Comrade of the Revolution: Selected Speeches of Fidel Castro

by Fidel Castro, Manolo De Los Santos (editor), Vijay Prashad (editor)

‘You cannot kill ideas. Fidel, for the Third World, was not merely another leader. He was the mirror of its aspirations. That mirror will never be shattered.’ – From the Introduction

Fidel Castro’s speeches were classrooms for the revolution. Through these speeches, Fidel came before the people to explain the conjuncture and problems the government faced with honesty and by putting them into historical context. Each of his speeches is a tour de force of explication, a history lesson, a sociology lesson, a political lesson, and even a lesson on literature. Fidel reached back to revolutionaries from an earlier time and dug into the data produced by the government. The traditions, experiences, and oral histories of national liberation and Marxism-Leninism articulated by Fidel came alive as he spoke to new audiences engaged in building a socialist experiment just miles away from the heart of the empire.

Fidel Castro launched a battle of ideas in defense of socialist thought and the permanent mobilization of the people’s consciousness. The speeches collected in this book carry forward the battle of ideas that framed the last decades of Fidel’s life until he left us on 26 November 2016 at the age of ninety.

Genres: Nonfiction

138 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2021

About the author

Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro overthrew the regime of Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar in 1959, established a Communist state, served as prime minister until 1976 and then as president of the government and first secretary of the party, in declining health passed control de facto in 2006 to Raúl Castro, his younger brother, and officially retired in 2008.

Fidel Castro led a revolutionary movement that overthrew corrupt authoritarian regime of Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar on New Year's Day, 1 January 1959.

Raúl Castro assisted Fidel Castro, his brother, in overthrowing the regime of Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar in 1959.

United States in an attempt to overthrow the government of Fidel Castro trained a force of 1,500 guerrilla troops, who landed at Bay of Pigs, the site, in an ill-fated invasion on 17 April 1961.

Castro, the illegitimate son of a wealthy farmer, adopted leftist anti-imperialist politics and meanwhile studied law at the University of Havana. He participated in rebellions against right wing in the Dominican Republic and Colombia, afterward failed in an attack on the barracks of Moncada, planned against the military junta, which the United States of America backed, and served imprisonment for a year in 1953. On release, he went to Mexico, formed the movement of 26 July as a group with Ernesto Guevara, his friend and doctor.

Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz, a politician, also served as the commander in chief of the armed forces. This politically Marxist-Leninist administered the socialist republic. People nationalized industry and businesses and implemented socialist reforms in all parts of society. Castro returned, ousted rivals in 1959, and brought his own assumption of military and political power.

Credentials of Castro and cordial relations with the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics alarmed the Administrations of Dwight David Eisenhower and John Fitzgerald Kennedy, who unsuccessfully attempted economic blockade, assassination, and even the invasion at Bay of Pigs of 1961 to remove him. In 1961, Castro proclaimed the socialist nature of his administration under rule of its kind in the Western Hemisphere. The press and suppression of internal dissent accompanied socialist reforms that introduced central economic planning and expanded care and education.

Castro countered these threats, formed an economic and military alliance with the Soviets, allowed them to place nuclear weapons on the island, and thus sparked sparking the missile crisis in 1962.

Internationally, Castro also served as general of the nonaligned movement from 1979 to 1983.

Abroad, Castro supported foreign groups in the expectation of toppling world capitalism, sent troops to fight in the wars of Yom Kippur, Ogaden, and Angola.

Following the dissolution of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in 1991, Castro went into economic "special period" and afterward forged alliances in the Latin American pink tide, namely with Venezuela of Hugo Chávez, and joined the Bolivarian alliance in 2006.

Due to failing, Castro in 2006 transferred his responsibilities to his vice, who assumed in 2008.

Supporters lauded Castro, a controversial and divisive world figure, as a champion of socialism, humanitarianism, and environmentalism against imperialism; critics viewed him as a dictator, who oversaw multiple rights abuses, an exodus of more than a million persons, and the impoverishment of the economy of the country. Through actions and writings, he significantly influenced the politics of various individuals and groups across the world.

Reviews

[Carlos Martinez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Difficult to go wrong with Fidel. And of course tough to identify the best handful of his speeches, but his 1995 speech in Ho Chi Minh City and his (1990?) speech for the Cuban volunteers that gave their lives in Angola are just indescribably great and it would have been nice to have included them in this volume.

Still, a pretty good selection with pretty good translation. Will upload some quotes here when I get a moment.

Here's the Vietnam speech. http://www.cuba.cu/gobierno/discursos...

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's Fidel, of course it's five stars, he was the best.

[Tim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fidel Castro was a role model for all people and the speeches in this book showed how dedicated he was to the revolution, what a good grasp he had on current events, his foresight, and his revolutionary optimism. A must read for all who believe that a better world is possible.

[Liv · Rating 4 out of 5]

Only note is that I wish “History Will Absolve Me” was included in the selection

[K · Rating 5 out of 5]

A man whose passion for humanity, equality, liberation, and life are made abundantly clear in the way he fought for and led the Cuban Revolution. The insidious deceit and nefarious propaganda of the US empire rarely shock me anymore, but I am continually blown away by the depth of character, integrity, courage, and resilience of revolutionary leaders — those, most of all, whom the US empire fights tooth and nail to villainize and dehumanize. Fidel Castro trains and organizes his country to face the violence, degradation, and unrelenting oppression of the greatest superpower in the world, and in turn, wins the love, respect and liberation of his people.

For those who are new to the history of the Cuban Revolution and the North American Empire’s imperialist aim to gain total control over Cuba, its labor force and its natural resources, I highly recommend reading Fidel’s speeches alongside other educational resources. I found it helpful to listen to season 2 of the Blowback podcast which reveals the history of the United States’ history with Cuba and the aim of the Revolution to free the country from dictatorship backed by the US, as well as to build a socialist state that is not reliant on the exploitative forces and global superpowers that aim to assert dominance over the Cuban people.

Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast...

[Rohit Dash · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very readable book, with carefully curated and appropriately sequenced speeches of Fidel Castro. A polarising figure for the world (depending on which side one chooses), but a man who built and continued a revolution, "just 90 miles from the empire". What I personally appreciate the most is the final speech in the book, titled " Can revolution be reversed?". Here, Castro tears into the criticism levied on Communists, for justifying the means for an end. He expresses the criticism and misadventures of the Communist movement internationally, from the USSR to the Social Democrats of Europe. His constant urge of coming out to open up to his citizens with truths and to never take exceptions to ideals is an inspiring theme all across his speeches. All in all, a great read and intro to Fidel Castro.

[Andrew Rizzo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m new to the world of Communism and political theory and sciences, but these selected speeches of Fidel Castro’s are phenomenal and inspiring.

The US propaganda machine has turned out so many fables and lies that I hardly knew anything about Cuba and the Revolution that took place. Now I understand why we currently in the states are in the beginning of another Revolution, and I will dive more into theory and understanding socialism because of Cuba.

[Aidan Corrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this on the walk home, riding into battle.

[Ben · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredibly based.

[nico flores · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredibly important text. These speeches get very detailed about Fidel's involvement in the revolution and show a lot about his character and how thorough and knowledgeable his speeches were. Though it would be impossible to really choose the most important of Fidel's speeches, this book does a good job of putting together some crucial ones and the translation is good as well. It is a quick read and a well put together book that I highly recommend to anyone who considers themselves a revolutionary or is interested in the Cuban Revolution.