On August 13, 2018, Fidel Castro, organizer and leader of the Cuban Revolution, could have turned 92 years old. For two years now, since there is no Cuban leader with us - his life ended in 2016 - but his cause is alive. It lives like revolutionary Cuba is alive, despite the US blockade and attempts by the imperialists to disintegrate the country from within.
"I started the revolution with 82 people. If I had to repeat this, I would have had fifteen or even ten. Ten people and absolute faith. It does not matter how many of you. It is important to believe and it is important to have a clear plan. Victory is persistence "
At a young age, having embarked on the path of struggle against the dictatorship, Fidel did not bow before the authority of "traditional" opposition leaders, but began organizing young people. Fidel had to reject the convenience of ordinary people, change them to prison, emigration and partisan life in the mountains. Next to him were his like-minded people - brother Raul Castro, comrade Camilo Cienfuegos, Argentinian native Ernesto Che Guevara, who joined the revolutionary struggle of the Cubans, and other comrades.
"The revolution is not a bed of roses. Revolution is a battle between the future and the past "
The future is not built in parliamentary halls, but in the midst of the people - it was firmly known to the Cuban revolutionaries. The struggle for socialism is not going to the ballot boxes every few years, not flapping the flag in time with the monotonous muttering of bonz from the "parties of moderate progress within the framework of legality." The revolution demands renunciation of petty-bourgeois life, contempt for the "philosophy of wise minnows," afraid of "whatever happens." The revolution requires readiness for personal self-sacrifice, the revolutionary loves his people, but is uncompromising and merciless toward enemies.
Castro knew perfectly well that dictator Batista's regime would not go away on his own. Fidel did not adapt to life under the dictatorship, did not wait for the regime to transform into something more "soft", and embarked on the path of his revolutionary overthrow. Counter-revolutionary violence must be countered with revolutionary violence. And this concerns not only the period of the struggle for power, but also the period of the establishment of people's power and the building of socialism.
"I remember very well how, after the collapse of the USSR, many people attacked me with advice to do all the dirty tricks that all the others did. I'm going to some meeting, for example, inauguration, there are always going to certain personalities ..., other Latin American figures came - all with advice for me, how to act, so that Cuba could survive ... I listened with great respect, discussed it the way I had it meaning to discuss the issue, and remained unshakable".
And after the collapse of the USSR - a great friend and ally of Cuba - Fidel Castro and his associates were not scared, did not surrender to the US and new "friends", but retained the socialist system. Some maneuvers have been done, concessions have been made on some issues, one can argue about the admissibility of which, but Cuba remained the Island of Freedom, despite the storms that fought against its shores.
The case of Fidel Castro to some extent remains incomplete. This is primarily due to the international situation - it is not easy to create a new system when you have an enemy like the US, and those who are stuffed into "friends" are also thinking about how to "pinch off" a piece of the country's resources. Neither does the counter-revolution supported by the North Americans keep slumbering. This means that the Cuban revolution still has to fight.
The future revolutionary generations will have to bear the banner of Fidel in the future.
Dar Vetrov
