GAINS IN THE CHI DBAN ELECTION
[The following is the conclusion of the text of a speech by Fidel Castro begun in last week's World Outlook, In the first part, Castro discussed Cuba's record in medical care, In this section he takes up a current topic of special interest in Latin America ~the Chilean election -~ and then ends up with some words to the first generation of doctors formed completely under the Cuban Revolution. The speech was delivered September 10 and has been translated from the Spanish text published in the September 11 issue of the Havana daily Revolucién. |
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% : We revolutionists must have a very clear understanding of our path and solid confidence in victory.
We have lived through five and a half years of revolution, five years of learning, five years of doing or trying, five years of trying to create and of creating, We have gone through different stages, different situations, some easier, others more difficult, We do not yet know what the future has in store for us in the way of tests.
I think that right now the ideological battle between the Cuban Revolution and imperialism is reaching its most feverish point, They have launched a struggle against us on every level -economic, political -- following various policies. They have employed every kind of means, including armed action, They have employed the whole arsenal of news reports and lies, They have employed ideological weapons. All imaginable means, But this battle between revolutionary ideas and reactionary ideas is now at
breadth of a whole continent,
They, with all means at their disposal, with an alliance of all the reactionary interests, try to look at things through "rose-~ colored" glasses, But we know that all that is becoming more and more "rose-colored" is the ideas of the peoples.
They work skillfully enough, at times they surpass us in their skill, at times they wield certain means better, at times they appeal to illusions, and at times they even weave false illusions.
“It is very interesting to see all that has taken place around the episode of the Chilean elections, The advance of the popular forces, the growth of the revolutionary movement in Chile ‘has been so great in the last years that it virtually aroused genu-+ ine panic among the reactionary circles there and among the imperjialist circles, The result was that whereas in the last election the various political forces were divided behind numerous candida-
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cies, on this. occasion the tremendous rise of the revolutionary forces in Chile caused all the reactionary sectors -- which are still powerful there ~~ to unite, no longer behind a program of the extreme right, as at first when there were three candidates; that is, a candidate of the revolutionary forces of the left, a candidate of the reformist forces and a candidate of the rightists, That division would inevitably have led to a. victory for the revon lutionists, ;
And so the elements of the extreme .right swung over to the reformists, And all the news media and all the resources of imper= ialism were thrown behind the reformists to block the triumph of: the revolutionists, Objectively, the reactionaries lost ground. © ‘The reactionaries had to abandon their extreme rightist positions in order to support a reformist candidate and prevent the victory of the revolutionists, Blocking the triumph of the revolutionists became the fundamental objective of imperialism and reaction; and they pressed for the victory of the reformists, : The president-elect is, in revolutionary language, a reformist. He is a partisan of limited reforms of a social and economic character, whereas the revolutionists are partisans of radical changes, Thus, for example, the reformists proclaim that the oopper industry need not be nationalized, while the revolutionists proclaim the need to nationalize the North’ American enterprises which have long exploited the country's natural resources. . And thus while some advocate reforms, ‘the others advocate radical changes.
But since the triumph of the Cuban Revolution, continental politics as a whole have shown and expressed for certain the influence which our revolution has had in the continent and on the positions of all the politicians. And thus the: struggle in Chile is no longer between the extreme right and the extreme left, between revo~ lutionists and reactionaries -- in the most exact sense. of the word -- but between reformists and revolutionists,
he candidate of the extreme right received a very small votes; all the forces of the right were deployed behind the reformist candidate, The imperialists undoubtedly knew what the outoome. of the elections would be, Nowadays it is not difficult to determine the outcome of some elections in advance, We Cubans know this, And we Cubans know very well even how many votes can be influenced by the administrative apparatus of the state. We Cubans well know how the state apparatus here used to mobilize at least a million voters in any election through various means of pressure, through various means of control, .
However, they tried to arouse false expectations, a false uncertainty, in order to beat the drums afterwards, proclaiming it to be a great victory, although in reality what was involved, at
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bottom, was only a retreat from reactionary ideas, a retreat from:: the positions of the ultrarightists and the need to resort to the banners of a reformist program to block the triumph of the revolutionists,
“and what they are trying to cover up is the fact that even in these circumstances, with all the resources. in the hands of reaction -~ the resources of the state, the resources of imperialism ~~ the revolutionary forces obtained almost three times more votes than in the last election, Thus from some 350,000, their vote increased to almost a million, a million votes cast in favor of the revolutionary program; a million conscious votes cast for it, marking an indisputable rise in the revolutionary consciousness of the continent; a rise manifested in street actions and in the demonstrations of the Uruguayan students and workers against the break» ing of relations with Cuba. ws .
