REPORT ON CUBAN PROPAGANDA - - NO. 3
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Radio
PROPAGANDA REPORT
REPORT ON CUBAN PROPAGANDA mm NO,, 3
THE FOURTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE CUBAN REVOLUTION'
The Cuban Position in the Sino?Soviet Dispute
Fanning of Revolution in Latin America
Defiance of the United States
Subordination of Domestic Issues
Current Developments Series
CDv219
18 January 1963
GROUP 1
Excluded from aurom aric
downgrading and
declanifcauon
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Radio Propaganda Reports are based on the analy-
sis of propaganda covered by FBIS and are is-
sued without any outside coordination. Inferences
drawn solely from propaganda content should be
tested against other evidence before being accepted.
This material contains information affecting the National Defense of
the United States within the meaning of the espionage laws, Title 18,
USC, Secs. 793 and 794, the transmission or revelation of which
in any manner to an unauthorized person is prohibited by law.
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CONFIDENTIAL PROPAGANDA REPORT
18 JANUARY 1963
THE FOURTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE CUBAN REVOLUTION
Outline of Contents
The Cuban Position in the Sino-Soviet Dispute . C C Q ,, C ,, G Page 1
Castro formally announced a Cuban stand in regard to the bloc
dispute in his 2 January speech on the fourth anniversary of
the revolution--his first appearance on radio or television
since just after the climax of the Cuban crisis,, Expressing
regret over the divisions in the communist world but declin-
ing to commit himself to either side, he insisted only on the
importance of unity "within and without,," On 15 January,, at
a Congress of Women of the Americas, Castro again deplored
the bloc differences and promised not to "throw fuel on the
fire."
Castro9s neutral appeal for unity represented not so much a
statement of impartiality as a declaration of noninvolvement,
But well before his speeches, Cuban publicity media had be-
gun engaging in a calculated display of impartiality by
giving prominent play to major polemical documents from both
sides--a "neutrality" which, by according the dissenting
Chinese position equal status with the Soviet, inevitably
favors Peking.
Fanning of Revolution in Latin America ,, ,, ,, ,, ,, ,, ,, o o ,, ,, ,, Page 9
Castro?s anniversary speech and subsequent address to the
women?s congress dramatized his preference for Peking9s
militant approach to revolution--one evident factor under-
lying Havana?s elevation of the Chinese line in the bloc
dispute to equal stature with that of the power which has
been Cuba's primary benefactor. In holding up Cuba?s revo-
lution as an example for other Latin American countries he
repeated a consistent theme of his own earlier speeches and
of Cuban propaganda generally. This time, however9 he left
out the corollary that Cuba does not export its revolution
and does not interfere in other countries9 affairs--the
qualifier he had previously appended to prior discussions
of the Cuban "example,," At the women?s congress he spoke
of "hurling the masses into battle" and of "the duty of all
revolution to recreate the revolution." He said Cuba did
not rule out the possibility of a peaceful changeover ("be-
cause we are not dogmatists"Y), but added that "we are still
awaiting the first case,,"
CONFIDENTIAL (continued)
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PORT
CONFIDENTIAL PROPAGANDA
18 JANUARY 1963
outline of Contents
Fanning of Revolution in Latin America (continued)
The Ohinese and Soviet propaganda treatments of the women's
congress speech provide a measure
Sino-Soviet disputes Peking media gave the speech extensive
publicity, including all the portions on militant revolution;
Moscow carried an innocuous 300-word summary focusing on the
better life of women in Castro's Cuba.
Defiance of the United States o. o o o o o o. o.. o o o e o o Page 14
Some 70 percent of Castro's hour and a half speech on 2 Jan-
uary was devoted to an attack on President Kennedy and US.
policies., about par for the course. The bulk of his attack
was built around the President's reception of the Bay of Pigs
prisoners in Miami, and he was if anything more insulting
toward the President than in the past. The speech differed
from previous ones principally by its frequent, insistent
references to Cuban armed might as displayed in the elaborate
anniversary parade.
Subordination of Domestic Issues
Page 18
Castro covered Cuban domestic programs in only a few brief
sentences in the anniversary speech. On prior anniversaries
he had discoursed at length on the regime's annual slogans
1960 was the "Year of Agrarian Reform," 1961 the "Year of
Education," 1962 the "Year of Planning." This times after
pronouncing the traditional concluding watchword "Fatherland
or death, we will win," he turned to leave the rostrum and
then returned to announce briefly, as if in afterthought,
that 1963 would be the "Year of Organization." Where last
year's CUBA SOCIALISTA article on the revolution at home
was written by Castro, this year's was by President Dorticos,
further underscoring Castro's current preoccupation with
external and intrabloc affairs.
