperialism is more important, more decisive. Our truly historic struggle,
the historic struggle of this country was not the struggle against Batista.
What is Batista compared to the Yankee imperialist? A little cockroach.
(Laughter from the audience) What is he? What was he? Nothing, a vulgar
instrument of that imperialism.

The historic struggle of this country, the struggle that it will never
renounce, is this struggle which we wage today against imperialism--for the
liberation of the oppressed peoples. When we were in the mountains nobody
even thought of abandoning that struggle, of coming down from the
mountains. Nobody should ever think that any of us will give up this
struggle against imperialism, that any of us will give up this struggle.

The imperialists know this. They know it well. They know what kind of enemy
the Cuban revolution is. They know that it is an unyielding enemy. They
know that it is a tenacious enemy.

And our duty is to persist in that struggle through the forms which that
struggle is presently taking against the enemy. Today we are the only
nation which has or is building socialism in Latin America, the only nation
which has freed itself completely from imperialism. But we are sure that
all the rest of the nations will follow that road. We are sure that all the
rest of the nations will follow that road. We are that banner and that
banner will never be lowered; that flag will never surrender. (applause)

We are not worried abut the risks. Are we perhaps men who do not love the
work of the revolution? No! But with the same passion with which we love
our freedom, with the same passion with which we love the work of our
revolution, we hate those who oppress the peoples, those who keep the rest
of the peoples from carrying out their work, those who enslave the rest of
the peoples. We understand that our future will never be independent from
the future of those other countries. We understand that the only
security--the only security to which we should aspire--is the one which we
will have when imperialism no longer exists. (applause) Cuba represents a
revolutionary trench in this continent. It writes its history with heroism.
It has been writing it for many years.

All the hate of imperialism is turned against the Cuban revolution. All the
hate, the hate of its satellites and their leaders, all the hate of the
pseudo-revolutionaries, all the hate of the frauds, all the hypocrites turn
against our country. All the reactionaries vent their fury against our
country. Some of them will not be able to say that this time it was us who
provoked these words.

Some of them, like the case of the ridiculous Frei government in Chile,
even pretend to compare their revolutionary work with the work of the
revolution. We would have preferred today to dwell on problems relating to
the matters being discussed in this congress, but some cables arrived a few
minutes before we got here. (applause) To our great surprise we learned,
according to this cable, more or less (?corroborated) by the rest (sentence
not completed) This one from REUTERS says: Chilean President Eduardo Frei
has challenged Cuban Premier Castro to show which of the governments has
done more for its people (Shouts from the audience) Frei left his sickbed
where he was recovering from the flu (shouts from the audience) to speak at
the annual congress of his Christian Democratic followers. More than 2,000
delegates, including observers from the Christian Democratic parties of
Latin America and Europe, attended the congress.

He said that the Cubans are now in their eight year of revolution and are
just beginning to put into practice their agrarian reform and educational
plans. Frei said: I challenge them to demonstrate what they have done in
the fields of industry and public works. (shouts from audience) That
gentleman challenges us to demonstrate what we have done in the industrial
field.

In the very first place (applause), in the very first place(applause), we
converted the Yankee industries into Cuban industries, (applause and
shouting) That is something Mr. Frei will never have the courage to do in
Chile. And not only were we able to call those industries truly Cuban
industries, but we were also able to operate them without the Yankee
administrators and technicians. We were also able to keep them operating at
full production even though our workers, our workers never attended
universities, never had an opportunity to study. Yet they were able to
defend the industries with dignity and heroism.

We were also able to make them produce in the midst of a blockade. Despite
the ban on the sale of repair parts and raw materials, and even though they
were North American industries, these industries have not been paralyzed.
These industries have been kept at full production. That business of
speaking about industrialization, attempting to separate industry as such
from agriculture, as an independent aspect of economic development, is
simply another bauble of Mr. Frei.

The revolution speaks about economic development. We are developing our
economy by placing a special stress on agriculture for the reasons I
explained to you earlier. Under the conditions in which our revolution is
developing, at the moment our revolution is developing and in line with our
technical development, in line with our resources, we have placed the main
emphasis on agriculture i the hope that we will have one of the most
productive and modern agricultures in the world. That agriculture,
supported by industrialization, supported in the first place by the
industry that reinforces that agricultural development, supported by the
basic industries (sentence not completed) Our revolution has not become
known by great fanfare. Important works are inaugurated without staging an
unusually large event. Many completely new plants, such as the
thermoelectric plants, are already producing without any publicity
whatsoever, without any solemn events.

