-DATE-
19870517
-YEAR-
1987
-DOCUMENT_TYPE-
SPEECH
-AUTHOR-
F. CASTRO
-HEADLINE-
CLOSING OF FARMERS CONGRESS
-PLACE-
KARL MARX THEATER
-SOURCE-
HAVANA DOMESTIC SVC
-REPORT_NBR-
FBIS
-REPORT_DATE-
19870529
-TEXT-
CASTRO ADDRESSES CLOSING OF FARMERS CONGRESS

FL212246 Havana Domestic Service in Spanish 2018 GMT 17 May 87

[Speech by Fidel Castro closing the Seventh ANAP Congress at Havana's Karl
Marx Theater -- live]

[Text] Distinguished Guests, Comrades:" Today we mark one more anniversary
of the death of Aniceto Perez, one more anniversary of the Agrarian Reform
Law, one more anniversary of the founding of the ANAP, and, I believe, also
the anniversary of the second meeting of cooperatives. In particular, the
work of the Seventh ANAP Congress concludes today. It is necessary to
remember or ponder some things as we make these closing remarks, and that
is the colossal change that has taken place in the countryside over these
years since the triumph of the revolution in 1959. This change began with
the Agrarian Reform Law. Then, our country's best land was in the hands of
U.S. firms. The rest was mostly in the hands of landowners. Very few
peasants owned their land. The vast majority had to pay rent or were
metayers, tenant farmers who handed over a percentage of their production,
or were conditional tenants.

On the eastern mountains, where we lived with the peasants for several
years, we were able to see the vast majority of those peasants were
conditional tenants and were in danger of being evicted. After the peasants
cleared the hills and planted coffee or pasture, other people rushed to
claim their land. The revolution put an end to that type of exploitation to
which our peasants were subjected. It turned all metayers, renters,
conditional tenants, all those `who in one way or another worked the land,
into land owners. The large expanse of land under capitalist exploitation,
as we have explained before, was not divided into plots but was turned into
state enterprises owned by all the people. We did not turn our agricultural
proletariat into peasants; we actually gave the large farm enterprises the
same status we gave to industries. We believe the measure was absolutely
correct, historically. If we had to organize the cooperative movement today
with the hundreds of thousands of agricultural laborers turned small farm
owners, I believe all of you, exceptional witnesses to this process of
agricultural development and higher forms of production, would understand
the big obstacles we faced at this time. Of course, if we had divided those
large expanses of land planted with sugarcane, rice, and other crops into
small farms, we would have practically wiped out the sugarcane industry in
our country; we would have wiped out the large rice fields and the largest
centers of agricultural production All my life I have believed that the
small farm is not the best way to exploit land. Imagine the enormous cane
fields turned into 3- or 4-hectare plots for sugarcane, rice, beans, yucca,
plantain, poultry, pigs, sheep, goats, and other animals. I believe our
sugar production in those large cane fields where the sugar mills were in
fact located would not have surpassed 30 or 40 percent of the capitalists'
sugar production. The same would have happened with the extensive fields
planted with rice and other crops. That mistake was not made. We prevented
it, unlike the usual case in revolutionary agricultural processes which
begin to affect production considerably. We did not make that mistake and
because or this, it was possible to make extraordinary progress in the
mechanization of the sugarcane industry. Of course, as you may remember,
when the revolution triumphed there were no canecutting machines; they
could not have existed.

Your peasants would have strongly opposed it and would have made cane
cutting mechanization impossible. At the time hundreds of thousands of
workers cut cane for a few months. Furthermore, when the revolution
triumphed, lines formed at canecutting stations. During those early years
when there were so many possibilities, when hundreds of thousands of jobs
were created, when, peasants became owners of their land, when they no
longer had to migrate from cane fields to coffee plantations and from
coffee plantations to rice fields, and so forth, we faced one of the most
difficult problems of the revolution: How to handle the sugar harvest.
There were no machines, nor was there an army of unemployed that organized
itself to cut and plant sugar cane. It was not an easy problem. I remember
those days in which Che, who was the industry minister, tried to create the
first mechanical canecutter prototype. Some photographs of that time are
still around. Then, when the harvest approached, tens of thousands and
later hundreds of thousands of laborers and workers from the city, who
worked in industries or other areas, had to be mobilized to, cut cane.

We were able to maintain and even increase relatively high production
rates. The large cane plantations were maintained but we did not have the
manpower to cut cane. It is not easy to imagine. I believe that many of
today's young people have no idea of the efforts that this entailed -- the
expense and the sacrifices the massive mobilization of cane cutters
required. Technical difficulties were finally overcome and a cane harvester
was built. There were no canecutting machines anywhere during the early
years of the revolution. The model, the prototype had to be developed. Many
difficulties had to be overcome until finally' the first cane cutting
machines were built. In the meantime, other ideas came up. The first of all
was the cane lifter [alzadora], because in our country they not only had to
cut but also lift by hand over 50 million tons of cane at each harvest. The
lifters were the first ones -- if I remember correctly, Soviet hay lifters
were `the first ones to be brought to our country. Cane lifting began to be
mechanized. The idea of collection and preprocessing centers came later.
This increased the cane cutters' productivity. No one could have imagined
then that it would later be used to feed cattle.

The first harvesters were developed and built. During that period we were
also forced to introduce a practice which from the agricultural point of
view was not the most suitable. This was the burning of cane, since the
first harvesters did not cut the cane well if it was not burned.

Even with collection and preprocessing centers, yields were less if cane
was not burned. Still, in 1970, 350,000 cane cutters had to be mobilized.
So there has been a big leap in the productivity of the sugarcane harvest.
The number of cane cutters has been reduced by almost 300,000 to some
700,000. Only as a result of the last hurricane which almost crossed the
island from one end to the other were we forced to increase the number of
workers who collect the cane left by the machine on the furrows. That was
being left behind as a result of the cut and jumbled cane. This practice
was stopped later when we discovered the economic advantage of continuing
to use the collectors to avoid wasting cane that machines left behind.

It is a fact today the harvest is carried out in a relatively comfortable
way if compared to those enormous mobilizations we had been forced to
undertake.

Other techniques were introduced and so forth. The entire process of land
conditioning and most of the planting were mechanized. Herbicides were
introduced. Airplanes began to be used to spray herbicides. At times planes
were also used to fertilize with urea spray. The same thing that happened
with the cane happened in the rice fields -- harvests were mechanized,
large irrigation systems were built, planes were used for seeding, and the
rice harvest was mechanized. The same surge in mechanization took place in
all agricultural activities on the mountains, where it was impossible to
take a bulldozer [previous word rendered in English] or a tractor.
Agricultural activities such as preparing the land, planting,
transportation were completely mechanized in our country.

Specialized enterprises for each of the crops were developed Some were
developed for citrus, others for tubers and vegetables, cattle raising,
sugarcane, rice. Rotation of pastures was introduced; mechanized cow
milking was introduced. It is very hard to find a dairy that does not have
electricity, where cow milking is not mechanized, and where milk is not
kept refrigerated. Finding someone who milks cows by hand has turned into a
practically impossible task. Similar mechanized processed took place in
many other areas such as the ports, in bulk sugar, transportation,
construction -- in sum, all those activities in which the work is harder,
tougher, have been made considerably easier.

This enormous agricultural development process, increased productivity,
mechanization -- would it have been possible with small farms? Could those
enormous irrigation systems have been built, could those bulldozers have
been used, those harvesters, that technique? It would have been practically
impossible. The revolution was forced to cut cane and harvest the fields of
numerous individual land owners who knew that society, the country, and the
revolution needed that cane but did not bother to take care of it. It had
to be cut, collected, transported, and harvested, so it could be taken to
the sugar mills. Later the happy land owner to whom the revolution had
given the land got a check.

Every year was a struggle. We would suddenly see a drop in the sugarcane
activity in the area owned by private farmers. This was simply because
sugarcane production was a hard job and it was much easier, and much more
comfortable for them to plant other crops. Not only was it easier and much
more comfortable, but many times it was more profitable. Had this been
allowed to continue, much of the land around the sugarmills would have been
without sugarcane.

For many years, much of the state's money was invested in this type of
development. Hundreds of dams were built; thousands upon thousands of cubic
meters of water were impounded. We have some statistics on the amount of
water impounded for use in agriculture in the past; it was less than 50
million cubic meters. Today we have more than 5 billion cubic meters of
water impounded. The amount of surface water available today for
agricultural purposes is 100 times more than the water available in the
past.

Huge amounts of money were invested in the irrigation system, in the
construction of secondary roads, main roads, electrification of the rural
areas. Approximately 500 basic secondary schools and pre-university schools
directly related to the agricultural development of the revolution were
also built. Where were they built? In the citrus, vegetable, and tuber
producing areas.

The young student could participate in these activities while attending
school. None of these education plans, the implementation of the
revolutionary principle as expressed by Marx and Marti, would have been
possible without the agricultural plans drafted as higher forms of
agricultural production. The revolution invested huge amounts of money to
put these plans into practice.

However, the revolution did not devote all its time to the large
agricultural areas. It also worked closely with the small farmers. At that
time there were approximately 200,000 small farmers who had 20 percent of
the country's agricultural lands. State-owned land, acquired through the
first and second agrarian reform and at times purchased from farmers who
could no longer work their land or who joined the State's agricultural
plans, added up to 80 percent of the country's available agricultural land.
But for many years, we worked with the private farmers.