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CONFIDENTIAL ?RO?AG(DA- REPORT
18 JANUARY 1963
THE FOURTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE CUBAN REVOLUTION
A, THE CUBAN POSITION IN THE SINO-SOVIET DISPUTE
Fidel Castro9s traditional speech on the fourth anniversary of victory of
the Cuban revolution, delivered on 2 January, broke a two-month absti-
nence from public statements and spelled out for the first time a Cuban
policy in regard to the Sino-Soviet dispute,, The speech was carried by
all Cuban radio networks, domestic and international,, and on television,
It was Castro9s first public address since 17 October, five days before
the President9s announcement of the naval quarantine, and his first state-
ment over radio or television since 2 November? when in an "interview"
he set forth his views on U,,N,, inspection and admitted that there had
been "differences" with the Soviet Union during the crisis,, In the
interval between 2 November and the anniversary celebration--a period
that encompassed Mikoyan9s protracted four-week visit and the widening
of the Sino-Soviet schism in the wake of Khrushchev's backdown in the
crisis--Cuban publicity media reported no word from Castro on the ques-
tion of relations with the Soviet Union or the bloc,,
N~npal- canship in the Dispute ; A Pro-Chinese "Neutrali V1
In the anniversary speech Castro made no reference to the "differences"
with the Soviet Union that he had acknowledged in his 2 November inter-
view,, He addressed himself, in a few sentences, to the differences
dividing the communist world, referred ambiguously to things that
"divide us within and without," and appealed for unity,, He remained
silent regarding the causes of the disunity, offered no opinions, and
suggested no remedies beyond the quest for "unity"S
"What are the differences in the bosom of the socialist
family, the public differences between large forces of the
socialist camp? That concerns us all,, It concerns us be-
cause we see with clarity here, from this trench 90 miles
from the Yankee empire, how much cause for concern those dif-
ferences can be, how much unity is needed, how much all the
strength of the entire socialist camp is needed to face up
to those enemies,,"
"We understand it to be our duty to struggle for unity under
the principles of the socialist family, of the socialist
camp. That is to be the line of our people, the line fol-
lowed by the political leadership of the revolution,,"
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"A guide for our peoples Our task is to unite within and
without, to eliminate everything that divides us within and
without, to struggle for everything that unites us within
and without. The unity of all principles--that is our line,"*
On 13 January the newspaper HOY, the press organ most closely associated
with the old-line communists in the regime, seconded Castro's line in
a frontpage editorial, PRENSA LATINA quoted from the editorial as fol-
lows s
"Differences in the socialist camp countries, in the bosom
of the world communist movement, between revolutionaries of
every area, are used by our enemies, who are encouraged :by
them to redouble their attacks, step up their aggressions,
and multiply their provocations, We Cubans see this very
clearly, Our revolution is under constant siege from the
imperialists,"
"Because of this, we must refrain from fanning public polemics
over the differences that have arisen among our parties, Such
public polemics do not contribute to unity, but to a deepening
of the differences, to the enemy's taking advantage of it to
enter through the cracks, promote suspicion, and split those
who should and must be united,"
HOY thus conveyed endorsement of Castro's neutral stance by the group with-
in the regime that would be most prone to urge close alignment with Moscow
and support of the CPSU in the controversy. .
On 15 January, addressing the Congress of Women of the Americas, Castro re-
peated the line with more emphasis and less reserve than he had used in
his anniversary speech, and with an allusion (however unelaborated) to the
"difficult situation" in which Cuba has been placed by the quarrel between
its primary benefactor and the power that lent it moral support during
the humiliation it suffered in the Cuban crisis, Castro told the women's
congresss
"Let it be admitted that our country faces a difficult
situation,,,because of the divisions, or disagreement, or
however one may wish to call them, more or less optimistically,
?` Textual citations, indicated by quotation marks, are provided inn this
report whenever possible. Statements given in the first person but not
enclosed in quotation marks are paraphrases, in all such cases the only
versions available in translation.
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within the socialist camp, We have stated our positions We
are not going to throw fuel on the fire of these disagree-
ments,, I believe that anyone who throws fuel on the fire
of these disagreements is harming the interests of the world
revolutionary movement,,"
"Marxism-Leninism is sufficiently rich in ideological re-
sources and in experience to find adequate ways to overcome
this difficulty, to overcome this obstacle, It is a matter
of resolving to do so, and I believe that we must fight for
this, We must fight for this unity, and this we propose to
do, with our own criterions Chauvinism? No, rather Marxism-
Leninismo,oo It is deplorable, most deplorable, that those
differences should have arisen, and we must fight against
them,"
Castro?s definition of Cuban policy in the bloc dispute--an advocacy of
unity that could of itself offend neither side--represents not so muc
a statement of impartiality as a declaration of noninvolvement, Wel
before Castro?s speeches, however, the Cuban press had begun a display
of impartiality by publicizing materials favorable to both sides,
On 30 November, for example, the magazine BOHEMIA carried an article`
r
replete with photographs, on Albania?s "rapid industrialization" undernoed
Hoxha as compared with its backwardness under the old regime--and b
it off with a similar article, equally adorned pictorially, on Yugoslavia?s
progress and "ties of close friendship" with Cuba,, The article on Albania
contained numerous quotations from a ZERI I POPULLIT article which, as
publicized by the Albanian press agency on 2 November and by Peking?s
NCNA on the 6th, contained the charge of a "Munich" in the Cuban crisis,
BOHEMIA?s quotations did not include any of the passages critical of the
Soviet Union, but it seems more than coincidental that the magazine chose
to quote from this particular article at all,
More recently, on 15 January, PRENSA LATINA publicized a Cuban cultural
