-DATE- 19670726 -YEAR- 1967 -DOCUMENT_TYPE- SPEECH -AUTHOR- F. CASTRO -HEADLINE- 14TH ANNIVERSARY-ATTACK ON MONCADA BARRACKS -PLACE- SANTIAGO DE CUBA'S JOSE MARTI SQUARE -SOURCE- HAVANA DOMESTIC RADIO -REPORT_NBR- FBIS -REPORT_DATE- 19670726 -TEXT- FIDEL CASTRO SPEECH ON 26 JULY ANNIVERSARY Havana Domestic Radio and Television Services in Spanish 2135 GMT 26 July 1967--F/E (Speech by Cuban Prime Minister Fidel Castro at ceremony in Santiago de Cuba's Jose Marti Square marking the 14th anniversary of the attack on the Moncada barracks--live) (Text) Guests, relatives of the men who fell during the Moncada attack, people of Santiago, people of Oriente Province, citizens, everyone: I believe that we might begin by correcting things that can be corrected during this Ceremony, such as moving the chairs closer. (applause, shouts of approval) Unfortunately there are some things that cannot be corrected such as the immense distance separating this platform and the public in general (applause and shouts) and so we have to speak to a throng in abstract. The members of the Salon de Mayo will certainly understand what I mean. It would appear that we are very far away. Perhaps by next 26 July the architects, the engineers, and the artists will be able to cooperate with us in designing a platform so that whoever is speaking here will be a little closer to the crowd. (applause) In any case, we have a very select group here and we are pleased with this. It is a task for the inventors to invent a platform so that the public here will remain close and the public out there will also be close. In the second place, we must apologize to you for having to interrupt the very interesting ball game underway in Canada. (applause) We have been told--we were following the game closely--that we are winning at this point and we hope to win in the end, too. (applause) Today in Santiago de Cuba we have an appointment with--that fellow is talking out there, so I will wait until he finishes. (laughter) He is calling (Archimildo Vega--phonetic) and who knows how many others. He is calling the Baracoa people. (laughter) There are two platforms here. (laughter) I was saying that on this 14th anniversary, together with our people, with our workers in general, and with our students we have made an appointment in the city of Santiago de Cuba with the representatives of the First Latin American Solidarity Organization Conference. (applause) Present also are a large number of prominent European intellectuals and artists of the Salon de Mayo. (applause) The protest song interpreters, together with many other guests from various parts of the world, have made an appointment here. Among these guests is the very worthy representation of the heroic people of South Vietnam. (applause) Likewise present for the first time in this ceremony, or in a ceremony of this type is one of the most prestigious leaders for civil rights in the United States, Stokely Carmichael! (prolonged applause) For our country and for our city of Santiago, Cuba, and for our 26 July date, it is a signal honor that those who represent he highest revolutionary values, the highest intellectual values, the ones who in all parts of the world defend the most just things, are present here this afternoon. Many will ask themselves, or some may ask themselves: What do these forces and movements represented here have in common with our people? It is that in any order, between the European sculptor, the artist, the poet, and the sculptors of this revolution, the ones who write a glorious page in history, the ones who create wealth with their hands to consolidate the revolutionary ideal--that is, between the European intellectual and the peasant of the Sierra Maestra or the canecutter--there exists in common something which we revolutionaries can well understand, and that is the desire for the dignity of man. And what do the men and the people who struggle on all continents have in common with our revolution? What does the heroic Vietnamese struggle have in common with the struggle of our people and the people of Latin America, (applause) and what does the struggle of the oppressed people of the United States--that is, the sectors deprived of the most basic rights in that country--have in common with the struggle of the Latin American, Vietnamese, or Cuban peoples? What makes this date a symbol of this struggle, a symbol of this same aspiration, a symbol of that sane ideal, is what brings us together here on an afternoon such as this. This is without a doubt the 26 July on which the city of Santiago, Cuba, has had the largest representation from abroad. We know how much effort the people of Oriente and Santiago have made to be able to come here and receive these visitors as they deserve. We are in the city which became on that date the symbol of the beginning of the revolutionary struggle in our country. Its history is more than well known, and neither the weapons, type of weapons, experience, nor even the fortuitous factors helped in that first effort. But that first effort pointed out a path which was not ever to be abandoned. It meant a path which has taken us through 14 years. It meant the path that gave the people the conquest of power. It is not necessary to recall that history, but there is one fact that is outstanding and that is the tenacity of the people, the confidence of the people, the perseverance in this struggle. We have not reached the end of that path or anything like that, but we have already advanced a long way. That essential characteristic of the revolutionary movement which began that day is today also the essential characteristic of our revolution; the confidence of the people in themselves, the faith of the people in their cause, the conviction of the people that there will be no difficulty, regardless of how great it may be, that we cannot overcome, that there will be no path, no matter how difficult it may be, that we will not be able to follow to the end. In what state are our people and our revolution today after 14 years? Certainly the conquest of power was not the most difficult task, regardless of how difficult that phase may have seemed. Regardless of how difficult it was, how costly it was to us, viewed from the perspective of elapsed time, it appears to us--and this of course did not surprise us--that the most difficult task was not the overthrow of the tyranny and the conquest of revolutionary power. The most difficult task was the one that came later. The most difficult was the task in which we are engaged today: the task of building a new country on the foundation of an underdeveloped economy, the task of creating a new consciousness, a new man on the ideas which had prevailed practically for centuries in our society. We are successfully accomplishing this task. And I ask our youth and our people if we are successfully accomplishing this task? (crowd roars: "Yes!") The attack on one of the many fortresses that had to be taken later. Many Moncadas remained to be taken. Among other things there remained the Moncada of illiteracy and our people did not hesitate in attacking that fortress. They attacked it and took it. There was the Moncada of ignorance, the Moncada of inexperience, the Moncada of underdevelopment, the Moncada of the lack of technicians, resources of every type, and our people have not hesitated in undertaking the attack on those fortresses either. However, there remained the most difficult Moncada to take and that was the Moncada of the old ideas. And that Moncada of the old ideas, of old selfish sentiments, of old habits of thinking and ways of viewing everything, and of resolving problems has not yet been completely taken. (applause) There is a vanguard which is breaking through victoriously, which is taking the first redoubts and which is advancing unceasingly along that path, and that vanguard consists, without any doubts of any kind, of our youth. (applause) There is no doubt that our youth, workers, our students, those who make up that ever growing troop of agricultural youth columns, (applause) those who in ever increasing numbers participate in production for part of the year, (applause) the young people of our worker-technological institutes who, like many combatants of our glorious Rebel Army participated in the sugar harvest for 90 days, that this ever growing legion is in the