JUAN
ALMEIDA BOSQUE (seated left) and Antonio Nifiez Jiménez (seated right) enjoying a cup of coffee in a Harlem cafe in September 1960. They were part of a delegation that accompanied Fidel Castro to New York when the Cuban leader addressed the United Nations on the problem of American imperialism and its belligerent policies. The people in Harlem turned out in huge crowds, surrounding the Hotel Teresa where the revolutionists stayed and giving them a welcome that is still remembered in the New York ghetto.
Many have been led to believe that the workers can produce more and better only by means of the direct increase of their salaries or their individual economic incentive. This is true in a capitalist society, since the workers are not the owners of the means of production. They do not own the factories, the land or the country's wealth. They work only to subsist, to survive, without faith or hope in the future. And this is a logical thing under a system of exploitation where work is not dignified and can never be dignified.
The Revolution Should Have Absolute Faith in the Workers
The concept that, in production, man can only be moved by an increased salary or by increased individual economic incentive, is the concept of the capitalist society, of the bourgeois society.
Under socialism, this concept contains a grave falsehood. The Revolution must have absolute confidence in the workers. If the workers are aware that the wealth they produce will go to the people, that is, to themselves; if the workers acquire an awareness that it is necessary and fair to work more and better, the workers themselves will become more interested in increasing production. If workers and farmers know that production increases the welfare of the entire society, that is, of the workers themselves, their children and their relatives, then the working masses will consciously double and triple their efforts to carry out a more efficient task by increasing production.
For this reason, under socialism, production and work become one of the most dignified and honorable tasks. This is a question of awareness among the workers. When such conditions are created, there arises a new awareness, a new idea and a
new concept of work. Only by working will we have more schools, hospitals, children's nurseries, houses, food and modern means of production. Today our people en~ joy such important services as public health care gratis. Educational and sports benefits have not come to the workers by means of salary increases. Be~ ginning in 1970, that is, in three years, no citizen who complies with his social duties will have to pay rent (APPLAUSE), and gradually, in our march toward conmmunism, other services and goods will be offered gratis to our people.
There are in this reviewing stand more than 4,000 workers; a national selection from the millions of men and women of the people (APPLAUSE) now working in the various production, industry and agriculture programs throughout our coun~ try. They are the representatives of an advance force on the path toward communism. They are the representatives of our people.
Here are:
The three-million-arroba canecutters' brigade of the Revolutionary Armed Forces (APPLAUSE).
All the canecutters of the 36 twomillion-arroba brigades (APPLAUSE).
The outstanding canecutters of the 42 one-million-arroba brigades (APPLAUSE).
The 100,000-arroba canecutters (AP- PLAUSE).
The most outstanding metalworkers (APPLAUSE) who have participated in the construction of agricultural machines.
The most outstanding small farmers and workers of other sectors (APPLAUSE).
All these workers are the representatives of an immense advance force that is building communism in our country and that, with its work and efforts, is creating the bases for a different society, and the conditions for a happier life. These thousands of men here represent the millions and millions of men and women who, throughout our nation (APPLAUSE), are carrying out the heroic task of producing more and better. Men and women like those who today fill this Plaza de la Revolucién are devoted to the tasks undertaken by our people, aware of their significance and value, and aware that only thus can they build the future of coming generations on a solid, firm and resistant base. They are an advance force, and this advance force will each day become larger, more enthusiastic and more revolutionary.
Those who wish to know what man is in a communist system, the man of the new society we are now building, let them speak with the workers who built the harrows (APPLAUSE);let them hold discussions with the canecutters throughout our country; let them ask the women of Banao.(AP- PLAUSE), the young women of Guane and the Isle of Pines (APPLAUSE), the tens of thousands of students of technology who during this harvest have been cutting cane for three months, or the workers who are building the Industrial City in Nuevitas (AP- PLAUSE), the small farmers working in the coffee programs (APPLAUSE) and the soldiers cutting cane anywhere in the country (AP- PLAUSE). Those who want to know what man is in a communist system, who want to know his ideas, his aspirations and his concerns, let them go into our fields and interview our comrades working in the projects of Banao, La Caoba, Pinares de Mayari, Isle of Pines, San Andrés de Caiguanabo or anywhere else in the country.
What moves 74,000 workers from our cities to go for a period of several months as permanent canecutters in the sugar harvest? What motivates 100,000 young workers who feel under-utilized to respond to the Young Communist League's call for agricultural workers? (APPLAUSE) What inspires tens of thousands of city workers to go out for two years' agricultural work, giving up their regular salaries for the wages paid in the countryside? What has moved thousands of men and women from all provinces to participate in agricultural production programs?
inspired by_an Ideal of Work and Effort
What has motivated thousands and thousands of service and administrative workers from the capital in their decision to devote one week of each month to agricultural work? What stimulus, what spirit have spurred tens of thousands of members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces on to cut 450 million arrobas of cane in this people's sugar harvest? (APPLAUSE)
This overwhelming movement has been made possible only by the existence of an ideological factor, the superior revolutionary consciousness of our people. These 4,000 men from different parts of our country who are here today with us, representing millions of workers from all over the country, find their inspiration in an ideal of work and perseverance.
They are moved by this ideal, spurred on by revolutionary consciousness. These thousands of workers, farmers, young people and women, are not cut from a different cloth than the rest of the people. Millions like them have made heroic efforts so that the production and agricultural plans in diverse parts of the country might advance. What inspires these people is revolutionary consciousness, a sense of duty in work, communist convictions, the conviction that one works in
behalf of a future, in behalf of the entire people.
If we believe in these ideas, we believe in communism. If we believe in the strength of these convictions and in the correctness of these ideas, we believe in the people. We believe in this immense multitude of workers, farmers, students, men and women: the entire people.