agreement with Albania--having earlier reported, at greater length, the
signing of a similar agreement with Hungary and new trade pacts with both
Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia,
Both during and after the recent revolution anniversary celebrations, Cuban
publicity media gave considerable attention to the activities of both
Soviet and Chinese Communist visitors, More space was devoted to the
Soviet visitors, an imbalance perhaps traceable simply to the fact that
the visitors from the CPR included no such obvious propaganda drawing cards
as the USSR9s Cosmonaut Pavel Popovich and Soviet Academy of Sciences
President Pyotr Fedoseyevo Fidel Castro was not reported to have been in
the welcoming delegations for either group of visitors, though Raul Castro
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welcomed Popovich and the other Russians, The Havana radio and PRENSA
LATINA, while quoting more frequently from statements by the prominent
Russian visitors, did not neglect the Chinese or the Albanians, carrying
reports of their statements and activities almost daily, CPR delegation
leader Hu Chili was quoted on 28 December as sayings "The fondness
that we Chinese feel for Cuba is very great, and anyone who doubts it
can only be convinced by visiting my country," An Albanian woman dele-
gate was quoted on 10 January as saying that Castro in his speech out-
lined "a program that will be of great help in our party's work,"
PRENSA LATINA has frequently toed the line of neutrality to the extent of
using both Soviet and Chinese reports in the same dispatch, For example,
on 3 January, statements by Soviet Ambassador Alekseyev and CPR Ambassador
Shen Chien were carried in the same item, each of them praising the an-
niversary parade and pledging the undying support of his country for
the Cuban revolution, PRENSA LATINA on 4 January reported in the same
dispatch a message of solidarity from Song Yung, president of the North
Korean cultural relations committee, and one from Ortutay Gyula, secretary
general of the Hungarian Popular Front,
The practice of impartiality, relatively innocuous insofar as it mani-
fested itself in such displays of friendship and good will toward bloc
states on both sides of the ideological fence, becomes less innocuous in
its extension to the polemic itself, Thus the Cuban press gave prominent
play to Khrushchev's major polemical address to the Supreme Soviet on
12 December--publicity that would have been dictated by propriety? in
view of the speaker and the forum, whether the speech had been polemical
or not, But the Havana press followed its two-installment text of Khru-
shchev's speech with prominent publicity (in REVOLUCION) for the text of
the Peking PEOPLE'S DAILY's 15 December editorial rebuttal, under an
eight-column headline and with subheads highlighting the Chinese position
on critical issues in the dispute*--publicity that would not be dictated
by protocol,
The major headline read "The Communist Party of the CPR Proposes a
Meeting of All the Communist and Workers Parties of the World," Soviet
media were studiously ignoring the fact that the Chinese had appealed
for a world congress, which would imply the CPR's right to an equal
hearing on issues the CPSU treats 'as "agreed" and no longer subject to
debate, The subheads included- "Serious Consequences are Produced by
the Erroneous Practice of Using the Congresses [of individual parties]
to Attack Another Party"; "Open and Unilateral Censure of a Brother
Party Does not Contribute to the Solution of Problems"; and "Marxism-
Leninism Holds that the People, Who Determine the Course of History,
Constitute the Sole and Certain Majority,"
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At the 2 January anniversary celebrations, Castro defined Cuba's policy
in the dispute on a speakers' platform decorated in such a way as to
dramatize the posture of neutrality,, The stand was adorned with pictures
of Marx Engels, Lenin$ and several Cuban revolutionaries, including
Marti and Castro,, but none of Khrushchev or Mao,, Yet in a situation
in which Moscow is the established mentor of the communist world and
Peking the challenger,, the practice of nonpartisanship inevitably favors
the latter,, Havana's show of impartiality in effect elevates Peking's
stand to a position of equality with the Soviet that Moscow denies it,,
and the Cuban stance emerges as a pro=Peking "neutrality,,"
Patently aware of the nature of the tightrope it has chosen to walk in
its treatment of the interparty quarrel, the Cuban press has resisted
succumbing to an apparently active agitation by Chinese publicity repre-
sentatives in Havana,, It has carried in full (in EL MUND0) the polemical
7 January PRAVDA editorial,, a major manifesto of the Soviet position,,
with a frontpage editorial note explaining noncommittally that the docu-
ment was being printed out of "regard for its significance,," It has
carried no CPR counterweight as yet,, although Chinese materials have
been abundantly available,, An 8 January dispatch transmitted by the
Polish press agency correspondent in Havana to his home office in
Warsaw reported that during the period following Havana's publicity for
the 15 December Chinese editorial,,
neither the [Havana] press nor any official speeches touched
on the matter of the discussion and the differences of state-
ments in the socialist camp,, Only when Fidel Castro touched
on this problem in his [anniversary] speech of 2 January was
this silence broken, During the past week the press did not
return to this problem,, despite the fact that a daiil bulletin
issued b NCNA in Havana accurate an re u ?ar e
ex s o art c es an ec arat ons on s t eme romnese,
an. an o and other ources,
The Polish correspondent went on to note that NCNA had made available
a text of PEOPLE'S DAILY's 31 December editorial, which continued the
polemic in ostensible rebuttal to Togliatti's attack on the CCP at the
Italian party congress, but that the Havana press had not carried this
editorial,,
Nor has the Havana press utilized some pro-Soviet materials supplied to it
by its own PRENSA LATINA correspondents in Latin America,, On 9 January,
for example, PRENSA LATINA9s correspondent in Santiago,, Chile,, transmitted
to the home office in Havana this statement by Chilean party leader Jose
Gonzales,
On the surface the Albanian leaders appear to be Marxist-
Leninists, partisans and defenders of the declaration of the
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81, but in deeds, in the essence of their policies and
activities, they are in disagreement with and violate the
program of the communists of the world,,.. Among the
lessons of the Caribbean crisis is the fact that imperialism
is not a paper tiger, It is the fiercest enemy of the peoples....
