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Fidel Castro Quotes

Total quotes: 60
“Believe me, it's a death struggle. It is either us or them. We have to defend the revolution and make it go forward. We cannot show any pity.”
— Fidel Castro, The Nature of Cuban Socialism
Tagged: US vs. Them, Zero Sum Game, Herd Mentality
“What do you think, that we like to kill? We are compelled to do it.”
— Fidel Castro, Utopia or Death
Tagged: Justifications of War, Justifications for Bad Behavior, How To Justify Violence, An Eye for An Eye, Fighting A War
“I am a man like any other.”
— Fidel Castro, The Nature of Cuban Socialism
Tagged: Just Another Person, Famous People Are People Too, Normal Guy, Just Like You, Celebrities
“The industrial and agricultural proletariat, the peasants, the small bourgeoisie, above all the intellectuals. I do not wish to encourage factionalism. Nor do I deny that some layers of the national bourgeoisie can support, in part and temporarily, certain revolutionary events. I grant that some children of the bourgeoisie can enter the ranks of the people, participate in revolutions, and even direct them, as conscious individuals, armed with a revolutionary theory (after all, even I am the son of great landowners!). Yet, I am reasoning from a class viewpoint. There is no longer anything good we can expect from the national bourgeoisie as a class. The same goes for national armies. Revolutionary and patriotic officers can be found, but professional and caste armies are like a cancer that must be uprooted from Latin America. If the armies are not destroyed, there can be no true governments of the people, and social reforms cannot be enacted. At the first smell of an even modest reform, the army intervenes and paralyzes everything. And when a corrupt government is on its way out, and a revolution is in sight, there comes the army again with a state coup and with a new government which is worse that the one that preceded it. These are the lessons of our history.”
— Fidel Castro, The Nature of Cuban Socialism
Tagged: latin america, Organizing Revolutions In Latin America, Latin American Politics
“Believe me, this is the truth.”
— Fidel Castro, The Nature of Cuban Socialism
Tagged: Faith
“We abolished privileges, annihilated the great landowners, threw out foreign monopolies for good, nationalized almost every industry, and collectivized the land. We are fighting now to liquidate once and for all the exploitation of man over man, and to build a completely new society, with a new class contents.”
— Fidel Castro, The Nature of Cuban Socialism
Tagged: New World Order, Creating A New Reality, A New Society, Political Engineering, Building Social Frameworks
“You newspapermen are crazy for definitions and neat schemes. You're impossibly dogmatic.”
— Fidel Castro, The Nature of Cuban Socialism
Tagged: Against The Media, Media Manipulation, Fake News, Desire For Order In Writiers, Media, Forced Structuring Of Reality
“We are examples for the brother peoples of 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. When you, Mr. Kennedy, when you speak of captives, you say Cubans, but you do not think of us. You think of and fear the rebellion of the real captives, the rebellion of the exploited. If the workers and peasants of Latin America had weapons as our people do, we would see what would happen. We would see who are the real captives, because these, whom you call captives, are armed captives, with tanks, planes. Give the workers and peasants of Latin America tanks and planes and you will see who are the captives. That is the irrefutable proof.”
— Fidel Castro, Fourth Anniversary of the Cuban Revolution
“What kind of peace would that be? A peace in which we would have to accept these violations. We do not accept them. These violations could be sources for incidents. We are acquiring better antiaircraft weapons as time goes by. Today the first ground rocket training unit passed in review units that are in training. What kind of peace would that be, a peace in which the imperialists expose us to incidents of this type through their stated policy of violating our airspace. And lastly, what are they doing in part of our territory, threatening us, making plans from there against our country? That territory is ours and we have every right to claim it. What right to the imperialists have to possess a base on our territory?”
— Fidel Castro, May Day Celebration(1961): Cuba is a Socialist Nation
“Without freedom, we want no life. Without dignity, we want no life! Without justice, we want no life! Without bread for our children, we want no life! Without a future, we want no life! That is why we say: Fatherland or death!”
