Always With Justice Part 1 - Speech by Fidel Castro at the closing of the 4th Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba, October 14, 1991

Vintage Leftist Leaflet Project

See the end of this post for details on the project.

Leaflet: Always With Justice Part 1 - Speech by Fidel Castro at the closing of the 4th Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba, October 14, 1991

This past New Year's Day was the 59th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution. Today, in the first of two parts, we look at a 1991 booklet, Always With Justice, that contained speeches and documents from the 4th Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba. This part is Castro's closing speech given in Santiago de Cuba. 

This congress was occurring against a terrible backdrop of defeat for global socialism and national liberation movements and the temporary triumph of global reaction with the fall of the Soviet Union. As Castro puts it in the speech it was "a moment when the USSR, our solidest and firmest ally throughout these years of revolution, that supported us with so much solidarity, that showed us friendship, to whom we owe so many gestures of solidarity and to whose peoples we owe so much gratitude, is now undergoing such a highly critical situation." 

(For two looks on The Left Chapter at the 100th anniversary of the Russian Revolution, its impact and the impact of the fall of the USSR see: The Meaning of October on its Centenary and In the shadow of October -- Reflecting on the USSR and Soviet power)

Knowing that dangerous times were ahead Castro says:

We will take the steps we have to take to keep our factories running, to keep our workers employed, to keep going forward in these difficult conditions, and following the principle of protecting everyone, of not abandoning a single citizen in our country, sharing what we have, we will find the formulas to save the country, save the Revolution and save socialism. 

Happily, the Cuban Revolution has survived.

Another noteworthy quote is one where Castro reflects on how "only a socialist system can be democratic":

What democracy exists for the homeless child on the street, what democracy exists for the beggar; what democracy exists for the starving, the illiterate, the unemployed, for those who have nothing, whom no one thinks of, whom no one respects, whom anyone with money treats like a dog?
What kind of democracy exists in a society of exploiters and exploited; what kind of democracy exists where, alongside the poor, the hungry and the beggars live the millionaire and the multimillionaire?

 A question that resonates all the more today with staggering levels of inequality in capitalist countries, with extreme poverty amidst a billionaire plutocracy in the United States and examples like Conservative politicians in the UK calling for the removal of homeless people and beggars from the streets so that they do not "spoil" the wedding of Royal Family freeloaders and parasites.

(Click on images to enlarge)

 When The Left Chapter began part of what I wanted to do on the blog was to show and highlight vintage public leftist election/political leaflets and booklets. While many of these have been offered with commentary to date, a very large collection of hundreds of them from several different sources remains and to preserve these often quite rare documents we will be posting them on a regular (almost daily) basis now often without or with minimal commentary so that people may have access to them as quickly as possible as an historical resource. 

While these will all be leaflets from a variety of different leftist viewpoints and countries, they are being posted as an historical/study resource and the views or opinions expressed in them do not necessarily reflect the views of this blog or blogger.

All of these posts (as well as posts made to date) will be listed on the page: Vintage Communist/Socialist Leaflets (which is still being updated with past posts).

If you have any public, vintage leaflets or booklets you would like to contribute to this project please contact us via theleftchapter@outlook.com