We have the industries which our revolution has been finishing during these
hard years of struggle and the industries which are under construction,
industries which have been planned for years, have been built in years. We
have our sugar industry, whose enlargement will enable us to produce almost
twice as much sugar as we produced when the revolution emerged victorious.
Our textile industry, our mechanical industry, these industries are being
developed in keeping with our capabilities. Our industries are plainly our
industries; our investments are our investments. (applause)

The basic difference between our industry and the Chilean industry no
longer rests on the fact that when the revolution emerged victorious our
country had an industrial development incomparably inferior to Chilean
industrial development, inasmuch as the Cuban economy had been stagnant for
30 years. Aside from the fact that the level of our industrial development
was incomparably smaller than that of Chile, the industries were Cuban;
(applause) the factories that are being built here are not West German,
they are Cuban. (applause)

We are also carrying out an industrial development in keeping with our
capabilities and our resources by placing the main emphasis on agriculture
at this stage and with the best plans that can be conceived to later push
industry. For this reason we are training technical cadres in such
quantities that the single case of those studying abroad, their number
exceeds 2,000.

Frei may be able to speak about the comparison between the Yankee industry
being built in Chile and the Cuban industry being built in Cuba. Frei may
be able to speak about the foreign industries being built in Chile with
foreign capital, which are foreign owned. Frei will never be able to speak
about Chilean industry when it comes to comparing that industry with Cuban
industries. In any event, Frei will be able to speak of private Chilean
industries, but there can be no possible comparison between the
foreign-owned industry or the industry being built in Chile by the
exploiters when it comes to comparing it with Cuban industries which are
owned by our people. In Cuba industry is an instrument for the well-being
of the workers. (applause)

Regarding industry, we are going to challenge Frei on two aspects. First,
we challenge him to recover Chilean natural resources, to nationalize the
Yankee industries in Chile. (applause) Second, we challenge him to convoke
a labor congress, such as this one (applause), to convoke the
representatives of Chilean workers and to ask Chilean workers if they
prefer an industry, copper mines--if they prefer an economy--in the hands
of the Yankee monopolies or in Chilean hands. We challenge him to ask the
workers if they want to work for the Yankees or for the Chilean people.
(shouts from audience) When Frei met with his Christian Democrats, since
the most progressive sector of the Christian Democrats, since the most
honest and most progressive elements of the Christian Democratic Party were
practically separated and expelled from the party, Frei held a congress of
the bourgeoisie, a congress of owners, not a workers congress.

In regard to public works, it is sufficient to note that the construction
workers of our country today exceed 100,000. It is sufficient to note that
there is not a single surplus pound of cement in our country. It is
sufficient to note that our factories are operating at full capacity and
cannot meet the demand. Let these facts suffice to answer that question.
There is not a single city,town, or village in this country where a school,
a dispensary or hospital, or an industrial installation has not been built.

Chile produces more cement than we do. Chile has more cement factories and
a cement production capacity two-and-a-half times greater than that of
Cuba, as I understand it. Nevertheless, I am sure that in Chile there are
not a many workers employed in construction as in Cuba, and that in Chile,
by comparison, they are not making even half the effort in construction
which is being made in Cuba, for we are not building merely with cement. We
are building waterworks, enormous dams. We are constructing roads,
highways, irrigation, and drainage works.

This is not the only effort we are making. Our country has just acquired,
through an agreement with a French commercial firm, 900 bulldozes.
(applause) I am sure of one thing--that 900 bulldozes are not only more
than all those which had entered our country throughout its history, they
are possibly more than all those we have here now at this time. (applause)
These bulldozers, plus approximately 600 more which we will buy from the
Soviet Union, will raise to 1,500 the number of bulldozers which will be
received between next month, September 1966, and December 1968.

We have purchased practically all of the Series-8 tractors of the French
(Richard) factory. We have purchased its production for two years
(applause) to begin a 70,000-kilometer road construction program, to begin
all of the waterworks potentially possible in our country and the
agricultural or forestry development of our entire country. Despite the
enormous quantity of agricultural and construction equipment imported in
recent years, in the next two years 1,500 bulldozers alone will be
imported, aside from dump trucks, power graders, front loaders, cranes,
road rollers, and all the other items needed in construction.

The fact is that Mr. Frei has been meddling in other people's affairs in
challenging the Revolutionary Government to say what it has been doing in
the field of construction. If Mr. Frei wants to, let him make a little trip
to Havana, let him make a little trip to Cuba. (shouts from the audience)
We promise him that we will not jeer at him. We promise him that we will
not jeer at him. This does not mean that we want any relations with his
filthy government. (loud, prolonged applause)

To give you an idea of what this means, by 1975 we hope to achieve an
agricultural production worth no less than 4 billion pesos. (applause)
There will not be a single inch of land left in this country uncultivated
or unexploited, not a single inch. (applause)

There will not be a single drop of water in this country which is not
dammed. Not only shall we develop all of the surface of our country, we
shall develop it with the most modern technical methods, with the greatest
productivity. It is for this purpose that we are training these 50,000
technicians.