— Fidel Castro, Fourth Anniversary of the Cuban Revolution
Tagged: Extremism, Political Rhetoric, Examples of Political Leaders Mobilizing A People, Freedom or Death, Calls For Justice, Justice
“A guide for our people: our task is to unite inside and outside, to eliminate everything that divides us inside and outside, to struggle for everything that unites us inside and outside, the unity of all principles, that is our line, fatherland or death, we will win!”
— Fidel Castro, Fourth Anniversary of the Cuban Revolution
Tagged: Political Rhetoric
“We must know how cunning the imperialists are, what foxes they are in all their acts and deeds.”
— Fidel Castro, Fourth Anniversary of the Cuban Revolution
Tagged: Imperialists, Political Rhetoric
“We have the great historic task of bringing this revolution forward, of serving as an example for the revolution of Latin America, and within the socialist camp, which is and always will be our family.”
— Fidel Castro, Fourth Anniversary of the Cuban Revolution
Tagged: Cuba, Socialism
“ There is no sadder picture than a defeated revolution.”
— Fidel Castro, May Day Celebration(1961): Cuba is a Socialist Nation
Tagged: Revolution
“The revolution is all for him because he was mistreated and humilated.”
— Fidel Castro, May Day Celebration(1961): Cuba is a Socialist Nation
“Fear? No one has fear here. The people who struggle for their liberty are never frightened.”
— Fidel Castro, May Day Celebration(1961): Cuba is a Socialist Nation
Tagged: Fear, Political Fights, Working for Freedom, Freedom Fighters
“The revolution does not oppose religion.”
— Fidel Castro, May Day Celebration(1961): Cuba is a Socialist Nation
Tagged: Cuba
“A socialist revolution does not mean that interests of certain sectors are eliminated without consideration. The interests of the big landholders, bankers, and industrialists were eliminated. No social interest of the lesser levels of society is to be condemned. The revolution will adhere to its word: No middle interest will be affected without due consideration.”
— Fidel Castro, May Day Celebration(1961): Cuba is a Socialist Nation
Tagged: Communism, Socialism, Small Business Protected, What Socialism Aims To Eliminate
“Religion is one thing, politics another.”
— Fidel Castro, May Day Celebration(1961): Cuba is a Socialist Nation
Tagged: Cuba
“Little businessmen industrialists have credit today. The revolution has no interest in nationalizing them. The revolution has enough to do with developing the sources of wealth it now has at its disposal. The revolution feels that there can be collaboration from the little businessman and little industrialist. It believes that their interest can coincide with those of the revolution. Counterrevolutionaries have claimed that barbershops would be nationalized, even food stands. The revolution does not aim at those. The solution of those problems will be the result of a long evolution. There are some problems; sometimes tomatoes and pineapples are sold in the city at far higher prices than in the country. There is still a small plague of middlemen. The revolution still has measures to take to do away with the middleman abuse, to improve consumption for the people. But I do not want anybody to be confused. I want everybody to know what to expect.”
— Fidel Castro, May Day Celebration(1961): Cuba is a Socialist Nation
Tagged: Cuba
“Basically, the revolution has already passed its measures. Nobody need worry. Why not join in this enthusiasm, in this prowess? Why are there still Cubans bothered by this happiness? I asked myself that while watching the parade. Why are some Cubans so incapable of understanding that his happiness can also be theirs? Why do they no adapt to the revolution? Why not see their children in the schools here also? Some people cannot adopt, but the future society will be better than the old one.”
— Fidel Castro, May Day Celebration(1961): Cuba is a Socialist Nation
Tagged: Communism
“Art, culture, university professions, opportunities, honors, elegant clothes were only the privilege of a small minority, a minority represented today with that grace and humor shown by some worker federations in their imitations of the rich. It is astounding to think that today more than 20,000 athletes paraded, if one remembers that we are just beginning. And this, without touching on the most marvelous thing we had a chance to see today, that is, this armed nation, this united people, which came to attend these ceremonies.”