forefront of the struggle against the old ideas. There is no doubt--and we can proclaim this on this 26 July--that our young generation is a worthy follower of the Moncada fighters, of the Sierra Maestra fighters, and of the Giron combatants, (applause) Because they are demonstrating this with their outlook on life, with their attitude toward work, and with their attitude toward the revolution. In all justice we must add that behind this vanguard, the distaff side of our population is also advancing through this fortress. (applause) The Cuban women are participating in the creative work of the revolution in ever increasing numbers. Some people may wonder: they are speaking about ages, they are not speaking about classes. People well versed in Marxism who wonder why we speak about age will find out. Quite sincerely we believe that to speak of ages, to speak of ages in addition to classes, is not Marxism. It should not be forgotten that many generations and the entire generation living in our country at the time of the revolution was completely educated under the influence of capitalist ideas, methods, and feelings. Many of these vices existed even among our workers, Many of these concepts held sway. Logically, what Marx said was that in the historical process the workers and the exploited confronted the exploiters, that the working class was the class whose social function drew it together and made it capable of understanding and practicing socialism. That is absolutely true, but also absolutely true is the influence which these exploiting and ruling sectors exercised on the minds of the entire nation, and the revolution has erased many of these ideas from the mind of the entire nation. It is precisely in the virgin minds of the new generation growing up under the revolution that we observe less of these ideas of the past, that we observe the ideas of the revolution more clearly. Many people wondered what would happen to our young people. Many people were worried whether the young people who had not experienced the horrors of the past, the young people who had not experienced the sacrifices of the past would be capable of understanding the revolution, would be capable of being revolutionary, would be capable of working and making the sacrifices. Our Cuban experience has made it possible for us to say with complete satisfaction that we can observe the growth and development of an even more revolutionary youth in our country. (applause) In a genuinely revolutionary process in which together with the economic development the education and development of the awareness of the entire nation is taking place, in a revolutionary process in which the correct methods for educating the young people are applied there is no reason to expect this youth to be less revolutionary. We believe, and facts are proving it, that it is possible to train this new more revolutionary generation in the revolutionary process. One would really have to lack faith in the revolution, faith in the ideas of the revolution, faith in the Marxist ideas faith in pedagogy, faith in the masses to think that the young people are backsliding in the revolutionary process. We can observe that the young people are progressing in the revolutionary process. (applause) We must set ourselves the task of progressing along this path. As a rule a revolution contains several revolutions. We Once said that where women are concerned a revolution has taken place inside a revolution. We can also say that an impressive revolution in education is taking place. It is having a decisive effect on our young people. What have we been able to observe about the students in the technological institutes? What have we been able to notice about the students of the technological institutes who went to work on the farms for 90 days? We were able to observe an extraordinary phenomenon: Those young people were not going there to work for any wage. They were not going to work for money. They were going with the clear realization that their effort was needed for the economic development of the country; they were going with the clear realization that they had to participate in this effort, not only as an economic necessity, but as an educational necessity. And what happened. They exercised their influence with the regular workers and the peasants everywhere they went. They had an extraordinarily positive influence. Why? Because while the workday is eight hours, our students worked 14, 15, 16 hours, and sometimes even 18 hours a day. (applause) What happened everywhere with the technological students, with the preuniversity students, with the students of the secondary basic schools? In the beginning we thought this would logically happen with the students in the technological institutes, many of whom are peasants and having working class backgrounds. However, how great was th admiration of all of us when we saw that the preuniversity students, the students from the cities, the students from the basic secondary schools, that the students in general had exactly the same attitude, and were even acquiring a better attitude. The same thing that was happening with our students happened with the army comrades who were participating in production activities and with the comrades of the Interior Ministry who were participating in these activities. So, it can already he said that an immense mass, a mass of hundreds of thousands of young people in this country are growing accustomed to and are proving that they can work and produce with entirely new concepts, (applause) that an enormous mass of hundreds of thousands of young people are capable of working, doubling and even tripling the yield of the regular workers, without the idea that with that work he resolves his problem, but rather with the idea that with his work he will definitively resolve the problem of all society. (applause) However, it is not absolutely everybody in this country who does this. We must say that at the side of the impressive movement of our people and particularly of our youth, with their entering into productive work, there survive those whose ideas and actions isolate themselves completely from that collective interest, that collective aspiration. In our tours throughout the country, we have had the chance to be impressed by the efforts made by the youth. We have seen women, members of the party, who have gone to perform agricultural work for two years, working at noon under the burning sun. (applause) We have seen columns--that is, made up of youth, the people who are not members of the party--who have also joined in performing productive tasks for two years. (applause) But there is more. We have seen many youths doing very hard work in southern Havana. Recently we met an outstanding group of youths slogging in the clay and mud, cultivating watercress. Cultivating watercress in the mud is an activity which in the past was only done by workers who lived under the most miserable living conditions, work which was done by Japanese immigrants or Chinese immigrants who were forced to perform those tasks under capitalism. Nevertheless, we have seen many youths of this generation with the greatest enthusiasm and greatest productivity and the greatest revolutionary spirit performing those tasks. (applause) We have seen many examples of this type, but also with these examples we see in many towns the loafers who produce nothing. (shouting) In many towns we see strong men who devote themselves to making candy (piruli) and obviously anyone who makes candy here when the people have money can make as much money as he wants making and selling candy. The result is that while there are scores of youths working under the hot noonday sun in the canefields, or working in the mountains, or working in the mud, or working under the most difficult conditions and who receive a modest pay for their work, we have those who do not aspire to this, to work for society, but to live on the work of society. They aspire to live on the work of these, the ones who are in the cane field at noon, the ones who are in the bogs where watercress is grown. (applause) Why? Because by selling candy, or by selling soft drinks, or by selling fritters they are going to make 10 times what the one who is working under the burning sun is going to make. But it is the one under the sun, the one who works