The Yankees do everything possible and impossible to obstruct every deal we
make. Pressure was put on the (Richard) factory by the Yankees not to make
the deal. Two things must be said to the honor of the (Richard) plant:
first, that its machinery is incomparably superior to that of the Yankee
Caterpillar of International; second, that it did not allow itself to be
coerced by Yankee pressure. (applause) When a French firm bought nickel
from us, the Yankee imperialists also applied unsuccessful pressure to
break up the deal. Constantly, when our technicians, our buyers, leave to
buy a factory, they meet with countless difficulties. If there is an
American patent on any one of the processes of the factory, this is an
obstacle. The Americans sabotage, prohibit the sale of a single industry in
which a Yankee patent is involved. We have to fight this interference from
a country with the economic and political resources of the United States!

We propose to establish a fertilizer industry. What are our plans? We are
thinking in terms of the production of no less than 1 million tons of
nitrogenous fertilizers by 1970 and 2 million before 1975. This means we
will produce fertilizer, and within the next few days a committee will
leave, headed by the comrade who heads the National Bank of Cuba, to let
contracts for the fertilizer factories. (applause) This is no secret. The
imperialists will do everything in their power to prevent it. But we
believe that despite the boycott and the obstructions we will be able to
buy and establish the fertilizer industries we need in our country.

It is clear, of course, that in order to achieve this our country will have
to make sacrifices. We lack many things, but our policy consists of seeking
definite solutions. At this time the prices of some products, such as
sugar, are very low on the so-called world market. How, despite this, have
we been able to make this deal? How have we been able to buy 35 million
pesos' worth of construction equipment? In the first place, because of the
credit our country enjoys today. We made our first purchase of equipment
from the (Richard) Company at the time of the hurricane. It sold us 5
million pesos' worth on credit. Scarcely two years have passed and this
same plant sells us 35 million pesos' worth of equipment on credit.
(applause) How shall we pay for this? With increased agricultural
production.

This is something I should also like to explain to the workers today. There
are people who say that we export things which are needed here. It is true;
this is true. We export part of our increased meat production, for
instance. In other words, part of our increased production goes to the
consumer; the other part is exported. Do we do this, perhaps, in order to
buy automobiles? Do we do it, perhaps, to buy luxury items? No. Part of the
resources invested in the construction of the 70 collection centers have
come from the exportation of meat. The resources which must be invested to
operate the Matanzas (?Cuba-Anitro) plant to produce tens of thousands of
tons of nitrogen have come from these sources.

The investments which have been made to improve the quality and to increase
the durability of shoes have come from these resources. The genetic
centers, where we have examples of the best livestock in the world, the
equipment to achieve the figure of 1 million cows in the insemination
program, the liquid nitrogen plant to apply the frozen-semen procedure--all
have come from these resources. Practically every penny for the two (?ice
cream) factories which are to be built, one in Oriente, the other in
Camaguey, have come from these resources. (applause) The factory which will
be installed next year (applause) to produce 25,000 tons of pasta, that is,
spaghetti, macaroni, (?pizza), pasta, and food for (word indistinct), have
come from these resources.

This means that we could choose to consume this additional meat, but for an
insignificant period we would have to deprive ourselves of all these
things. This year there is an increase of 300,000 quintals of coffee. Well,
we are going to increase our consumption by only 100,000 quintals, and we
are going to export from 150,000 to 200,000. (applause) (?How are we going
to pay for) this equipment? The cash we must pay we shall obtain from
coffee which will be exported. Now, how many coffee plants are being
planted? Millions of plants. How many coffee plants will be planted between
1967 and 1968? Some 250 million plants--250 million plants. (applause) What
will be--what is--the coffee goal for 1970? A total of 2 million quintals.
What, in my opinion, will be the production? It will surpass 2 million.

We will have to abstain from putting coffee on the free market in 1966 and
1967. In 1968 we still will not be able to put coffee on the free market.
But in 1968 we will increase the amount for local consumption.

In 1969 and most of 1970 we will not only have all the coffee for local
consumption but twice the amount we use today; in other words, from more
than twice the amount of coffee--approximately 1.4 million quintals--in
1970 we will be able to earn revenue in the form of foreign currency
equivalent to 40 million pesos.

To carry out the program of coffee planting we have had to spend hundreds
of millions of pesos in buying polyethylene bags, in buying polyvynil to
make the bags--that part which we do here. We buy seed. In other words, to
develop and increase we must make these sacrifices. To be able to increase
coffee production we have had to buy 30,000 thousands tons of fertilizer in
Italy. Also, we had to use 40,000 tons of our own fertilizer--a total of
70,000. Do you know how we paid for that coffee--that fertilizer? With
coffee. In other words, if we want to have more coffee, and not only more
coffee but the resources to buy the equipment we need for a definite
solution, since that is what we are interested in--for a definite solution
of our problem--we must make these sacrifices.

Who more than us would like to see coffee on the free market, to see that
everything were on the free market here? Who more than us would like to see
such an abundance in this country that we could achieve communism? But we
will not be able to achieve that abundance unless we do what we are
doing--obtaining means of production to develop our economy.