The USSR supports Castro's five points, Friendly relations be-
tween the USSR and Cuba have been strengthened,"
Gonzales went on to say that war is not inevitable and to declare that
"at this point in the development of the communist movement it is not
possible to tolerate deviations," PRENSA LATINA did not distribute this
dispatch to its subscribers, and the Cuban press did not use it,
Hints of Friction Within the Regime
In the anniversary speech Castro had conveyed no suggestion of frictions
within his own regime beyond the vague references to a need for eliminat-
ing divisions "within" as well as "without," In the speech to the
women's congress he seemed to bring the question of internal dissent
closer to the surfaces
"There were some isolated voices of criticism. As was logical,
there were some who, confused in good faith or confused in bad
faith, criticized the National Directorate of the Integrated
Revolutionary Organizations on the matter of Cuba's attitude,
immediately after the crisis, on the matter of inspection
and the pirate flights, For them, apparently, we should allow
ourselves to be inspected, as if to hallow the right of the
imperialists to say what arms we may or may not have and to
bring this country back to the time of the Platt Amendment,
when the U,S, Government decided for us,"
"Apparently these individuals thought that we should allow our-
selves to be blown up, that we should allow Yankee planes to
dive down over our antiaircraft batteries without giving orders
to fire. This can never be expected of us, either, because the
enemy must expect, every time he attacks us, that there will be
a fight and no backing down,"
The editorial two days earlier in HOY, entitled "For Unity Within and
Without," had seemed calculated primarily to proclaim (and appeal for)
a closing of ranks "within," HOY had specifically endorsed, and quoted
directly, the plea for unity contained in the anniversary speech of "our
supreme leader, Comrade Fidel Castro." PRENSA LATINA further quoted the
editorial as saying0
"Comradeship among revolutionaries, Marxist-Leninist com-
radeship in our ranks, is the steel axis of unity, of the
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unity of our camp, of our unity, of the unbreakable and in-
creasingly solid unity of all our people around the revolutionary
power, the United Party of the Socialist Revolution, and our
leader and guide, Fidel Castro."
Castro reinforced the demand for unity in more thretening terms in his
speech to the women s g
for itself"8
"We closely united Cuban revolutionaries, Those who believe
that they are going to fish in troubled waters are mistaken,
Those who believe that in the face of this desire for unity,
of the firmness and dignity of our people, they can oppor-
tunistically try to create confusion, to cast doubt on the
rectitude of the Cuban directorate, are lamentably mistaken,,"
"Those who, taking advantage of the difficult circumstances
which our country has had to face and must continue to faces
foment division, are committing a deplorable offense of
treason against the revolution, and the masses will oppose
them,,.,,,, We need unity to resist,, We need unity to wino We
need unity more than ever to go forward, and with our unity,
our firmness, and our line, we shall continue to go forward,
facing the difficulties, facing the inconveniences, whatever
they may be. We shall exercise our right to think for our-
selves,,"
The behavior of the Cuban delegates at the recent bloc party congresses
may shed some light on the timing of the decision to assert a neutral
position and emphasize unity,, "Old communist" Blas Roca represented Cuba
at the Bulgarian and Hungarian congresses in November, and was markedly
warm toward the Soviet Union and Khrushchev. Thus he declared at Sofia on
9 Novembers
"Cuba's policy is firm and reasonable. There is not the
slightest expression of narrowmindedness, sectarianism, or
adventurism in it,, Cuba is all for peace. It defends peace
and peaceful coexistence.... Our people are right to sing
and dance, shoutings ?Fidel?Khrushchev, we are with both
of them,, 1'g
On 7 December at the Czechoslovak congress in Prague, when Blas Rocs?s turn
to speak came Raul Roa took the floor to explain that Blas Roca could not
be there "because of unfavorable flight conditions." Roa, according to
PRENSA LATINA on 8 December, stressed Castro?s five points as essential
for peace in the Caribbean, noted close Cuban-Czechoslovak ties, and rem
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marked that both countries "guide themselves in their relationships by
the principles of Marxism-Leninism and proletarian and socialist inter.
nationalism,"
Cuba's representative at the East German party congress in mid-January
was a Fidelista, and his address to the congress seconded the line
Castro had introduced at the beginning of the month, Delegate Armando
Hart paid personal tribute to Khrushchev, who was present at the congress,
and then, according to the East German ADN,
"expressed the regret of his party over the differences of
opinion which have emerged in the communist world movement
and stressed that the association of Cuba's revolutionary
organizations regard the unity of the socialist family as
an urgent imperative of the struggle against imperialism and
colonialism, At the present time the essential thing is
not to further exacerbate the differences of opinion, and
as he put it, to analyze and overcome them in a "Marxist-
Leninist manner,"
In the period between the Cuban crisis and the revolution anniversary,
when Fidel Castro was making no speeches, most public statements in
Havana had come from Hart and from Che Guevara, also a "new communist,"
Most of the statements were concerned with either economics or education,
making Guevara (as Economics Minister) and Hart (as Education Minister)
the logical spokesmen, But "old communist" Carlos Rafael Rodriguez, who
was selected to go to Moscow to negotiate a new economics agreements has
also made some public speeches, and Blas Roca spoke as recently as 11 Jan-
uary,
Blas Roca also published an article in HOY6 reported by PRENSA LATINA on
18 January, in which he praised Castro's calls for unity, explained that
for the sake of unity the Cubans have refrained from publishing "inflam-
matory attacks or material which inflamed the controversy," and added,
"Therefore we rejoice that Comrade Khrushchev should have
declared today that the Central Committee of the CPSU 'con-
siders it useful to stop criticism of some parties by other
parties and to allow time to calm passions,"'
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B, FANNING OF REVOLUTION IN LATIN AMERICA
Castro's revolution anniversary speech and his subsequent address to
the women's congress carried forward the flagrant proselyting of the
Cuban revolution that has characterized his statements since his advent
to power, In the process, Castro made more apparent his preference for
Peking's line as compared with Moscow's on the issue of revolution
and "transition to socialism"--and dramatized one major factor under-
lying Cuba's elevation of Peking's line in the bloc dispute to equal
stature with that of the power on which Cuba depends for its livelihood,,
In the anniversary speech he paid due deference to the "basic principle"
of peaceful negotiation of international problemss
Our position is not a position contrary to solutions or
against peaceful solutions. We agree with the policy of
discussion and negotiation of problems by peaceful means,
We agree with that basic principle, We agree, too, with
the policy of concession for concession ? o, We are for
peace, but if we are attacked we are going to repel them
with all our means.