If this people has been able to confront the greatest dangers, if it does not fear imperialism, if it has shown its disposition to fight until death, if necessary, then we have good reason to feel assured that our people and the coming generations will create, through their work, a society and a future that improves with each passing day, and that they will do it joyfully, enthusiastically, inspired not only by the benefit that each individual obtains, but also by the benefit that the entire people obtains, collectively. Today our people are convinced that what each one of us wants is what the entire people want.
What does all this mean? How is all of this possible? Only one thing makes it possible, and that is that the Cuban workers are working for their Revolutiecn, because the factories belong to the workers, and not to any particular person but to all the people in general.
There is something even more important: The new generations in our centers of learning, children and youth, are being steeped in these principles, in these ideas. Thousands of junior and senior high school students, along with their teachers, have joined the "School to the Countryside" Plan (APPLAUSE), tens of thousands of university students have joined in agricultural work for a while each year. Agricultural work has been scheduled in our educational centers and our political schools for 45 days a year. Participation in this program has been voluntary, and nevertheless, the mass of university and secondary students have joined in this mighty movement, with the enthusiasm and backing of their parents. This means that the ideas of work, the concept of work and the value of work govern the moral and ideological upbringing of the younger generation.
Our Party and our people are absolutely certain that, oriented by those ideas, inspired by those sentiments and moving in that direction, we will be able to produce all that we desire, all that the advance of science and technology permits us. Accompanying, and parallel to, these ideas, we are carrying out an ambitious program for the technical and scientific training, the educational -571-
preparation of the younger generation.
Fidel has stated that these ideas, accompanied by technology and science, will guide us in solving the fundamental problems facing us on the road to communism, on the road to the new society.
Substance of the Cuban
Revolution's March Onward
to Communism
‘We believe in the people's convic-— tion as a determining force because we believe in the people, because we form part of the people and because with our own eyes we have seen their capacity for work and sacrifice. And we also believe that if along with this we carry out programs for technical training and scientific development, we will come to have a decisive force that will set us well on the road to communism, to material abundance. But -- as Fidel has said -- this is also a question of the formation of communist man, communist consciousness at the same time (APPLAUSE), laying stress on the education of our workers, the training of our technicians and the preparation of the younger generation. These ideas, set forth by Fidel so many times, stressed on so many occasions, constitute the essence, the heart of the Cuban Revolution's road to communism. Communism is built so that men may live better and satisfy their basic spiritual and material needs. But it will not be possible to build communism without formi communist men at the same time (APPLAUSE), without educating ourselves in those ideas, without tempering ourselves with those ideas, and without carrying out the great programs for technical and educational preparation on which we lay so much stress.
The heightening of this revolutionary consciousness and love for work has been accompanied by a greater precision in our plans for agricultural development and economic development in general. Years ago we did not clearly see the steps we should have to take to build communism. There were many ideas on this subject, and we did not see the fundamental lines, the essential cornerstones on which we should have to build our future. In recent years, we have been strengthening the direction of agriculture at the base, and we have been drawing up detailed plans. We can best sum up the fundamental tasks in this regard by quoting what Comrade Fidel (AP- PLAUSE) said in his speech at the first graduation of agricultural technicians:
"On this stretch of the road to socialism, the Revolution lays fundamental emphasis on agriculture and stock raising, and on that branch of industry which best serves their development and the branch that is concerned with processing the products of agriculture and stock raising."
Later, Fidel himself stressed the importance of construction and transportation to the success of these endeavors.
The tasks undertaken by our Revolution in the field of production include: development of large-scale - plans in the sugar sector, both industrially and agriculturally; development of dairy cattle through artificial insemination; pasturage; fertilization and the use of leguminous plants; development of plans for coffee, tobacco, citrus fruits, forestation, horticulture and poultry; plans for construction in line with long-range projects for the sugar industry, agriculture and stock raising; housing both in sugar mill regions and in other rural areas; completion of hydraulic plans, improvement of transportation and roads to assure the success of agricultural and livestock plans; special attention to development of those industries that help agriculture and the general construction of the economy. Likewise we are attending to the development of the food _ industry and extensive plans in the fishing industry are under way. Both the latter are already showing important successes. There are industrial sectors that have great influence on agricultrual and livestock production, such as the fertilizer industry (APPLAUSE), construction of agricultural machinery, building materials and fuels, and they must receive special attention. Cement factories, electricity, petroleum and the nickel mining industry are also included in the priority ranking indicated for agriculture and the economy in general.
Two problems arise in the development of agricultural and livestock plans: lack of a sufficient labor supply in the countryside, and the lack of technology and technicians in agriculture. These problems are of an extremely complex nature. The lack of a sufficient labor supply was greatly felt in agriculture at the beginning of the Revolution. As a result of starvation wages paid by the capitalists in rural areas and, even more, of unemployment, as well as the difficult living conditions that existed in the countryside, our country had experienced a mass migration of agricultural workers from the countryside to the city, principally to provincial capitals and especially to Havana, where they generally couldn't find employment, and ended up either living a parasitic existence or falling into the clutches of those who made their living through vice. This resulted in great population concentrations in the larger cities, especially the capital of the Republic, while extensive zones -~ such as exist in Camaguey, occupied by vast stretches of rich land covered with briar, or western Pinar del Rio Province, or the Isle of Pines, or cer- -572-
tain parts of Oriente Province -- were practically unpopulated.
In the largest cities the Revolution found large numbers of unemployed or under-employed, as well as broad tureaucratic sectors dedicated to unproductive and sterile work; a bureaucracy increased considerably by the corrupt maneuvers of unscrupulous individuals.
The Masses and Agricultural Awareness
The solution had to come from agricultural development, increased technology and the development of technicians, the use of machinery and modern techniques, the creation of a better standard of living in the countryside, and above all fron the emergence of agricultural awareness among the masses that would channel and guarantee the success of measures to be taken and plans made to carry out such an important endeavor. The Revolution has built schools, hospitals and other services in the mountains and other isolated regions of the countryside that the residents had never dreamed they would enjoy, but this alone would not have been sufficient to win the battle of agriculture. We had to bring technology and technicians to the countryside.