— Fidel Castro, May Day Celebration(1961): Cuba is a Socialist Nation
Tagged: Communism
“Fruits of the revolution are seen everywhere. The first to parade today were the children of the Camilo Cienfuegos school center. We saw the Pioneers parade by with the smile of hope, confidence, and affection. We saw the young rebels parade by. We saw the women of the federation go by. We saw children from numberless schools created by the revolution parade. We saw 1,000 students from the 600 sugar-cane cooperatives who are studying artificial insemination here in the capital. We saw young people, humble people, parade with their uniforms of the school center where they are learning to be diplomatic representatives of the future.”
— Fidel Castro, May Day Celebration(1961): Cuba is a Socialist Nation
Tagged: Cuba
“Long live the Cuban working class! Long live the Latin American sister nations! Long live the nation! Fatherland or death! We shall win!”
— Fidel Castro, May Day Celebration(1961): Cuba is a Socialist Nation
Tagged: Cuba
“We do not condemn anyone a priori, we do not close the doors to anyone, we do not attack any persons en masse, lumped together; we express our ideas, we defend our ideas, we debate these ideas. And we have absolute confidence in the revolutionaries, in the true revolutionaries, in the true Communists.”
— Fidel Castro, Speech to the OLAS Conference
Tagged: latin america, In Defense of Communism
“We do not know what awaits us, what vicissitudes, what dangers, what struggles. But we are prepared; each day we try to be better prepared; we will be better and better prepared. But one thing we can say; we are calm, we are secure, this little island will always be a revolutionary wall of granite and against it all conspiracies, all intrigues, all aggressions will be smashed to splinters. And high upon this revolutionary wall there will fly forever a banner with the legend: Patria o Muerte! Venceremos!”
— Fidel Castro, Speech to the OLAS Conference
Tagged: Future of Cuba
“Tell me who defends you, and I will tell you who you are! Tell me who attacks you, and I will tell you who you are!”
— Fidel Castro, Speech to the OLAS Conference
Tagged: Conflict, Common enemy, Hatred, War, What Gives Us A Sense of Purpose, Us vs. Them Quotes
“A tactical retreat: that is what they said to the rank and file, that is what they said to the people. The tactical retreat was followed by an attempt to end the struggle, an attempt to suppress the guerrilla movement. For anyone knows that in a guerrilla movement there is no tactical retreat. A guerrilla group that retreats is like an airplane that cuts off its engine in mid-flight: it falls to the ground. Such a tactical retreat must have been the brainchild of some genius in high-flown revolutionary theories. Whoever has an idea of what a guerrilla group is, and begins to hear talk of retreat by the guerrillas, will say: This man is talking a lot of nonsense. There can be total withdrawal of guerrillas, but not retreat.”
— Fidel Castro, Speech to the OLAS Conference
Tagged: Retreat
“There are some who ask themselves if it is possible in any country of Latin America to achieve power without armed struggle. And, of course, theoretically, hypothetically, when a great part of the continent has been liberated there is nothing surprising if, under those conditions a revolution succeeds without opposition—but this would be an exception. However, this does not mean that the revolution is going to succeed in any country without a struggle. The blood of the revolutionaries of a specific country may not be shed, but their victory will only be possible thanks to the efforts, the sacrifices and the blood of the revolutionaries of a whole continent.”
— Fidel Castro, Speech to the OLAS Conference
Tagged: latin america
“It is logical that the exploiters, who for centuries practiced racism against the Negro population, now label as racists all those who struggle against racism.”