Well, for 35 million pesos' worth of equipment we will have to pay some 7
million pesos a year. With the coffee plants we have we could buy 200
million pesos' worth of construction equipment and pay for it in five years
from 1970 to 1975. (applause) In fact, if these 35 million are not enough
to carry out all the plans (sentence not completed)

If you go anywhere, you are asked for bulldozers. If you go to public
works, in any construction work of roads and highways, they ask for
bulldozers. If you talk to the comrades of water resources constructing
dams, they ask for bulldozers. If you talk with the comrades who cultivate
coffee in the mountain, they ask for bulldozers for the roads. If you talk
to the agricultural comrades, they ask for bulldozers. Everybody is asking
for bulldozers, and now we hope that we will have all the bulldozers we
need.

Where does this come from? From our increases in production. And so that
the intriguers and the conspirators will not spread their gossip, I will
state here and explain the policy we are going to follow a regards coffee:
an increase of 100,000 quintals to the consumer and the export of what
remains after this increase to the consumer, if we (word indistinct) for at
least three years. I ask the workers: Is it not worth the trouble of
depriving ourselves for these years, of drinking a little less coffee, to
be able to do this? (audience shouts "Yes" and applause) If we want to have
rice, if we want to have grain, if we want to have milk, if we want to have
all the things we need, we must do this.

This is not a policy of disregarding the people. This is not a policy of
abandoning the needs of the people. Comrade workers, we progress and this
is what we must tell the comrades at the base. We progress in all fields
toward definite solutions. We progress in all fields toward definite
solutions. We progress in all fields toward definite solutions. We are not
carrying out political chicanery. We are not fooling anyone. We are not
being demogogical. We do not progress in poverty. We are not cowards.

Cowardly rulers would not do this. They would abandon these plans. they
would put aside all preoccupations in order to furnish now a little more of
this and that and do this without worrying about definite solutions. Our
country is our duty and that is why we have struggled. that is why many
Cubans have died. They have given more than a little coffee--they have
given their blood. (applause) They have given their lives. (applause) This
is what we must tell the intriguers, "gusoides," the medical term for
worms. (audience laughs)

The Revolutionary Government is carrying out enormous water plans. The
Revolutionary Government is carrying out enormous land-clearing and sowing
plans. The Revolutionary Government ha to build 70,000 kilometers of roads
to link towns and to supply them. The Revolutionary Government has to build
waterworks, not only for agriculture, but also so that all towns of the
country may have water. We still have a lot of thicket, marabou, and aroma
to cut down. It is a crime to pass a piece of land in this country and see
it cluttered with marabou. I do not know how each Cuban reacts, but if each
Cuban reacts as I do--I suffer every time I see a caballeria of land
cluttered with marabou (applause), a caballeria of land that could be used
to sow cotton, beans, vegetables,and pasture for the production of milk and
meat.

I believe we should assume the attitude of carrying out the plans seriously
and on a large scale, without incurring great sacrifices for the people.
This can be done mainly because of the credit the revolution has, because
of the confidence many commercial enterprises--even from capitalist
countries in Europe--have in the revolution.

Our country has been making an effort not only in industry, in
construction, but also in the field of transportation. Everyone here knows
that the Cuban merchant fleet has increased more than 500 percent since the
revolution emerged victorious (applause), that our merchant fleet has
already begun to me a merchant fleet, that most of the sugar sold to Japan
this year has been transported by Cuban ships. (applause) Everyone knows
the number of ships the country has been acquiring and how it is developing
a significant merchant fleet, which has always been the aspiration of our
people. Cuba is not only developing a merchant fleet but is simultaneously
developing a fishing fleet of considerable size. (applause)

Gentlemen, we really felt like laughing when that man (Frei--ed.) says that
we are beginning to put the agrarian reform plans into practice. In the
first place, Mr. Frei has already been in power two years and has not
carried out an agrarian reform. Mr. Frei, who before carrying out an
agrarian reform connived wit the landowners and granted them a number of
concessions, does not know that here we carried out not an agrarian reform
but an agrarian revolution. (applause)

We have carried out the most advanced agrarian transformation, the most
advanced transformation any country in the world has carried out, thanks to
the fact that we deviated from "the little manual" and did not distribute
small plots of land. To distribute the land at other times would have been
correct in certain countries; to distribute it in this country would have
been s stupidity; it would have created extremely small plots of land.

For our part, the land that was distributed--fine. We liberated the farmers
from paying rent; we are giving them credits; we are working with them.
However, the land that had not been distributed we turned into enterprises
which have the same status as factories. thanks to that, we are able to
formulate plans for a 10-million-ton sugar harvest. Because of that, we are
able to formulate plans for the development of cattle raising, plans that
call for up to 8 million cows in this country. Thanks to that, we propose
to carry out the most ambitious agricultural plans.

