-DATE-
19740630
-YEAR-
1974
-DOCUMENT_TYPE-
SPEECH
-AUTHOR-
F. CASTRO
-HEADLINE-
CLOSING SESSION OF THE UNION OF CUBAN JOURNALIST
-PLACE-
DERARDO ABREU FONTAN SOCIAL CLUB
-SOURCE-
HAVANA DOMESTIC TV SVC
-REPORT_NBR-
FBIS
-REPORT_DATE-
19740701
-TEXT-
Fidel Castro Speech

Havana Domestic Television Service in Spanish 0045 GMT 30 June 74 F

[Speech by Premier Fidel Castro at closing session of the 3D congress of
the Union of Cuban journalists at the Gerardo Abreu Fontan Social
Club--live]

[Text] Since you continue to insist that I do so, I come to this rostrum to
speak at least a couple of minutes. There cannot be two closing speeches in
one event. [laughter] Besides, Comrade Armando [Hart] has truly given a
brilliant outline of the party's view on journalism. Like the sincere man
that I am, I must say that the task was not an easy one, because we are
well aware that in this field there is still much to be done and much
progress to be made. Like the sincere men that we are, we must say that
even our own party has not deepened its work broadly enough in this field.
[applause] It will have to do it and it will do it.

Like the sincere men that we are, we must say that we do not still have an
answer for all questions and one solution for all problems. [applause] But
at least we are aware of this fact. We are determined to advance
successfully in this field just as we have in many others. [applause] Our
party does not underestimate the work of the journalists. Our party is well
aware of its extraordinary importance. In the development of the
exceptional task that you have, you will always have the party as your
ally. [applause]

Our society and our people appreciate and understand the complex, sensitive
and decisive task that our revolutionary press has. During the past few
days while you were holding the congress, we were unable to have a more
direct participation, because in reality the congress was being held at a
time when the 1976 economic plan was being analyzed--which kept all of us,
members of the Politburo, Secretariat, Executive Central Committee, the
ministers, all of us working most intensively in this matter.

I do not know if Comrade Armando had this in mind when he mentioned access
to information. [laughter] No one knew that we had been meeting 1 whole
week for many hours working on these complex tasks of the economy and
discussing in detail the whole economic plan for 1976--and you well know
how much work is required under a socialist system, because this was not
done in the old capitalist system. Each of them planned as they pleased,
did as they pleased and wasted as they pleased. In socialism this has to be
done by the leadership of the state and the party, giving thorough
attention to all these tasks. And if there is waste, then it will not be
individual wasting but collective wasting. But at least we do everything
possible to fulfill our duty in the most efficient manner, namely, to
organize everything most adequately and waste the least possible.

But this period of our work and our program precisely coincided with the
holding of the congress, and that is why we were unable to give more
attention to the development of the congress. Now we will have to make
every effort to learn about it as much as we possibly can by examining the
agenda, the topics and the results of the discussions. And this we will do.

Armando talked about the future, and that it belongs to socialism. Very few
times do we realize how much demanding our society will become. It will be
demanding for the cadres, leaders, journalists and from everyone. Because
if you take into consideration the colossal educational revolution that is
now taking place in our fatherland, the thirst for knowledge and study and
the amount of persons attending schools, classes and all types of cultural
activities, then you will be able to have some idea of what that society
will demand from our media, that of the future. It will be a society that
will have an infinitely superior culture to the one that we found at the
time of the triumph of the revolution.

This can be seen everywhere. Armando said that the newspapers that we now
have are not sufficient, and that is the truth. Even if 1 million copies of
GRANMA and hundreds of thousands of JUVENTUD REBELDE are published, they
will not be sufficient. The publication of books has now reached several
tens of millions of copies. A large part of this of course is for
educational purposes, but the books we have are not enough. There are not
enough printing presses. There is not enough paper. The needs are
increasingly becoming greater; namely, books, magazines, everything.

One thing that is precisely of great concern now is the creation of the
material base for the development of our educational and cultural
activities of the future--how can we make enough paper available? How can
we have enough printing presses made available?

And at some time in the future we will have to plan the modernization of
our printing presses, that we know have fallen behind and are obsolete.
Some day this will be accomplished. But you know that it will be
accomplished and will be done, because in the great sea of our needs
logically we have to set priorities for this and other things. The day will
come when the technological needs of our media will be given a priority.

In any case, if we work well, if we do everything in the manner that they
should be done, we feel certain that our media and journalism, just as the
revolution, will have a great future, and that the work of our
revolutionary media will increasingly become more important, more decisive
in the same measure that our people will become more demanding, as we have
stated.

In two words, I will express the feeling that we wish to convey at this
time. In the first place, we wish to express our satisfaction for the
enthusiasm with which you have worked in this congress, for the trust that
you have placed on the revolution, for the understanding that you have had
of the limitations that we have objectively had during these past few years
and for the extraordinary confidence that you have in the future.
[applause]

Our most sincere congratulations goes to all of you, and our most fraternal
exhortation to continue working and struggling arduously whatever the
present difficulties might be. Fatherland or death, we shall win!
-END-