under the burning sun who creates the wealth, the goods of which the other one receives more than his share. (applause, shouting) These are things that our people must consider, must consider. Let it not happen that while a large part of the people make ever-increasing efforts, ever more heroic and titanic efforts to increase the wealth of this country, there is a sector which does not think about that at all but rather of living parasitically from the wealth others are creating. This is no longer exploitation by capitalists but exploitation of the working people by parasites, by those who do not aspire to create wealth but to see in what manner they can receive the largest possible share of that wealth with a minimum of effort, And the revolution helps the weak, helps the ill, the aged, helps all those who need it and our people will always work happily to help those who need it and help them generously, but never to help the parasites. (applause) This does not mean that tomorrow the revolution is going to decree a law prohibiting all those parasitic activities. No, this thing must be received calmly, and the first thing is to be aware of the problem. What happens is that sometimes a parasitic activity begins because there is a shortcoming in the state economy, or where a service is not properly rendered; because, logically if any service, let us say the dry cleaning shops, does not function well, it is not strange then that there begin to appear a multitude of small dry cleaning shops. If somewhere where it is very hot and many people gather, an organization on the municipal, regional or national level is not capable of placing a little iced lemonade stand here, there appears the parasite who,, buying the sugar in the grocery store and lemons wherever he can, sets up one himself. (applause) If our industries engaged, as is logical, in producing an infinity of things which are very important, such as plows, harrows, combines, harvesting tools, and so forth, neglect to make brooms when there are hundreds of thousands of houses and families who have to sweep their houses every day, if there are no brooms then there will appear multitudes of small broom manufacturers who will make 30, 40, or 50 pesos daily selling brooms at any price they feel like setting. (applause) There are two types of evils: shortcomings in our economy or certain branches of our economy, and a lack of adaptability, flexibility, or inventiveness, imagination in resolving many of those problems which are problems of daily life. The country cannot prohibit the manufacture of brooms while our light industry does not manufacture brooms. But it is seen that if they made brooms, there would be no reason for prohibiting anything because the broom producers would be run out of business. That is similar to what a comrade along the road that is being built between Santiago and Pilon said to me this morning. He said that the peasants are very pleased with the little buses. And so I asked him. Than they have already arrived? Yes, he replied, they charge five centavos from one state farm to the other, and 20 centavos from one place to the other. The jitney drivers charged a peso He said that the jitney drivers are ruined. He said that they are ruined, they just had to be ruined. This is a very obvious example of how the egotistic individual interests clash with the interests of the collectivity. In the province of Oriente and everywhere we are now constructing many roads. These roads are being constructed with great speed, and the little buses will run along the roads. It would not be legitimate for the country to spend millions of pesos on equipment for cutting cane, extracting minerals, producing sugar, producing tobacco, producing the resources of this country the currency of the country, and for workers working in these brigades to devote their enthusiasm to exhaustive work so that the jitney drivers can ride on this perfectly marked road, without potholes and often paved, and get rich. The little bus will run along the road, or anything else will so that the peoples work will not be converted into privilege and wealth for parasites. (applause) This does not mean that we are going to get rid of the jitney drivers tomorrow. Until we have sufficient transportation, sufficient (word indistinct), and sufficient buses, although we may not like to see the man becoming a speculator and charging ten times what the trip is worth, we cannot get rid of him. Someone, while he may be swindled, may have to use the jitney at some unexpected time. We cannot get rid of it without replacing it with a better and more reliable form of transportation. That is why the jitney drivers should not be worried. Some of them are good, some so-so, and some are bad All of you certainly know the bad ones, and I have had an opportunity to meet some of the good ones. One day when we were in a coffee nursery many of these workers were helping to fill the bags and were working in the nurseries on the coffee program. That is, when we speak of some of these vices, we do not want anyone to misunderstand. We should not want anyone to think we are lumping everyone together. It should be said that there are all kinds of people. Some are conscientious, incapable of swindling anyone who is in pain or is sick. There are others who would swindle anyone, if given a chance. I was telling you that we must face the facts of a society in transition, in which there are and will still be many people who are trying to take advantage of the efforts of the others. We must become aware of this problem. There are those who place a jug or a little stand outside and begin to sell fried eggs, but the eggs they sell are the eggs of the program, the eggs which the revolution has developed to facilitate the supply of eggs to the people. They are the result of the production of more than 5 million hens of the state farms. And we are not carrying out these programs so that someone can sell fried eggs, buying bread at the bakery, something else over there, butter on the black market, and so forth, and making a profit of 30 or 40 pesos selling eggs. Anyone knows that if someone sets up a fried egg stand, many people who have not had breakfast will stop and buy a fried egg. So, it is no art. Instead of an art, it is a real vice, and a vice which is the result of several circumstances. This does not mean that the organizations of the revolution should get after people every time they see a fried egg so that no one will open up a fried egg stand. Nor can we be so unreasonable as to compete with these gentlemen. However, I am citing these examples because they are very real, and, logically, it is easier to set up a fried egg stand than to construct buildings. However, the gentleman who sells fried eggs will profit from all the laws of the revolution. If rents go down, his will go down; if rents are no longer collected, he will not pay rent; if new buildings are erected, he will want a house; if there is no charge for water, he will not expect to pay for water; if there is a free beach, he will go to the free beach; if he goes to a hospital to have an expensive operation, he will get the expensive operation for nothing. He can go to the Lenin Hospital or he can go to the new hospital that has just been built in Bayamo, or to the new hospital that has been opened in Sagua. And, of course, all this will have involved a lot of work on the part of the construction workers, of all the workers, to contribute to the economy. However, the road stands pay no taxes, and they enjoy all the benefits, that is, they benefit from the work of all the others. These are facts which we must realize. This does not mean that the revolution is going to get rid of the road stands. The road stand owners need not be afraid, nor should the businessmen. We want to say that even capitalism will not permit anyone to set up a stand without a licence to do so, and this revolution is not capitalist. If the capitalists prohibit it, with all the more reason will we socialists not permit it. (applause) We would like to say that those who own road stands should not be frightened, just those who open new ones, those who plan to pursue such parasitical activities without producing material goods, because the youth and the people are not working and making sacrifices to feed any