You already know what distributed land means--very small plots. Even if the
land is useless, the farmer tries to raise beans, plantain, rice, corn,
cattle, cane--everything. Can you imagine the former cane landholdings
divided? (It would have resulted in the production of--ed.) 2 million tons
of sugar, because everyone would have begun to sow for self-supply. The
peasant would have had his food assured, but would he have produced all the
milk needed by the industrial workers, all the meat, all the other food
items?

Can fertilizer be spread by plane under a small plot system? No, because
the fertilizer would fall on the peasant. Can one apply an irrigation
system? No, because the peasant's home and the peasant would be flooded.
Can the problem be solved with 40,000 technicians? No, because we would
have to turn almost every peasant into a university technician. It is not
that the peasant cannot cooperate. Experience has taught us that the small
farmer can indeed work. In the coffee area we are working with more than
30,000 small farmers who are applying fertilizers and techniques, and
everything has worked out fine.

Now, there is no denying it: We cannot spread area by plane on a coffee
plantation. It has to be spread by hand. In one of the unshaded coffee
plantations being established by the state in large areas the plane can be
used for crop dusting, for the spreading of certain fertilizers,for an
infinite number of tasks.

Very well, but the small farmer is there; he has worked there and can be
taught to apply certain techniques, and he helps the country's economy.
What was distributed remained distributed, but we will not distribute the
land. do you know why? Because we did not follow "the little manual." "The
little manual" would have advised the distribution of land in the first
place and then would have advised that the peasant be made a member of a
cooperative whether he wanted to or not. If he did not want to do it
willingly, then he would be coerced, and that is not what we have done.

More than 70 percent of the land of this country is organized in people's
farms. Therefore, Mr. Frei, we have not simply carried out an agrarian
reform, nor are we just beginning to do so. We have made the most profound
agrarian revolution made by any country in modern times! (applause)

Mr. Frei says that we are beginning to put our educational plans into
practice. No, Mr. Frei, we are not simply beginning to put them into
practice. The fact is that tens of thousands of once illiterate workers
have already passed the sixth grade. Thousands of workers are registering
at the universities; 12,000 workers are studying at technological schools,
in whose name a student spoke here today; 1.3 million children are in
school; there are 30,000 university students. Three university cities are
being built three, aside from the dozens of buildings we have assigned to
house students.

We believe, without false boasting, without false pride and without vanity,
that such is the effort made by our country in education that it is the
country where the greatest educational effort has been made in modern
times. This is recognized by UNESCO. We already have more than 150,000
scholarship students. There will be 200,000 of them by the beginning of
next year, and they will continue to increase. Along with our program for
economic development, by 1975 we expect to have 1 million scholarship
students. This is what lies ahead.

The collective benefits which our country has been receiving are
incalculable. In the matter of housing, not only have rents been reduced by
virtually one-half, but many families no longer pay any rent,and it is our
intention to propose to the cabinet a law whereby, by 1970 at the latest,
no one will pay rent in our country. (prolonged applause) As you know, the
urban reform law had established the houses built prior to 1940 are older,
but many workers are not to blame. Many families are not to blame because
they live in a house built in 1950. (as heard)

We definitely believe that, in line with the development of our
agriculture, by 1970 income for other items of the economy--for instance,
from the development of the milk industry--will be very great. We expect to
have by 1970 21 (word indistinct) ice cream factories processing and
producing approximately 100,000 gallons of ice cream a day. Even though in
the interior it will be sold at a slightly cheaper price, the income will
be great.

We are asking ourselves: What does this collection of rent create? It
creates work, paperwork, bureaucracy. now we believe that we can obtain
this income perfectly well through the development of certain items in the
economy. We still collect but instead of paying rent and receiving nothing,
a family consumes 100 or 150 scoops of ice cream. (applause) Then the
income is practically the same. Of course, this requires effort. Instead of
having women filling our papers, we have women producing ice cream,
distributing it, and selling it. Paper cannot be eaten but ice cream can
be. (applause) With a proper price policy for beer, ice cream, and such
things, enormous income can be collected, nearly the same as from rent.

All of these items are going to be developed enormously. The policy being
followed is this: If a thing is indispensable, if it is necessary, it is
free or sold at cost. We donate books to students. We are going to sell
them at a very cheap price to everyone in this country to whom we do not
donate them. The price of beer, as I have already said, is very high. It is
already high enough. There is no reason for raising it. Let no one be
frightened about that. (applause) But we shall continue to collect.

All of these things are related to our ideas abut how socialism should be
built in a country and how communism should be built. There must be a
hierarchy of products in accordance with the importance of each product. A
medicine may cost 100 pesos, but you are not going to let someone die for
lack of medicine because he does not have 100 pesos. On the other hand, an
individual can get along without beer. If he wants to, he goes without. If
he wants to, he buys books. If he wants to drink, he buys beer, but he
contributes to the children's center, or the housing construction plan, or
to something else (applause), because we really believe that under
socialism merchandise should not be sold at production prices, but rather
in accordance with the social function it fulfills.