The time came when it was necessary, for the development of the
agricultural system, to boost production plans, the productivity of land,
and to adopt a superior form of production in the private farmer's sector,
in the small farmer's sector. Through the years, the revolution had been
offering support to the small farmers. We could add that the revolution not
only gave and guaranteed land for the peasants, but also, from the very
beginning, built schools and hospitals and sent teachers and doctors to
rural areas. The revolution also launched a very big literacy campaign and
put into effect health plans that helped eradicate disease and reduced the
infant mortality rate. Who knows what the infant mortality rate was during
capitalist days? We can all remember the epidemics that ravaged our
countryside and killed our peasant children. The revolution not only
decreased the infant mortality rate in the rural areas to levels that today
are the lowest in all the Third World countries and many developed
countries, but it also built secondary roads and main roads, and brought
communications and electricity to the rural areas. The revolution also
brought in machines that sharply cut down on the physical efforts of our
agricultural workers. It not only brought schools to the rural areas but it
also gave peasant children a chance to study beyond the primary school
level.

The peasant children were given the chance to go to secondary school. Tens
of thousands of the children of our peasants were educated to become
teachers, professors, nurses, medical technicians, doctors, engineers,
specialists of various kinds, and FAR officers. Not only did the revolution
do all this for our peasants but it also helped them economically.

We could say that for more than 20 years, the peasants never paid a single
cent in taxes. This to me is unique in the world. The revolution granted
the peasants hundreds of millions of pesos in loans. These were
interest-free loans. Not only did they get the loans, but when we suffered
the effects of a hurricane or when a drought or plague caused heavy damage,
when for one reason or another the peasant was not able to pay back the
loan, it was often cancelled.

It was only a few years ago that certain agricultural products were taxed;
this is a rather symbolic tax. Coffee, cacao, tobacco, and some other
agricultural products are not taxed. The revolution was the universal
social security fund for all the peasants. The cooperatives and the peasant
associations were given as many machines as they needed; they were given as
many trucks and tractors as they needed. This means they were given as many
trucks and tractors as they said they needed.

The support for the sector was huge, complete, absolute. They deserved it,
it was fair, and this is what the revolution wanted to do for our peasants.

But the day came when changes were necessary. We could not continue with
the old ways of production; with the private, small plot, backward type of
production. Many of the problems of our area could not be resolved. We had
to find a way to develop our rural areas, provide all the peasant families
with electricity, organize adequate schools, bring the children to the
schools, provide the peasants in the plains and on the mountains with the
benefits of civilization, give them a proper roof over their heads, a
decent home, running water, and electricity. With electricity came many
advantages, ranging from an electric iron, to a mixer, refrigerator,
television, fan, washing machine, even air conditioning if it is too hot,
and lights.

How to take to the peasants the most precious advantages of man's progress?
How to take the canecutting harvesters with reasonable and rational
productivity, the large machines that break the ground; how to take the
canals and irrigations systems? How to use aviation in agriculture, how to
rationalize the land and plant in each square meter what should be planted
in each square meter in accordance with the topography of the land, the
degree of hardness, humidity, porosity, etc., or the mineral composition of
the soil? How to plant each thing in what can be said is its place, where
the maximum productivity is achieved, where it is possible to get water?
How to better use over 100,000 caballerias of land? Many of these are the
best ones because, in general, peasants have historically settled in
valleys, where there was a certain degree of humidity, where there were
more resources. How to find, in economic terms, the maximum productivity
per hectare or caballeria of those lands, since cane productivity had to be
increased as the country's development plans demanded, since citrus plans
had to continue to be enlarged along with the tuber and vegetable, meat and
milk plans, etc. How to combine all those economic, social, and human
advantages? The cooperative movement had to be encouraged, the creation of
livestock-agricultural production cooperatives had to be encouraged. After
20 years of revolution it was becoming a shame that a considerable portion
of our land continued to be exploited as in the times of the Spanish
conquistadors. It was a shame that next to the considerable revolutionary
and social progress, of the considerable progress made in industry, many
areas of the country retained prehistoric methods of agricultural
production in a large part of our land. Moving toward higher forms of
agricultural production is not simply someone's idea, someone's preference,
or a whim. It is a deep human need. I began talking about the human aspects
of the matter, a deep social need, a deep economic need, a nutritional
need.

I mentioned a number of transactions, arrangements, pre-contracts,
contracts, etc., that have to be made every day and every year with
hundreds of thousands -- in this case there were 200,000 individual
peasants. Loans had to be provided for each one of them, supplies and
materials had to be provided for each one of them and their lots, the land
prepared in each one of their sections. We had to supply plant or animal
health services, and collect the goods; two, three, four hens, one pig, a
pig an a half, half a pig, 40 liters of milk and a tank to collect it in.
And it had to be picked up early because it was not refrigerated and the
milk could get sour. The milk had to be transported bucket by bucket. A
quintal more or a quintal less of rice, beans. A truck load one day with
plaintains and the next with sweet potatoes. A truck the day after that
with vegetables. One truck stopping off at several units to be loaded,
etc., etc. Truly prehistoric methods.

At the state farm, at the dairy that has 288 cows and electricity, the
day's milk is kept at just the right temperature until the arrival of the
truck that will take away 11,000, 1,500, or 2,000 liters of milk. A small
property can produce perhaps 50, 60, or 100 liters of milk. Gentlemen, if
this country were forced to supply its people with milk picked up in
hundreds of thousands of buckets around the country, I think this would be
a real problem. If this country were forced to supply the people with eggs
after picking egg after egg from nest after nest throughout the country, we
would not be able to eat the 250 million eggs we eat each year. More than
90, 95, 98 percent of the country's egg production comes not from the small
farms but from organized enterprises that raise hundreds of thousands of
hens, and thousands of hens lay 250, 260, and at times, 300 eggs each year.
These hens can produce an egg with a minimum consumption of mixed feed. The
feed is very well measured, mathematically calculated. These hens are given
the best care against all types of disease, and there are many diseases.
Thousands of millions of eggs are gathered and no one ever finds out about
this. They are in. their boxes, they are packed one by one, they are
transported, properly kept in the cold storage rooms for as long as
necessary, and our people can get their eggs. It is a highly nutritional
product and at a good price. The people pay 9, 10, or 11 centavos per egg
according to the time of year.

It is true that the domestic hen produces a very nice egg; good for
birthdays, or to greet a member of the family who is visiting from the
city. [laughter] Chicken with rice can be made with the meat of a domestic
chicken. The domestic hen usually lays 10, 12 or 14 eggs and then sits to
hatch the eggs. She becomes a brood hen. I think that is what they call
those hens. [laughter] She sits on her eggs, the chicks are born, she
raises the chicks and feeds them. Six months later you have half a chicken.
[laughter] If this were the system we used to feed our more than 10 million
people, we would be lost. Our poultry production has grown and it is
currently producing 100,000 tons per year. If we were to do this on the
basis of domestic chickens, we would not even have 10,000 tons of poultry.

More than 90 percent of the pork the people receive, much of the beef the
people eat, more than 90 percent of the sugarcane supplied to the
sugarmills, more than 90 percent of the rice distributed among the people,
more than 80 percent of the citrus products we export, all these important
products that have helped us live and develop our economy, were produced
through higher forms of production. This has been possible thanks to the
hard work of hundreds of thousands of agricultural workers who are so
generous that they have always been willing to do anything. This has been
possible thanks to the hard work of production. This has been possible
thanks to the hard work of hundreds of thousands of agricultural workers
who are so generous that they have always been willing to do anything. This
has also been possible thanks to the help in any other activity. It was
also possible thanks to the efforts of hundreds of thousands of our
students, perhaps millions of them, who have practiced the beautiful
principle of Marx and Marti and have combined study with work. Our
secondary, pre-university, and technological institute students have helped
by working in the fields picking citrus products, vegetables, tobacco, etc.

But our country learned better ways of producing and very fair ways of
producing. Many times our workers had to cut the sugarcane for that private
land owner who did not remember that we had a Republic. Of course, we had
some exceptions, not everyone was like that. I just mention this as an
example. For many reasons, the time had come to promote higher forms of
agricultural production among our peasant sector.

Our loyal ally, the firm ally of our working class, our noble, honest and
patriotic peasants, our revolutionary peasants... [interrupted by applause]
whose spirit we sat during the first months, the first days of our landing,
throughout the struggle on the mountains, and over 28 years of revolution,
during the construction of socialism, in the defense of the revolution and
the fatherland.

It could not be left to spontaneity. It is not possible to advance on
spontaneity. It is not possible to build socialism. The time had come for
our party and our revolutionary state to direct our peasants along these
lines because if we are left with a backward section among our population,
it will not be the fault of the peasants. It will be the fault of the
state, the party, the revolutionary leadership.

When the last agrarian reform law was drafted, the peasants were promised
there would be no more agrarian reforms.

The reforms had been legislated for the large foreign enterprises, the
large land estates. It is always traumatic to have a reform that affects
foreign enterprises which in some cases had more than 1,000 hectares. The
second law affected a few thousand who had more then 65 hectares. The
second law was more traumatic. It was necessary to bring calm to our rural
areas. Those were the peasants, owners of their land, whom we call small
peasants, small farmers, who worked with absolute confidence. The
revolution made that promise; it has fulfilled it; and it will fulfill it.
[applause]

There were special circumstances in our country. There were special
circumstances. There were large foreign latifundia with more than 100,000
hectares. When the first law was passed reducing holdings to about 400,
about 30 caballerias, and a maximum of 100 caballerias, it was traumatic.
If one counts [corrects himself] if not takes into account that they had
large expanses of land. When the second law reduced them to 65 hectares, it
was considered to be a very radical law, super-radical

It won the approval of the revolution and the hate of the imperialists.
Plans were made to invade the country, to destroy the revolution. But when
65 hectares were left -- a relatively small parcel if we compare it with a
large U.S. land owner like Standard Oil, no, not Standard Oil, United Fruit
Company, which had 10,000 caballerias. What are 5 caballerias next to this?
But in any social revolution, in any socialist revolution, 5 caballerias
would be considered a large estate. In China, 5 caballerias was a gigantic
estate.