parasites. (applause) And, furthermore, some day private industrial activities and private business activities of any type will be permanently prohibited by revolutionary laws. (applause) We know many of the little businesses that are being carried out by many of those gentlemen who have the problem of distribution in their hands. We know how many privileges they grant. We know how many times thy hold something back from a worker to save it for some bourgeois who has money, because there are still many bourgeois with money in this country. In southern Havana Province the other day a peasant was telling us of one case. We were on a tour selecting land for promoting rice growing, and a peasant down there told us: Listen; I am glad you have come, I have been asking for a few besanas of land on which to plant rice. I said to him: Look here. Do you really believe that the problem of rice supplies in this country will be solved from a few besanas grown by you here? Do you not realize that rice has to be produced for millions of people, and from the besanas, from that little piece of land, you would eat, and a few rich people would come to buy rice here. He said: That is true, it is true. Do you know what is it so pay up to 250 pesos for a sack of rice? I said: Two hundred fifty pesos? Tell me, friend, who buy's rice for 250 pesos? The peasant, evidently incorrectly, said: Doctors and that kind of people, I said: But see here, can they be doctors? There are many revolutionary doctors in this country, wholly devoted to working in the hospitals, to serving the people, in the mountains, in the hospitals, everywhere. (words indistinct). But apparently for that peasant the title "doctor" is equivalent to a rich main. That was the way he put it to me. Unless he is listening to the ball game, he is probably listening to this conversation and remembering. And he said 250 pesos for a sack of rice. And I told him: We are going to put an end to this rice business just as we did in the problem of eggs. Now we are determined to solve that problem, and it will not be with those tiny plots of land which really serve for speculation, for many of those businesses live by speculation, needless to say, if we had wanted to liquidate all that, we would have done so, but we do not like to proceed drastically. We realize that we must go through this bitter process. We realize that we must first achieve greater efficiency in all socialist prior1. We are fully aware that the fundamental weapon for liquidating these vices that still exist is increased production. We know that. But we know about all these businesses, and we want to say that at some time in the future private industrial activity of any kind and commercial activity of any kind will be prohibited by revolutionary law. (applause) We start with the premise that the revolution is the alliance of workers and peasants, not the alliance of workers and the bourgeois, not a worker-merchant alliance; it is the worker-peasant alliance. And we consider as allies of the revolution only the peasants who, even while owning their pieces of land, work it with their own hands and their sweat and make it produce. However, unfortunately, peasants often out or excess naivete sell to the speculator who goes to their place to buy from them. They sell to the man who has surplus money. And we have always told the peasants--when in the Oriente mountains some have told us they had trouble getting shoes--we tell them: True, but you drink a great deal of coffee; it is a pity you do not drink a little less coffee so the workers who make those shoes can have a little mere coffee. And it is precisely the workers who suffer when peasants sell their products to some speculator. This is why we try to develop the peasant is awareness. We must develop his awareness. But we are not allies of merchants. This does not mean, gentlemen--I repeat and emphasize once again--than we are going to eliminate the merchants tomorrow or even--at some future date when we ban commercial activities--fail to take account of many cases. We have done the same in all revolutionary laws. We have made an exception for everybody whose conduct is honorable, everybody whose conduct is honest. There are even many rather elderly people--or course, they are of no concern to us--elderly people who cannot engage in any other activity and who have been carrying on these activities for a long time. We will take all those cases into account. But anybody can give up hope if he expects--violating the purposes of the revolution, the principles of the revolution, arid the objectives of the revolution, to live here as a parasite, fleeing productive work and living off other people's sweat, for the revolution will see to depriving them of every hope of living here by parasitism. We know that much parasitism still exists, but this parasitism cannot be eradicated overnight. No matter how much determination and desire a people may have, it cannot overnight abolish all the vices and all the structures of the past. But the revolution intends to be a true revolution. The revolution intends to build socialism and attain communism. (applause) The fact that the revolution seeks to avoid drastic measures and radical measures does not imply that the revolution is getting soft, it does not imply that the revolution is losing sight of its objectives, for alongside a new generation that is growing and working--devoted to unselfishness and the interests of society--there cannot continue to exist the sector that pursues the opposite concept and acts contrary to the interests of society, all for selfish purposes regardless of what might be best for the rest of society. Today, as we are emphasizing the spirit of our young people, this new sentiment that is developing among our people for work and the production of wealth, it seems appropriate for us to give this explanation and make this appeal to the people's consciousness. Let us help form that consciousness, and warn those who expect to live by means that depart from the interests of society that that is a mistaken course. If you ask us now what is the fundamental thing in our revolution, we would answer without hesitation that it is work. At this point work is what characterizes the revolution. When we were (?coming) to this ceremony, another commemoration, we were wondering what we should say to the people--for we do not meet now just to shout with joy, to celebrate past glories; we meet to pay the appropriate tribute of commemoration, affection, and respect that will always be deserved by the men who have given their lives for this revolution; but we also meet to say that there is just one way to respect and love those who gave their lives, who gave everything for their country and their revolution; that way is work, it is struggle. How should we commemorate every one of these dates better each year? By advancing, advancing. They say there has been great boy over this 26 July; the people's joy has been tremendous in Santiago de Cuba; there has been much enthusiasm in this province. And it is certainly because we have accomplished something, because we have made some progress. What we should always ask ourselves on every day like today is: What have we accomplished? How have we done our duty? How much have we worked? How far have we progressed? If in three years, or two years, we meet here, and in reviewing what we have done, what we have created, how much we have worked, how far we have progressed, a truly positive balance does not appear, then it would be necessary to say it was not worth the trouble to meet on an anniversary like this. (applause) This date commemorates a day of struggle. This date commemorates a day of sacrifice. This date should remind each of us of our duty, our most sacred obligations. Our people have striven during these years. Our people have worked during these years. But we think it is still too little. We think we should strive still more. We think we must work more. Our country is presently ruled by the spirit of work, and the virtues of the citizens of this country, their revolutionary spirit, are measured by their spirit of work. Our country still has many things to do. Our country has many tasks ahead. What is our situation right now? We sincerely believe, and we can declare to the people this 26 July, that a vigorous spirit of activity and