Not all merchandise can have the same value for society. There are things
which are vitaland essential and there are others which are not. Andy they
are or are not--in hierarchy and in distribution--in accordance with a
scale of social values, not of economic values, because you can never
compare some kinds of merchandise with others. Therefore, within a
socialist society there must be another factor which will determine prices:
not the cost but the social function of each item of merchandise which man
may be capable of producing. Anything else, in our modest opinion, still
smacks of capitalism.

In any case, if I am mistaken, if with these ideas of mine I am going to
destroy the republic, I hope they will replace me with someone else. This
is no problem. There should be no fear of this. (applause) There should be
no fear of this. I am not afraid of discussion, when the time comes for it,
but not academic discussion. We must go to the root of problems.

I think that the crux of the problem is not a choice between material or
moral stimuli; the crux is technology. Technology makes possible high
production for an average workers. To put it briefly, we cite the example
of the plane: an average pilot can spread more fertilizer than 200 vanguard
workers. This is the problem, and we have to think of solving the problem
with the average worker. In work the more rigorous it is physically, the
more mechanical it is, the rougher it is, the more important becomes the
correlation between the salary and the effort.

When a man who has a job pressing a button in an electric plant gets bored
and does not press the button, then he can be forced to press a button,
which requires no effort. (?He should have something) more stimulating.
Because society is not going to train technicians and men; it is not going
to make man's work easier and raise productivity just to create a man who
will be guided by capitalist standards. I am not keeping my promise. I said
I was not going to speak of these matters. I did not, I do not want to
volunteer an opinion on this topic. Other comrades have other ideas, and I
respect their ideas. We shall discuss them.

I repeat: I sincerely meant that I did not want to volunteer any opinions.
Ideas must stand on their own merit. (applause) Permit me to explain this,
because I spoke abut the Copelia ice cream plant, rents,and the
revolution's great social work. In reference to the housing problem, the
government's policy is progressing toward the abolition of rents. Not only
will we be the first country in the field of education and agrarian reform,
that is, educational revolution and revolution in public health, but the
development of the public health services has placed our country among the
first countries of Latin America.

The revolution solved very serious problems in its early years although
inexperienced and in the midst of a blockade. It has made serious efforts
in the field of economy, particularly in agriculture, industry,and
transportation, in the structural changes which have been brought about, in
agriculture and agrarian reform, in urban reform, in distribution, in
education, in health matters.

The imperialists slander us. People like Frei repeat these slanders. We
challenged Mr. Frei when he was elected with Yankee and West German fascist
money. Now Frei wants to flirt, and he is employing certain wiles to make
Chile look like an independent country, or rather, to make it look as
though Chile has an independent government.

The man was elected a the result of a campaign of slanders and [Unreadable
text] He terrorized the people. He was elected with an overwhelming
avalanche of Yankee and West German financial contributions. He has done
absolutely nothing and he will do absolutely nothing. That is certain.
Although the revolution has prohibited betting, you can bet, anything you
want on that, because it is not a game of chance; it is a sure thing. That
man will go down in history without glory and without honor. He will leave
the revolution behind him. It will not be with him, but it will come after
him.

Frei will help the Chilean revolution the same way Batista helped the Cuban
revolution. Frei will assist the Chilean revolution as surely as the
revolution will follow fraud, deception, and the people's disappointment.
We said that we did not want to take up this matter with that failure, that
coward, that thwarted man. You cannot argue with him, because when you
start a discussion the entire reactionary press claims that he ha been
insulted. However, that most democratic and Christian Frei is so sly that
not only has he used the government to shed the blood of the workers, as in
the case of the Salvador mines, but recently Chilean newsmen and the press
complained that Frei was buying up all the papers through one company. He
is buying and creating a newspaper monopoly.

We do not go along with such hypocrisy. We confiscated and took over the
bourgeois newspapers. We did not say that we have freedom of the bourgeois
press, but that we have proletarian freedom of the press. The bourgeoisie
does not want freedom of the press. Here we have proletarian freedom of the
press! (applause) The bourgeoisie do not have freedom of the press.
(applause) Frei buys newspapers. He is a pharisee. He wants to monopolize
the press but he does not dare interfere with or confiscate the press. What
he does is buy the press.

Right now there is a scandal in Chile; Frei's government is a failure. It
is compromised to imperialism. It is a tool of the counterrevolution. It
has the gall to utter the word "revolution." Frei is a revolutionary just
as Louis XVI was in France, just as Kerenskiy was in Russia. In that sense
Frei is a revolutionary, because after such governments as those of Castelo
Branco, of that new gorilla--what is his name? So many have gone by that I
cannot recall--Ongania, Stroessner, Barrientos, after these gentlemen comes
the revolution. In this sense these gentlemen are revolutionaries, because
they create conditions which are favorable for revolution. In this sense
Batista was also a revolutionary. (applause) These gentlemen no longer fool
anyone. They no longer fool anyone at all.