Some years ago, the Revolution set itself the task of increasing the labor supply, incorporating thousands of men and women into agricultural work and, through better organization and technology, of raising the productivity of regular agricultural workers as well as those more recently incorporated.
We are also striving to raise the agricultural yield per unit, and it cannot be denied that the use of fertilizers and knowledge of its use by our farmers will be decisive factors in the success of this endeavor.
That is the path we have taken, one whose pertinence has become increasingly clear to all in the last few years. Without these concepts and these plans, we would not be able to implement the ambitious agricultural and livestock projects the Revolution has undertaken. These plans include those being carried out under the direct orientation of Comrade Fidel (AP- PLAUSE) in various regions of the country such as Guane, Banao, San Andrés, Pinares de Mayari, La Caoba, the Isle of Pines, the Escambray, and many others, Following the twelfth CTC [Confederacién de Trabajadores Cubanos] Congress, the Cuban trade-union movement announced that the principal task was "All efforts concentrated on agriculture." Moreover, a broad movement, designed to incorporate industrial workers, young people, city dwellers and women in agricultural tasks, was begun.
In order to solve the problem of an
insufficient labor supply, thousands of women who could do various agricultural tasks have been incorporated during the last few months into the previously mentioned plans.
More than 20,000 young people of the 100,000 who have signed up are already doing agricultural work in Camaguey, the Isle of Pines and other regions throughout the country. Several thousand workers, at the vanguard of which are communists from the cities, have joined in agricultural production (APPLAUSE), pledging to remain in the countryside for no less than two years. In the next few months this movement will grow and today we already find it deeply etched in the revolutionary conscience of our working class.
There are many workers in our industrial centers who have not been able to go to the countryside owing to the inportance of their jobs in the factories and who, however, have expressed disappointment at not having been able to join in the plan. Many have wanted to go; others have asked why they are not taken. Today, 80,000 youths are waiting to be called. The problem is no longer a shortage of workers but rather the minimum material conditions that must be created in some of the zones in order to incorporate these young people into agricultural work.
The incorporation of women into tasks befitting their physical condition has become a major, powerful force. And so that women may participate in these huge projects on a large scale, it is indispensable that they be completely freed from such work as housekeeping and child care during working hours. For this reason, to gain experience and meet the need for manpower to as great a degree as possible pilot plans such as those in an Andrés de Caiguanabo and Guane in Pinar del Rio, Banao, in Las Villas Esmeralda and Cunagua in Camaguey, Pinares de Mayarf and Mais{ in Oriente, the Isle of Pines and others have been put into operation. In each of these pilot plans building projects include more than 24 rural nurseries and more than 12 boarding schools encompassing first grade to junior high.
Most Valuable Experience Gained from the Organization of the Sugar Harvest
In the case of older students -those in high school -- the combination of education and productive work will be instrumental in developing a true revolutionary consciousness. These pilot projects will also be concerned with housing and improvement of social services, with an emphasis on the best attention to the people's health and recreation, including both sports and cultural activities. -373-
The workers gathered here and our people in general are aware that the Revolution's creative work has penetrated and will continue penetrating deep into the heart of the mountains and fields of Cuba. Suffice it to recall the roads built by the Revolution in the most remote regions of the country. Today there are 10 Construction Brigades in full operation. By August we will have 40 road-building brigades. The farmers in those regions are well aware of what this means for our economic and social development.
The work of the People's Seventh Sugar Harvest can be considered as one of the revolution's great victories this year. (APPLAUSE) We have made great advances in organization and mobilization and work efficiency in this harvest. The present harvest, which began in November with what we call the "little harvest," has been developing at an increasing pace during the last few months; we are on our way to six million tons of sugar, and nobody has any doubts that we will go over the six-million mark. (APPLAUSE) This year's mobilization has been not only the largest but also the best organized. It included approximately 74,000 for-theduration volunteer canecutters and 35,000 students from technological institutes. Our Revolutionary Armed Forces, which mobilized tens of thousands of soldiers, set out to cut 350 million arrobas of cane; today it seems sure that goal will be surpassed.
This year's experiences in organization of the harvest were of great value. We must emphasize the work done by Party organizations in the province of Las Villas, where there was the greatest degree of organization, efficiency and speed in solving problems.
We must also stress the effort made by the Revolutionary Armed Forces and, in general, by all Party branches which have made the sugar harvest their principal task.
Similarly the workers' movement has turned out a superior performance in this harvest. This is due to a higher degree of organization and discipline. This year's organization and mobilization for the harvest have been superior to those of any other year. The people's revolutionary awareness has been superior. No one has any doubts as to this.
At present there are 69 cane-conditioning centers in operation and our mills' grinding capacity has been expanded to more than 1,200,000 arrobas (300,000 ewt.) Lone arroba = 25 lbs.] per day. We have 1,000 cane combines and 4,500 loaders! That is, this year we have taken significant steps in mechanizing sugar-cane operations. The cane-conditioning center has established itself as one of the Revo-
lution's great accomplishments. It is passing through its experimental stage to become a decisive instrument in the development of our sugar industry. We expect to have about 400 conditioning centers by 1970; one hundred this year, another hundred the next year, and 150 on the eve of the 10-million-ton sugar harvest (APPLAUSE). We must guarantee the solution of a whole series of technical, operational and organizational problems in connection with cane-conditioning centers. These centers involve mechanical, organizational and management problems.
The effort being made in the province of Camaguey will be a profitable experience for us in future harvests. This year the Party organisms and the farm workers in Camaguey have gained valuable experience in the organization and management of conditioning centers. Workers and communists have been mobilized to be trained as operators and organizers of cane-conditioning centers. The conditioning center represents one of the most revolutionary steps ever taken in the history of Cuba's economy. Suffice it to say that under a capitalist system no bourgeois would have ever thought of or would have been interested in inventing or organizing cane-conditioning centers. Analyze this, and you'll realize the difference between the past, the present and the future.
