Vol. 77/No. 41      November 18, 2013

During the twelve months of the past year, we have held periodic talks with those compañeros who, by their dedication to work, month by month excelled among all the workers in our enterprises.

We have repeated over and over that, in the case of vanguard workers, excessive modesty is not a virtue but a defect; that the vanguard worker must show his example, make it vivid and palpable, communicate it, spread it far and wide. He must make his enthusiasm contagious to all the other compañeros, and see to it that his individual effort is transformed into a great, united, collective effort of all the workers. He must help transform the efforts of the vanguard factories into the great collective effort of all the factories of the country, of all the centers of production. He must see to it that simultaneously there is a deepening of both efficiency at work and the consciousness of our people, in order to obtain both the material abundance needed for the construction of socialism and the indestructible strength of consciousness of the country’s sons and daughters, which are also needed for its defense in difficult moments.

During an entire year these two tasks have been completely fulfilled. Not without defects, not without more or less serious missteps, not without mistakes, stumbles, backward steps in order to get back on the road. But with unquenchable enthusiasm and complete dedication to our task in 1962, we laid more solidly the foundations for our society. We contributed, too, to the development of revolutionary consciousness in the entire world when, confronted with the atomic threats of the Yankee invader, our entire people rose last October and November and gave an answer that without doubt will pass into history.

It was an example of how a people in revolution can confront the greatest dangers, even the threat of atomic destruction itself — a threat unknown to other societies in world history. And it was an example of how with revolutionary consciousness and determination to win, and the militant solidarity of all the countries of the socialist camp and of all free men throughout the world, a small people, living at the gates of the most aggressive and powerful imperialist power on earth, can triumph, can maintain its sovereignty, and, most importantly, continue building its own society.

The central task assigned to us, compañeros, in the trench of production, is to constantly continue building, no matter what dangers threaten or what difficulties have to be overcome. And this is the task we are developing and improving.

Each year that passes we do less badly at least; each year we learn from our own errors and the experience of other peoples. In this way we are forging the basis of what will be in the future a powerful, autonomous, self-supporting industry in this country, a country that will have to rely on its great agricultural riches based on the fertility of its soil, on its favorable climate, and on a relatively low population density….

You all know the immense number of illiterates we had in Cuba. We are all witnesses, and in some form participants in that battle, as heroic as any other battle, which we fought against lack of culture, in this case illiteracy.

But illiteracy is only the extreme expression of a people’s lack of culture. Whoever learns just to read and write has taken only the first step toward culture, but cannot yet contribute anything to it.

Modern technique is advancing by giant steps. In order to be a qualified technician in this country, very soon it will be necessary to have a speaking knowledge of more than one language; to be able to read technical books will require knowledge of more than one language, to learn how to read the technical specifications and directions in whatever language, since the capitalists have also produced a great deal in technology — and produced it very well — and it is necessary to know how to take advantage of all those experiences.

Raising skill levels then is a cardinal task of the government and of all the people and it must not be abandoned. Men and women, even when tired after work, must make the indispensable effort to study, even if only for an hour or half-hour a day, and in this way try to keep increasing their knowledge.

It is not important that in a few weeks or months the distance covered may seem small. This is a task of years, and a task that must never end. It is also a task that is very difficult for a beginner, for a worker of a certain age who can barely read and write. But to the degree that new knowledge is acquired, culture will cease to be a revolutionary duty or something more or less painful that must be done to fulfill a revolutionary obligation, and will instead become a human need. And then it will cease to be an effort to continue the task of learning.

In this work tremendous efforts and a prodigious amount of society’s goods have been consumed and will continue to be consumed. We believe that culture and public health are services on which we can never spend enough for our people. The more we can give, the better it will be for all. And so we will continue to give as much as possible.
 
 
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