-DATE-
19880101
-YEAR-
1988
-DOCUMENT_TYPE-
SPEECH
-AUTHOR-
F. CASTRO
-HEADLINE-
CASTRO SPEECH AT CHILD CARE CENTER TAKE 12 OF 17
-PLACE-
HAVANA
-SOURCE-
HAVANA DOMESTIC SPANISH
-REPORT_NBR-
FBIS
-REPORT_DATE-
19880101
-TEXT-
REF FL062158 HAVANA DOMESTIC SPANISH 310118///MAKING BIG EFFORTS.

Take 12 of 17--Cuba: Castro Speech at Child Care Center

fl072000

[Text] If we compare the situation of our country with that
underdeveloped world, with so many disasters and misery, we can see that we
really are going along a road that is very humane and just, one that is
filled with hope. We can see the opportunities that the revolution has
given us. However, what we must ask ourselves is if we are making good use
and taking advantage of these opportunities. We must ask ourselves if we
are going along the best path and using revolutionary, socialist,
communist, people, and mass methods, or if we are taking the money-hungry
[mercachiflero] road by virtue of which a project is started and never
finished.

A project would be started but never finished because it would create
values. Working with bulldozers and putting up prefabricated columns, they
would never finish. Because it was more of a business to start rather than
to finish a project. They were doing crazy things such as putting January's
production under December to earn more bonuses, awards; 20 million other
similar things were done. Or, for example, in a mechanical industry factory
where 100 items had to be produced, producing 40 or 50 would create more
values.

Should a socialist revolution go along the correct paths, with
revolutionary methods, or with the money-hungry methods? Take a look at the
latter, where were they taking us? We were stagnating. The construction of
schools, centers, and everything else had been stopped. We were becoming
alienated, voluntary work was disappearing, and we were losing the best
that the revolution had brought us. That doesn't mean that we should not
use the socialist method. We will use the socialist method. We are going to
reward according to the quantity and quality of the work. However, we are
not going to give up revolutionary methods because of that. We are going to
educate man for socialism, communism, and to develop the spirit of
solidarity and to develop awareness. If we don't do this, we will become
really money grubbers and we'll never be able to build true socialism, or a
true socialist society. Using commercially-oriented methods, we would never
be able to even talk about achieving a communist society, a society of
brothers, fraternity, support, and helping one another.

What makes this child happy, this pioneer that we rewarded today?  What
makes those grandparents we talked about happy?  The satisfaction of a man
or a woman who has a scale of values and principles, capable of feeling
that he is working with others.  When we see the doctors devoting
themselves to a man who needs to be rehabilitated, who is incapacitated,
who has to be saved.  When we see a family doctor, well, I would say that
our family doctors also work with a communist spirit.  The family doctor
does not get paid according to number of patients treated [vinculado], of
course.  Can you imagine it in a family doctor?  If we say: We will pay
you.  He would start pulling in however he could as many patients as
possible to have 25 or 60 appointments.  What is important to us is that
there are 10, 12, or 15 appointments but that the patient is taken care of.
What is important to us is the quality of that family doctor, his constant
struggle for the health and life of his patients.  It is important that the
family doctor go and visit those who he has to visit, as well as for him to
be devoted to his work around the clock.  Just imagine the quality of these
doctors if they are always available, living nearby, except when they go
out on their days off, and another one is there when they are not there.
Just imagine the levels of health that our country will have.  Just imagine
when those young people have already become specialists in general
comprehensive medicine, when they are already well established, and have
already old relationships with all the residents.

There are a lot of things in which we are making progress. There are
many things in which we are working with a communist spirit. That is how we
are rewarding the doctor, as he deserves. We reward him according to his
ability and the quality of his work.
-END-