TODAY
(The following is part of a speech made by Fidel Castro December 9 in Santa Clara before an audience of 15,000 women at the Fifth National Plenary Session of the Federation of Cuban Women. In the United States, a brief notice of the speech appeared in the New York Times. Sent from Miami, it mentioned only Castro's remarks later on dealing with the struggle against bureaucratism. Not a word about the rest of the contents. In Cuba, the part of the speéch dealing with the contribution of women to the revolution was Singled out for big headlines, .
[The part below has been taken from the December 18 English edition of Granma, the official organ of the Central Committee of the Communist party of Cuba, published in Havana.
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Arriving here this evening, I commented to a comrade that this phenomenon of women's participation in the Revolution was a revolution within a Revolution (APPLAUSE). And if we were asked what the most revolutionary thing is that the Revolution is doing, we would answer that it is precisely this! the revolution that is occurring among the women of our country (APPLAUSE). If we were asked what things in the Revolution have been most instructive for us, we would answer that one of the most interesting lessons for revolutionaries is that being offered by our women (APPLAUSE). TO
You all know perfectly well that, in saying this, we are not uttering given words with intent to please the compafieras who are here tonight, but that we say it because it is what we firmly believe and feel. -
But why is this one of the most interesting lessons? You yourselves may ask why. In reality, the most honest answer that we could give -- and I assure you that the person who offers this answer is precisely one who has always believed himself free from prejudice -- the answer is, I believe, that in reality all of us were prejudiced in regard to women (APPLAUSE). And if anyone had ever asked me if I considered myself prejudiced in regard to women, I would have said ahksolutely not, because I believed myself to..be quite the opposite. I believed that an enormous potential force and extraordinary human resources for the Revolution existed in our women.
But what has happened? What has occurred, or rather, what is occurring? We are finding that, in reality, this potential force is superior to anything that the most optimistic of us ever dreamed of. We say that perhaps at heart, unconsciously, something of bias or underestimation existed. For events are demonstrating, even now, the possibilities of women and the role that women can play in a revolutionary process in which society is liberating itself, above all, from exploitation, and from prejudices and a whole series of circumstances in which women were doubly exploited, doubly humiliated.
What have we found, for example, in regard to the work of women? I have Peon talking with several comrades and, following my visit to the Banao Plan (APPLAUSE), told Comrade Milian: "I have the impression that the women working in this Plan are more responsible and more disciplined than the men (APPLAUSE). I have the impression that they will dedicate themselves to the work with more enthusiasm, more passion, more dedication." And Milian -- although I certainly don't want to give this comrade a bad name with the women of Las Villas -- argued with me, "Well, but...really...the case of the young men who are in the Juragua Plan of the Young Communists..."
I told him that finding a spirit of discipline and enthusiasm for work in a program involving selected Young Communists was not as extraordinary as finding the same spirit of discipline and enthusiasm in a program carried out by women who had not been specially chosen for this program, who had not been chosen by any organization, but had simply volunteered to do this work (APPLAUSE).
What have we found? What is being found everywhere in this revolutionary program, as far as the Cuban women are concerned? Well, we are finding a whole series of things such as those I mentioned before: a great sense of responsibility, great seriousness, great discipline and enthusiasm.
What have we found right here in the province of Las Villas? Well, let us take the Banao Plan, for example. This program was growing and needed a cadre. Comrade Milian sought a cadre from the Party; Comrade Santiago Acosta, from the Santo Domingo , zone, I believe, and sent him to the’ Banao Plan as administrator. But one day, comrades Santiago Acosta and René Acosta -- the specialist on technical matters -- had to go abroad. They were the men holding the positions of greatest responsibility in the Plan. Someone had to be appointed to take their place and we decided to appoint Comrade . Osoria, who was representing the Federation of Cuban Women on the directing board of the Plan (APPLAUSE). .
We firmly believe that this even may some day have historic significance, for it was the first time that a woman had been assigned to such a task, not for political reasons or to impress anyone, but simply because she had, objectively speaking, proved herself capable of heading such a program. .
And from that moment on, we thought it would be reasonable and an excellent thing, indeed, to have a woman directing a plan involving thousands of women workers (APPLAUSE).
Moreover, when it became necessary to organize the work brigadés, a number of women who had distinguished themselves for their great spirit of work were chosen as brigade leaders.
This gave us an idea:
We had to train a group of technicians for this type of work and, at first, ten comrades from the Technological Institute had been sent here to specialize in this branch of agriculture. We decided that twenty additional students who were to be sent here to specialize in this field should be chosen from among the girl students at the Technological Institute.