The acid test, the real test now facing the reformists in Chile is the test of reality and the test of deeds. Because the reforms can be more or less radical, but any really serious reform, any really far-reaching reform, can only be made in behalf of the exploited classes and to the. detriment of the exploiting classes,
And we shall see what happens there when any serious reform is attempted -- if it is attempted ~~ that affects the interests of the oligarchy, that affects the interests of the landholders, that affects the interests of the exploiters, and that affects the means by which the exploiters maintain their positions as classes, as exploiting classes against exploited classes,
Because either they intend to undertake some serious re~ forms to sustain. the hopes instilled in the moderate or reformist layers of the population, which would signify a clash with the interests of the'oligarchs and monopolies, or they have sordidly defrauded the people, And that will be the decisive test, If they attempt to carry out truly serious reforms in Chile, we shall see what happens. We shall see whether the oligarchs fold their arms, we shall see whether the "gorillas" [reactionary officer caste] do not step into the arena, We shall see whether a military coup d'état is not put on the agenda, as has occurred in other countries in response to measures that came nowhere near being serious reforms, And we revolutionists will take our seats and see what happens,
The imperialists are chanting victory and saying that a revolution that maintains freedom is about to be made. What do they mean by a revolution that maintains freedom? A revolution that maintains freedom for the monopolies, a revolution that maintains freedom for the exploiters, a revolution that maintains freedom for the swindlers and deceivers of the people.
For we well know that long before the word socialism was
uttered here, and long before the word Marxism was used, an agrari-~ an reform which limited landholdings to thirty caballerias, that is about 400 hectares [one hectare = 2.47 acres], immediately aroused a counterrevolution, immediately spurred organization of the invasion at Playa Girén, and set in motion all. the reactionary forces, We would like to know whether it is true that an agrarian reform . can be made in Chile limiting landholdings to thirty caballerias and whether the oligarchs, the landholders, are going to fold their arms, We would like to know whether they are going to pass laws like those advanced by the Goulart government against the Yankee monopolies, against remittances.of profits, against the iniquitous exploitation of Brazil; measures advanced to contain inflation, to bring the Brazilian people out of the inflationary spiral, and which gave rise to the cuartelazo [military coup d'état] of the Noorillas," We shall see whether the landholders in the senate vote in favor of such a law, We shall see whether the exploiters in congress vote in favor of laws that seriously injure their ow interests, Because if they do not seriously injure their inter~ ests, they can pass twenty laws opting for a lesser evil. But we would like to see the oligarchy committing this hara-~kiri. We would like to see this self-immolation of the oligarchy in the name of Christianity, of the most holy doctrines of the Apostolic and Roman Church, We want te see what the oligarchs do, and what the “gorillas” do, and what the monopolies do.
For it is clear, there is never any lack of purveyors of good advice in the United States ready to write an editorial, saying: "Good; he is going to carry out some reforms but he is for the West, He is going to do this and that and much more, as some people are demanding,"
But, what happens when these interests are really injured? And we are going to watch how this revolution is made; we are going to watch how they liquidate illiteracy. We are going to watch how they carry out a program of medical care -~ like. the program of our Revolution. We are going to watch how they attempt to reconoile interests of the exploiters and the exploited. We are going to watch this because it should be very interesting. .
And we are going to see whether the oligarchic, feudal struc ture of a country can be changed with wishes, with good intentions, and we are going to see what happens there, For we are very inter~ ested and very curious about what happens there, and we must try to get the news from there, to see whether with the help of the Alliance far Progress, and without any economic blockade, and without harassment, and without maneuvers in the OAS [Organization of Ameri-~ ean States], and without military threats, without any of that, they can get to first base after all the achievements of the Cuban Revo» lution. LApplause.]
And if they can do it, we will be very happy, but very happy, because it will be the first case of self-immolation committed by
the exploiters and reactionaries, If they do it we will feel happy for the Chileans, If they do it with the full help of imperialism, we would be astonished, for imperialism would really be helping a revolution, We would be astonished and we would say: “What virtues were in this Cuban Revolution to have brought the imverialists to carry out in other areas the very same things we did in Cuba and which won us their hostility!"
