Vol. 77/No. 27      July 15, 2013

Below is an excerpt from Our History Is Still Being Written: The Story of Three Chinese-Cuban Generals in the Cuban Revolution, one of Pathfinder’s Books of the Month for July. Through interviews, generals Armando Choy, Gustavo Chui and Moisés Sío Wong describe their experiences as combatants in the 1956-58 revolutionary war that brought down the U.S.-backed Batista dictatorship, opening the door to the socialist revolution in the Americas. Copyright © 2005 by Pathfinder Press. Reprinted by permission.

BY MOISÉS SÍO WONG
Defenders of capitalism seek to impose their culture, their ideas, on everyone. They strip peoples all over the world of our own cultures. The imperialists possess supremacy in technology and science. Some they’ve developed, some they’ve stolen. They dominate the media and information systems worldwide, through which they attempt to impose their values and justify their social relations.

This is why the Battle of Ideas is so important and so complex. Our ability to wage this battle rests largely on education, on instruction, on culture. On the example we provide children and young people.

We’re now beginning another revolution, this one in the education of our children. “One must be educated to be free,” as [José] Martí put it. How can our children, our young people, and consequently our men and women be truly free if they aren’t educated to think for themselves? How can they contribute to the development of the country? The era of the manual, the blueprint is no more. We have to adjust things to our reality, and to the reality of the world today.

Before the revolution 95 percent of us here in Cuba, maybe more, considered ourselves anticommunists, even though we didn’t know what socialism was. We were taught by comic books like Superman and Tarzan and Blackhawk. Blackhawk was one of our favorites. It was about a squadron of fighter pilots, and the characters included a Swede, a Frenchman, a Chinaman, a Pole. They made the Communists out to be really bloodthirsty. The Chinese character, a cook named Chop-Chop, was a racist caricature. That’s the type of thing they taught us, even at school. We lived that on a daily basis.

There’s a famous story from the early years of the revolution about a meeting Fidel held with some peasants and workers.

“Do you agree with the urban reform?” Fidel asked them.

“Yes.”

“Do you agree with the agrarian reform?”

“Yes.”

“Do you agree with the nationalization of industry?”

“Yes.”

“Do you agree with socialism?”

“Oh no, we don’t agree with socialism!”

That’s the way it used to be.

So what moment did Fidel choose to proclaim the socialist character of the revolution? He chose the opening of imperialism’s attack on us at the Bay of Pigs in April 1961. It was then, as we buried our dead following the bombing of our airfields on April 15, that Fidel explained for the first time that our revolution is a socialist revolution. That air assault was the prelude to the mercenary invasion two days later. …

Since the triumph of the revolution we’ve been educated in socialism. We’ve been educated in selflessness: to be capable even of giving our lives for another people. That’s the highest expression of human selflessness.

I went to Angola to risk my life for the Angolan people’s struggle. What material benefit was there in that? None. And that’s how tens and tens of thousands went — teachers, doctors, specialists. They had to go through many difficulties, and in the most remote places. How is this possible without consciousness?

But by the late 1990s there were 76,000 young people in Cuba who weren’t going to school or working. As Fidel said, we had been remiss. The majority of these young people had family problems with divorced mothers and fathers, and so on. We had started categorizing them as “predelinquents.” This terminology was horrendous! How was it possible? They were born within the revolution. They are products of the revolution. They are our children. Their parents were the generation that had gone to Angola, to Nicaragua, and had given their lives for the revolution.

The truth is, there had been shortcomings in our educational work. There had been shortcomings in our political work. In our social work. We recognize this. I believe this is Fidel’s genius — to recognize shortcomings and to take measures to correct them. And not lose a minute in the process.

With the opening of the Battle of Ideas, all these young people were encouraged to study, and they received a salary while doing so. The vast majority now believe they have a socially useful future. …

We subsidize a number of items that everyone in Cuba has equal access to. Everyone receives medicines free of charge. Anyone here can have heart surgery without somebody asking about their bank account. Everyone receives education free of charge. Our social security not only provides retirement income for every single citizen but also covers disability, maternity, and pregnancy leave. Some friends criticize us for maintaining these programs. But we’re demonstrating how much can be done with very limited economic resources. The key thing is the human resources.

This battle we’re engaged in is undoubtedly complex, but it’s vital. You have to see how our children, our young people express themselves, their political level. We want to spread that as widely as possible, to make culture and education mass activities, to defend our national identity, our socialist identity. Above all, we want to teach young people to think.

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