— Fidel Castro, Speech to the OLAS Conference
Tagged: racism
“The imperialists assume the right to commit every kind of misdeed in the world with entire impunity. They daily bomb North Viet Nam, utilizing hundreds of planes: that is the imperialist order, those are the laws of imperialism. They invade the fraternal Dominican Republic with 40,000 soldiers, they openly set up a puppet government there with their occupation troops; that is the order of imperialism, those are the laws of imperialism. A State such as Israel, at the service of the imperialist aggressors, gets hold of a large part of the territory of other countries, establishes itself there at the very edge of the Suez Canal and is already claiming the right to participate in the control of that Canal—so all that’s lacking now is for it to ask that a pipeline be installed to run from the Aswan Dam to irrigate the Sinai Peninsula. And there they are, and nobody knows how long they’ll stay, and the longer nothing is done, the longer they’ll stay: that is the order imperialism wants to establish, those are the laws imperialism wants to impose upon the world. To send murderers on missions with poisoned bullets to kill leaders of other States, to constantly send armed infiltration groups to a country they have been harassing for eight years. That is the imperialist order! Those are the laws imperialism wants to impose upon the world! And we are a small country, but we will not accept that order! We will not accept those laws!”
— Fidel Castro, Speech to the OLAS Conference
“Humanity will, of course, change; human society will, of course, continue to develop — in spite of men and the errors of men. But that is not a revolutionary attitude.”
— Fidel Castro, Speech to the OLAS Conference
“Ever onward to victory!”
— Fidel Castro, Cuba's achievments and America's Wars
Tagged: Political Mantras, Towards Victory
“We are sustained by the deepest conviction that ideas are worth more than weapons, no matter how sophisticated and powerful those weapons may be.”
— Fidel Castro, Cuba's achievments and America's Wars
Tagged: Peace, Against Violence, No War, War, Against War
“The hypocrisy of Western politicians and a large group of mediocre leaders is so huge that it would not fit in the Atlantic Ocean. Any measure that Cuba adopts for the purposes of its legitimate defense is reported among the top stories in almost all of the media. On the other hand, when we pointed out that during the term in office of a Spanish head of government, dozens of ETA members were executed without trial, without anyone protesting or denouncing it before the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, or that another Spanish head of government, at a difficult moment in the war in Kosovo, advised the U.S. president to step up the war, increase the bombing and attack civilian targets, thus causing the deaths of hundreds of innocent people and tremendous suffering for millions of people, the headlines merely stated, "Castro attacks Felipe and Aznar". Not a word was said about the real content.”
— Fidel Castro, Cuba's achievments and America's Wars
Tagged: Cuba, War Against Cuba, The West Vs. Cuba
“What is Cuba’s sin? What honest person has any reason to attack her?”
— Fidel Castro, Cuba's achievments and America's Wars
Tagged: Cuba, War Against Cuba
“We had seven years of tyranny. Seven years, and nobody came to give us freedom; we had to win it with our sacrifices. Governments did not help us--we were helped by the peoples. The peoples of all America sympathized with us; the peoples of all America were our friends. And now they are trying to take away the only friends we had; they are trying to take away the peoples, trying to alienate peoples from us by telling them that we are carrying out mass executions, without trials, of Batista supporters.”
— Fidel Castro, When the people rule
Tagged: Cuba
“Today, after this extraordinary demonstration; today, after the satisfaction we feel at seeing this support from the people; today, as we feel such pride at being Cuban and belonging to this people, one of the world's finest peoples; today, on behalf of all and in the name of the revolutionary government and the fighters of the rebel army, I want to say thank you to my people. Thank you very much.”
— Fidel Castro
Tagged: Cuba, Thanking Cuba, Cuban Pride
“It should definitely be said: Farewell to arms."”
— Fidel Castro, International Conference on Financing for Development
Tagged: No War, Peace
“For a true and sustainable economic and social development to take place much more is required than is usually admitted. Measures as those suggested by the late James Tobin to curtail the irrepressible flow of currency speculation --albeit it was not his idea to foster development-- would perhaps be the only ones capable of generating enough funds, which in the hands of the UN agencies and not of awful institutions like the IMF, could supply direct development assistance with a democratic participation of all countries and without the need to sacrifice the independence and sovereignty of the peoples.”
— Fidel Castro, International Conference on Financing for Development
Tagged: United Nations, Global Goverance
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