On the subject of revolutions in Latin America he reiterated the con-
sistent Cuban line that holds up the Cuban revolution as a model for
the hemispheres
"We are examples for the brother peoples of Latin America,
because the captives, Mr,, Kennedy, are not the Cubans, The
captives are the millions of Indians and Latin Americans who
are exploited by the Yankee monopolies, exploited by Yankee
imperialism in Latin America If the workers and people
of Latin America had weapons as our people do, we would see
what would happen, We would see who are the real captives,,"
"We have the great historic task of bringing this revolution
forward, of serving as an example for the revolutionaries of
Latin America--and within the socialist camp, which is and
always will be our family,"
While basically no different from Castro's earlier public statements on
the subject, these remarks were noteworthy for their omission of what had
previously been a pro-forma disclaimer of intent to interfere in other
countries' affairs. In his speech on last year's anniversary of the revolu-
tion, for example, he declareds
"Our policy is not one of intervention in other nations' af-
fairs, The significance of the Cuban example is something
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else$ the lesson that Cuba has given the peoples, We know
that only the people themselves can effect revolutions. What
people could have come here to effect the revolution for us?
We know that revolution is the work of a people, and we
have boundless faith in the peoples and we know that it is
the people who will settle accounts in the end."
"Without arms and against the arms of the exploiters we be-
gan our fight. Without arms and against the arms of the
exploiters the oppressed peoples will continue their fight
sooner or later. That is what the traitorous governments
should fear, That is what the governments of Latin America
should fears those governments that join and maneuver against
our fatherland. They should be afraid because history dooms
them."
Castro and other regime spokesmen had followed this line consistentlys
balancing statements on the exemplary nature of the Cuban revolution with
the corollary that revolution is not exportable but a matter for "the
peoples" of each country. In this year's anniversary speechl omitting the
corollary, he spoke of "the duty of all revolution to recreate the revolu-
tion":
"The Venezuelan people struggled and gave extraordinary evidence
of revolutionary spirit,.,. The imperialists were given
evidence of what revolutionary solidarity is$ the active
solidarity of revolutionaries who do not sit in their doorways
to wait for the corpse of their enemy to pass byj of revolu-
tionaries who understand that the duty of all revolution is
to recreate the revolution."
At the women's congress on 15 January he went further, again with no qual-
ifying avowal of noninterferences
"We must bring them to the struggle$ because that road is
much easier in many Latin American countries than it was
in Cuba,,"
"The number of deaths per year in Latin America? those who
die of hunger and illness without assistance. is greater
than those who would die in the liberation of the peoples of
Latin America, Here the struggle cost 206000 lives, but many
times 206000 lives already have been saved,"
"What are needed are experts on changing the situations ex-
perts on leading peoples in revolutions. That is the art of
the revolutionaries$ the art that must be learned and
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developed, How to bring the masses to the struggle? It is
the masses who make history? but for them to make history the
masses must be taken to the battle,, That is the duty of the
leaders and the revolutionary organizations--to make the
masses march, to hurl the masses into battled"*
Again in the 15 January speech?
"There is something we want to clear up, because there have
been some harebrained theoreticians who have declared that
in Cuba there was a peaceful change from capitalism to
socialism, That is like denying that thousands and thousands
of militants fell in this country. It is like denying that
an army from the bosom of the people in this country defeated
a modern army, armed and instructed by Yankee imperialism."
"It was not a peaceful transition. It was a combat transitions
without which there would not have been any transition in our
country."
"These false interpretations of history do not conform with
the situation of the majority of Latin American countries,
where objective conditions exist--and the imperialists have
clearly seen that objective conditions do exist--but where
subjective conditions are missing. These subjective condi-
tions must be created, and they are created by historic truth1
not by falsification of history."
"We do not deny the possibility of peaceful transition, but
we are still awaiting the first case. But we do not deny it,
because we are not dogmatists, and we understand the ceaseless
change of historic conditions and circumstances."