Our Great Victories Will Never Cause Us to Forget Our Obligations
Today our entire nation is aware of the hard work done by the canecutters. For some years we will still have to cut, load and clean sugar cane by hand. But with the introduction of the caneconditioning center and machines, some part of the work has become a little more humanized on the one hand, while, on the other, production can be raised considerably.
Our plans for future harvests would be impossible without the caneconditioning centers and mechanization. The conditioning center and the mechanical loader allow for a considerable increase in work yield. Thus, an additional 100 conditioning centers in Camaguey to handle the expected increased volume of cane in that province will mean a saving of 25,000 canecutters.
Of course, the Seventh Harvest is not over yet. We still have to make a great, final effort to be victorious in this battle. Nobody doubts that we will win the battle. The final effort will be concentrated principally upon Oriente Province. Last year a littie over 1,104 million arrobas (276 million cwt.) of cane were ground in that province. This year's most recent estimate showed the amount of over 1,472 million arrobas (368 million cwt.) of cane. By April 26, more than 3245 million arrobas (86 million cwt.) remained to be ground in that province. This calls for a great effort. .
The labor movement and the Party organisms will carry out an extensive mobilization of workers, and the Revolutionary Armed Forces will make a special effort to see that not a single stalk of cane remains uncut, in Oriente or in any other province (APPLAUSE).
In the coming weeks, this effort must be concentrated on cutting all the remaining cane in Oriente.
This year, along with the success being achieved in the People's Seventh Sugar Harvest, we have already been hard at work on plans for 1968, whose watchword will be "“Canefields harvested, canefields cultivated." Party and agricultural organizations have been very hard at work, not only cutting cane and assuring the success of the present harvest, but also assuring proper cultivation and attention for next year's sugar crop.
Let's see some figures that show the progress already attained. We have taken important steps forward in fertilizing. This year, approximately 500,000 metric tons of fertilizer will be applied to cane; that is, more than all the fertilizer used on all the crops in our country during 1965, and more than three times the average amount applied to cane from 1956 to 1958, let alone the quality of fertilizers available today -- much higher because of the concentration of nutrients used. Let's see the figures on planting: by April 30, 1965, 11,323 hectares of cane were planted on State farms, and in 1966, by April 15, 15,102 hectares were planted. This year, by the same date (April 15), 27,577 hectares of cane were planted, which means 144 percent more than in 1965 and 83 percent more than in 1966. Also, this year, 65 airplanes, piloted by DAAFAR personnel, will fertilize almost 938,000 hectares with foliar urea, in addition to the compound formula fertilizer applied to the soil during these months.
Fulfillment of goals in cane planting, development of new plantations and restoration of canefields, stipulated in plans for 1967, 1968 and spring of 1969, both on State and privately-owned farms, must be taken as a prime obligation and should be guaranteed success. Moreover, it is necessary to continue waging this intense struggle to raise yields, since this is fundamental in reaching the 10-millionmark. As Fidel said: “Our country's size is limited, and we have to combine two criteria: maximum output per man, simultaneously with maximum yield per land area." This means greater effort in cultivation, fertilization and irrigation, as well as
improving the composition of sugar cane varieties.
Never before in our whole history have we worked so much, so opportunely, so profoundly, with such dedication, in this field. Cane is being fertilized as never before, and we will receive yields far superior to any previously. We are making big investments in the sugar industry, in sugar transport, in docks; in short, there are great quantities of resources involved in order to keep up with the development of cane plantations. This is how we may reach the 10-million-ton mark by 1970. And indeed we will reach it!
This is not all our people have accomplished and will continue to accomplish. It would be impossible to explain all the details of this creative work of our people. We have just touched upon the essentials.
Our people will build their future by making gigantic efforts. In the midst of economic blockade and under the threat of aggression, or beset by aggres-— sion itself, we will work very hard during these years of struggle and combat. Our people work: cutting and fertilizing cane, planting citrus and other fruit trees, coffee, rice and root vegetables, artificially inseminating cattle, clearing for pasturelands, building homes and factories, giving impetus to industrial development and improving administrative and political organization in our State. But, at the same time, our people do not forget their obligation to other peoples.
The victories of our people are not only Cuba's but are those of all the peoples of the continent (APPLAUSE). Our progress is not only the progress of one nation, but, in a very essential way, is a decisive step in the progress of the entire continent (APPLAUSE.
We are aware of our international obligations. We cannot conceive of revolutionary obligations for us that do not include the binding obligation of helping, through our example and our attitude, the progress of the Revolution in Latin America (APPLAUSE). The Cuban workers have embraced the ideology of Marxism-Leninism. This ideology teaches us to fulfill our sacred international obligations. We build the future of our country with passion and with decision, but, at the same time, we know that we are part of a continent in the throes of a revolution, and that that continent is part of a world in sworn combat against Yankee imperialisn, principal enemy of the peoples.
Our successes, our great victories, will never cause us to forget our obligations. When the people of South Viet Nam (APPLAUSE) win a victory, that victory is also our own; when a patriot falls in conmpat for the liberation of his people, he has also given his life for the liberation of our people and of all the peoples of the world (APPLAUSE); when the workers of North Viet Nam heroically resist the criminal Yankee air raids or shoot down an imperialist plane, they are resisting and fighting on behalf of the revolutionary cause of all the peoples of the world. And those who fight in Latin America to liberate our peoples will be fighting to redeem all the exploited peoples of the world.
This is why the Cuban workers have taken the unalterable decision to struggle and combat: to struggle and combat for the triumph of revolution in Latin America, and to help the progress of revolution in the world all we can (APPLAUSE).
