CHE GUEVARA
STRESSES PROLETARIAN INTERNATIONALISM
[The remarks of Ernesto "Che't Guevara at the Economic Seminar of Afro~Asian Solidarity, held in Algiers February 22-28, aroused considerable interest. In the absence of an official text, we have assembled the two reports on his participation which appeared in the Algerian dailies Alger Républicain and_Le Peuple of February 25. The translation below is by World Outlook. |
"Cuba has come to this conference so that the voices of the peoples of America can be heard," Che Guevara said in opening. "We have come as an underdeveloped country and as a country that is con-= structing socialism,"
The Cuban minister, who spoke in French, emphasized that a common aspiration unites Cuba with the other countries of Africa and Asia, that it was not by accident that permission was granted to a representative of Cuba to offer his opinion among the peoples of Asia and Africa,
“Ever since the monopolist capitalists got hold of the world, they have kept the immense ma jority of mankind in poverty.
"In order to raise the level of the underdeveloped countries, he continued, "it is thus necessary to struggle against erect perl and each time a country is detached from the imperialist tree, not only has a partial battle been won against the main enemy, but a contribution has been made in genuinely weakening it, in taking a new step toward the definitive victory. . . and in this struggle to the death there are no frontiers. ..
"The practice of proletarian internationalism is not only a duty of the peoples who are struggling to assure themselves a better future, it is, besides, an ineluctable necessity -- after having insisted on the solidarity of the peoples in struggle -- for the countries on the road of development and for the socialist countries,
"The development of the countries which have today taken the road to freedom, must be underwritten by the socialist countries; this is my profound conviction,
"How can it be considered of mutual benefit to sell at the world market price raw materials which have cost-such sweat and suffering to the masses of the backward countries and to buy at the world market price, the machine products of the big automatic plants of today?
"Tt is the duty of socialist countries to end their tacit complicity with the exploiting countries of the West."
Briefly analyzing the problem of long-term credits for the development of basic industries, the Cuban minister observed that frequently "tthe countries benefiting from credits are ready to establish industrial bases that are disproportionate in relation to their present capacity in which products are not intended for domestic consumption and in which such an effort will jeopardize their reserves."
"Our reasoning,” he said, “is that the investments of the socialist countries in their own territory weigh directly on the state budget and are not recoverable except through utilizing pro-= ducts that are completely processed up to the point of being manufactured products. We propose that thought should be given to the possibility of making investments of this type in the underdeveloped countries."
After having underlined the necessity "of establishing an alliance between the underdeveloped countries and the socialist countries, Guevara drew the following conclusion:
"There can be no socialism without a change in consciousness such as to bring about a new fraternal attitude with regard to human-~ ity, in the individual domain, in the interior of the society that is in process of constructing socialism or which has already constructed it, and also in the world domain in relation to all the peoples still suffering from imperialist oppression,
"We think that it is in this spirit one must envisage the responsibility of aiding the dependent countries, stopping the talk about developing mutually beneficial trade on the basis of prices imposed on the backward countries through the law of value and unequal international trade relations, relations which are also a consequence of the law of value."
Guevara then spoke of the commercial relations between Cuba and the other socialist countries, adding that the peoples of Africa and Asia must follow the same road as Cuba, “because they will win sooner or later, no matter by what name they designate their socialism at present."
The Cuban spokesman specified how the setting of prices must be conceived:
"A profound change in concept would be to change the order of international relations. It must not be foreign trade that determines policy; but on the contrary, foreign trade must be subordinated to a fraternal policy toward other peoples.
"Development cannot be abandoned to utter improvisation; the construction of the new society must be planned. Planning is one of the laws of socialism, and without it socialism could not exist. Without correct planning, it is impossible to adequately guarantee the harmonious links that must be established among the various econ-
omic sectors of a country in order to accomplish the leaps forward . demanded by the epoch itself in which we live. Planning is not an individual question posed for each of our countries -- small, with unbalanced development, proprietors of some raw materials, or .good producers of certain products, manufactured or semifinished, but without any production in the other domains --'in an isolated way. This planning must be oriented, in actuality, from the first moment, toward a certain specialization according to region, so that the economies of the various countries can become complementary and thus reach integration on the basis of genuine mutual benefit."
Guevara warned that “one could. not expect confidence from the socialist countries if one plays the game of balancing between capitalism and socialism, and if one tries to utilize these two forces as elements in opposition to each other so as to gain certain advan- tages."
"It sometimes happens," Guevara warned, "that in face of the impossibility of securing a certain investment with the aid of the socialist camp, one ends up getting it through an agreement with the capitalists. And these capitalist investments carry defects not only in the way in which the loans are made, but also other complementary defects of great importance, as in the case of the establishment of mixed societies with a dangerous neighbor as partner. Since these investments in general are parallel to those of other states, the risk is run of seeing them produce divisions between friendly countries because of economic conflicts. And then, in addition, all this creates the danger of corruption arising from the constant presence of capitalism, with its well-known skill in presenting images of development and well-being which turn the heads of not a few people.
"A little later, one faces a drop in prices as a logical consequence of the saturation of the market due to the production of the same kind of products. The countries affected in this way face the necessity of soliciting new loans or of permitting supplementary investments due to the competition. The final consequence of such a policy is to place the economy back in the hands of the capitalists and to return slowly but surely to the past. In our opinion the only safe way of undertaking investments with the participation of the. imperialist powers is through the direct participation of the state, as the sole buyer of goods, by limiting the imperialist action to contracting for supplies and by not permitting it to get inside the door of our home. Only in this case does it appear to us permissible to profit from the interimperialist contradictions in order to obtain less onerous conditions."
Speaking of the forms of neocolonialist penetration, the Cuban minister noted "the establishment of close relations between foreign capital and the budding indigenous bourgeoisie.
"We must establish a great compact bloc which will in turn aid new countries to free themselves not only from the political but
also from the economic power of imperialism."
On the need for solidarity with peoples struggling for their freedom, Guevara said:
"arms must not constitute a merchandise in our world; one must deliver them without any payment and in the quantities required by the peoples who need them."
To overcome difficulties in economic development, a great leap forward must be made in technology and this must be done wherever required. He stressed that “agriculture must be considered as the fundamental pillar of development."
‘Turning to another subject, Guevara said: "We warmly support Algeria's proposal about institutionalizing our relations. We would only like to present some supplementary considerations:
"(1) To make the proposed union an instrument of struggle against imperialism, the co-operation of the Latin-American peoples ’ and an alliance with the socialist countries are required,
"(2) The revolutionary character of the union must be safeguarded by barring the entry of governments or movements that do not identify themselves with the general: aspirations of the peoples, and by creating mechanisms to remove those that leave the correct road, whether it be a government or a popular movement.
"(3) We must work for the establishment of new relations on the basis of equality between our countries and the capitalist countries, by instituting a revolutionary legal system to protect us in case of conflict and which would give a new content to our relations with the rest of the world,"
Guevara closed by calling "the attention of the seminar to the fact that Cuba is not the only country in the Americas, but it is the only one which has the opportunity of speaking before you today; that other peoples are spilling their blood in order to conquer the right which we enjoy today, and to address from here, and from all the conferences and gatherings taking place simultaneously, messages of solidarity to the heroic people of Vietnam, of Laos, of so-called Portuguese Guinea, South Africa, Palestine, and all the exploited countries which are struggling for their emancipation. We must forward our friendly greetings to our brother peoples of Venezuela, Guatemala and Colombia, who today, arms in hand, are definitively saying no to the imperialist enemy."
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