Some names, revolutionary terminology, vocabularly emerged from this, such
as rich peasants, kulaks, and others. In this revolution, which has its
signs, characteristics, and peculariaties, a different kind of effort was
made to unite, to unite [repeats himself], to join together the private
land owners, who, with 65 hectares, were the same as one who had 3 hectares
or 5 hectares. We came together under one category called small farmers
[agricultores pequenos] or small farmers [pequenos agricultores] It's a
question of words but I remember when we were talking with Pepe [nickname
of outgoing ANAP President Jose Ramirez Cruz] about the name of the
organization -- I think I have told this at one time or another -- we
called it the National Association of Small Farmers [Asociacion Nacional de
Pequenos Agricultores] but that would have been ANPA, without an "H" or an
"M" but it would have sounded almost the same as the Cuban underworld
[hampa].

I said, Pepe, it can't be. It can't be; we must find another name. OK, ANAP
National Association of Small Farmers [Asociacion Nacional de Agricultores
Pequenos]. And Pepe said, not without good reason, that this meant very
small farmers. I said, look, when we name it, everyone will know what it
is. We could not find a better name than the ANAP and everyone came under
that category, the small, small one and the one who had more land.

Of course, there were still farmers with 40, 50, 60, 65 hectares of land
who needed additional labor. I have explained to you the revolutionary
principle that land is for the person who works it. Of course, one could
not say that this principle was being applied in an absolute way because
there were a number of land owners who had to use a paid work force. If it
was a matter of raising cattle on extensive pastures, it was easy for a
family to have a herd, but when it was a matter of harvesting tobacco,
vegetables, certain tubers, which require a large work force, it was
impossible to plant and harvest without paid labor force. People could
become rich because five caballerias of properly planted potato yield
thousands of pesos a year; it would be hard to spend all that money. There
were a certain number of cases. I know about some cases of citrus fields
that were not even owned by the person who lived there. He worked there and
stayed after the owner left for the United States. It yielded 50,000 or
60,000 pesos in profits.

However, the revolution never wanted to sub-divide peasants. The division
between poor and rich peasants had occurred everywhere, in all
revolutionary processes. I never wanted to use the kulak category. I
believe the style of the revolution is to follow the road of unity, work,
persuasion, face those inconveniences for the sake of unity to avoid
divisions among our peasants. That has been a norm the revolution has
followed. We believe it is the right way. Proletariat state power will not
be enforced through laws, through legal pressure or coercion in order to
move along the paths that are good for the country and the revolution. This
is why that line and that principle were set. The revolution said there
would be no more agrarian laws. Work has to be carried out with persuasive
methods. If there is an influence or pressure it should be a moral one
within the scope of our society, within the limits of our principles. If we
are to accomplish certain social objectives at this stage of the revolution
this should be done by gradual methods and not radical ones. Undoubtedly,
this is the most suitable approach in every sense, in a political,
economic, and social sense; it is the correct thing. We firmly believe that
sooner or later we will guide all remaining farmers, the remaining small
plots, by these persuasive methods, toward higher forms of agricultural
production.

There is a phenomenon and you know it well -- many of the peasants'
children, of the small and medium size plot farmers, have gone to
universities and many plots have been left without their own labor force.
Many peasants have grown older. A number of them -- this was discussed
during the congress -- cannot take care of the land. Young people have
different criteria, ideas, concepts, education. Logically, they will adopt
the new forms of production.

There is also woman, who is the slave of the home and domestic chores
despite our struggle. The one who suffers the most because water has to be
collected sometimes hundreds of meters away, who feels the pressure of
taking care of the house, the kitchen, the pressure of the children. As a
rule and principle she defends the higher forms of production because of
the unquestionable advantages they represent for her.

A peasant from El Escambray was telling us -- one of the pioneers of the
cooperative movement on the mountains -- he told us here at the congress
that when he began his cooperative on the mountains, one of the most
difficult places - because machines could not be used there -- they
decided, with manual work and will, to create a cooperative. Later, some
left and only two remained. He was explaining to us that it was starting to
get more people again because of its success. He came out in favor of
lowering the retirement age for women for men. But he was mainly concerned
about women. He talked about how tired they got for working so much with so
many children, struggling under those conditions. This was a fairly well
debated subject. It is a complex topic.

Of course, there were still farmers with 40, 50, 60 65 hectares of land who
needed additional labor. I have explained to you the revolutionary
principle that land is for the one who works it. Of course, one could not
say this principle was being applied in an absolute way because there were
a number of land owners who had to use a paid work force.

If it were a matter of raising cattle on extensive pastures, it was easy
for a family to have a herd, but when it was a matter of harvesting
tobacco, vegetables, certain tubers, which require a large work force, it
was impossible to plant and harvest without paid labor force. People could
become rich because five caballerias of properly planted potato yield tens
of thousands of pesos a year; it would be hard to spend all that money.
There were still a certain number of cases. I know about some cases of
citrus fields that were not even owned by the person who lived there. He
worked there and stayed after the owner left for the United States. It
yielded 50,000 or 60,000 pesos in profits.

However, the revolution never wanted to sub-divide peasants. The division
between poor and rich peasants had occurred everywhere, in all
revolutionary processes. I never wanted to use the kulak category. I
believe the style of the revolution is to follow the road of unity, work,
persuasion, and to face those inconveniences for the sake of unity to avoid
divisions among our peasants. That has been a norm the revolution has
followed. We believe it is the right way. Proletariat state power will not
be enforced through laws, through legal pressure or coercion in order to
move along the paths that are good for the country and the revolution. This
is why that line and that principle were set. The revolution said there
would be no more agrarian laws. Work has to be carried out through
persuasive methods. If there is an influence or pressure it should be a
moral one within the ambit of or society, within the ambit of our
principles. If we are to accomplish certain social objectives at this stage
of the revolution this should be done gradually not radically. Undoubtedly,
this is the most suitable approach in every sense, political, economic, and
social. It is the correct thing. We firmly believe that sooner or later we
will guide all remaining farmers, the remaining small plots, by these
persuasive methods, toward higher forms of agricultural production.

There is a phenomenon and you know it well -- many of the peasant's
children, of the small- and medium-size plot farmers, have gone to
universities and many plots have been left without their own labor force.
Many peasants have grown older. A number of them -- this was discussed
during the congress -- cannot take care of the land. Young people have
different criteria, ideas, concepts, education. Logically, they will adopt
the new forms of production.

There is also the woman, who is the slave of the home and domestic chores
despite our struggle. The one who suffers the most because water has to be
collected sometimes hundreds of meters away, who feels the pressure of
taking care of the house, the kitchen, the pressure of the children. As a
rule and principle she defends the higher forms of production because of
the unquestionably advantages they represent for her.

A peasant from El Escambray was telling us that when he began his
cooperative on the mountains, one of the most difficult places -- because
machines could not be used there -- they decided, with manual work and
will, to create a cooperative Later, some left and only two remained. He
was explaining to us that it was starting to get more people again because
of its success. He came out in favor of lowering the retirement age for
women and men. But he was mainly concerned about women. He talked about how
tired they got from working so much with so many children, struggling under
those conditions. This was a fairly well debated subject. It is a complex
topic.

On the other hand we had the case of excessive retirements that
considerably increased the retirement system's expenditure beyond its
means. But he was explaining, and very graphically, that if the retirement
age for women were lowered, the women themselves would take their husbands
to the cooperatives We are aware that women have been a force, a factor.

It is also unquestionably that cooperatives should meet with success
because the volunteer principle -- that is what it is about -- requires
that people join because they are convinced of the cooperatives'
unquestionably advantages in every sense. That and many other factors will
help to overcome the prevalent conservative or individualistic spirit and
to develop the cooperative movement.

There are psychological factors involved in this: the century-old custom of
the small plot of land, individual work habits, the preference of this way,
the lack of confidence in cooperatives solving the problems, whether
supplies were guaranteed or not. We cannot ignore this psychological
reality, the reality of habits, traditions. Added to this is a natural
suspicion, the peasant's mistrust of new things, those kinds of changes.

Due to our country's conditions, we have a special circumstance. Our
peasants did not live in villages as they did in Europe, in the old tsarist
empires, in many Indian communities. [Havana International Service in
Spanish at 2300 GMT on 17 May 87 in a rebroadcast of Fidel Castro's speech
reveals the following variation: in many Indian communities in Latin
America and Africa.] Those people, for some reason, lived in villages,
perhaps for mutual cooperation, protection from wild animals, cold, ice, --
who knows? In our country, the peasants lived by themselves, isolated on
their plots of land. Naturally, this creates habits and customs. This even
led us to make some mistakes, or one mistake at the beginning of the
revolution. It was not a cooperative. It was a people's farm, as it was
then called, north of Pinar del Rio, near Santa Lucia. I believe it was
called El Rosario and was devoted to cattle. It was one of the first towns
created. We made a concession to what could be called the rural mentality.
They were not peasants because they were workers. But they were of peasant
origin because they lived in the countryside. They were asked how they
wanted the town and they said they wanted detached houses. Not only
detached but far from each other. And with the enthusiasm of the early
days, the dreams, and the lack of experience, we decided to build a town in
keeping with the preferences of those peasants. I don't know how many
houses were built; maybe Luz [not further identified] or someone else
remembers, but they were a good number of houses. At that time there were
no microbrigades or anything like that. A construction enterprise went
there and built the marvel of the century. It built the most beautiful, the
most pastoral houses. The houses were about 100 or 200 meters apart because
they said they did not want to live close together. The town stands there
as a historical monument to the good will and dreams of men. It only has
one positive thing and that is the evidence of the fondness and respect we
feel for our peasants. [applause] It made us build the impossible city. No
one knows the caballerias that town used up. No one knows how many pipes
were used for irrigation, drainage, electricity, etc. etc. I have not been
there in years. Maybe the nostalgia of those times will make me visit that
fantastic town.