We have had to go into polemics with this person, but more than going into
polemics we have exchanged several arguments, phrases. When they say
anything they say he has been insulted. We must say that in this struggle
over principles many Chileans have shown solidarity, or, better said, they
have told the truth clearly to the Chilean people, and they have rejected
the imputations of Frei and his clique that we insulted Chile, that we
insulted the Chilean people.

We must say that there are many Chileans like the Association of
Revolutionary Chilean Residents of Cuba (applause) who, in a consistent
manner and based on a policy of principles, have been unmasking bourgeois
reformism represented by Frei through Radio Havana Cuba.

We must express our gratitude to the Chilean Socialist Party (applause),
because, without hemming and hawing, without any hesitation whatsoever, it
answered the slanderous campaign by Frei and his clique without fear of
chauvinism. Another equally clear position has been that of the democratic
rebel movement, that is, the leftwing of the Christian Democratic Party,
which ha confronted the rightwing within the Christian Democratic Party on
the basis of positions of principle and has contributed to the unmaking of
Frei before the continent and in Chile itself. Many other leftwing
militants in Chile have also taken equally clear and firm positions
rejecting Frei's slanders.

A so-called--and perhaps he believes he is, and perhaps he is--a communist
called--what is his name? I think it is Millas--who was our guest here,
expressed disagreement. Fine. He said a number of things here. He was very
angry with the 26 July speech. He felt that the shoe fit him. What fault is
it of ours that he felt that the shoe fit him? If the shoe fits, let him
wear it.

We think nothing is gained by getting involved in polemics with leftwing
organizations in general. Not all of them are the same. Not all the parties
are exactly the same. Some are stronger and some are more consistent and
some are less so. But in short, we think nothing can be gained by involving
ourselves in arguments of this kind.

On 26 July we set forth our position. Mr. Millas agreed with Mr. Frei--and
how far can you go along this path?--he felt he had the right to reproach
us in acid terms for our remarks. That is up to him.

And they are not the only ones in Chile, not the only pseudorevolutionary
elements. There are others who have also struck out with a number of
diatribes claiming that they base themselves on revolutionary positions. At
the proper time we will settle accounts with these humbugs, too.

The Chilean Communist Party has issued no statement expressing solidarity
with Millas' statement. It has participated in meetings of solidarity for
the defense of the Cuban revolution. It has issued statements in solidarity
with 26 July and, in our opinion, ha not taken any belligerent attitude
against us.

Must all the parties agree? No. We cannot force anyone to think as we do.
However no one can impose any ideas onus if we believe they are mistaken.

Who will wage the revolution in Latin America? Who? The people. The
revolutionaries, with or without parties. I am accused of heresy.
(applause) They say I am a heretic in the field of Marxism-Leninism. Well!
That is funny. There are so-called Marxist-Leninist organizations which
fight like cats and dogs and argue over the revolutionary truth. They
accuse us of wanting to implement the Cuban formula mechanically. They
claim we do not know the role of the party. They accuse us of heresy in the
Marxist-Leninist camp. It is lucky that Marx, Lenin, Engels, and all the
rest of them did not find themselves in this situation, because they
certainly would have been accused of heresy. Without a doubt!

We do not deny the importance of the party in the organization, the
movement, or whatever it is called. However, a party is not a party just
because it is called a party. A party is not Marxist-Leninist just because
it is listed a Marxist- Leninist. A party is not Marxist-Leninst because it
claims to believe in the ideas of Marxism-Leninism.

To wage revolutionary warfare a party of a Marxist-Leninist organization is
necessary, a revolutionary organization. Gentlemen, there is a
Marxist-Leninist party which knows by heart all the historical dialectic of
"Das Kapital" and everything that Marx, Engles, and Lenin ever wrote, and
it cannot even fire a peashooter, as it is commonly said in Cuba.

The others are obliged (words indistinct) the revolution. Anyone wanting to
wage a revolution cannot form organizations. The party, our policy has
broad connections with all leftwing organizations. This is consistent with
our Havana Declaration, the second Havana Declaration. We believe that the
revolution has given the workers, the peasants, and the progressive
intellectuals a broad front led by a Marxist-Leninist revolutionary
vanguard. Yes, gentlemen, whether it is called a party or not, the essence
lies in the contents and not in the bottle. You can fill a bottle with
water, and although it may be a very pretty perfume bottle, the bottle does
not make the perfume. The perfume makes the bottle. You can fill a beer
bottle with cologne water, and it will always be a colonge bottle. It is a
curious thing.

In all due respect to the parties and organizations, some of them have
defended us. We must mention the Urguayan Communist Party and the Leftwing
Liberation Front, which have often defended us consistently. We are very
grateful to the Uruguayan Communist Party. It has gone into the streets to
defend Cuba against the rupture of diplomatic relations, against the
blockade. (applause)

However, we do not belong to any faction. We do not belong to any
international Masonry. We do not belong to any church. We are heretics. We
are heretics. So, let them call us heretics. But why waste our time? I
believe history will have the last word on this subject. There will be
revolutions waged by the so-called Marxist-Leninist parties, the communist
parties. That is magnificent, marvelous, formidable. We are prepared to
become (?outcasts) and don the penitent garb of the heretic for the
remainder of our life. Let them condemn, criticize, and excommunicate us.
But regardless of who wages the revolution, it will be magnificent. The
important thing is, there should be a revolution. We believe there will be
a revolution. We say this because we believe it, because we are certain of
it.