work is developing. Our country now has much greater means of work that at any previous time. Our country has more resources than at any previous time. Our country has more organization, more responsible cadres, more experienced cadres than at any previous time. Our forces are deployed. Our resources are deployed. But still not all the resources we are going to have are deployed. In one year an impressive quantity of means of production will be at our disposal, above all as regards agriculture. This year, on 1 November, a giant brigade will go to work clearing the land, It will begin with 142 bulldozers and will have 250 bulldozers the first quarter of 1968, plus 250 other caterpillars. With all the equipment there is in the country, and the efforts of that brigade, which will be organized and commanded by army officers, we plan to clear 15,000 caballerias in one year. Together with the 15,000 the rest of the machinery can bulldoze, that will mean clearing about 30,000 caballerias of land next year. This is to say that in the first quarter of this coming yeah--I mean 1969--not a square inch of marabu brush or thicket or uncultivated land will be left in the country. In the mountains of Oriente, Las Villas, and Pinar del Rio right now 22 road brigades are working or are on their way to the work sites. By this date next year we will have 56 new road and highway brigades throughout the country. The peasants from the mountains, the peasants present here from Victorino, San Lorenzo De las Mercedes, Matias, Dos Palmas, or Bernardo, or Beyate, or Paraiso, or Los Pinares de Mayari, in all the places where the new brigades are working, know what these roads mean for them. (applause) Those who work in the fields, who are many times cut off from everything else, are aware of the importance of these roads. At this time two large hydraulic brigades of 150 bulldozers and 250 12-ton trucks are at work. In other words, we are in the incipient stages of a thrust in agriculture of an impressive magnitude. Our country will be filled with roads and highways. Not one single inch of land wild remain untilled. Not one single drop of water will go unharnessed. When we finish eradicating the marabu and maniqua weeds in the last half of 1969, we will have 1,000 bulldozers and more than 1,500 trucks incorporated into the hydraulic projects. The hydraulic projects acquire increasing importance in our country. This year is a good example. This year--in these years of revolution--we have done the best work with the sugarcane. This is the year in which more careful work and a greater effort has been expended on sugarcane throughout the country. Virtually all sugarcane in the country, the state, and the privately owned fields has been thoroughly fertilized. Moreover, planes used in farming, piloted by our air force men, have sprayed foliar area over more than 50,000 sugarcane caballeriea. However, despite the unusual and titanic work--work that has been done by more than 100,000 men driving machines or working with their hands, (? working over) the sugarcane in these hot months--despite this work, what sort of a climate have we had to contend with? Well, we have had this year's climate. The people of Santiago know very well that this is the most unusual spring we have experienced. In the last two months--60 days ago, when we were in full spring--not one drop of rain has fallen. The same thing has happened in Camaguey since the rains fell during the first 10 days in June. We have had 50 days without one single drop of water in most of this province. Rains in Las Villas, Matanzas, and Havana did not occur until June. There is also a drought in Las Villas. In other words, in spite of an overwhelming and titanic effort, we still have to contend with the unforeseen, the variables. We have to consult the maps daily, day by day, and still we find that many days it has rained nowhere in our country. This is the situation. Some years, such as last year, it rained quite a bit. Then we have years like this, merely because it failed to rain in the spring. Sometimes a Flora-like hurricane hits and drowns more than 1,000 persons and more than 1,000,000 head of cattle and wrecks tens of millions' worth of property. Other times, the lack of rain causes damage. What does this tell us? What does this indicate? That we have to work, and we have to work hard because we want to have the things we need to live. We always like to have an abundance of fresh things, but this is not acquired simply by good intentions. We must work, and we must work on an accurate course. One of the things this country must do is simply determine to build enough dams to keep every single drop of water from running into the sea. If we build all of the dams that can be constructed, then we will be able to irrigate--irrigate! --more than half of the country's land. We will be able to irrigate over 250 (as heard) caballerias of land--all of the sugarcane fields, all of the vegetable lands, all of the areas which we must till for our own consumption and for our exports. This is one of the aims of the revolution. We must not rest as long as there is a single corner in this country with no roads. We must not rest as long as there is one single inch of land uncultivated. We have no right to rest as long as a single drop of water drains into the sea. We not only have the will to do this, but if we employ the means to carry this out, next year we can expand considerably some cultivated areas, 8,000 new caballerias for rice cultivation, 2,000 caballerias for cotton growing--which produces a very necessary item--8,000 new aballerias for citrus fruits, with coffee plants and beans between the rows. In addition, we will have some 20,000 caballerias for hay, plus a corresponding increase in the prospective sugarcane plan. An increased root vegetable crop in this country will not have to depend on excessive rainfall, lack of rains, or too early or too late rains. All this will be accomplished without sacrificing an iota of our prospective sugar plan. Right now we are working from one end of the country to the other--from the Guanhacabibes Peninsula to the Punta de Maisi, including Isla de Pinos and the mountain areas. (applause) I just now notices that this vanguard there works at Isla de Pinos. (shouting) You probably know very well what is being done there at Isla de Pinos. I am sure that we have representatives from all the young people who are working in all the plans being developed in the country. There is much work to be done. There is no doubt that in a short time we will be able to enjoy the results of these efforts. But we must work, we must work. Two new cement plants to be completed next year will for all purposes double the amount of cement available. Now that we will have more cement, now that we will have more resources, where should we point our efforts? Where should we build? Perhaps in Havana? (audience shouts, "No") In the big cities, perhaps? (audience shouts, "No") Where should we build? Where do we have the most need? Where do we have the worst housing? Where do people still live without running water, electricity, without a decent roof to sleep under? (audience shouts something) Yes, precisely, in the country, for historically the countryside has always been the forgotten sector. The cities are beautiful. They have beautiful avenues, beautiful buildings parks. The cities have practically everything. Of course, there are some cities like Santiago de Cuba where none of these things existed; There was an old electricity plant which did not have enough power to lift the city street lights, a little puddle for a water supply, and some hospitals which were always being built. Today we have a modern thermoelectric plant, a large dam to supply the city with water, all those hospitals have been finished, and Santiago already has an important school of medicine. In other words, compared with Havana, some cities had a lot less. Furthermore, Santiago de Cuba, in a certain sense, is very closely connected with the history of the revolution, and the revolution has wanted to show Santiago de Cuba recognition for the support it gave the revolution and for the blood shed by her best sons in the revolutionary victory. But, generally speaking, it is not in the cities where we should use that cement. That cement should be used in the