Thus, the workers, the brigade leaders, and the technicians -- that is, the technical and administrative staff -- is going to be made up almost ; entirely of women. Yes, women! (APPLAUSE).
This is one of the great lessons we spoke about before: one of the great lessons and perhaps one of the greatest victories over prejudices that have existed, not for decades or centuries, but for thousands of years. We refer to the belief that all a woman could do was wash dishes, wash and iron clothes, cook, keep house, and bear children (APPLAUSE AND EXCLAMATIONS), age-old prejudices, that placed women in an inferior position in society. In effect, she did not have a productive place in society.
Such prejudices are thousands of years old and have survived through various
social. systems. If we consider capitalism, women, that is, lower-class women, were doubly exploited or doubly humiliated. A poor woman, part of the working class or of a working-class family, was exploited simply because she was poor, because she was a menber of the working class. But in addition, although she was a woman of the working class, even her own class looked down on and underrated her. Not only was she underestimated, exploited and looked down upon by the exploiting classes but, even within her own class, she was the object of numerous prejudices.
So all these events have been a great lesson to all of us, to every revolutionary. Naturally, a considerable amount of prejudice still persists. If women were to believe that they have totally fulfilled their role as revolutionaries in society, they would be making a mistake. It seems to. us that women must still fight and exert great efforts to attain the place that. they should really hold in society.
If women in our country were doubly exploited, doubly humiliated in the past, then this ee means that women in a social revolution should be doubly revolutionary (APPLAUSE).
And perhaps this is the explanation, or at least the social basis for the resolute, enthusiastic, firm and loyal support given by Cuban women to this Revolution.
This Revolution has really been two revolutions for. women; it has meant a double liberation as part of the exploited sector of the country and, second, as women, who were discriminated not only as workers but also as women, in that society of exploitation. -
The attitude of Cuban women toward the Revolution corresponds to this reality; it corresponds to what the Revolution has meant to them.
And the support of the popular masses for the Revolution is directly proportionate to what the revolution has meant to them in terms of their liberation.
There are two sectors in this country, two sectors of society which, aside from economic reasons, have had other motives for sympathizing and feeling enthusiasm for tht Revolution. These two. sectors are the Negro population of Cuba and the female population.
I suppose you recall that in Cuba's old bourgeois Constitution, there was an article which declared illegal any discrimination for reasons of race or sex. The Constitution declared such discrimination illegal. . But a Constitution in a capitalist society, or such an article in a capitalist society, solves nothing, because the discrimination for reason of race and for reasons of sex existed in practice. And the basis for all of this was the existence of a class society which practiced exploitation.
In a class society which is to say, a society of exploiters and exploited, there was no way of eliminating discrimination for reasons of race or sex. Now the problem of such discrimination has disappeared from our country, because the basis for these two types of discrimination which is, quite simply, the exploitation of man by man, has disappeared (APPLAUSE). =
Much news reaches us from the United States, for example, about the civil-rights struggle for Negroes. Nevertheless, racial discrimination in the United States will not disappear until capitalist society has disappeared.
That is discrimination will never be wiped out within the framework of capitalist society. Discrimination with respect to race and sex can only be wiped out through a socialist revolution, which eradicates the exploitation of man by man (APPLAUSE). Now, does the disappearance of the exploitation of man by man mean that all the conditions are immediately created whereby woman may elevate her position in society? No. The conditions for the liberation of women, for the full development of women in society, for an authentic equality of rights, or for authentic equality of women with men in society, require a material base; they require the material foundations of economic and social development. I described before the opinion held by many men concerning the functions of women, and I said that among the functions considered to belong to women was -almost exclusively -- that of having children. Naturally, reproduction is one of the most important of women's functions in human society, in any kind of human society.
But it is precisely this function, relegated by nature to women, which has enslaved them to a series of chores within the home.
There is a sign here in front of us, for example, which says, "One million women working in production by 1970." Unfortunately, it will not be possible to have one mil-
lion working in production by 1970. We feel that this goal may be reached, perhaps, within 10 years but not within four. We could propose it as a goal to be reached by 1975. Why can't this goal be reached in four years? Because in order to have one million women working in production, we must have thousands of children's day nurseries, thousands of primary boarding schools, thousands of school dining halls, thousands of workers' dining halls, thousands of centers of social services of this type, must be set up, because if not, who is going to cook for the second- or third-grade child when he comes home for lunch? Who is going to care for unweaned infants, or babies of two,. three and four years of age? Who is going to prepare dinner for the man when he comes home from work? Who is going to wash, clean, all of those things? (APPLAUSE)
In other words, in order to reach the social goal of liberating woman from all these activities that enslave her and impede her from full incorporation into work outside the home and all these activities she can engage in society, it is necessary to create the necessary material base, to attain the necessary social development. It is impossible to construct the required thousands of children's day nurseries, school dining halls, laundries, workers' dining halls, boarding schools, in four years. In fact, merely to meet present needs, great effort is necessary on all fronts. .