Moscow, whose own dogma has never precluded violence and whose own propa-
ganda machine had vigorously supported the insurgents in the Sierra
Maestra, has not in fact been holding up Cuba as an example of "peaceful
transition to socialism." Castro's vehement assault on a straw man in
the passage above seems calculated to strike at the whole Soviet concept
of the feasibility of peaceful changeover, by insisting on the impossibility
of peaceful methods in Cuba,,
e Cuban commentator Luis Gomez Wanguemert, on television early in the morn-
ing of 17 Januarys may have been attempting to make up for Castro's omis-
sion of a qualifier regarding the nonexportability of revolution and to
cover the vulnerability incurred by the omission. Gomez Wanguemert declared,,
"In most of Latin America the objective conditions for the triumph of the
revolution do exist, as Dr. Castro said, and it is the duty of the leaders
and revolutionary organizations in these countries to hurl the masses into
the battle,,"
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The Chinese and Soviet propaganda treatments of Castro's 15 January
speech may serve as a measure of its orientation in the Sino-Soviet
dispute, Thus Peking's NCNA on 16 January came out promptly with a
long account of the speech, providing virtually full text of the por-
tions on militant struggle, NCNA also reported that all Peking papers
on 18 January gave frontpage play to the speech, PEOPLE'S DAILY using
headlines including "We Want Peace, But We Will Never Abandcn Our
Revolution" and "The Cuban Revolution is no Peaceful Transition, But a
Fighting Transitiono" Other subheads pointed up those aspects of the
speech that harmonize with the Chinese lines "To Resist Aggression is
to Fight for Peace"; "The Road of Surrender to the Aggressor is the
Road that Leads to War, to the Enslavement of All Peoples," The Peking
radio also devoted more than 20 minutes to a summary of the speech for
Chinese domestic audiences; it subsequently broadcast long summaries in
foreign languages, including Russian to the USSR,
Moscow gave neglibible publicity to the women's congress, and TASS'
innocuous 300-word account of Castro's speech highlighted his "stress"
on "the important role of women in the revolution and in building up a
new life in Cuba," The bulk of the TASS account pursued this theme,
citing Castro's contrast between the problems facing women in other
Latin American countries and the Cuban regime's success in overcoming
the poverty inherited from capitalism, By way of example it noted
Castro's statistics on the trebling of the number of hospital beds in
Cuba under the revolution, TASS concluded by reporting Castro's pledge
not to exacerbate the differences in the communist movement and to
strive for unity, The Chinese account also included this pledge.
The differences between Moscow's and Peking's treatment of the speech
reflect not only the Soviet and Chinese reactions to the speech itself,
but accord with the general pattern of differences in Sino-Sciviet treat-
ment of Cuban accomplishments under Castro. Peking on both this year's
and last year's Cuban revolution anniversaries harped single-mindedly
on the exemplary nature of Cuba's militant "struggle" and the demonstra-
tion of the power of "the masses" afforded by the revolution. Moscow,
this year as last, focused on Cuba's revolutionary advances under Castro,
primarily in the economic sphere,
Cuba's Chinese-oriented view of "armed struggle" as the only acceptable
method for revolution in Latin America had been asserted with unusual
directness in Che Guevara's recent interview with the London ;DAILY WORKER,
as transmitted by the WORKER'S Havana correspondent to London on 29 Novem-
ber, Guevara did--unlike Castro--take some pains to make clear the
idea that Cuba's role was simply to provide the example. But he was
unequivocal in stating that "there is no other solution" than "armed
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struggle*" The London DAILY WORKER$ in publishing the interviews did
not use these passages from its correspondent's dispatohg
"Major Guevara considered that the most effective form of
help was the armed struggle already taking place in a number
of Latin American countries where the people are in action to
overthrow American imperialism."
"My final question to Major Guevara was on the contribution
that the Cuban revolution has made in the development of
Marxist thought and practice. His reply was typically
modest, and he deliberately limited himself to the effects of
the Cuban example in Latin America. The Cuban revolution,'
he said, 'has shown that in conditions of imperialist
domination such as exist in Latin America, there is no solu-
tion but armed struggle--for the people to take power out of
the hands of the Yankee imperialists and the small group of
the bourgeosie that work with them. The question was, then,'
he added, 'how this armed struggle could be most effectively
carried through."'
"Cuba has shown,' he continued, 'that small guerrilla groups,
well led and located in key points, with strong links with
the masses of the people, can act as a catalyst of the masses,
bringing them into mass struggle through action. Such action,
to be convincing, must be effective, and guerrillas can be
converted into an army which eventually can destroy the armed
forces of the class enemy. We say,' Major Guevara continued,
'that this can be done in a large number of Latin American
countries,' ... He pointed out that in Venezuela, Guatemala,
Paraguay, and Colombia, guerrillas already are active in an
armed struggle against the American imperialists and their
henchmen."
"'There is no other solution possible in these countries except
armed struggle. The objective conditions for thiseexist$ and
Cuba's example has shown these countries the way.Pa
HOY in its frontpage editorial of 15 January expressed the Cuban line suc-
cinctly if more moderately than either Castro or Guevara8
"The imperialists understand the hemispheric significance of the
Cuban revolution and want to extinguish the light of its example,
which is lighting the way for the countries of Latin America."
The WORKER also excised the passage in which Guevara said that if the
Soviet rockets had not been removed, Cuba would have directed them at the
United States "in our defense against aggression."