countryside. Not in just any place, but in the places where the workers of the people's farms work, in the places where the workers who grow and produce the vegetables which are used by the people--the vegetables which do not end up in the hands of speculators. In other words, we should build housing for the workers who still have their families living in shacks. During the Moncada trials we spoke about the miserable rooms in which the sugarcane workers lived, the fieldworkers. It is painful to note that after eight years of revolution the greatest majority of those workers still live in the same rooms and shacks. This is why these two new cement plants which the government will finish building next year should be used for the building of schools, hospitals, plants, canals, roads, all those things which are for public use, and for housing. It should be the policy of this revolution to allocate the largest share of resources for the building of housing in the countryside and, in the first place, on the people's farms. If we do not do this nobody will want to live in the country. It is too much to ask those workers to give up everything--their lives--and never have the opportunity to have a decent home with running water or electric lights. If we are exerting our greatest effort to win in agriculture, in every day there is more demand for agricultural workers, it is necessary that the countryside be given proper attention. It is necessary that the countryside be given proper attention. It is necessary that we construct all the roads that the countryside needs, that we build the housing that our agricultural workers need. We are sure that if we build housing in the countryside--adequate housing in the countryside--the historical exodus of the farmer to the cities will disappear. What need do we have for thousands of people to go to the cities every year if the investments are being made in the countryside? What are they going to do in the city? Make brooms, make lollipops, build stands and sell fritters; in other words, be parasites. That is why we should create adequate conditions in the countryside. We are sure that many of these young people in these youth columns will want to stay there. They will want to marry and live there if they have adequate living conditions. Is this not the truth? (audience shouts, "Yes") Really I do not believe that life could be any happier for you. There are, of course, years of hard work during which many of the agricultural processes will not be mechanized, but more and more plans and methods are being introduced. Today and, for two or three more years there is still the hard work of hoeing the canefields. In the future chemistry will solve this problem. It will not be the man with the hoe who weeds a cordel a day--this is not the way to solve the problems of any nation. It will be machines using herbicides which will raise production. Let us hope that we have enough manpower to turn this country into a garden from one end to the other. The living conditions in the countryside will improve. But it is necessary for all of us to be aware of this problem--the people, the leaders, and the administrators of the revolution. Another thing the revolution is planning--this concerns students and compulsory military service--is a system so that the student is not interrupted in his studies. How can this be? Will he be exempt from service? No, because this would be putting on some of our youth all the burden of the hard life and the discipline of military service. What do we propose to do? First we propose to divide the basic school (sentence not completed) In the first place, instead of having three years of secondary school and three of preuniversity school, we will raise the secondary school to four years and reduce preuniversity school to two years plus an additional year to render service in the technological institutes and preuniversity centers. (applause) This will be a highly beneficial measure for the country and for our youths. Why? Because modern weapons demand a higher level of knowledge, a higher level of instruction. What will we do? Since it is supposed that every child must go to school, every youth most attend secondary school, we are going to take the privilege of seeing that no one remains ignorant for life. There will be those who accuse this government of being a tyrant because it is going to deprive some young men of their sacred right to remain illiterate, their sacred right to remain ignorant or, as we commonly say, to remain a donkey. In this country every youth will have to go through elementary school and through secondary school. (applause) We expect every youth to be a graduate of the secondary school. Also, every youth will be able to enter a preuniversity training center. It will then be possible for the boys to undergo their military training while they are attending teohnological institutes or preuniversity centers. In this manner, the youth formation program will not be affected. Studies will be expanded by one year, but along with this one year, the youths will take compulsory military training. We hope that all youths and all parents will understand how highly beneficial this measure is, because we know that many are concerned over the fact that their children might be going through the secondary school and preuniversity school and then suddenly be called into service, thereby interrupting their education by two or three bears in some cases, despite all of the facilities the armed forces give recruits who are still studying. In reference to the women, it will also be (?compulsory) for them to enter technological and preuniversity centers where they can also fulfill compulsory military service. (applause) The revolution is not about to discriminate against women. Through experience we know that when a call has been issued for entry into officers' school, a very interesting phenomenon has emerged a like number of poor women have requested entry into officers school--in the military schools, as many women as men. (applause) We are aware that everyone must prepare for battle in this country. Everyone must prepare for combat--every man and every woman, every youth and old person. When we say the word "old," we say it with a new concept. If a person is old but is a revolutionary, a patriot, and is capable of fighting, we cannot call him "old" in the old concept of the term. (applause) You thank me for this, huh? This country must prepare for any eventuality. What we want to tell the people on this 26 July is that it is necessary, vitally necessary as a quality leap in this revolution--that this country should prepare for anything, that this country should work more as it grows even stronger. These two things go hand in hand. In the same measure th&t we work harder, we will become militarily stronger. The stronger we become militarily, the greater security we will have to work under. We will be able to work with more confidence in the future. In these years following the revolution's triumph, this country has indisputably become stronger, and the people have become better prepared for combat. During these years, our fighting capacity has increased considerably. Today, this revolution, which saw its first day of battle at the Moncada garrison with the participation of only 120 men and which continued aboard the Granma with 82 fighters and which one day found itself reduced to fewer than a dozen men--this country, which started down the path of liberation confronting great sacrifices can assert today with great satisfaction that in the event of any aggression, it is in a position to arm more than half a million soldiers. (applause) Indeed, our enemies know that we are on our guard. Recently, some statements uttered by some men from the Pentagon or from the State Department or from the U.S. imperialist government were published. They spoke about Cuba's case and about its not being so easy because Cuba's planes were not lined up to be destroyed in a surprise attack--they are well protected. They also said that our tanks and our cannon, our weapons, are underground. They said that it would not be easy to catch us by surprise as they have caught other countries. They spoke specifically about Egypt and the Israeli aggression. We have known this for sometime, because before, the aggression in the Middle East