Peasants do not like to live close to each other. But a peasant finds
himself living isolated on his plot and there is no doubt that an isolated
little house with a big garden in the middle would be fantastic not only in
the Countryside but also in the capital. That is what the big millionaires
were looking for. That is how they built Miramar and all those other
neighborhoods. They built small recreational farms. If the revolution does
not get here in time, everything would have gone downhill, all those citrus
groves would have been turned today into recreational farms surrounded by
stone fences. Those stone fences are so bad that according to history, the
Bronze Titan [Antonio Maceo] died because of a stone fence. Since there
were many stones and people to collect them they surrounded the farm; they
were turned into recreational farms. I don't know what was going to be left
to feed the people.

Just think, if we build isolated houses in the capital surrounded by
gardens, we would reach Artemisa to the west, Batabano to the south, and
Matanzas to the east. The 70,000 tons of sugar the City of Havana [corrects
himself] the province of Havana produces would disappear, in addition to
millions of quintals of potato, vegetables; who knows where else we would
get the one million [liters] of milk the capital produces almost every day.
The facts force many agricultural communities to have multiple family
buildings. Our workers live in multiple family buildings because we do not
have enough land. We cannot use land for individual houses. Besides,
urbanization under those conditions is very expensive.

In the capital we have no other choice than to build vertically. In Havana,
Santiago, and other cities some space is still available but here we have
to build vertically, 5, 10, 12-story buildings. Santiago de Cuba is boxed
in in that valley and has no land: there is no way that individual houses
can be built. It may be a solution to have independently built houses where
land is available. But our land needs to be saved.

We have almost 100 inhabitants per square kilometer, a little less than 0.4
hectares of agricultural area per inhabitant. We have to produce almost 1
ton of exportable sugar, citrus, tobacco, pepper, etc., and to produce food
for the population also. If we analyze the mathematical data -- I believe I
used that data in the first or second congress, when we were fewer than we
are now -- we grow every year. The amount of agricultural land per
inhabitant was already very small, very small. I am not counting the
mountains or the big swamps but the land that can be plowed, that can be
cultivated, where the sugarcane and food come from. Our biggest citrus plan
is underway in Jaguey, south of Matanzas, close to Diente Perro. Bulldozers
have to go there to level the ground first, breaking surface rocks with
their blades, opening holes with dynamite to be able to put in plants in
pockets of dirt. In spite of this we get excellent citrus crops because it
has the water table, very good natural conditions. That is where we have
the citrus plan and in areas such as the Isle of Youth, which cannot be
used for other crops.

Hundreds of caballerias of rocky land that could not be cultivated have
been recovered in Havana Province. Southeast of Havana Province we spread
turf and created soil to plant pasture. I don't know if all of us are
sufficiently aware of our shortage of land, and the need to increase
production per hectare because the population grows but the surface does
not. Land is Constantly lost in the new railroads, highways, roads,
factories, schools, collection centers--in everything that is built. We
have increasingly less land. The land tends to diminish and the population
grows. We are not in Argentina, which is several millions of square
kilometers and 30 million people. Those are facts that need to be kept in
mind.

The need to use science, technology in looking for more and more productive
varieties, such as rice. Current varieties produce two and three times more
than previous varieties. Our country, our society urgently needs to
maximize land. When we can recover a piece of land, we recover it and work
with that land. Recently, I was thinking about the situation we have with
the sugarcane harvest, about how vulnerable our sugar crop is to rain,
especially heavy rains. I was asking myself, have we over mechanized? Has
our mechanization been such that a 50 millimeter rain, 2-inch rain, stops
us? Some areas north of Sancti Spiritus and Villa Clara stop for 15, 21
days.

I asked the sugar industry comrades and the vice president of the Council
of Ministers in charge of agriculture about this. I told them we should
think about it. We have 25, 30 plus sugar mills. Will we have to
demechanize? We are thinking and working on that. Of course, de-mechanizing
is more difficult and there is the belief that with adequate drainage work
those prolonged interruptions could be avoided. Of course, we have been
doing drainage work there far years and apparently it will have to be
intensified. That means we should take our land, the dry one that doesn't
have a good rain record, and irrigate according to the crop. The country
has made enormous efforts in that regard. We have to find formulas to
maximize irrigation and stop wasting water. We have to carry out all
necessary drainage work in the lowlands. In sum, find out how we can
maximize the exploitation of our land so that it produces more per hectare.
Not only a higher production per hectare but also a higher production per
man. If a solution is not found for drainage, it should at least be ready
within 24, 48 hours. Rains have done damage to the sugarcane harvest this
year. Our fundamental problems have not been solved.

Toward the end of 1985 we had a hurricane, a severe drought also. The
hurricane was toward the end, the very bad drought in 1986. In addition, we
had heavy rains in the middle of the harvest. In Pinar del Rio, especially
in the western part of the country, this affected the harvest and the
potato, tomato, and vegetable crops. It also rained quite a bit in central
Cuba. In addition to the 1 million-ton shortage resulting from the
hurricane and the two consecutive droughts -- 1 million tons -- we are also
around 1/2 million tons short. With a serious effort, we will reach around
7.1 tons. That is, aside from the sugar shortage we already had at the
beginning of the year or at the end of last year, when the measures were
proposed at the National Assembly, we found ourselves with an unexpected
1/2 million less. We were already 1 million tons behind and this is now
being reduced. We hope it will be just 1/2 million. The figure is improving
right now. That is why it is so important to grind the cane left and to
plant what needs to be planted. But the rains came along and interrupted
the harvest many times.

I am not including subjective and other kinds of factors in this. I am
speaking of water, the interruptions that caused the reduction in sugar
yields. Water not only stops the harvest but it reduces sugar yields. The
sum of the two explains the shortages and drops. We are vulnerable. We
cannot give up the machines. We cannot give them up and I hope you
understand why. We could probably reduce them in some places but basically
it is impossible to do without the machines, tractors, trucks, and
combines. The damage is less serious on higher ground. It is much greater
in the lowlands. Our people have to face many difficulties, droughts and
hurricanes. Many months may go by without rain and then hundreds of
millimeters fall in a few days. These are facts and they force us to
improve, to be smarter, more practical, more intelligent, to face every one
of the problems. Each advantage brings its disadvantages. It is impossible
to go back to the age of the oxen and of manual cutting. It is impossible
No one can do that. Capitalism is the only one that could do that with
hundreds of thousands of unemployed people and in the midst of desperate
hunger when a citizen did not have any other chance of survival than doing
it. Nowadays there are no men available to carry 325-pound bags.

Well, there would always be volunteers but not anyone who would
systematically cut rice with a sickle. The sickle is brandished today as a
political instrument but not as an instrument to cut rice. It is a symbol.
We will not use a hammer to build roads, men will not milk a cow by hand.
That type of citizen from the times of colonialism, slavery, and the
neocolony no longer exists here. I mention this, because we should think
about the reality, the difficulties, so we may conclude that we simply need
to maximize our natural and human resources, so we can realize we live in
different times and are entering a new phase. This means change. We have to
adapt to new circumstances, to the new age, new life. Thus, that
sentimental, nostalgic feeling for men living in isolation in the
countryside and on the mountains will become something of the past.

I don't know where they will carry out the palms and cane program but I
imagine it will be done in a good cooperative. Well built, pretty, with
gardens, electric power, a school, store, family doctor, social circle,
etc, etc. That will be the new life. [applause] This will be done on the
basis of the strictest principles, will, persuasion, and efficient
political and economic work. So let's march with quickening pace along that
path without traumas and in an orderly fashion.

In light of this reasoning, especially in light of the fact that our
peasants were left with plots of land ranging from I to 65 hectares after
the second agrarian reform, if we consider these special circumstances, we
should be convinced the famous peasants' free market was a mistake. If we
were to copy the experience of socialist countries -- and we are not forced
to copy; when one falls into a habit of copying many mistakes are often
made -- we would not have this market. Socialist countries had experimented
with it. However, socialist countries had -- I don't know, 1/4 hectare, 1/4
hectare [repeats himself] -- some 1,000, 2,000 meters. I don't know how
much land a peasant has in a kolkhoz. Some 2,000 meters? He has a cow, a
pig, and six hens. Of course, one can raise 10,000 hens on 2,000 meters of
land. If you get corn and wheat from collective land, it is a fact that one
can raise maybe 20,000 hens in this space. This of course is smaller than
1,000 meters. It is maybe 30 by 20 meters, it has an area of some 600
meters. Some 10,000 hens can be raised here. If one gets the grain from
collective land. You can also raise 10 cows if you get the animal feed from
collective lands. Anyway, a Soviet peasant or one from another socialist
country has a very small piece of land. If he raises the pig and sells it
or plants 500 meters of potato and sells the potatoes, or has 4 apple trees
and sells the apples, it is hard for him to become a millionaire. It is
hard.

