Fidel Castro Page 17
We had a chance today to see genuine results of the revolution on this May Day, so different from the May Days of the past. Formerly that date was the occasion for each sector of labor to set forth its demands, its aspirations for improvement, to men who were deaf to the working-class interests, men who could not even accede to those basic demands because they did not govern for the people, for the workers, for the peasants, or for the humble; they governed solely for the privileged, the dominant economic interests. Doing anything for the people would have meant harming the interests that they represented, and so they could not accede to any just demand from the people. The May Day parades of those days marked the complaints and protest of the workers.
How different today’s parade has been! How different even from the first parades after the revolution triumphed. Today’s parade shows us how much we have advanced. The workers (Light applause) now do not have to submit themselves to those trials; the workers now do not have to implore deaf executives; the workers now are not subject to the domination of any
exploiting class; the workers no longer live in a country run by men serving exploiting interests. The workers know now that everything the revolution does, everything the government does or can do, has one goal: helping the workers, helping the people. (Applause)
Otherwise, there would be no explanation for the spontaneous sentiment of support for the Revolutionary Government, that overflowing good will that every man and woman has expressed today. (Applause)
Fruits of the revolution are seen everywhere. The first to parade today were the children of the Camilo Cienfuegos school center. We saw the Pioneers parade by with the smile of hope, confidence, and affection. We saw the young rebels parade by. We saw the women of the federation go by. We saw children from numberless schools created by the revolution parade.
We saw 1,000 students from the 600 sugar-cane cooperatives who are studying artificial insemination here in the capital. We saw young people, humble people, parade with their uniforms of the school center where they are learning to be diplomatic representatives of the future.
We saw the pupils of the schools for young peasants of the Zapata swamps parade by, the swamps that the mercenaries chose for their attack. We saw thousands and thousands of peasants who are studying in the capital and who come from distant mountain areas or from cane cooperatives or from people’s farms parade. We saw the young girls studying for children’s club work. And here every one of these groups staged scenes that are worthy of praise. And we saw also what is going into the rural areas. The volunteer teachers paraded and also representatives of the 100,000 young people on their way to the interior to wipe out illiteracy. Where does this strength come from? It comes from the people, and it is devoted to the people in return.
These young people are truly children of the people. When we saw them today writing “Long Live Our Socialist Revolution” with their formations we though how hard it would have been to have all this without a revolution; how hard for any of these children from the mountains to have paraded here today, or any of these young people from the rural areas to have a chance to get to know the capital, or to study in any of these schools, or to parade with the joy and pride shown here today, or to march with the faith in the future shown today, because schools, university professions, art, culture, and honors were never for the children of poor families, in town or in the country. They were never for the peasant of the remote rural areas; they were never for the poor young fellow, black or white, or our countryside and cities.
Art, culture, university professions, opportunities, honors, elegant clothes were only the privilege of a small minority, a minority represented today with that grace and humor shown by some worker federations in their imitations of the rich. It is astounding to think that today more than 20,000 athletes paraded. if one remembers that we are just beginning. And this, without touching on the most marvelous thing we had a chance to see today, that is, this armed nation, this united people, which came to attend these ceremonies.
How would it have been possible without a revolution? How can one compare this present with the past? How can one avoid emotion on seeing endless lines of workers, athletes, and militiamen parade by. At times, all went to intermingled. After all, workers, athletes, and soldiers are the same thing. Anybody could understand why our people must emerge victorious in any battle. We noted the many women in the ranks of the federations. The men were in the artillery units, mortar units, ack-ack units, or militia battalions. The women were the wives and sisters and sweethearts of the militiamen who marched by later in the battalions and those young men of the basic secondary schools, the Pioneers who paraded by were their sons.
And so, one can see today the unity of the humble people who are fighting for the poor. Workers of every profession; manual laborers and intellectual workers; all were marching together, the writer, artist, actor, announcer, doctor, nurse, clinical employer. Marching together in great numbers under the flag of the national education workers’ union were the teachers, employees of the Education Ministry. (Applause).