We combat and struggle on behalf of the exploited classes and oppressed peoples of the world. We Cuban workers feel the revolutionary cause in Asia, Africa and Latin America to be our own. The liberation movement of the peoples of these three continents, subjected to imperialist and colonialist exploitation, constitutes a sole great revolutionary current. This revolutionary torrent will destroy imperialist exploitation throughout the world. The peoples of the three continents, exploited and oppressed for centuries, will develop a revolutionary strength and action of decisive significance for humanity.
This tricontinental force plays a determining role in the world struggle against imperialism, the struggle against all systems and governments which exploit the peoples (APPLAUSE).
Cuba: The Home of the World's Workers
Our country, our Revolution, are an inseparable part of this great revolutionary current. The Cuban Revolution is not an isolated event in the world. The Cuban Revolution is just a beginning, the starting point of the Latin-American Revolution (APPLAUSE). Cuba is part of a continent in revolution. In order to understand our Party's policy, in order to understand the ideas of our people, it is vital to understand the significance of this historic event. In any other way, with any other criteria, from any other point of view, it is impossible to understand Cuba and the Revolution.
Cuban workers and farmers, all of us, have been able to clearly grasp the international ideas of Marxism-Leninism and we have embraced these ideas. Moreover, our nation's history has much in common with the history of the peoples of Latin America. We shall never renounce this common heritage! We shall never renounce the international responsibilities that Marxism-Leninism has taught us!
Each of us loves his country, each of us loves the heritage of struggle, and each of us understands as well that Cuba is part of a greater homeland! The homeland of the peoples of Latin America (AP- PLAUSE). The homeland of the workers of the world! We shall never betray these principles. We shall never betray these ideas! If we should forget these principles, if we should overlook these ideas, we would not be able to call ourselves communists! (APPLAUSE. ) If we overlook these truths, we will not be worthy of our nation's history, nor will we be worthy of the glorious heritage of struggle on our continent.
That is why the Cuban people have upheld their faith in Latin~American and communist ideals. And that is why the people of Cuba have vowed "to triumph or die!" (APPLAUSE) in defense of the ideals of all the workers of the world. These are the ideals of the proletariat, the ideals of the working class, and these are our ideals as revolutionaries and communists! (APPLAUSE. )
During the past decade great changes have occurred on our continent. Before our Revolution the imperialists had never spoken of any type of reform or any changes in the social structure on this continent. When the Cuban Revolution triumphed and consolidated its strength, some imperialist leaders and spokesmen began to shamelessly and hypocritically speak of the need to make changes in the social structure of the continent. For many years, leftist and progressive sectors fought for social change. The imperialists, however, never conceded the need for such changes, but rather, each time that a government arose which they feared would make some changes, no matter how superficial, how modest, the imperialists, in close collaboration with the prevailing military, overthrew that government. The history of Latin America shows this clearly.
The imperialists spoke of the need for certain social changes for the first time in their history after the walloping we gave them at Playa Girén (APPLAUSE). Thus, these shameless, cynical exploiters came to think up the so-called "Alliance for Progress."
The "Alliance for Progress" was a pact made by the continent's bourgeois governments with the Yankee imperialists.
According to the early statements of some of its perpetrators, the "Alliance for Progress" contemplated the development of changes in landed property relationships; that is, pertaining to large landowners. In addition, this marriage of convenience between the Latin- American bourgeoisie and the Yankee imperialists was also designed to facilitate the investment of new Yankee capital and loans to Latin-American governments.
Quarrels between Master and Underlings
The collusion of the "Alliance for Progress" was, in the first place, an attempt to fool the people. The people didn't let themselves be fooled. However, this "alliance" was also a way to fool some who wanted to have the wool pulled over their eyes.
Such an "alliance" could not possibly yield any concrete results. In the 1961 Punta del Este Conference, Comrade Che Guevara attended as Cuba's representative (OVATION), denouncing the reactionary nature of the "alliance" and predicting that it would yield no practical results. History has proved Che and Cuba to be correct.
What did the imperialists hope to accomplish with the "Alliance for Progress"? They hoped to use a mild sedative to cure the fatal ailment afflicting the capitalist and imperialist system of exploitation throughout the continent. The "Alliance for Progress" was, therefore, a shoddy and criminal fraud in which the only ones to be deceived were the selfsame authors of the plan. The peoples and revolutionaries knew from the beginning what the outcome would be. And the passage of time has proved the "Alliance for Progress" to be a colossal flop.
Later, Yankee imperialism ordered the governments of Latin America to break diplomatic and commercial relations with Cuba, and to join forces in a criminal, economic blockade undertaken against our country. With the honorable exception of the government of Mexico (APPLAUSE) the governments of Latin America broke relations with our country, responding to the dictates of Yankee imperialism, and joined together in the criminal blockade that Yankee imperialism intended to establish against Cuba. The puppet governments broke relations with Cuba, supported the blockade, and thereby earned the contempt of their own peoples.
Cuba is honored that these reactionary and unprincipled gentlemen, enemies of the international working class, decided to break relations with our country (AP- PLAUSE). It is for that reason that we maintained and will always maintain that any assistance or cooperation by these governments will be rejected by Cuba. They, as we say in the vernacular, sold their souls to the devil. They are bedfellows of imperialism and the oligarchies of the continent and will have to suffer the consequences. And the consequences are already being felt through revolutions on the continent.
A few weeks ago, the Yankee impe-
rialists and their lackeys met at Punta del Este. There it became evident that even between the boss and his flunkeys there exists a feeling of disillusion and anxiety. In fact, it was seen that some of the lackeys decided to create a few problems for the imperialists. Sefior Arosemena, President of Ecuador, "dared" to disagree with Mr. Johnson. Immediately afterward he said that it was not Johnson's fault, that the Yankee senate was to blame. This is the type of "discrepancy" that these toadies are permitted to have with their lords and masters (AP- PLAUSE). However these petty quarrels between master and lackey are quite significant. It would be well to analyze what these quarrels mean as well as what facts gave rise to then.