If you only knew! In the revolutionary circles of the world thee are those
without standards--because thee are those with and without standards--those
without standards who are all against us. They say horrible things about
us. They say we belong to the petty bourgeois, to the subjectivists. In
many socialist capitals--I am not going to mention which ones because that
always bring problems; often people mistakenly believe they are being
discussed,and so forth (laughter)--I am not going to speak of capitals;
instead I will speak about a type. there is a kind of revolutionary who has
no standards. They swarm in many capitals. They get their food and lodging
and can spend their time in quackery.

It is astonishing. We have everything documented. Some day we will put it
together and publish it. We will have some fun listening to these
professors of the revolution make fun of us, listening to the way they
treat us poor fellows who are making the mistake of waging a socialist
revolution without hesitation and without concessions of any kind,
particularly ideological concessions, to Yankee imperialism.

I am referring to many Latin American specimens who wage revolutions from
Europe or Asia. Apparently some of them think they can wage revolutionary
warfare by telepathy (laughter) and without standards, and their wrath
toward us is very great. However, they do not go into detail. Everything in
good time. We are gathering every scrap of paper, every one, and in good
time we shall settle our theoretical accounts with those gentlemen. Then we
shall sit on our doorstep and watch the corpses of those without standards
go by. The political corpses will go by without leaving the slightest mark
upon history. (applause) Let them call us heretics. Who cares?
Revolutionaries have always been subjected to such treatment. Anyone who
does not go along with the group one hundred percent, anyone who has his
own views or his ideas and defends them, has had this problem.

That is not what is important. Who cares what they say? They talk nonsense.
The important thing is that imperialism go to the devil, and imperialism
will go to the devil. The heroic people of Vietnam are taking care of that.
The heroic oppressed peoples will take care of that. (applause) Not the
deceivers, not the pseudorevolutionaries, but the combatants, the people in
their struggle against imperialism and in their struggle for liberation are
taking care of that. Rest assured of that. Quackery is of no consequence
because it cannot prevent the fall of imperialism. The satellites and those
without standards are of no consequence, because nothing and no one can
prevent the people from waging a revolution. What do we whom they call
petty bourgeois, subjectivists, heretics care? What is important is that
the people win their battle. What is important in the last analysis is that
facts prove us right, that history prove us right.

Those gentlemen do not bother us. We shall settle our theoretical accounts
with them at the proper time. Meanwhile, we are doing something of much
greater importance, something which calls for more respect: A true
revolution. It is a revolution 90 miles form the United States. It is a
revolution which does not hesitate and which is prepared to go to the end.
That is, it is prepared to achieve communism.

We are building socialism and communism and we shall win. We have not the
slightest doubt about it. No Cuban revolutionary doubts that at all. Our
workers do not doubt that at all. Our workers, our students, our peasants,
and the young optimistic generation which is growing up as revolutionaries,
educated in a profound revolutionary spirit and in a profound spirit of
internationalism, do not doubt it.

This Cuban attitude, this attitude which our people have won by their
dignity and their struggle, is recognized by the revolutionary movements,
and it is recognized by the nations. This authority and prestige of the
Cuban revolution was demonstrated at the Tricontinental Conference.
(applause) It was demonstrated at the Latin American Students Conference.
(applause) It has been in evidence at every opportunity and at every
international event.

It makes no difference if they revile our revolution. What is of importance
is the solidarity of true revolutionaries, the solidarity of those who
fight and combat imperialism. That is what matters to us: The people who
are fighting, the struggle of these people, and the victory of these
people. Not only do we defend our ideas theoretically, but we put them into
practice. We defend them with our successes and our progress.

Some day, objectively, our bourgeois, imperialist, and pseudorevolutionary
revilers will have no choice but to lower their heads, because the people
will be able to recognize that we have done our duty. We can speak this way
today because the people understand this kind of language. Our workers, our
revolutionary militants understand this language. How much have we
overcome! (applause) How much have we progressed on the long road of the
revolution!

I know that these statements are intended for the elite of our working
masses, for those who represent here more than 1 million organized workers
(applause), for the model workers and the vanguard workers, and for those
who because of their comrades' confidence and because of their excellence
have had the honor of representing the workers at this congress. With our
unshakable faith in our people and in our workers, we know that you will
carry these ideas, that you will take these revolutionary criteria, and
that you will take this message to our working class.

Long live the Cuban working class! Long live the revolutionary CTC! Long
live the 13th congress! Long live proletarian internationalism! Fatherland
or Death! We shall win! (applause)
-END-