The Duty to Work
Today we have had a chance to see everything worthwhile in our country, everything produced in our country. We have understood better than ever that there are two classes of citizens, or rather there were two classes of citizens; the citizens who worked, produced, and created and the citizens who lived without working or producing. These latter were parasites.
(Applause)
In this young, fervent nation, who did not parade today, who could not parade here today? The parasites! Today the working people paraded, everybody who produces with his hands or his brain. I do not mean that workers who did not have a chance to parade were parasites, because they had to take care of their children, or were ill, or even just did not want to parade today. I am speaking only of those who were not represented here because they could not be represented by those who produce.
This is the people, the true people. He who lives as a parasite does not belong to the people. Only the invalid, the sick, the old, the children are entitled to live without working and are entitled to have us work for them and to care for them, and from the work of everyone they can be benefited. For the children, the old, the invalid, and the sick, we have the duty to work, all of us. (Applause) What no moral law will be able to justify ever is for the people to work for the parasites. (Applause)
Those who paraded today were the working people who will never resign themselves to work for the parasites. (Applause) In this manner our national community has understood what the revolution is, and has understood clearly what the meaning of a revolution is in which a nation gets rid of parasites from the outside and those inside. (Applause) We remember that because of the nationalization of the largest industries of the nation, and just before the U.S. factories were nationalized, some asked: Was not this factory a Cuban factory? Why should a Cuban factory be nationalized? Well, such a factory did not belong to the people, it belonged to some man. Now they belong to the nation. (Applause)
No Threat to the U.S.
The U.S. Government says that a socialist regime here threatens U.S. security. But what threatens the security of the North American people is the aggressive policy of the warmongers of the United States. What threatens the security of the North American family and people is the violence, that aggressive policy, that policy that ignores the sovereignty and the rights of other peoples. The one who is threatening the security of the United States is Kennedy, with that aggressive policy. That aggressive policy can give rise to a world war; and that world war can cost the lives of tens of millions of North Americans. Therefore, the one who threatens the security of the United States is not the Cuban Revolutionary Government but the aggressor and aggressive government of the United States.
We do not endanger the security of a single North American. We do not endanger the life or security of a single North American family. We, making cooperatives, agrarian reform, people’s ranches, houses, schools, literac
y campaigns, and sending thousands and thousands of teachers to the interior, building hospitals, sending doctors, giving scholarships, building factories, increasing the productive capacity of our country, creating public beaches, converting fortresses into schools, and give the people the right to a better future—we do not endanger a single U.S. family or a single U.S. citizen.
U.S. Refusal to Negotiate
Recently, our government issued a statement that we were willing to negotiate. Why? Because we are afraid? No! We are convinced that they fear the revolution more than we fear them. They have a mentality that does not permit them to sleep when they know that there is a revolution nearby.
Fear? No one has fear here. The people who struggle for their liberty are never frightened. The frightened ones are the wealthy. The ones who have been wealthy. We are not interested in having imperialism commit suicide at our expense. They do not care about the death of Negroes, Puerto Ricans, or Americans. But we do care about every Cuban life. We are interested in peace.
We are ready to negotiate. They say that economic conditions can be discussed, but no communism. Well, where did they get the idea we would discuss that? We would discuss economic problems. But we are not even ready to admit that these talks so much as brush a petal of a rose here. The Cuban people are capable of establishing the regime they want there. We have never been thought of the possibility of discussing our regime. We will discuss only things that will not affect our sovereignty. We do want to negotiate on behalf of peace.