Imagine with the free peasants' market, when a head of garlic cost 1 peso,
and a plantain cost so much that a peasant with 50, 65, 30, 20 hectares
could make money, become a millionaire, then that market cannot really be
regulated because it would be a contradiction. You can't say: I am going to
set prices; instead of selling the head of garlic at 1 peso, sell it at 15.
The market would not longer be free, it would not be free [words
indistinct] The guy goes to that market because he makes much more money.
Imagine a peasant with 50 hectares, he would have more money than Julio
Lobo [laughter] by selling at the free peasants' market. This besides the
fact that the middleman class was created, besides the fact that all kinds
of vices appeared; they started buying houses in cities.

The nouveau rich would come and buy the apartment that the revolution had
given to the worker, perhaps because the latter had a problem; and the rich
people would pay 30,000 or 40,000 and that is that -- whatever! Workers
earned 30,000 or 40,000 per year. This, of course, did not only affect the
peasants. A new category of person was created; they were simply lured by
the money. It seemed that a new banner had been raised in our society: Get
rich. Get rich anyway you can; become a street peddler, sell things at
higher prices, steal. Some happy truck owners earned more than 100,000 a
year. Anyone who performed heart surgery at the Ameijeira Hospital would
charge 5,000: And there were other things, that I don't even want to
mention.

Certain men earned 300,000 pesos in a year selling handicrafts. I want to
make it quite clear that this did not only involve the peasants. It was
necessary to change this; it was necessary to change this [repeats
himself]. A cooperative member from Pinar del Rio bitterly recalled
yesterday how a forestry company had left him without workers who already
had houses in a tobacco cooperative. That is very rich farmland. The
workers had to make a down payment of only 4 pesos. They worked a double
shift and profits were not high, but they had already built several houses.
Suddenly it turned out that they could earn 10,12, or 18 pesos at the
forestry company and they only had to work half a shift. Many workers left
the cooperative and went to work for the forestry company. The easy
schedule and the excessively high wages -- which had nothing to do with
production figures -- created all these types of problems.

It seemed that, instead of issuing the rallying cry of "Proletarians,
unite! Proletarians and peasants, unite!" the revolution had said:
Proletarians and peasants, get rich! Get rich! Bid farewell to voluntary
work and to the spirit of human solidarity -- that spirit which encourages
men to carry out heroic feats and make great sacrifices; that spirit which
encouraged the fighters to struggle and die at the Sierra [Unreadable
text]estra, Escambray, and Playa Giron during the tyranny; or to carry out
honorable Internationalist missions. All this was done with a spirit of
human solidarity, which is the most beautiful spirit that a human heart and
mind can ever harbor. The other expression -- get rich -- became some kind
of slogan that began to spread corruption. This was fortunately countered
on time, without going back to idealistic attitudes. We could not incur the
same mistakes; we had to implement the socialist formula; we had to counter
the mercantilist spirit that had begun to spread; we had to perfect and use
our mechanisms; and -- above all -- we had to carry out an in-depth
analysis of our production costs. We had to discard the over-simple and
ridiculous idea that socialism could be built with mechanisms, and that the
work of the party and our society was not a necessary part of the process
that should be planned, programmed, and carried out.

Only capitalism can be built with blind mechanisms and laws amid anarchy.
Yes, we must use the appropriate mechanisms, but these mechanisms must be
subordinated to men's work and must help carry out the work. This demands a
lot of work under any circumstances. That is the party's goal and that is
why it exists. This represents a lot of effort and planning. This demands a
lot of political work and training -- even education. This demands an
honest, revolutionary, and socialist attitude. What else can we do if we
want to increase our production?

Unfortunately, our production did not increase at all, or quality would be
sacrificed whenever it did. Therefore, we picked up many bad habits. This,
in turn, led to more peddlers. We are now producing more of the things that
these peddlers used to produce, and this situation will increase.
Mechanisms will also be applied, of course. You may say: There is no profit
in making frying pans. I will make pots. Suddenly there are no more frying
pans. All those things can be manufactured and the company...[corrects
himself] the ministry or the planning organizations prepares the plans for
this. Those things usually entail a lot of work but the profit margin is
generally low, so there they go -- out of the market and out of sight.

Farming entails much more work and problems, with less profits, because the
magician who establishes the prices made a mistake. The prices are
established by men who work in an organization. These men have probably
never seen a furrow so, whenever they calculate how much should be paid for
a cucumber, they establish a price for the cucumber, another price for the
tomatoes, and another price for the plantains. Consequently, we need a
computer -- maybe a 10th-generation computer -- to tell us the daily price
for cucumbers, peppers, plantains, sweet potatoes, potatoes, parsley, and
baracoa burs [quisaso de baracoa]. [laughter]

It would set prices every day and cooperatives, peasants, and state
enterprises would start asking not to plant more bananas and decide to
plant baracoa burs, or say I am going to plant this and that. People expect
agricultural enterprises to supply what they can. We are not saying that
they supply wheat, oatmeal, barley, and things that are needed but are not
grown in this climate; people expect all those things that can be supplied
to be supplied. Some people got into the habit of producing four items
Instead of planting 17 products, I plant 4 because 17 are harder to take
care of. The bring more difficulties and less profits. I begin working on a
construction project in which moving land with a bulldozer yields a lot of
profit; yet I do not complete it because during the final phase I have to
put in little screws and that doesn't take me a profit. Yes, how many
things one has to deal with! It is more difficult than winning the
lottery's grand prize if we give up the idea of the plan, of the
commitments to a socialist enterprise.

Of course, the products should cost what they're worth. There should be
efficiency mechanisms. We cannot let a state farm plant what it pleases
because then it distributes quotas, awards, I don't know what else. Maybe
the best month to plant tomatoes is December...[corrects himself] or
January and to harvest it is March. So farms plant all tomatoes in January
and harvest them in March but then there are no tomatoes in December,
January, February, April, May, June, or July. If there were a different
variety...[changes thought] because grass also grows more in July, August
-- it is hotter. One can even consider paying workers more during that
month. One can decide to pay a higher price during that month. But we
cannot let the enterprise just produce whatever it wishes, because then
what has happened happens. Many people have forgotten some goods; they have
disappeared from the market.

When the fantastic free market was invented in a country where landowners
have up to 65 hectares, it was thought that we would have everything. Of
course, some of these things were scarce and sometimes they were available.
Garlic was planted after efforts were made by state enterprises. Incentives
were given to peasants and the pound of garlic dropped from 6 pesos to I
peso and the supply is enough for almost the entire year.

How can the needs of the people be met if there is no organization, no
planning? If the one who is managing does not know what the people need not
only during 1 but during 12 months of the year? This should be done without
computers. If they are used, they should be given the information on what
the people need and should be asked to estimate correctly how many hectares
of each thing has to be planted. We are starting to do these things now.
The idea that everything was solved with mechanisms brought us all these
problems in industrial as well as agricultural production. It is easier to
leave holes there so that the so-called private initiative may be
introduced into the country moved by the desire to profit and steal, to
produce anything and charge any price. Are we going to come to the
conclusion that man is a stupid animal, incapable of thinking, of finding
practical measures, of making projections, plans?

Today and during all these days in the congress we discussed these
subjects. Initiatives were presented. Vegetable gardens have been created
in almost all municipalities to avoid having to transport the products.
Produce programs were submitted. Cooperatives and enterprises are beginning
to set up vegetable gardens. Can the state produce all those goods? If it
make some effort in planning, organizing, if there is an awareness that all
the work done in socialism, contrary to capitalism, is not for profit but
the fulfillment of people's needs. If the concept of profit is used it is
subordinated to the essential and most important idea of satisfying
peoples. Mechanisms need to adapt to that principle but these mechanisms
cannot prevail on principle alone. That is clear. I don't believe that
there is another way to build socialism. We don't have to invent
capitalism, capitalism was invented a long time ago and operates according
to its blind laws. Socialism is a creation of man when he reached maturity,
when he reached adulthood, when man was considered capable of planning his
life, his future. That is the effort we have been making.

Several delegates said the second meeting of cooperative members held last
year was a decisive, historic moment. Many of them said very candidly, yes,
we made mistakes, all kinds of mistakes. No one knew what a
livestock-agricultural cooperative was anymore. They tended to trade
anything. Some enterprises, instead of delivering goods to collection
centers, delivered them to such and such enterprise' cafeteria, the other
enterprise in turn delivered cement, iron rods, or any other raw material.
The phenomenon arose that cooperatives turned into middlemen and lent their
name to peddlers to produce brooms or anything else and to sell them.
Cooperatives made tens of thousands of pesos without touching the goods.
They had nothing to do with agriculture; they were commercial activities.
They were turning into commercial cooperatives.

That is much better than working in the fields harvesting sugar cane. I
think that was a historic event, not only because of the things that were
corrected there, but also because it was then decided to abolish the free
peasants market without delay. The free peasants market could have been
countered with more and more taxes and it would have been doomed to
extinction. However, the peasants categorically said: We must abolish it.
The cooperatives' farmers said: We must abolish it. I believe the
cooperative movement rendered a great service to the country. The decision
was approved despite the inconveniences. The request was presented --
practically overnight -- to the agriculture sector and selected fruits
enterprise: Please exert yourselves to fulfill this need. They really
exerted themselves to the utmost.

There is more time available nowadays, with all the gardens, programs, and
plans to supply even the free markets -- but not the free peasants market.

They are still free markets, but they are no longer the free peasants
markets; they no belong to the people and the state. No individual will
benefit this way. Yes, this was a great thing and the results were included
in a report. The efforts made by the cooperative and peasant sectors in
1986 increased production 42 percent even though the measure was
implemented in May. Well, the products were then distributed through the
parallel market or normal market, and the deliveries -- or production --
increased 42 percent despite the drought and other problems.