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C, DEFIANCE OF THE UNITED STATES
Castro's fourth anniversary speech was 93 minutes long, and approximately
70 percent of this time was devoted to attacking President Kennedy and
U,S, policies, This does not represent a fundamental departure from
the pattern of past anniversary speeches, On 2 January 1962 more than
half of Castro's speech was devoted to attacks on the United States,
On the second anniversary, 2 January 1961, Castro delivered what amounted
to two anniversary speechesi The first one, on 1 January, dealt entirely
with domestic problemsi the second, made at the anniversary celebration
the next day, was devoted entirely to denunciations of the United States.*
Castro has had a news peg for such attacks at each of the past three
anniversary celebrations. This year the anniversary ceremonies came a
few days after President Kennedy met with the Bay of Pigs prisoners in
Miami, and Castro used the President's appearance there as his main theme,
In 1962 the Punte Del Este conference was being organized and had been
set for 22 Januaryl Castro in his 1962 speech emphasized the aims and
plans of the United States and its Latin American "puppets" for this
meeting and climaxed his address with a call for a Havana conference on
the same date to draft the Second Declaration of Havana, In 1961
President Eisenhower had just broken relations with Cuba; Castro repre-
sented this as the final step prior to an invasion of Cuba and devoted his
entire anniversary address to an exhortation to the Cuban people to resist
U,S, "aggression,"
Castro's latest anniversary speech was no less intemperate toward the
United States than his earlier ones, and if anything went somewhat further
in insulting the President personally, It differed from the past speeches
principally by its frequent, insistent references to Cuban armed might,
with the implication that Cuba now is well prepared to resist aggression,
It also contained a certain amount of boasting in connection with the
Bay of Pigs episode, presumably inspired by the prisoner releases
"Recently an event took place which, even if they try to
ignore it, is a historic event. Imperialism agreed to pay our
country the indemnity fixed by the revolutionary courts for
the invaders of Playa Gironocoo They call it ransom, but
Fidel Castro also delivered an anniversary speech on 2 January 19600 but
it was in Oriente Province and apparently was not broadcast bar the Havana
radioo No copy is available,
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we do not care what they call it, The fact is that they
had to agree to pay indemnity and that for the first time
in history imperialism paid a war indemnity, And why did they
do it? Because they were beaten, because in Playa Giron the
imperialists suffered their first great defeat in Latin
America,"
"We are respected now more than ever, And the best proof of
this is the respect we inspire in the imperialists themselves.
It is the respect inspired by a nation that has not been
cowed by its power, that has not been cowed in four years of
heroic struggle,"
Castro devoted a large part of his speech to reading extracts from the
President's Orange Bowl speech, then offering his comments, After reading
the President's remarks concerning the brigade flag that was presented
at the meeting with the prisoners, he declareds
"The story of the flag is a lie, a complete lie. Everyone knows
that the mercenaries who came here dressed as 'silk worms,' as
the people say, with camouflaged uniforms of the North American
Army, were totally and absolutely surprised and captured. But
not only that, everyone knows they left even their underwear,
Now they have invented the story that one escaped and carried
the flag in his clothes, and that is the flag they delivered
to Kennedy,"
President Kennedy's reference to Marti and other Cuban heroes brought this
retort from Castro8
"To compare these mercenaries with Marti, to compare these
mercenaries with the patriots of independence,oo,
the efforts of these patriots with these miserable individuals
is an affront to the memory of these men,"
This theme was taken up by commentator Kuchilan on 3 January in his daily
commentary broadcast from Havana8
The worst part of Mr, Kennedy's speech was the brazenness of
comparing the conduct of Jose Marti with the conduct of the
mercenaries. This disrespectful comparison by the U,S, President-
which among other things reveals his complete lack of knowledge
of the history of America--is really an unforgivable offense,
In boasting of Cuba's armed might Castro once again conveyed his dissatisfac-
tion with the outcome of the October crisis8
"We have more than good reason to mistrust the imperialists
and we knew that guarantees can never be contained within the
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mere word of the imperialists, Guarantees lie in our
decision to fight, in our decision to resist historically
any attack from the enemy, Guarantees lie in these arms
you saw in this parade and many more weapons which were
not shown in this parade, Guarantees lie in the hundreds of
thousands of fighters,"
"To live in chains is to live in opprobrium and affront,
and to die for the homeland is to live,,,, That is why
we took measures to arm ourselves? and that is why we agreed
with the Soviet Union on the weapons that were set up here,
because we understood that we were fulfilling our obliga-
tions Ones toward our country, fortifying its defenses in
view of imperialist threats; and another obligation toward
the peoples of the socialist camp, that is, an international
proletarian duty,"
"You know how the crisis was started, developed, and culminated,
We mean to say that our people always reserve all rights in
the face of their imperialist enemies to take all measures
deemed pertinent and to possess the weapons deemed necessary,
The Soviet Government, in search of peace, arrived at certain
agreements with the North American Government, but this does
not mean that we have renounced this right, the right to
possess the weapons we deem proper and to take the interna-
tional policy step we deem pertinent as a sovereign country,"
Speaking immediately after the military parade, Castro made frequent
reference to the arms exhibited in the parade, including the antiaircraft
and coastal missiles, Reportedly the most elaborate yet held, the parade
was the theme of numerous Havana broadcasts after 2 January, Kuchilan
described it as "of course greater, bigger, and more enthusiastic" than
those held earlier, On 4 January commentator Jose Miguel Fornes stated
that "Cuba showed the world the might of its arms and its fighting spirit
against all imperialist aggression," A broadcast to the Americas on the
same day attributed to the conservative Uruguayan paper LA MANANA the
statement that "Fidel Castro showed missiles of a type he was not known
to have possessed," A broadcast to the Americas on 3 January went into
more detail,
"The military parade in Havana proved the high defensive
power of the Cuban revolutionary armed forces, The people
saw for the first time coastal and antiaircraft rockets,,,,
Antiaircraft equipment also was shown in the parade, The
well known quadruple machinegun and 33-millimeter guns were
manned by young communists. It is said that this type of
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antiaircraft gun brought down a Yankee U-2 spy plane recently
in the western region of the country..oo The parade ended
with the materiel which aroused great interest--'the rockets,
which were of two types, one antiaircraft and one coastal
defense, It was announced that the antiaircraft rocket was
capable of reaching and destroying enemy aircraft flying at
the maximum ceiling."