If they do it, we will be seeing a kind of miracle that has never been seen before. For there is nothing so elementary and so substantial, so certain and so real, as the fact that social olasses exist, and that the interests of the exploiting classes and the interests of the exploited are antagonistic and irreconcilable, and that either the interests of the exploiters or the interests of the exploited must prevail, And in Chile it will be put to the test: if the interests of the exploited prevail, well then, it will be converted into a genuine revolution. Ah! But then the imperialists will not support it. Ah! But then the oligarchs and the "gorillas" will stab it in the back, And this will all be seen in time,
| Seemingly the imperialists want to present Chile as an ex» . ample counterposed to our example: seemingly they want to point to the Chilean experiment for emulation as against the Cuban experi-~ ment, Very good! We are delighted at such competition! And even: though we have the imperialists against us, with all their means and all their resources and their whole blockade; and even though the imperialists are supporting the other experiment with all their resources, without interposing any blockade or obstacle in the way of the other government, we accept the challenge. We are pleased to accept the challenge. Let's see which country will advance the most, which experiment will go farthest, which will solve the main real problems of the people, and how long it takes to solve them,
Still more -- we Cuban revolutionists feel inspired to struggle harder, to work harder, to demonstrate the justice of our case and the virtues of our revolutionary path. In face of the hostility of all the reactionaries, in face of the hostility of. the imperialists, the "gorillas," the pen prostitutes; in face of the hostility .of the exploiters of this continent, what people has ever had a more honorable task, what people has ever had a greater cause to defend; what people has ever had a more beautiful history to write on this continent than the history that fell to us, than the history that became ours to write?
- There is no doubt that the Guban people will prove equal to the height ofthis history, to this task:‘that has come their way, that has fallen to them to achieve,
And therefore I said that the ideological battle has reached its most feverish point; but this battle will not be won merely through philosophic conviction, It must be won with real achieve-
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ments, It must be won through deeds, .It must be won in practice, It must be won day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute, on every front in our work, in each task each day, overcoming our deficiencies, improving our methods, bringing ever more effectiveness and opeativenesa to our revolutionary efforts.
And we must do this without becoming discouraged and with~ out measuring the difficulties and obstacles, For if impatienoe is a virtue of revolutionists, confidence in success is another virtue of revolutionists. And being able to say that nothing is impossible is another virtue of revolutionists; because for the revolutionist there's no such thing as "I can't," For. the revolutionist there is no obstacle that can't be overcome. For the revolutionist, there is no impossible social task; and many examples teach us this "fact, this truth, in many ways.
And thus we can recall when we decided to undertake the. struggle against illiteracy and to liquidate illiteracy in. one year; when the struggle was undertaken to raise those who had learned how to read and write to higher levels; when the. struggle was undertaken for keeping on; when each and every one of the tasks of the Revolution was undertaken. And those who have no faith, those who are quick to say "I cantt" or "It cantt be done," may be good people, they may be very meee but ‘Shey will never be revolu~. tionists,
And this must be the spirit of our approach. A revolutionist does not attempt impossibilities; a revolutionist undertakes what is possible, But so,far as determination is concerned, a revolutionist never stops at what is only thought to be possible, The question of determination is involved, the question of firmness, the question of conviction, the question of confidence, People who look at things only from the rational point of view, who do not bring in determination, cannot be revolutionists; they are not revolutionists., Revolutionists approach things rationally and carry them out through determination. And this force, this stubbornness, this determination is what is characteristic of the revolutionist, Because a revolutionist is not just someone who proclaims himself to be a revolutionist, or someone who understands a problem only theoretically, -but someone who is capable of carry~ ing things through in a practical way, in a real way.