Furthermore, the delivery of certain products -- such as pork, lamb, and
goat meat -- increased 423 percent. These are not big figures but,
considering that the previous amounts were insufficient, really... [changes
thought] the deliveries increased 423 percent once the free peasants
markets were abolished. The problem with the free peasants markets was that
many products which should have been delivered to the
collection/distribution centers were no longer being delivered. The
products were sold at incredibly high prices. That is the truth. The
peasants were deprived... [corrects himself] were given fertilizers and
other things, and what should have been used for the sugar cane was used
for something else or sold. That is one of the setbacks in this mechanism.
The products were not delivered to the collection/distribution centers;
they were sold in the free markets, sold through distributors, etc.

This is one of the results of that second meeting. There were other
changes, meditated for some time, in the collection system. A national
enterprise was created. The agricultural sector was given the means to
cover all the areas. Since this had never been done before, we created the
Agriculture and Sugar Ministries -- as you well know -- to handle the
peasant sector's needs. Likewise, the agricultural and agro-industrial
cooperation councils were also created. In short, a series of measures were
implemented and you have stated your satisfaction during this congress. I
truly believe we are doing the correct thing. I think it was necessary to
recall a few historical facts to understand, to be clearly aware of what we
do and what we do not do; of what we should do and what we should not do. I
said the second meeting was historic, but this seventh congress is also
historic. [applause]

We have begun a new era in the peasant sector. The second meeting resulted
in decisions concerning construction materials -- to begin their
distribution in 1986 and increase the amounts of material for the
construction of houses in the agricultural production cooperatives. We
really felt satisfied to hear the comrade from Holguin. She said during the
cooperative members' meeting that she had previously received a certain
amount of cement bags, and added that she now received several tons.
Measures were taken and mechanisms put in place to fulfill needs and solve
problems. The people were told it was necessary to increase the production
of materials, and the production increased. There are plans to build a
minimum of 7,000 houses each year for the cooperative sector -- sugarcane
cooperatives and others. There are also plans, as you well know, to build
houses for agricultural workers -- who will not be forgotten. They will
also have prefabricated houses; whenever possible, to avoid big differences
between the agricultural workers and peasants. [applause] Let me tell you,
this congress was prepared very well.

I had a serious problem. Comrade Pepe had health problems. Fortunately,
they were not irreversible or fatal problems, but he had trouble with his
voice, his throat, and was getting worse. He had to undergo surgery and a
long rehabilitation period. We came to the conclusion that it was
impossible for him to preside over all these tasks and continue with his
responsibilities as ANAP president. This is not the case with his political
responsibilities and his responsibilities in the party as alternate member
of the Politburo. He will go on with all those tasks. But it was very
difficult to organize the congress without Comrade Pepe Ramirez. Despite
that, excellent work was done. It was noted that Comrade Lugo [new ANAP
President Orlando Lugo Fonte] was of peasant origin, of truly peasant
origin. He won great prestige [applause] great prestige as party leader in
Pinar del Rio Province, a province with many peasants. The party proposed
he chair the congress' organizing committee and he was supported. The
committee worked very hard, it held many meetings. We got to the congress
with many answers to many problems. Very broad information was collected
about everything of concern to peasants in every area, in every area.
[repeats himself] Nothing was forgotten. They were analyzed, decisions were
made regarding many matters and we came to the congress with many of those
problems solved. That is the advantage of being well-prepared for an event
of this kind. All those problems are being worked on.

During the congress we had the opportunity to discuss fundamental problems
of every kind. The congress was not only well prepared but we had an
excellent congress. Hours flew without anyone noticing. We have had two big
events recently. The youth congress, which impressed our entire population
when they saw the new generation, our relay full of life, energy,
principles, revolutionary ideas, with an impressive level of cultural and
political education.

Those of us who have attended the congress were greatly impressed by this
event because of its seriousness and especially because of the spirit noted
during this congress. We could also see here all the culture, all the
progress made by our peasant masses, their enormous political development,
their firmness, honesty, seriousness. Not a demagogic, silly word was heard
during the entire congress. Scores of delegates spoke and all of them
impressed us. They were men of extensive experience, truly wise men,
masters of agriculture. They are brilliant organizers. Numerous feats in
the organizational and productive field were explained here. There were not
few feats in this area, there were many. If this congress had been extended
for many days, who knows how many other examples would have come up. This
made us very confident, very confident [repeats himself] regarding
everything we are attempting to do. It really has to be said that this
congress shows that the cooperative movement has placed itself at the
vanguard of our peasants. [applause] It has been placed at the vanguard of
the peasant movement. It is already a dominant, prevailing force that
expresses itself in thousands of ways.

Yesterday we discovered the power of a cooperative when the president of
the 26 de Julio cooperative, from Banes, if I remember correctly, from the
arid, dry territory, was explaining his experience, how he had increased
sugarcane yields with dry farming -- because they do not even have a well
-- from 56 to 80 or some 92 arrobas. [Havana Cubavision Television in
Spanish at 0300 GMT on 18 May in a broadcast of Fidel Castro's speech says
"from 56,000 to some 80,000 or 92,000 arrobas"] He explained how the
cooperative with dry farming in one of the areas with least rain in the
country, during a dry period -- our last few years have been dry years,
especially the last 2 -- increased sugarcane yields to over 90 arrobas.
[Havana Cubavision Television in Spanish at 0300 GMT on 18 May 81 in a
broadcast of Fidel Castro's speech says "yields to over 90,000 arrobas"] Of
course, cooperative members from Havana and other regions also talked about
how they have increased the yield to 100,000 and over 100,000 in dry
grounds. But I was particularly impressed with the cooperative that
achieved those accesses, its social progress, the construction they
undertook, doctor houses, stores, the problems they solved and the spirit
with which they solved them.

We were really interested in the cooperative that followed the idea which
began in the capital and has become quite popular nowadays concerning the
microbrigades. The cooperative members thought they could use the principle
and build the cooperative houses with extra work. Consequently, all the
cooperative members pledged to work one additional hour every day. This way
16 men were free to build the houses. This is the advantage of a principle
and a good experience.

Imagine what the agricultural production cooperatives can build with extra
work, following the principle of the microbrigades. Thee is no need to go
looking for people from the cities or another place to build the houses.
Likewise, there would be no need to make any additional efforts during peak
harvest days. The other brigades -- not the microbrigades -- can help
during the periods when there is an excess of manpower. They can thus be
able to carry out the social development programs in the countryside. They
can help build health centers, schools, schoolrooms, child care centers --
many things. We have ascertained the power of a cooperative, the capacity
to solve difficult problems. Isolated peasants would never have the
capacity to solve these problems. The workers proved during many harvests
-- coffee, sugarcane, and many others -- that agricultural production by
hectare could be considerably increased. [Castro clears his throat] It is
true that outstanding cooperatives attended the event, but this proves how
much can be achieved -- this is the basic thing -- what can be achieved and
what we must achieve in the agricultural sector to develop the cooperative
movement, among other things. All the possible solutions to the problems
were also proved.

We have also ascertained that the cooperative movement has been
strengthened by the second meeting. The information is there to prove it.
More than 650 caballerias were brought under the agricultural production
cooperatives during 1986, and almost 700 have been added from January to
April 1987 -- that's 4 months. More land became part of the agricultural
production cooperatives in these 4 months than in all of 1986. Many
delegates discussed here the efforts made and measures taken to create new
cooperatives. The movement should be developed, but this does not man we
have to work hastily. We should work at a quicker peace because we are
trying to emerge from a stalemate, but we must develop the movement with
care and establish very solid foundations. We would achieve nothing by
working hastily and making mistakes. Once we abolish the factors that
hindered the movement, such as the free peasants market, once we adopt
measures approved during the second meeting to counter the illegal actions
taken concerning the land, the various partnerships which arose in the
countryside, the different types of parasitism, the people who abandoned
the land, the illegal takeovers, etc. -- all this, all those negative
factors, all those bad habits logically hinder the cooperative movement.

The cooperative movement must be developed in the near future. This
involves not only work but also organization. The production cooperatives
will get better attention with the new structures; however, the credit and
services cooperatives will also be included. Let us not forget the credit
and services agricultural production sector. The party and the state
organizations in charge of the agriculture sector must necessarily pay more
attention to the credit and services cooperatives. We cannot concentrate on
the agricultural and livestock production cooperatives and neglect the
credit and services cooperatives. We must continue to work with them,
seeing to their needs, and helping them -- while we develop the land
integration process and the agricultural and livestock production
cooperatives. This is very important.

We must not forget a single peasant. [Castro coughs] We must not neglect a
single peasant; we must not neglect a single hectare of land. We must
follow up some of the problems. [Castro coughs] For example, we discussed
the apparent duality in two collection-distribution centers, and we will
continue to analyze that. We explained the role of the selected fruits
enterprise, which is in charge of specific functions that cannot be carried
out by the national collection-distribution centers enterprise. These are
two national enterprises but one handles the bulk amounts. We will seek
formulas to avoid contradictions.

Some ideas came up. The possibility of only one of them collecting when the
product is plentiful; for plan overfulfillment to be paid at a deferred
price. That is, the possibility that when some products are plentiful the
collection enterprise itself pays the differential price for true
overfulfillment of plans. Distinguishing between one kind of product and
another. Creating conditions that will ensure that these two enterprises
will cooperate and comply with their functions. We will continue to ponder
this in order to make that collection system more perfect, since it will be
necessary for the parallel markets to keep operating. The parallel markets
not only help to distribute certain products that exist in only limited
quantities and can only be distributed on the basis of parallel market
prices; they also are important sources of income for the state. The
existence of this market requires a specialized organ that will supply it
with agricultural produce -- of course, this market is not supplied only
with Cuban products but also imported agricultural products. Let us try to
avoid the pitfalls of any kind of contradiction between those two
enterprises.

