Vol. 76/No. 30      August 13, 2012

Below is an excerpt from In Defense of Socialism, a collection of four speeches by Fidel Castro given around the 30th anniversary of the revolutionary overthrow of the U.S.-backed dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista on Jan. 1, 1959. The speech printed here was given to a rally of half a million in Havana’s Plaza of the Revolution Dec. 5, 1988. Three days earlier in 1956 the yacht Granma landed on Cuban soil, bearing the freedom fighters led by Castro who initiated the revolutionary war. Copyright © 1989 by Pathfinder Press. Reprinted with permission.

BY FIDEL CASTRO  
We are a small country—an island, what’s more—located many thousands of kilometers away from any potential or real allies; ninety miles away from not just the most powerful imperialist power on earth but also the most high-handed and arrogant one. … That empire still is and will continue to be, perhaps for a long time to come, just that: an empire, and a powerful one at that.

We are the first socialist country in the Western Hemisphere, the first socialist country in Latin America, the last one to free itself from Spain, the first one to free itself from U.S. imperialism, [Applause] the first one to establish full control over its own wealth, the first one to disobey their orders, the first one to challenge them, the first one to carry out the deepest of revolutions on the basis of new concepts, new ideas, new values.

We have been the first country to raise aloft the banner of the workers, the peasants, the poor, and to implement their demands and rights. We have been the first country to set the example corresponding to this stage of historical development of the peoples of Latin America. We have upheld those banners and that attitude for nearly thirty years, and the empire will never forgive us for that.

But it’s not just a question of wounding the empire’s pride but also of causing a great injury to its imperial interests. We are a symbol, we are the road to rebellion, freedom, and independence. And the empire will never stop trying to crush that symbol, that example, that road one way or another. As long as the imperial domination of our hemisphere exists, that is and will continue to be their goal.

Even if the day were to come when relations between socialist Cuba and the empire improve formally, that would not stop the empire from trying to crush the Cuban revolution. And they don’t hide it; their theoreticians explain it, the defenders of the imperial philosophy explain it.

There are some people who say it’s better to make certain changes in their policy toward Cuba in order to penetrate it, weaken it, destroy it—peacefully, if possible. Others think that the more belligerence shown toward Cuba the more active and effective Cuba will be in its struggles on the Latin American and world scene.

Therefore, there is something that must be the essence of Cuban revolutionary thought; there is something that must be absolutely clear in the consciousness of our people, who have had the privilege of being the first to travel this road: and it is the awareness that as long as the empire exists we will never be able to lower our guard, to neglect our defense. [Applause]

I say this because some people may wonder if it perhaps wouldn’t be better to use all that energy, all that effort, and all those resources in building socialism. And I would answer—anybody could answer—that it would indeed be better to be able to use that money, that energy, and those resources to develop the country.

But to do so would be an illusion, a grave illusion, a criminal illusion, because that’s the price our people must pay for their revolution, their freedom, their independence, their most sacred rights. That’s the price that throughout history many peoples have had to pay for their right to exist and, in our case, not just to exist but to exist for something and by something. …

And our people also learned to defend themselves; they learned a long time ago and defended themselves without vacillation. They defended themselves against imperialism’s dirty war. They defended themselves against the mercenary invasion at Playa Girón, and even then there were hundreds of thousands of men and women ready to defend their country.¹ They defended themselves heroically during the October crisis;² and when the intermediate-range missiles were withdrawn, our people continued to defend themselves. They continued to apply the principle that the defense of our country is in the hands of our own people. [Shouts and applause] …

War of the entire people means that to conquer our territory and occupy our soil, the imperial forces would have to fight against millions of people and would have to pay with hundreds of thousands, even millions of lives for trying to conquer our land, for trying to crush our freedom, our independence, our revolution, without ever succeeding in doing so.

2. In October 1962, in what is commonly referred to in the U.S. as the Cuban Missile Crisis, Washington brought the world to the edge of nuclear conflict after Havana accepted a proposal from Moscow to deploy Soviet nuclear missiles in a mutual defense agreement. The determination and readiness of the Cuban people and revolutionary government blocked U.S. plans for a massive bombardment and military invasion, and opened a way to resolve the crisis.