Consequently, a ‘pevolutionist develops in a double senso, He develops in understanding, in consciousness; he develops in experience, in capacity for action, And at each stage -- at each new stage ~- new tasks; at each stage, new slogans, Hence the importance of individual training, the training of the people as a whole, the training of the youth, technical study, the acquirement of technical skill, Without this nothing can be done; because while there is the problem. of means of production, there is an even more crucial problem: the capacity to use these means, the capa-~ city to apply science, the capacity. to apply technology, the capa-~
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city to apply correct methods,
. This is the reason for the importance that we place on the training of the youth, the: education of the youth, the preparation: of the youth, This is the reason for the importance of the univer= sities, the importance of technological institutes, the teaching centers, This is the reason for the identity that exists between the student and the Revolution, the close and ever more solid union between the people and the Revolution,. between workers, peasants, students and technicians; because, in addition, each day more and more university students and students of all levels -- more. and more all the time -- will. come from the most humble layers of the people,
But the Revolution, our Revolution, was forged in this close union, was born in this close union, .This was the way the students participated in it, the peasants participated in it, the workers participated in it and paid their tremendous quota of sacrifices and blood, And this identification was characteristic of the Revo~ lution, this union that has made possible the great tasks being carried out, How could illiteracy have been liquidated without the students? -
This union that opens up the future for our country, the |: promising future in all fields, that gives rise to the emotion felt at graduation exercises Like this, made it possible to bring to- © gether in this hall, workers, university students, teachers, graduates, students in various fields, students of the Nursing Schools, It is this union that has made possible the invincible force, the stirring. future opening before our country. -And we. must do every~ thing to strengthen it, working, studying, doing research -~ because we must labor in the field of research =-- and in the field of research we will soon have resources, the means, the tools, for scientific research and medical research, Very soon, at the beginning of the coming year, we expect to-have one of the best equipped research centers in all of Latin America to engage in seientific research, in medical research.
The ignorance of centuries, the lack of technical knowledge,
the lack of knowledge of the resources of our own country and the possibilities in our own country, we have to overcome these through study and research, And you will see, as you go out into the world -~- the comrades who are graduating and those who are going to graduate -- you will see how the various fields link together, how the medical field will link up with the field of economics, the field of agriculture and the field of industry -- how Preventive Medicine will tie in with the technical level in agricultural production, how Preventive Medicine will tie in with the people's standard of living, how the disease rate will drop in proportion to the rise not only in doctors but in the daily intake of protein, minerals and vitamins and the improvement in working conditions. And how the decline in ill health will parallel the rise in sanitation in the cities, the number of aqueducts, the number of decent homes,
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the means by which every human being will enjoy better material living conditions, How Preventive Medicine goes hand in hand with general education, general culture, with teaching at all levels, How, moreover, Preventive Medicine concerns not only the doctors, not. only the. ‘Ministry of Public Health but also the Ministry of Education, the. Mass Organizations, How the children must be reared, how to teach. them, how to educate them, what habits must be in~ stilled in them, what kind of deve Lopment to foster, the knowledge of hygiene that "must be inculcated, how they must be taught even about foods --~ because every child; from the time he learns to read, must be taught a whole series of elementary things in school, How the field of education ties in with the economy in many ways, not only in providing skills, but in the formation of consumer habits, because we have many things to learn,
Many consumer habits among our people are completely inadequate, We must change many habits and develop a healthier diet, of better quality, as we emerge from being an underdeveloped country and as our productive capacity grows, above all our capacity in the production of foods,
On occasion we have offered doctors a, book, which happened to appeal a lot to us, on agriculture. Some will ask what has agriculture got to do with medicine? Well, this book is called Soil, Plants, Sugap Cane. This suggestive title indicates rather forcefully the existence of a relation between food and health, between deficiencies in certain essential elements and certain ill~ nesses, In view of this, in talking with some comrades, we have said that medicine and agriculture will join together some day in biochemistry and the soil, although I know that the word biochemis~ try touches off certain conditioned reflexes among our students, (Applause.) And when I see their sensitivity over biochemistry, their horror over biochemistry, I ask them: “How is this possible, seeing how interesting, how marvellous and useful biochemistry is?" And it's hard for us to understand their reaction, perhaps because we haven't had to pass these examinations in biochemistry. (Laughter, ) Well, all right, I'm not going to give that as the reason, and I believe that in the future, even if there is no examination, and above all when you don't have to take an examination, you should look into biochemistry.
And you will see how everything fits together, how every~ thing becomes interdependent, and how the realization of the revolutionary destiny of a country demands an advance in all fields, on all fronts, and how the task of training technicians has to aocom~ pany the great tasks of economic development, how education influences production and how production influences education -- this interdependence which you will see more and more clearly.