The quarrels are due to the revolution's advance. The same thing has happened now in Bolivia (APPLAUSE) where Barrientos and other "gorillas" have had their conflicts and discrepancies.
These conflicts will continue and will become more and more acute as the revolution advances. Such "conflicts" between master and underlings are of no great importance since all belong to the same species of shameless parasites. The only importance of such conflicts and contradictions lies in the fact that they arise and develop thanks to the revolution and, consequently, they reveal the force of the revolution. No such discrepancies existed prior to the triumph of the Cuban Revolution. Our people are well aware of the character of these quarrels between the imperialist master and one or another puppet who dares disagree. However, this is well worth pointing out because later on some pseudo revolutionaries in some country on this continent may get the wrong idea that such contradic-— tions are important. The only importance these contradictions have is that they show that the reactionaries of the United States, as well as those of Latin America, are terrified, scared out of their wits, and “shook up" by the revolution's advance. If you really want to see how these discrepancies become deeper, let us advance further on the revolutionary road and we may yet witness these people at each others' throats. Of course, by then, many of them will have no throats left (APPLAUSE).
The Punta del Este Conference was a resounding failure. This has been acknowledged by the press in many countries, including capitalist countries. The great mobilization carried out by the people of Uruguay during the Conference and the active participation of popular and leftist organizations made the people's repudiation of the Conference evident.
There are some pseudo revolutionaries in Latin America who believe that it is necessary to make a bourgeois revolution first in order to follow it up with a workers' revolution. This moves us to laughter. But those who are not aware of Latin America's true situation may be confused by such opinions. In Latin America, the time for bourgeois revolutions has ended forever. The stage of great popular, workers' revolutions, through the struggle for national liberation and with the incorporation of the workers, peasants, students, and the most progressive strata of the petty bourgeoisie and the bourgeoisie, has now begun in this continent. To say that these revolutions are to be led by the bourgeoisie would be simplistic.
Since the bourgeoisie has been powerless to face imperialism, it would be even more powerless to lead the revolution. A dogmatic, schematic criterion would consider that since, in the evolution of the historic process in Europe, the bourgeois revolution came first and only later was a proletarian revolution undertaken, the same process must necessarily follow in Latin America. This is an absurdly abstract theory that clashes openly with the continent's economic, social and political reality.
Affectionate Greetings from the
Cuban People to Major Guevara
In our America there is an enormous diversity of social sectors. In Latin America there is the labor of slaves, of serfs, feudal and semifeudal type work, and the work of the salaried workers. In addition, there are millions of underemployed or unemployed persons and millions of students and intellectuals suffering in various ways under a system of exploitation.
A rigid, formalist sketch of the class division in the continent cannot be made. What is important is that all the aforementioned sectors, that constitute the overpowering majority of the Latin- American peoples, have one common denoninator: they are exploited, subjected masses and, in addition to the terrible conditions under which they live, they have a continent-wide tradition of struggle; they feel the need to fight for national independence, to complete the work of the liberators of the last century whose ideal for the continent was one undivided nation!
In Latin America, conditions of poverty and exploitation and the terror and tyranny exercised by the great majority of the governments on the continent inevitably bring the people to revolution. This situation existed for many decades. However, neither the form nor the means to develop a revolution had previously been found on our continent. The experience of the Cuban revolution made it evident that
imperialism and oligarchic governments could be defeated as long as the correct tactics and strategy were adopted.
Our Revolution, with its experience and its victories, showed what these means and tactics were!
During the years following the triumph of the Cuban Revolution, although conditions of poverty, exploitation and terror had become more evident there, and even though there already existed a body of experience relevant to the choice ofa road for revolutionary struggle in Latin America, there was no decision to fight on the part of many of those who were leaders of the revolutionary movement. It is, in fact, loathsome that certain groups -- such as those who make up the rightist leadership of the Communist Party of Venezuela -- should abandon the revolutionary struggle undertaken by the people and hastily select the appeaser's road of playing politics and engaging in disreputable electioneering, betraying hundreds of combatants who have fallen in the struggle and those who, heroic and unconquerable, fight on in the mountains.
Those who condemn the guerrilla combatants are, in effect, showing solidarity with imperialism and the reactionary government whose mercenary troops launch one offensive after another in their futile attempts to liquidate the guerrillas. The setbacks -- which have served as the justification for this infamous conduct -- were not a result of incorrect tactics but rather the result of the inability of these same fraudulent leaders and pseudo revolutionaries to direct the struggle of the Venezuelan people. And certain leaders of revolutionary movements in Latin America have not fully understood the Cuban experience. What has occurred is that a painful and bitter apprenticeship has been needed in order for men truly capable of leading the Latin- American revolution to emerge.
In recent months we have seen that such men have emerged and the leadership of the struggle has been taken over by the foremost and most capable combatants. The victory of the revolution in the past few months is fundamentally due to the amount of experience that has been gained in the past few years and the fact that leadership in the struggle has gradually passed into the hands of capable new men men prepared to triumph or die (APPLAUSE). And who are these men?
The men in Guatemala who follow the heroic path of Turcios Lima (AP- PLAUSE). Those men in Colombia led by Fabio Vazquez in the north and Marulanda in the south (APPLAUSE). Those men in Venezuela with Douglas Bravo in the mountains of Falcén and those fighting with Américo Martin in El Bachiller. The heroic combatants in Bolivia (APPLAUSE) who have inflicted serious defeats on the Barrientos gorilla government, and those in Brazil who have already begun to disturb the gorillas in power there. These men, united with the farmers in a formidable movement, joined with workers and students in guerrilla action and the struggle in the cities, are the true leaders of the revolution on the continent.