there was aggression in Vietnam and the surprise attack in Giron, and this traitorous habit of attacking by surprise at dawn in an attempt to destroy the means to make war. They will have to destroy our means of war underground or by fighting. It is good for them to become aware of this so that they make no mistake and think that it is an easy thing to invade this country. As Raul said a few days ago at the war college graduation exercises, every now and then a spokesman for the Yankee government says that they have no commitment not to invade Cuba. What do we care whether or not they think that they have stitch a commitment! (applause) The first thing we must ask is what right do they have to invade this country? (applause) This is the first thing that comes to mind. The second question that arises is: Are they capable of invading this country? (loud, prolonged cheering) (Words indistinct) is attacked, including its military occupation (?following the battle). However, this country will never be defeated in the military sense of the word. It is necessary for all Cubans--all of us--to bear some things in mind. We will not speak about the comparative forces between imperialism and ourselves. We will not talk about how many planes they can fly over our heads or how many soldiers they can deploy. We will not speak about the foreign support which realistically we must admit would come from countries lying several thousand miles from us. In the face of (?the threat) of an invasion here, we must get used to the idea that we are going to fight alone. (applause) If the imperialists believe that we are following a (words indistinct) revolutionary policy, they are mistaken. We do not doubt that everyone here will right, including many of the experts now in this country, we have become cognizant of their attitude in various situations. However, we must recognize that this idea is very important. This idea is essential. If we had given up after the Moncada attack or if we had given up after the Granma incident or when we were left with very few men, when only seven of us had guns--if we had accepted the idea of defeat, we would have been defeated right then and there. We were not defeated, simply because we never accepted the idea of defeat. This should always be our attitude, and this should be the great lesson of our history. This idea is important to all of our people. To all of our soldiers, to all of our reserves. This idea of defeat can never be accepted. We have a regular and powerful army. However, this regular and powerful army with all of its modern warfare training and its tactics of a regular, conventional army in modern times should never forget its role as a revolutionary army--its guerrilla role, its guerrilla origin. A guerrilla never accepts defeat. (applause) A division--a line of defense can be broken--a division can be dispersed. Division chiefs can fall. A military unit can be left without a commander. However, as long as there is a squad, the seed of a guerrilla army exists. As long as there is a man left with a gun, the seed of a guerrilla army remains! (applause) The big lesson for us to learn is that if this idea is upheld, and this idea is uppermost in the mind of each soldier, this country will never experience what other countries have experienced. There will be no surrenders, no defeats, because a man with a gun will always under any circumstances become a very dangerous man--a man with a gun, and even better if he has an automatic weapon, and better still if it happens to be an "AKM"--such a man is extraordinarily dangerous for any aggressor. This country's policy will be--and let this be known and remembered well--that if under any circumstances we find we need to wage a patriotic war against an aggressor, we will resort to a conventional war and to an unconventional war. We will confront masses of troops with masses of tanks, masses of artillery, and masses of soldiers. In the face of any combination of forces, each soldier and each citizen of this country capable of wielding a weapon will be as an army by himself. He will be his own commander. His weapon will be his gun, and his enemy will be a common one. In other words--and this is no secret--we will defend ourselves with the technology of regular war and we will defend ourselves with the tactics of guerrilla warfare anywhere. (applause) There is a word which is absolutely banned from our revolutionary terminology. The word is "defeat." A synonym of defeat is surrender. There is a phrase that, because of a matter of profound principle, will always be abolished from the terminology of this revolution--the phrase is "ceasefire!" (applause) "Ceasefire!" will never be uttered in this country as long as one single inch of our territory is occupied by any invader. Bear this in mind well, and remember it always. Anyone who utters this command can only be classified as a traitor, whoever he might be! (applause) An order like this can never be obeyed, whoever might give it. This order will never be carried out in this country. It is necessary for these ideas, these concepts, to form an essential part of our revolutionary awareness. It is necessary for the enemy to know what kind of people he would have to face. Perhaps he knows, perhaps he does not, and perhaps he does not know it because he is blind. But we see it in our people, we see it in our youth, we see it in our workers, we see it in our peasants. There are some who are lazy at work, but when danger to the revolution is mentioned, they seize their rifle in all haste and (?they could be stopped only by death). Some who are not models at work are models of patriotism, although this does not mean that patriotic virtue can make up for (word indistinct) in the spirit of work; we mention it because we have seen it. This country has something over 7 million inhabitants. Soon we will have 8 million, and the people in this country are steadily improving in quality, they are the best ones, because those who left cleansed the country, cleansed it, and left good people behind. More and more the best remained. And a people armed with these ideas, with this conviction, and with arms to boot can really never be defeated. A magnificent example of how regular armies turn to rubbish when confronted by patriotism is furnished by Bolivia and the successive victories scored by the Bolivian Liberation Army. (applause) Its activity began scarcely four months ago, and the gorillas are confessing their inability to crush the guerrillas. We are living in a convulsed world, and in that world in a convulsed hemisphere, where imperialism considers itself lord and master. Imperialism always blames the rebellion of the oppressed peoples of this hemisphere on us, and anything that happens anywhere will always be laid at our door. And yet the convulsed condition of this hemisphere finds magnificent expression in what is happening in the United States itself. The U.S. colored population, victims of discrimination and exploitation, is rising up more and more with astonish valor and heriosm to demand its rights and resist force with force. Just this morning we read a dispatch--from an imperialist news agency, no less--which says: The worst outburst of racial violence recalled in national history struck more than a dozen cities in the United States today, threatening to spread from the Atlantic to the Pacific and virtually requiring military occupation of Detroit--I give it the Spanish pronunciation--where army troops advanced with tanks and fired their machineguns at snipers posted on rooftops. Tonight the dead already numbered 30, since the tragic weekend. Authorities do not yet see any sign of an end to the violence, concentrated in the heart of the northern industrial sector of the nation. Damage runs into the millions, 200 million just in Detroit and the surrounding area, caused--and now came the disparaging terms--by pillage and intentionally set fires that razed whole blocks, sending up columns of smoke as though from a bombed city. All that is needed is a few rice paddies for it to be the same as Vietnam, commented a colored Marine, hard put to hold back tears as he returned to his burned home in Detroit today after fighting in Southeast Asia. Next to this center of the U.S. auto industry, the city most affected by the disturbances has probably been