Those who do not worry about taking American people to war are being led by emotions. We have no fear. If they think so, let them get over that idea. No Cuban is afraid. If they think we will discuss internal politics, let them forget that, for one will do that here. Let them discuss all topics they want to discuss. We discussed things with invaders, did we not? Well, we will debate with anyone. We are willing to talk. We are willing to debate. But does that mean we are aching to negotiate? Of course, not. We are just taking a sensible step. Does that mean the revolution will slow down? Of course, not! We will continue, picking up speed as we can.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Speech Excerpts:
October 16, 1953: History Will Absolve Me
Castro, Fidel. “History Will Absolve Me.” Spoken, Santiago de Cuba, October 16, 1953. Castro Internet Archive.
https://www.marxists.org/history/cuba/archive/castro/1953/10/16.htm]
September 26, 1960: To the U.N. General Assembly:
Cuba’s Revolutionary Policy
Castro, Fidel. “To the U.N. General Assembly: The Problem of Cuba and Its Revolutionary Policy.” Speech, Washington, DC, September 26, 1960. Castro Internet Archive.
https://www.marxists.org/history/cuba/archive/castro/1960/09/26.htm
May 1, 1961: May Day Celebration: Cuba is a Socialist Nation
Castro, Fidel. “To the U.N. General Assembly: The Problem of Cuba and Its Revolutionary Policy.” Speech, Washington, DC, September 26, 1960. Castro Internet Archive.
https://www.marxists.org/history/cuba/archive/castro/1960/09/26.htm
Books
Castro, Fidel. Fidel Castro: My Life. Scribner. January 2008.
Castro, Fidel. History Will Absolve Me. Editorial de Ciencias Sociales. La Habana, Cuba. 1975.
Castro, Fidel. The Prison Letters of Fidel Castro Apr 29, 2009. Nation Books. (February 9, 2007)
Walsh, Daniel C. An Air War with Cuba: The United States Radio Campaign Against Castro. Mcfarland. October 2011.
Periodicals/World Wide Web
“A revolution is not a bed of roses”: Fidel Castro in his own words. Chris Johnston. The Guardian. November 26, 2016.
“Brother Obama.” Fidel Castro Ruz. Granma. March 28, 2016.
“Castro calls Jeb ‘the fat little brother in Florida’.” Free Williamsburg. December 6, 2005.
“Castro: GOP primary a ‘competition of idiocy and ignorance’.” USA Today News. 1/25/12
“Cuba Meeting Between Obama and Castro Exposes Old Grievances.” Julie Hirschfled Davis and Damian Cave. Nytimes.com. March 21, 2016.
“Fidel Castro: Interview.” Playboy. January 1967.
“Fidel Castro Announces Retirement.” Truthout.com. February 19, 2008.
“Fidel Castro Quotes: Things Cuban Revolutionary Said During His 50-Year Political Life.” Vishakha Sonawane. International Business Times. 11/26/16.
“Fidel Castro Dies: 23 Quotes By Cuba’s Revolutionary Leader.” Latin Times. November 26, 2016.
“Fidel Castro says Clinton ‘discredited’ Trump in first debate two weeks ago.” F. World. October 10, 2016.
“Fidel Castro says his comment on Cuban model was misunderstood.” Shasta Darlington, CNN. September 10, 2010.
“Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro dies at age 90.” FoxNews.com. November 26, 2016.
“Hi, Fidel, this is Vicente could I ask a favor of you?” Compiled and translated by Achy Obejas. Chicago Tribune. May 02, 2002.
“How Venezuela’s Military Saved Democracy (For Its Own Reasons).” Itxu Díaz. The Daily Beast. 12.17.15
“Millennials Can’t Understand Castro Without Acknowledging His Legacy of Brutality.” Brittany Hunter. Generation Opportunity Institute. November 29, 2016.
“Part 2 of Castro Meeting With Evangelicals.” Havana Cuba Vision Network. April 11, 1990.
“Solutions Can Be Found: Fidel Castro’s 1995 Interview with U.S. News.” Mortimer B. Zuckerman and Linda Robinson. U.S. News & World Report. May 15, 1995.
“Statement by the President on the Passing of Fidel Castro.” Office of the Press Secretary, The White House. November 26, 2016.
“Statement by the Prime Minister of Canada on the death of former Cuban President Fidel Castro.” Office of the Prime Minister. http://pm.gc.ca. November 26, 2016.
“Trump says Castro was ‘brutal dictator who oppressed his own people’”. Globe Staff. Boston Globe. November 26, 2016.