We discussed retirement at length, as well as problems that arose, the
trends that developed and which made disbursements in the retirement system
to be higher than the income. Many spoke of the importance of the
institution and the possible advisability of increasing contributions to
the system for those purposes. I explained that, anyway, since there are
cooperatives with higher income and others with lower income, the
contributions would have to be very high to meet expenditures.

One has to consider that many years have passed since the triumph of the
revolution, that a lot of young people went to work in other fields, and
that the average age of peasants went up. I explained that the solution may
be to increase the contribution up to a point and cover the rest with state
contributions so that institution can be consolidated.

We also explained that we should not mistake the member who joins a
cooperative for the purpose of getting his pension. We talked yesterday
about the possibility of a separate state fund to take care of those
peasants who cannot work the land. In that case, they could join
cooperatives and contribute to the unification of the land [compactacion]
or to state enterprises where that land is needed. That could be a solution
but like all solutions it has to be considered carefully and applied
wisely. If it is not done carefully it can turn into a system to retire
anyone who reaches a certain age. That is not the objective. We have to
link this fund to agricultural development, to those cases in which it is
clearly and concretely applicable to pay retirement in order to incorporate
land into cooperatives or state enterprises.

That is why it is so important to study at what level a decision of that
kind must be made to avoid mistakes, to keep the fund from turning into a
public change institution. We will also have to consider what to do with a
peasant who wants to retire; if he has relatives in the city and wants to
go with them; if he wants to stay in the countryside, what attention he can
be given through the same cooperative if he continues to live there; what
possibilities he has of being self-sufficient; in sum, those things have to
be analyzed, considered, and then the best decision taken. We have been
thinking about formulas so that retirement does not become a system to
incorporate land or to solve certain kinds of social problems. I believe
that was very clear.

Measures have been taken regarding housing, interests that have to be paid
for the housing, the extension of payment terms. We talked about repairs.
It was very clear that an excessive centralization system was in force in
the use of parts and in engine repairs. I believe that we have to make a
realistic attempt to decentralize as much as possible, to deliver parts to
the cooperative repair shops as soon as possible. One has to consider that
cooperatives will have more and more trained personnel, better repair shops
and equipment, and will be able to make many of the repairs. One has to
keep in mind that agriculture was divided into sugarcane and non-sugarcane
agriculture. Repair shops that used to exist in the entire country were
split up. Now an engine from Guantanamo may have to be delivered to
Matanzas or one from Pinar del Rio to Holguin.

There may be some complaints later, perhaps because an engine was sent for
repairs and the shop sent back a different one, or the repairs are not
complete, or there is some sort of failure. Therefore, it will be better if
the cooperatives are given the responsibility of repairing their own
machinery, provided they are given the facilities for this. This way, only
what seems to have no possible solution will be sent to the main repair
shops, or when sophisticated equipment and specialized personnel are need
for the job. This was clearly established. The importance of the technical
personnel who will join the cooperatives was emphasized. We will have to
work in coordination with the higher education centers to place technicians
-- particularly those who will graduate in the near future and those with a
broader profile later on -- among the cooperatives, when it is clearly
ascertained that an agronomist with experience in harvests, soil,
machinery, and irrigation systems is needed for those tasks. It was proved
here that young people who have good technical training and who work with
the cooperative members will learn much and will learn soon.

We also talked about the development of the family doctor. We saw some
reports that indicate that there are more than 300 family doctors in rural
areas -- most of them are in the mountain areas, of course. There are now
more than 300 doctors in the mountain areas and more than 200 doctors will
join the program this year. We might say that all the mountains in the east
will be covered by the family doctor system by the end of 1987. The
mountains will be covered. [repeats himself] [applause] There are now 40
cooperatives that have a family doctor, and the whole country, all the
cities, the whole countryside will have a family doctor within 10 years,
because 1,500 doctors join the system every year. Some 2,000 family doctors
will join the system every year by 1998. Let me tell you, no other country
in the world has that institution, that direct service for the population.
You can imagine our country when 20,000 family doctors render their
services in the cities and the countryside. Thousands of them will go to
the countryside, we hope they will join the cooperatives. The ideal thing
would be an organized population with all their services and family doctor.

I believe that the infant mortality rate -- which stands at 13.6 percent --
might go below 10 percent in 5 years with this and other programs. The
programs include cardiovascular surgery, which has saved many lives, for
children with congenital heart defects; prenatal genetic programs that will
allow the interruption of an early-stage pregnancy in case of any defect,
not only cardiac defects; and improved services, especially prenatal
services in the maternity children's hospitals. We believe this goal will
be attained in approximately 5 years; I don't think we will need more than
that. We won't have to wait until all the country is covered by the family
doctor program; we will probably have to cover only half of the country,
meaning half of the doctors we will need -- because we give priority to the
countryside, the regions that have more problems -- to attain this goal.

I firmly believe in our health program, which includes the family doctor;
the people's access to dispensaries; special medical attention for all
respiratory cases, cardiac cases, etc.; increased experience as general
practitioners among doctors; programs to counter sedentary living, obesity,
and smoking. [laughter] Yes, even if this costs the socialist state
hundreds of millions of pesos because, and I repeat, the socialist state
does not only exist only to reap profits; it is not commercial or a
mercantile institution; it cannot seek resources and revenues by poisoning
the population and encouraging the consumption of cigars. This is a clear
example of what the socialist state represents. Cigars and tobacco
represent one of the major sources of income but a large-scale campaign is
nevertheless underway to decrease tobacco consumption. We have made
progress and we expect to win the battle to reduce the consumption of
tobacco to a minimum, even if it represents the loss of hundreds of
millions of pesos in revenues. We will have to seek other sources, invent
other things, produce other types of goods -- including more fruits,
vegetables, and industrial items -- so that the money not spent on cigars
can be spent on other things. Of course, this implies work and effort, but
that is what socialism is all about. That is the role of the party, the
leading organizations, and the socialist state. They must seek the
solution: eliminate what represents hundreds of millions in revenues and
seek other sources of income. We know that our tobacco producing peasants
will not lose money. We will export as long as we have clients because the
world campaign to stop smoking is not our responsibility; that is the
responsibility of the WHO and other states. Nevertheless, we support the
campaign. Cuba unhesitatingly supported the campaign started in Geneva to
stop smoking. [applause] We must support the WHO's principles and campaign
but we will continue to sell cigars as long as anyone wants to buy them --
because we do not force anyone to stop smoking and we have not issued a law
to ban smoking -- and we will continue to export them as long as we have
clients.

However, we know very well that if one day the area used for harvesting
tobacco is reduced as a result of this policy we will produce grain,
vegetables, food. All that land which is fertile land, and the irrigation
systems we have will be used to produce other things. Yesterday remarks
were made regarding the possibility of planting pineapple in the acid soil
of the northern part of the province. There are clients for all the
pineapples that can be produced and they can be sold at a good price, maybe
at a better price than tobacco because the people have money and can pay
for pineapples and summer vegetables. We saw clearly yesterday that even if
the time comes when tobacco planting has to be cut back, there are still
crops that are more profitable than tobacco. Our peasants will not suffer a
bit with this campaign and our people will benefit.

So, I was going to tell you that with all these efforts, in 10 more years,
life expectancy will exceed 80 years. When the revolution triumphed it was
over 50, now it is 74, and I hope that in 10 more years we will be able to
say that our life expectancy exceeds 80. [applause]

At that time we will have all kinds of retirees, all kinds of retirees.
[repeats himself] Do you know what that means? The first conclusion is that
the land has to produce more, that farm productivity has to increase, and
work productivity has to increase in the countryside and the city because
the same thing will happen. Each time there will be a lower percentage of
workers. Laborers, workers, farmers, industrial workers, and material good
producers. In other words, a proportionately larger number of workers in
the material sphere will have to produce for a proportionately larger
number of people who will be out of the material production sphere. That
is, each man between the ages of 20 and 50 will have to produce more, each
man and woman, because there will be more men and women past 55 and 60. At
first we had to build many child care centers. [laughter] We are still
building them. I hope you know that Havana microbrigades are going to build
50 child care centers this year, 50. In 1 more year needs will be met. Some
19,000 applications were filed because more and more women have joined the
work force, women with a high level of technical skills. They are also
building polyclinics, special schools, etc. Microbrigades will later have
to build homes and centers for grandparents. We are looking for practical
institutions. They can walk to the centers and meet others their age; they
can go home for lunch and return to the centers. At grandparent homes -- if
I remember correctly, we have inaugurated some in other places -- the
elderly go in the morning and return at night because they have no one to
take care of them at home but they can sleep with relatives at home. They
have to walk, they make a big effort, but doctors recommend walking; it is
part of the exercise program. The number of institutions will have to grow
for those people who do not have relatives and do not have any other choice
than to live there. So in coming years, we will have to build more
institutions for grandparents, and aunts and uncles, and even
great-grandparents [laughter] because as the life expectancy is extended
... [changes thought] All this is the result of the work of the revolution,
of the programs of the revolution, which have brought out an enormous
wealth of humane feelings. That is seen everywhere; it is not that old and
grotesque society where we could find a barefoot kid on the streets
begging, deprived of education, of medical services, where we could find
beggars, Which of those highly developed societies, those highly developed
capitalist cities can say they do not have beggars, or barefoot kids? They
have thousands and sometimes millions of people sleeping on the streets
because they do not have shelter. Which can say their society is free of
gambling as our society is, and which can say it is free of vice, free of
prostitution, or free of drugs? No, they cannot say that, or that they are
free of illiterates, that they don't have a child without a school or a
teacher even if he lives in Pico Turquino. The case of the teacher who was
paid a salary by the state for teaching her four children is well known.
Look to what extreme services have been provided, to what extremes? A
salary is paid to a mother, who is a teacher and lives in the countryside,
for teaching her four children.