Everywhere women are working it has been necessary to make a special effort to establish-day nurseries, set up boarding schools and all of the necessary institutions so that these women could be free to work.
In Sancti Spiritus, for example, several day nurseries had to be opened, and scholarships had to be provided for children already at primary school age, children of mothers who are working in the Sancti Spiritus plan. The same had to be done in Santi-~ ago de Cuba. And a big effort will also have to be made next year in several areas so that great numbers of women may join production.
To have day nurseries and schools, qualified personnel is required as well as materials and equipment of all kinds. The women working in the day nurseries who are -responsible for the organization of these day nurseries, have told us of the difficulties and limitations they are facing. They tell us, for example, that many women who work as teachers, nurses, many women who work not only in agriculture but in other very important services, are constantly demanding more day nurseries, and that this is impossible at the moment. Why? Because the number of agricultural plans has increased and the demand for day nurseries is enormous.
They have told us that in some provinces the problem has been easier to solve. ‘They have explained that in the province of Las Villas, the Party has been.of great... help in solving the problem and good headway has been made. But in Camaguey, things are more difficult. Why? Because Camaguey is an area where great economic development is underway: cane-conditioning centers are being constructed, the Nuevitas projects are in progress, thousands of houses, thousands of miles of roads are under construction. The Ministry of Construction is working at full capacity in Camaguey, it can do no more, and it has been discovered that when the necessity arises of converting a house into a day nursery, the Ministry is unable to provide for one cubic meter more of construction on account of the great number of jobs on its hands at present. The Camaguey case is especially difficult.
In Havana, the problem is similar. Many day nurseries are also needed here, yet the Ministry of Construction is unable to do more than it is doing.
At this stage, of scarcity of cement, machinery and construction equipment, the problem can be solved only through maximum efforts on all fronts: sometimes at a regional level, other times at a provincial or national level, using the resources we have at hand.
Nor can we expect that the day nurseries be perfect, that the constructions be perfect, nor the service. They must be as good as possible, but they cannot be perfect.
These problems will have to be solved in many areas of the country, little by little. One million women cannot be employed in one day. A whole series of economic steps must be taken, and agricultural plans set in motion. It would be interesting to know how many women have already started to work in the production of consumers' goods as well as in services since the triumph of the Revolution, how many are working as nurses aides, technicians, industrial and agricultural workers. If a statistical study were made as to how many women have begun to work since the triumph of the Revolution, phe st would probably be close to 150,000, and certainly no less than that! (AP- LAUSE
This figure, of course, is not based on exact statistics, and it seems to us that
a study should be made in order to learn precisely how many women have found work in newly created jobs, in jobs created by the Revolution.
Next year the number of women working will be considerably greater. Why? Because a whole series of plans will get underway, mainly in agriculture. Several thousand women are to be incorporated into the Banao Plan and when that Plan reaches its maximum development, it will require six or seven thousand women. In Pinares de Mayari, some eight thousand women will be working by springtime. In the coffee-plant nurseries set up for the 1967-68 coffee-growing plan, 30,000 women will be needed and many thousands will work in the reforestation plans, in vegetable cultivation, and other thousands are being incorporated into jobs in the cities. This means that more than 50,000 women will be involved in tasks related to production by next year, and this will require an enormous and simultaneous effort to be made so that all of the problems related to dining halls, schools, and children's day nurseries may be worked out.
I am going to tell you something. Without the incorporation of women, the Banao Plan could never have gotten off the ground, nor could the plans for microclimate vegetable cultivation in Oriente Province have been carried out. Without the incorporation of women, the plans for coffee growing could not even have been considered.
Many of the plans that the Revolution is today drawing up and beginning to carry ‘out could not have been conceived until the great reservoir of human resources that our society possesses in its women was clearly seen for what it was. These plans, which stand for extraordinary contributions to the economic development of our country, to the increased well-being of our people, could not have been conceived without the mass incorporation of women into work.