Moreover, the peoples of Latin America can count on the experience, ability and talent of a man who has become one of the biggest nightmares for the imperialists; a man of profound experience, of extraordinary authority; a leader put to the actual test, who is serving the Revolution and making a decisive contribution to the revolutionary cause: Major Ernesto Guevara (OVATION). Our people send him greetings. To him and his heroic comrades we send a warm embrace (APPLAUSE), a fraternal embrace from the members of our Armed Forces, the workers in our factories, our nation's farmers, the students of our educational centers. Our workers and our people send greetings to him and to those who are with him. We assure Major Guevara, our dear comrade, that our people unconditionally and unanimously support his historic message to the people of Asia, Africa and Latin America! (OVATION.) Expressing the feelings of the immense crowd gathered before this grandstand, we assure Major Guevara that we are with him, that the Cuban Revolution continues advancing and that the people for whom he fought and struggled will never slacken their pace (APPLAUSE).
Today the Latin-American continent is experiencing a profound revolutionary upheaval. A revolutionary force is advanc-— ing from one end of our America to the other. Among the peoples of America are great masses of workers and farmers with an indomitable spirit of struggle. These are also students who will be a fundamental force in the struggle. City workers, students and farmers will mobilize in support of the guerrilla forces in many Latin- American countries, or will themselves join the guerrilla bands to compose an organized force, an army that will create a crisis for the oligarchic and proimperialist governments of the continent. The driving force, the catalyst of this struggle will be the revolutionary guerrilla struggle, which we have seen erupt in Guatemala, Colombia, Venezuela and Bolivia. We will also see this happen in other countries of America.
The hour of revolution in Latin America has arrived. For many years leftist organizations and parties have maintained theoretical positions in favor of Marxist, socialist and communist ideas; so-called Latin-American leftist leaders fought for these ideas in various ways for many years. Now it does not only involve
defending an idea or a program on a basis of principle. Now it involves actively struggling and fighting for revolutionary ideas! Now it is revolutionary action, revolutionary deeds that define revolutionaries!
The Hour for the People's Action Has Struck
The time of "theorizing" has passed in Latin America. The time has come for the people to act, and the people have begun to act. And as Maceo said: "When a people undertakes revolution, it does not give up until its efforts are crowned with victory." (APPLAUSE. )
The peoples of America have begun their revolution. Each man, each organization, each party of America will make its own decision. But this decision will define them in the eyes of the international revolutionary movement and in the eyes of history. Today, it does not mean saying: "I'm a revolutionary, a Communist, a Marxist-Leninist." The time of "sayings" has passed. It is the time of DEEDS. The decision that each party or oganization takes will define it in the eyes of history, will define it in the eyes of its people. And the peoples will follow the fighters, they will rally around the combatants, the revolutionaries, the men of action. The masses will be moved by the guerrilla forces and revolutionary action. In Guatemala, Colombia, Venezuela and Bolivia the problem is being decided on the field of deeds.
In countries like Chile and Uruguay the problem is posed in the field of aid and support of deeds. For all revolutionary organizations must assist the combatants, must cooperate with the conpatants, must provide them with all kinds of aid. These are the internationalist principles of Marxism, these are the internationalist principles of the proletariat. The time of words has passed. For many years we have said a great deal about "proletarian internationalism." The time has come to put what we say into action, to prove what we mean with deeds. For us the phrase "proletarian internationalism" is clear. It means to support and help the revolutionary movement of the oppressed peoples of Asia, Africa and Latin America CAPPLAUSE). The Cuban peo-
ple have made their decision; they made it a long time ago.
The revolutionary struggle of the peoples of Latin America will continue developing the revolutionary awareness of the fighting men and workers. Struggle and only struggle will be the great teacher of revolutionaries. Struggle will raise their awareness; struggle will strengthen revolutionaries; struggle will teach the masses. And no one doubts that the guerrilla fighters in Bolivia have developed more revolutionary awareness than could be learned in a thousand manuals; no one can doubt that the revolutionary actions of the Venezuelan patriots have forged a greater revolutionary awareness than another thousand philosophy manuals. No one can doubt that the revolutionary actions of the farmers and workers of Colombia have taught them more than a thousand manuals on econony.
Our peoples are tired of waiting. The people will gather round the men who don't wait but have decided to act. The peoples will be led by those who carry out the Revolution, and for that reason the Second Declaration of Havana proclaims: "The duty of every revolutionary is to make the Revolution." (APPLAUSE. ) And the true representatives of the revolutionary movement will come from the masses, the organizations, the fighters.
We Wish a Revolution
Greater Than Our Own for America
The pseudo revolutionaries accuse our country of trying to direct the revolution from Cuba. We know full well that revolutions are made by the people; it is well-known that revolutions are made by revolutionaries, and everyone knows that neither the peoples nor the revolutionaries permit anyone to direct them from outside.
Revolution is made by millions and millions of people who are guided by those who are the most enthusiastic, the most decided, the most active. Those who direct the revolution in each region of the continent will be the enthusiastic decided, active and profoundly revolutionary persons of each country. To say anything else would be absurd. The revolution is directed according to the ability and competence of the revolutionary leaders of each country. This is evident to us. We do not want to impose the example of our Revolution upon Latin America; what we want for America is a revolution greater than the Cuban Revolution itself!
The only honor allotted to our people is that of having been the first to provide the example and the experience. But the glory of the revolution falls to the peoples of Latin America. Today's world needs that revolution, it demands it. A set of nations with a common history and common system of exploitation can only make one and the same revolution!
It would not be an extremely difficult task for the guerrillas and combatants to get rid of the majority of the continent's puppet governments. Some of these governments are suffering serious internal crises, and their instability is quite evident. In Bolivia, for example, recent weeks have been marked by instability and sharp internal division in the "gorilla"
government of Barrientos; as soon as guerrilla forces appeared in that country, Barrientos made bombastic and scandalous statements that revealed his terror, the fear tormenting him. Some of the Bolivian "gorillas" disagreed with Barrientos and declared that it wasn't true that there were any strong guerrilla uprisings in Bolivia. The reactionary press in some Latin-American countries, such as Chile, for example, even said that Barrientos had been lying, that he had been talking about guerrillas because the Conference of Presidents was being held at that time and the Bolivian government had made statements as to the existence of guerrillas in Bolivia in order to exert pressure so that it would be guaranteed military aid and so that an international anti-guerrilla force would be created.