I dontt want to finish without saying something that the Comrade Minister of Health asked of me and which he will possibly criticize me for if I forget. He wanted me to speak to the gradu-
ates about certain items on which campaigns have to be made, For example, how some doctors are remiss in'their work in polyclinios, in outpatient consultations; some are more interested in special cases, in hospital work, Many of the things that patients go to the doctor for, he said with much truth, are not serious problems, Medical attention is required for small things most of the time, And he asked me to say something to the comrades who are graduating, and to the medical students, in favor of concern for these things and the development of an awareness of the need and importance they have for the people, along with outpatient work.
This shows how multifaceted the problems of life are, how it is not enough to have a lot of medical students and a lot of medical graduates and a lot of revolutionary=minded doctors, for. . then there also comes the problem of how to distribute them, what work each one should do, and how we must constantly seek to overcome the deficiencies in order to meet all the needs.
I am complying with this comradets wish, but I believe that it's up to the Ministry of Public Health to do the main job in this; they can do better in discussing with doctors and convincing them than I can here tonight,
So then, to the comrades who are. graduating, we genuinely appreciate your feelings on this occasion, the importance to you of this evening, this stage in your life. We have seen comrades in the revolutionary struggle studying, comrades we knew in the Sierra, in revolutionary activities, who, after many years with~ | out seeing them, we now find graduating; other comrades who are studying, “comrades who had very important tasks in the Revolution, and who then willingly decided to complete their studies, under-~ standing the Revolutionts need for doctors, These are really moving things, And such things are important in life, this labor that is so often quiet and self-sacrificing and yet which gives greater satisfaction than anything else and which has greater merit than anything else, And it always makes a big impression on me :.«- these comrades who return to their studies, because it seems to me that they are offering proof of the importance of study, they are demon= strating it by their conduct, how they understand it, and how after leaving off their studies for years they begin a new stage, begin a new task, And I can see them there in the countryside, there in the mountains: the satisfaction that will be theirs, relieving pain and anguish, the happiness they will bring to homes and people. in agony, the. satisfaction they will feel in the importance of their work, the generosity of their work, the humanitarian character of their work; in the places where they are going to serve and where they will come to understand the people still better, where they are go-~ ing to teach and to learn, where they are going to give and to receive,
-°I know what this change means to any young person, this new stage, this integration into a task, this beginning of a new phase
of life, of generous and fruitful work, where they will continue to learn, where their knowledge will continue to grow, and where they will one day understand that work combined with constant study will teach them more than all they learned in the university, because in another ten years the knowledge of today will be doubled or tripled; within twenty, within thirty years, incalculably more will be known than today, because there is much to be known, there is much to investigate, there is much to discover. And even when medicine has advanced extraordinarily, everyone will understand what immense fields were unknown today, What things in life, what things in nature, what. things to penetrate, what things to understand better! And never at any time in the past has science advanced with such. giant steps as it is advancing in these modern times.
And a whole world is before us to know, a whole world of experiments, a whole world to be learned, And each atom of knowledge that is acquired must be of use for others,
Thousands upon thousands of persons during your lives will | look to you for relief from pain, will look to you to bring them health, will look to you many times for miracles. And more than once you will suffer something worse than biochemistry, something more fearful than biochemistry, something more painful. These wiil be the times when you feel you can't do anything to help; when you feel impotent in face of illness, incapable of meeting someone's hope in you, And this of course will not dighearten you but spur you to new efforts, to study even more,
This is a profession of the highest nobility, a humanitarian work to which the Revolution brings the most noble conditions, the healthiest conditions, which the Revolution redeems from all egotism, from everything mercenary; which the Revolution surrounds with respect, which the Revolution surrounds with encouragement, which the Revolution surrounds with appreciation, And in these conditions, you == the first generation of doctors -~ formed entirely under the Revolution, the first generation of doctors, go forth to work bear~ | ing the seal of a new epoch,
This is not to depreciate the other generation, This is not to depreciate any doctor. All of us are needed, all of us are useful, all of us have to help each other, With the help of your professors you acquired the knowledge you possess today, and they feel proud of your work, of your success,
And the contingent of doctors will grow bigger and bigger, they will become more and more numerous, and we will have more and more human and material resources to form them,
With this, comrade medical graduates, we welcome you, ‘The Revolution, the people, duty, receive you with open arms,
Patria o Muerte, Venceremosl [country or death, we -will wint] (Ovation.) —
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