On 3 January the "Friendly Voice of Cuba," a program in English beamed to
North America, also dwelt on the military power of the Castro regime as
exhibited in the parades
"Cuba showed its power in armaments, the combat spirit of
its people--the farmers, workers, students--as they stand
ready to repel and to resist to the very end, to a winning
finish, any and all imperialist aggressions. Our armed
forces, as the military parade made evident, are no longer
that army that had hardly anything but courage and determina-
tion.... Comrade Fidel Castro gave a worthy answer to Kennedy's
threat and falsehood, and in a brief resume dealt with those
responsibilities that lie ahead of us and outlined the course
that we must follow."
"The revolution is not afraid to return these mercenaries to
their masters, since, as stated by our Prime Minister and
commanding chief, our armed forces can now deal with 50
other such invasions that might come simultaneously into our
territory."
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D. SUBORDINATION OF DOMESTIC ISSUES
Toward the end of his anniversary speech Castro summed up his main points,
that Cuba should strive for unity both "within and without" and should
strengthen its example for the revolutionaries of Latin America, and
repeated the slogan that customarily ends his speeches8 "Fatherland or
death, we will wing" He started to leave the rostrum, then turned as
if he had forgotten something, and saids
"This will be the Year of Organization, Why? Because we
must place our main effort in organizations in the first
place, organization of the living party of the socialist
revolution, the development of organization of our masses,
that is, our mass organizations, the organization of our
administrative agencies and the organization of economic
agencies, This does not imply that this year will not be
for education. The principal impetus will be for organiza-
tion, All years are years for education and all years will
be years for organization, But this year we will place
emphasis on organization, And for that reason it will be
called the Year of Organization,"
This rather incoherent paragraph was Castro's total comment, during his
hour and a half speech, on the progress of the revolution at home and
domestic aims for the future,
In each of his speeches on past anniversaries, Castro has explained and
discussed at some length the slogan that represented the emphasis of
regime activities for the coming year, The first year, 1959, was called
the Year of Liberation, 1960 the Year of Agrarian Reform, 1961 the Year of
Education, and 1962 the Year of Planningg 1963 is the Year of Organization,
In his 1961 speech Castro had outlined the coming drive against illiteracy
and announced confidently,
"When we have eradicated illiteracy we can proclaim at the
beginning of the fourth year of the revolution that the Cuban
revolution has done in one year what oligarchies and privileged
classes could not do in 150 years, We are certain that we can
achieve our aim,, We are certain that we can say to the world
that in our country there is not a single illiterate,"
On 2 January 1962 he announced that the goal of eliminating illiteracy
in one year had been met, boasted that Cuba was now leading the Western
hemisphere in education, and went on to outline at length the results that
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would be achieved in the Year of Planning,, He spoke expansively of the
"thousands of technicians" that soon would begin to emerge from the
universities and declared that careful planning in 1962 would reduce un-
employment and lead to higher production and higher living standards,
Castro's concluding remarks in this year's anniversary speech, delivered
as if in afterthought, served to preserve the tradition with at least
a token explanation of this year's slogan,, His preoccupation with inter-
national and intrabloc issues to the virtual exclusion of domestic af-
fairs seemed in accord with the pattern of the past two months, when--
while Castro himself remained silent. Dorticos was reported taking a more
active role than formerly in government activities, and various ministers
(particularly Guevara and Hart) were serving as, regime spokesmen,,
Where last year's revolution anniversary article in CUBA SOCIALISTA was
written by Castro, this year's was signed by Dorticos,, According to
PRENSA LATINA's report of the article on 1 January, Dortiocs noted the
"quickening pace of the process of socialization," giving "figures on
the extent of the socialization of the national economy,," He admitted
"deviations and mistakes which caused delays and the use of resources,"
but asserted that "redeeming action was not long in coming" and "today
we can state that not only the vanguard but the entire Cuban working
class has been won-over by the ideas of socialism," Dorticos declared
that "with the help of the socialist camp" the Cuban revolution on its
fourth anniversary could show "not only survival," but also "some ad-
vances and, processes worthy of mention,,"
Some of these worthy advances included a claimed growth of the economy
by 30 percent between 1958 and 1962, "which is equivalent to an annual in-
crease of six to seven percent,," In the earlier days of the revolution
Castro had chosen 13 as the annual percentage of national growth which
he said Cuba must follow in the immediate future,,
Dorticos also wrote in CUBA SOCIALISTA that unemployment was "reduced
from 500,000 in 1958 to 220,000 in 1962" and that "the labor reserves
which is a broader concept and includes in addition to the unemployed the
semiemployed and domestics, declined from 620,000 in 1958 to 300,0000 in
1962," In many of his 1962 speeches Castro had claimed that unemployment
had been wiped out,, At present, an intensive campaign is under way to
enlist tens of thousands of "volunteer workers" to avoid catastrophe in
the sugar harvest,, Dorticos admitted in his article that among the
"costly errors" had been "a certain disregard of the importance to our
economy of the sugar industry," which had "affected our export capacity,,"
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Remarks :
Herewith three copies Radio Propaganda Report
on Cuban propaganda. I believe you will find
on page 9 especially relevant.
FOLD HERE TO RETURN TO SENDER
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FORM NO. 237
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* N.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : 1961 0--587282
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