What developed country can claim it has a doctor where he is needed -- the
factory, the school, the neighborhood; or that its mountain areas are
covered by the family doctor system; or that its people -- children,
adults, and the elderly -- are safe against disease? The services to our
people improve each year because we work hard. This way the people rest
assured that all their children will be able to attend school and study
what they want, based on their dedication and talents. Well, no other
nation can claim that all its citizens are offered this security. They have
reached a dead end on this.

The revolution has attained all this and has increased life expectancy,
meaning a healthy life. We do not want people who live many years, but
people who live well, feel well, feel healthy, feel well attended, feel
secure, and feel dignified. The revolution has made all this possible, but
it involves a lot of effort and work. We will accomplish even more provided
we improve our work; provided that our teachers, doctors, health
technicians, workers, industrial workers, and peasants improve their work.
Let us bear in mind that the work is not carried out so that one person can
become rich; the work is carried out for the people's benefit. Everything
that we do correctly and becomes useful will not only benefit whoever does
it but everyone else as well.

My attention was drawn yesterday by the strength [Castro clears throat] and
dignity with which some delegates discussed the exploitation of man; the
conviction and firmness with which they stated that any form of man's
exploitation by man is inadmissable [applause]; and the strength with which
they criticized certain bad habits and vices that still prevail among our
peasants. The people have moral, ethical and revolutionary principles --
and those principles are now an inseparable part of everyone s spirit. We
have emerged from the past, the darkness, and the injustice in which the
Cubans lived for centuries, in which the citizens of the world lived for
millenia.

We have attained an equal society, a just society, a truly free society for
the first time in history. Time has not passed in vain, time has taught us
a lot, and this is reflected in our fellow citizens' attitude, national
solidarity, and spirit of internationalist solidarity. This is proven by
our teachers, doctors, technicians, and soldiers. This has been proven by
our people throughout these difficult years of threats and danger, when our
people, workers, peasants, and students mobilized, organized, and prepared
themselves to the last man -- to defend the homeland, make it strong and
invincible, and protect it from aggression. The mere fact that we have
become strong discouraged our enemies, and continues to discourage and
restrain them.

We have achieved progress in many fields. Veritable feats were carried out
in one field: our patriotism and the people's readiness to defend our
country. The reward for those efforts is no small reward; the reward is
peace. [applause] The reward is the homeland's integrity and security. A
large amount of resources - enormous amounts of material, human, and
financial resources -- were assigned to this task. All were part of the
efforts made by our country. We also do whatever is necessary nowadays. We
have tried to correct our mistakes and struggle against negative
tendencies. We felt quite satisfied to hear your views about the positive
things we have done over the past year. We will also meet with the
management sector in a few weeks -- the party, labor, and youth secretaries
-- to analyze what has been achieved during the past year in the struggle
to correct mistakes and counter negative tendencies. We must analyze the
progress achieved and determine what must be done in future years.

I believe we are doing the right thing, but you can't grow careless when
doing the right thing or certain things will happen -- like the man who is
driving along the road at a certain speed and suddenly closes his eyes, of
falls asleep, or turns to talk with whoever sits beside him. We must remain
alert and watch the road ahead. Problems will not be solved overnight.
Everything takes time and, above all, a constant watchfulness. We must
never rest on our laurels. You who are peasants know the saying: Keep on
your toes or you will be left behind. I believe that this has been a
difficult year for our country. We face a difficult situation.

I do not want to repeat the reasons, the difficulties we have had to
overcome, the need to reduce convertible area imports in half, practically
to a third of what was imported in 1984. I believe this is also encouraging
us to save, to become aware of the need to use material and human resources
better in every area. This is what I call the virtues that appear during
the lean years. I believe we are learning to save our resources much more.
We are advancing despite all these difficulties and we are solving
problems. We have had to make some sacrifices but they have not been big.
The most important thing is that we have not sacrificed development.

We have worked on the oil refinery, nuclear power plants, big nickel
plants, mechanical and power industry plants, etc. We are going to operate
our textile installations at maximum capacity. We have built big
installations for which we already have labor force and raw material. We
will work in the city and the countryside.

I believe our countryside has fantastic potential to continue changing, to
continue being revolutionized. There are programs such as the one to
promote work on the mountains, the recovery of tobacco production, and the
development of the mountain areas. We are recovering the will to develop
water work projects which had been lost some years ago. Some dams were
planned to be started today and completed in 20 years, 20 years putting
cement, stone, bricks [words indistinct] without any results. All that is
being corrected by looking at construction as a continuous production
process. Big dams will be built in 2 to 3 years as the irrigation systems
were once built. Medium-sized dams and micro-dams will be built. We will
try to expand resources in the rest of the country as we are doing in
Vinales and other places. We have done this in Pinar de Rio where the will
to develop water works projects has returned, efforts are being made to
recover it in the eastern provinces, and I believe the will to develop
water work projects will be completely reestablished in full, with the
right ideas. I hope not a single creek, a single irrigation resource goes
unused. We can understand even better the need to use those water resource
goes unused. We can understand even better the need to use those water
resources during these dry years. We hope that wherever there is that kind
of resource, we use it.

We hope that housing programs continue to make strides, that we build
hundreds of modern communities in our countryside. That simultaneously with
the cooperative development we continue to build new towns with the most
dignified living conditions for our peasants. We hope that some day this
work will be simplified, the work of collecting, contracting, arranging;
that one day the collections centers are reduced to a few thousand, 2,000
or 3,000 at the most and that supplies are taken to those 2,000 or 3,000
places and all kinds of resources. We hope all that will be simplified in
the future so that we can say we have culminated the revolution in our
countryside and we have done it the right way, by persuasion and winning
over the peasants.

We also hope to continue developing the electrification of our countryside.
I want you to know that from now to 1990, 1 million people from rural areas
will have electricity especially in the eastern provinces. There is a
program to install electric lines, transformers, and increase the country's
electricity levels for as many as 90 percent of family units, as many as 90
percent. [applause] The electrification of the countryside will progress
rapidly. Of course we will not be able to take electricity to isolated
places, to all the small towns, villages, and communities in the plains and
the mountains. We have taken electric power plants to over 500 places in
the mountains with 3 or 4 hours of service as part of a program which was
created. I do not know if the people in the countryside are listening to
this closing ceremony today but the power plants are turned on at 7 and
shut down at 11. We believe that with these electrification programs many
of these places that have electric power plants today will be able to draw
electricity from the national system and will be able to have electricity
24 hours a day.

Even if you have electricity for 4 hours that is some progress. This allows
the people who watch television in the community center. Others have
electricity during the evening -- perhaps not enough to have an iron,
refrigerator, mixer, and other things because the capacity is limited --
but, I repeat, an additional 1 million people will have electricity 24
hours a day within 4 years; that is, an additional I million people who
live in the countryside. In other words, workers and peasants -- 1 million
[applause]. We know that less electricity is available in the eastern
regions and our main efforts are being made there. We have already
organized the brigades that will work on the lines. We have a program to
purchase or produce the transformers we need to meet our goal and make even
bigger efforts in 1988, 1989, and 1990. This will be another victory that
the revolution will achieve in a short time. As I said, once the electric
system expands, you will be able to have all those famous electric
appliances. We heard many delegates explain that they had everything --
television, refrigerator, washing machine, all that. We will have
electricity; and when the electronuclear plants begin operations, we will
even cook with electricity. We will be able to cook with electricity
whenever we run out of gas or kerosene.

We dream about all these changes in the countryside. Time goes by but many
of us can clearly recall how people used to live in the countryside, and we
compare it with life in the countryside today. Above all, we are pleased to
think of what the countryside, the lowlands, and the mountains will become
-- full of totally automated agricultural enterprises, cooperatives, and
modern communities. This will become a reality in the near future. Perhaps
most of the goals will be attained by the end of this century, most of the
goals. I will not say that all the goals will be achieved because we only
have 13 years left. If we work well we can make a lot of progress. We have
worked well during the last year and we have achieved a great deal.

Let us pledge to work well, in the best possible way, during the next 13
years, and we will see how many changes are achieved in the Countryside,
how much is produced in the countryside in a socialist way -- not a
capitalist way. This way the workers who supply our shoes, clothes,
medicine, transportation, cement, electricity, iron rods and all the
articles needed to improve our living conditions will receive all they want
from the countryside in adequate amounts. They should not lack anything,
not even a small herb which you can produce as a complement to the big
production. We will then have a problem: What will we call the ANAP? I
don't know if you have thought about this but, since I believe in all the
things that I talk about as I believed in other things that are now a
reality, I wonder what we will call the ANAP. It will no longer be the
National Association of Small Farmers, either in the size of the land or
its installations. We will solve the problem then, and we will perhaps call
it the ANAC or another name. You can even organize a contest for this. I
said this name for starters. It could be called the National Association of
Peasants...how is that? No, National Association of Cooperative Workers.
[applause] That is a dialectic problem that must be discussed at the eighth
congress, or perhaps at the ninth congress. Anyway, you will have to solve
the problem before the end of the century. This is the result of progress.
See how we can't get used to names -- not even names -- because everything
changes.

To conclude, Comrades, I reaffirm our emotion, satisfaction, and enthusiasm
over the congress. We feel optimistic and happy, and we are fully confident
that we will attain our goals. Fatherland or death! We shall win!
[applause]
-END-