To overthrow a government like that of Bolivia would not be a very difficult task; if we compared the Bolivian government's armed forces with that of the Batista tyranny, we could easily conclude that the Batista tyranny was militarily stronger than the Bolivian "gorillas." Nevertheless, we know that the fight is not only directed against a government or a discredited military caste: the revolutionary struggle on the continent has a much wider scope; the imperialists and the oligarchies will surely attempt to rally all their reactionary forces in a united way. The imperialists are already intervening and initiating a colonial war against our peoples.
The government and the people of North Viet Nam (APPLAUSE), who are constantly bombed by Yankee planes, are developing a victorious and heroic resistance. The people of South Viet Nam and the National Front of Liberation (AP- PLAUSE) are waging a revolutionary and patriotic war which gives stimulus today to all the peoples of the world in their struggle against imperialism and the Yankee monopolies. This war requires the mobilization of the workers of the world in defense of the just cause of the Vietnamese people. This will not only aid the Vietnamese people, but will also give impetus to the necessary struggle of all the peoples on behalf of their interests. When each people aids Viet Nam, it aids itself. This is how we Cuban workers understand international solidarity. The Vietnamese people, in their heroic, selfless and decisive struggle have provided an experience that must be studied. The Vietnamese people have given the object lesson that the Yankees are politically and militarily incapable of holding back the liberation of the peoples from the colonial, neocolonial and imperialist yoke.
The constant increase in the nunber of U.S. troops sent to Viet Nam di- -580-
rectly affects the population of the United States, especially young people and students, who are recruited, trained and branded for war, and also their mothers and wives, who later learn that many of them have died in combat. For these reasons, the U.S. citizens' repudiation of the war increases day by day. Young men subject to military service have burned their draft cards in public. Thousands of people have carried out protest demonstrations in New York, San Francisco and other cities.
To sum up, the imperialists and their Asian puppets now have over 1,100,000 men in Viet Nam, making up 25 divisions, with the most modern armaments and methods of combat ever used in the history of wars against liberation movements. This means that the U.S. national budget will allocate 25,000 million dollars this year to the war being waged against the people of Viet Nam. This represents 18 percent of the U.S. national budget. And yet, even with this enormous force of 1,100,000 men, they have been unable to overcome the people of South Viet Nam (APPLAUSE). On the contrary, the South Vietnamese are winning and will come out victorious in this war. (APPLAUSE)
Here in Cuba Stands a
"Patria O Muerte" People!
How many men will the United States have to mobilize when the revolutionary situations.in Guatemala, Venezuela, Bolivia, Colombia, Brazil and other countries confront it with the dilemma of carrying out a colonial war on various fronts simultaneously or resigning itself to the social and national liberation of our peoples? The figures involved in men, weapons and money for a colonial war against Latin America are astronomical.
Facts are proving that the imperialists will lose the colonial war they are waging against Viet Nam, a small nation of 14,000,000 people (APPLAUSE). And they will surely lose the colonial war they are planning to wage against the 200 million people on the Latin American continent.
In addition to all these ironclad arguments and figures so impressive that they defy imagination, there is the fact that the U.S. soldiers will have to fight on strange territory, giving up the relative comforts afforded them by the standard of living of their country in order to go fight abroad, confronting national resentment engendered by Yankee intervention in all countries, facing peoples who speak strange languages, with different customs and habits and a different outlook on life. Considering all these things in their full meaning, it is easy to understand why our people are right when they say that the peoples of
Latin America will win the final, historic battle against Yankee imperialisn.
On this May 1, we swear before the workers of all countries and in-.the name of our people -- voicing its sentiments and aspirations -- that the Cuban people has vowed to win or to die in defense of the interests and ideals of the proletariat (APPLAUSE), in defense of socialism and communism. (APPLAUSE)
Comrade foreign delegates who are present among us: the speaker, who has had the great honor of addressing the Cuban people and yourselves, was a worker when conditions of poverty, discrimination and dishonor existed in our country, as a result of the most humiliating exploitation. This worker who is address-— ing you, as well as millions of others, has definitively burst asunder the chains of exploitation (APPLAUSE), and because we have broken out of these chains, I have the great honor of speaking on this occasion, of expressing the sentiments of millions of workers who are here in the Plaza and in all parts of the country. (APPLAUSE) We are sure that in the future many workers of the oppressed peoples will also have this honor of speaking in the name of a people triumphant in revolution. (APPLAUSE
Comrade delegates of the brother countries who have honored us with your presence here: the Cuban people would like you to carry a fraternai and revolutionary message to the workers of your respective countries. (APPLAUSE) Tell the workers of your countries that here there is a firm people, resolved to write with its work and its blood, if necessary, one of the most brilliant, beautiful and heroic chapters of history. (APPLAUSE) Comrade delegates: before you, in this Plaza de la Revolucién, and listening in on radio and television all over the country, stands a people convinced that the ideals and aspirations of the workers of Latin America and of the world will emerge triumphant, victorious, from the baptism of fire of these years of struggle and combat. (APPLAUSE) Tell the brother peoples that you represent, comrade delegates, that 90 miles from the Yankee seat of empire, stands a people who will never give in to threats and aggressions (AP- PLAUSE), however great the sacrifices and obstacles, and that we will carry high the banner of the workers, the banner of the revolution and the banner of communism. (APPLAUSE) Comrade delegates, here, in Cuba, stands a people whose watchword is
PATRIA O MUERTE
VENCEREMOS!
(OVATION)
BERTRAND