Cambridge, Maryland, where Negroes set fire to two blocks of their ghetto and exchanged shots with police and National Guardsmen. The uncontained violence reached New York itself today and spread to nearby Rochester, as well as Pontiac, Flint, and Grand Rapids, Michigan; Toledo and Lima, Ohio; Englewood, New Jersey; Tucson, Arizona; Houston, Texas. Federal troops sent by President Lyndon B. Johnson were in control of devasted Detroit at noon, but Governor Romney of Michigan decided to maintain emergency measures. The auto center of the world counted 24 dead, three of them whites--notice; the others are dead Negroes--three of them white--and more than 1,500 injured since the racial insurrection broke out. Before th paratroopers intervened, bands of Negroes fired on four police stations, using machineguns in one instance. The United States must change or it will be burned by the Negroes, SNCC president H.R. Brown said last night. Later he was wounded and arrested on charges of inciting his race to rebellion. Then here they give a list of the places where violence occurred. New York: Police clashed with Puerto Rican youths who were stoning and shooting at them from rooftops. Two persons died in the fighting. It was the third out break in as many nights. Pontiac: Two Negroes were killed, one of them by a state legislator, the owner of a stare that was being looted--the store owner is always the good guy. There were 40 fires; 25 people were arrested. Rochester: Fire bombs; looting; snipers active since last night, third anniversary of similar incidents. Flint: Bands of young Negroes stoned autos and stores before looting. Cambridge: Negro arsonists set fire to two blocks. A church and a school were burned. Then they exchanged shots with Police and National Guardsmen. Lima: Twenty-five Negroes were arrested for smashing show windows. There was no looting. Grand Rapids: Bands of Negroes stoned show windows, started fires, and bought police, who succeeded in getting them under control. Houston: Groups of Negroes took to the streets, stoning stores and autos they came across. Nobody was hurt or arrested. Englewood: Negro snipers held police at bay for more than an hour before rain ended the disturbances. Tucson: More than 100 Negroes clashed with police for the second consecutive night, throwing stones and bottles. A fire bomb was thrown at a drugstore. Toledo: More than 80 persons were arrested for looting. You see how repression is always accompanied by slander and how the imperialist news agencies make sure to speak of rioting, rebellion, looting, and pill aging for the purpose of defaming and criminally slandering the Negro fighters. But the most tragic thing for imperialism is precisely this sentence about a Negro soldier who found his house burned when he returned from Vietnam, that Marine who said: Just a few rice paddies and it would be the same as in Vietnam. This is exactly the tragedy of imperialism. As it becomes an international gendarme, it becomes a repressive policeman against the progressive movement and against the revolutionary movement all over the world. There, in its own country, the exploited, the oppressed--and in the first place the Negroes--also revolt and fight. The Puerto Ricans, also exploited, oppressed, and discriminated against, revolt and fight. In other words, while they have not been able to nor will be able to dampen the revolutionary fire outside their own country, the flame of the revolution, originating from the same cause, burns brighter in the very bosom of the ruling, aggressive empire. Of course, (?they would like) to blame us, too, for the rebellion of the U.S. Negroes, because they know very well the cause which originated that rebellion--that it is the same one which causes rebellions anywhere in the world. Of course, our feelings and our sentiments support the oppressed in any part of the world, and therefore we side with the oppressed in the United States, especially with that sector of the population which is criminally discriminated against and oppressed--the Negro sector of the U.S. population. (applause) We live in a world disturbed by struggle, and the imperialists are trying to intimidate us. The imperialists threaten us, and it is right for us who also live in this world not only to work and work ceaselessly, but also to prepare to defend ourselves, and to fight if this becomes necessary. The OAS has decided to postpone its meeting until 2 August; in other words, until after the LASO conference. There is no doubt that LASO, or OLAS in Spanish, whichever you prefer; I do not believe that there has been an agreement as to which of the two words they are going to use, and either one is good (sentence not completed) In other words they will wait on the LASO conference. There is no doubt that LASO has become very important. There is no doubt that the solidarity of the revolutionary movements frightens the imperialists. Once could repeat what Karl Marx said in the communist manifesto: A specter is sweeping across the hemisphere. It is the specter of the LASO that has the reactionaries, the imperialists, the official thugs, the gorillas, and the exploiters sleepless. They are waiting for the LASO conference--to what end? Did they perchance expect this country to refuse to hose the LASO conference? Never! Did they perchance expect this country to be intimidated by threats and refrain from expressing solidarity with the revolutionary movement? Never! (applause) The LASO is here, endowed with the prestige of representing the fighters of this hemisphere and the solidarity of fighters of other continents. The LASO--that is, the First LASO Conference--will be held amid our people's greatest enthusiasm and hospitality. And we do not care what the OAS does, for just as LASO is the revolutionaries' association, the OAS is the reactionaries' association. It is the oligarchies' association, the association of crooks. We feel the utmost contempt for that miserable institution that has served to sanctify imperialism's crimes. What they did in connection with the Dominican invasion is still very fresh in our minds; how the Marines landed there, how (words indistinct) met--those shameless creatures, those (shouts from crowd interrupt). All right, you say it. (more shouting) Those weaklings, (applause) not to condemn imperialism but to send more troops to invade that sister nation. We all remember, as Raul recalled in his speech to the officers, the endless list of crimes and misdeeds they have committed against this country. What moral standing does it have, what right does it have, what jurisdiction does it have to judge and penalize this country? We do not fear OAS decisions, and we will await this birth of a mouse, for, gentlemen of the OAS, what must be reckoned with is this people what must be reckoned with is this country, what must be reckoned with is the dignity, the honor, the courage, and the revolutionary spirit of this people. (applause) And against that the imperialists and their maneuvers will be wrecked, aggressions and plans will be smashed against it, because in this country they really have a tough nut to crack. Let this 26 July serve as a reaffirmation of the spirit that led the first fighters to attack the fortress, a reaffirmation of the spirit that has accompanied the fighters and people during these 14 years. It is profoundly revolutionary, profoundly internationalist. Our fervent, heartfelt embrace, on behalf of our people, to all fighters represented here. (applause) Our heartfelt embrace for the representatives of the U.S. progressive states--black and white! (applause) Our heartfelt embrace for the thousand-times heroic people of Vietnam! (applause) Our heartfelt embrace for the progressives the intellectuals, and progressive artists throughout the world! (applause) Our heartfelt embrace for the creators of the revolutionary art for their content, such as the interpreters of the protest songs! (applause) Our embrace and our greetings to those who in Vietnam, Venezuela, Guatemala, Colombia, and Bolivia fight with their weapons in their hands, invincible against the imperialists! (applause) Long live the revolutionary movement! (audience answers: "Viva!") Long live solidarity among all revolutionaries throughout the world! (audience answers: "Viva!") Fatherland or death, we will win! (applause) -END-