Fidel Castro’s 1973 Non-Aligned Movement Speech on Third-Worldism

Fidel Castro outlines the flaws embedded in the Third-Worldist Position, debunking the myths of so-called “Soviet Imperialism”.

As the Cold War chilled forth throughout the majority of the twentieth century, the entire geopolitical landscape became increasingly polarized. Through a period of decolonization that began through the aid of the Soviet Union, dozens of national liberation movements succeeded in attaining their independence throughout the Global South. While many maintained the Marxist-Leninist lines that shattered the chains of colonialism, many also mistakenly began to cozy up to their former North Atlantic colonizers through means of loans and military arrangements.

In this era, the Non-Aligned Movement was established in 1961, with the aim of maintaining independence and avoiding the increasing polarization between both the United States and the Soviet Union. The group contained a menagerie of leaders of varying parts of the political spectrum, from Sukarno in Indonesia to Nehru of India to Tito in Yugoslavia. While left-wing elements of this organization promoted for further development of a multipolar and cooperative political sphere, the movement still carried figures and sentiments that remained complacent to imperialism, by means of equating the US and the USSR as equal forces in furthering imperialism.

In this speech, given on 8 September 1973 in Algiers, Fidel Castro lays out this hypocrisy and near-sightedness within the Third-Worldist attempt to declare themselves neutral towards the Cold War. It is worth revisiting in the modern era, as Third-Worldisim continues to present itself as a spectre lingering in supposedly Marxist beliefs, organizations, and parties. The speech gets to the root of what Third-Worldism is and who it benefits; anti-communism and imperialism respectively.

Representatives of the heroic national liberation movements, delegates:

Comrade Boumedienne, the greetings of the Cuban delegation to you and the distinguished representatives of the countries gathered at this conference.

I would like to stress the significance that we place on this Fourth
Conference of Non-aligned Nations being held in Algiers. The Algerian people's long and heroic struggle has commanded admiration and is a stimulus to countries which have struggled against oppressors for national independence.

Cuba is a socialist, Marxist-Leninist country, whose final goal is
communism. We are proud of this. We adopt our domestic and international policies on the basis of this concept of human society. We are, above all, loyal to the principles of proletarian internationalism and my words will follow those lines. Every revolutionary must bravely defend his opinions, and that is what I plan to do here.

This conference has discussed the different groups into which the world is divided. For us the world is divided into capitalist and socialist countries, imperialist and neocolonized countries, colonialist and colonized countries, reactionary and progressive countries, in short: governments which support imperialism, colonialism, neocolonialism and governments which oppose imperialism, colonialism, neocolonialism and racism.

We believe this to be basic to the question of being aligned or non-aligned, because nothing exempts us from the basic commitment of firmly combating the crimes that have been and are being committed against mankind. This movement has certainly grown and this growth pleases us——in the case of Latin America——because the presence of three new countries——Peru, Chile, and Argentina——reflects progressive political changes that have occurred in those countries. It is quality, however, and not quantity that counts in the objectives of this movement if we really want to have political and
moral force in the eyes of the world. If not, we run the risk of
reactionary forces infiltrating the movement to hinder the attainment of its goals. We also run the risk of having the unity and prestige of the non-aligned countries irretrievably lost.

Although the economic affairs of the countries attending are important, our main activity is, and will be, centered around their political criteria. During the months preceding the conference, we have witnessed, in the political area, the disturbing tendency to pit non-aligned countries against the socialist bloc. This tendency is undoubtedly detrimental to our cause and only serves imperialist interests. The theory of the two imperialisms advocated by capitalist theoreticians——one led by the United States, and
the other supposedly led by the USSR——has been echoed, sometimes
deliberately and sometimes through ignorance of history and current world events, by spokesmen and leaders of non-aligned countries. Those who, from supposedly revolutionary positions, betray the cause of internationalism have of course contributed to this.

In certain political and economic documents prepared for us at this
conference this current shows up, in one way or another, and with different overtones. The Revolutionary Government of Cuba is opposed to it and will stanchly oppose it under all circumstances. For this reason, we feel obliged to consider this delicate topic an essential question for discussion here.

There are some who, with obvious injustice and historical ingratitude, and forgetting the true events and the deep and unbridgeable abyss that exists between the imperialist and socialist regimes, attempt to ignore the glorious, heroic and extraordinary services that the Soviet people have rendered to humanity. They act as if the tumbling of the colossal system of colonial domination implanted in the world until World War II, the conditions that facilitated the liberation of dozens and dozens of peoples who had formerly been directly subjected to colonialist countries, the disappearance of capitalism in many areas of the world and the upsurge of forces which keep the insatiable, voracious and aggressive imperialist spirit at bay, had nothing at all to do with the glorious October Revolution.

How could the Soviet Union be classified as imperialist? Where are its monopolist enterprises? What is its participation in multinational companies? What industries, what mines, what petroleum deposits does it own in the underdeveloped world? What worker is exploited in any country of Asia, Africa or Latin America by Soviet capital?

The economic cooperation which the Soviet Union is offering Cuba and many other countries did not come from the sweat and the sacrifice of exploited workers of other peoples, but from the sweat and effort of Soviet workers.

Others decry the fact that the first socialist state in human history has become a military and economic power. He, the underdeveloped and despoiled countries, should not decry this. Cuba rejoices over this fact, Neither the end of colonialism nor the correlation of world forces which permitted the heroic struggle of so many peoples for their liberation would have been possible without the October Revolution and the immortal feat of the Soviet people, who first resisted the imperialist intervention and blockade and later defeated the fascist aggression and crushed it at the cost of 20 million dead, and who have developed their technology and their economy at an incredible cost in effort and heroism without exploiting the labor of even one worker in any country on earth.

It cannot be forgotten for even a second that the arms with which Cuba crushed the Giron mercenaries and defended itself against the United States, the arms with which the Arab peoples resist imperialist aggression, those which the African patriots use against Portuguese colonialism and which the Vietnamese employed in, their heroic, extraordinary and victorious struggle, all came from the socialist countries, essentially from the Soviet Union.

The resolutions enacted by the non-aligned countries themselves help us to understand where the line of division in international politics passes today.

Whom do we accuse of having armed, supported and of continuing to sustain the aggressor Israeli state in its rapacious war against the Arab countries and in its cruel occupation of the territories where the Palestinians have the right to live freely? We accuse the imperialism of the United States.

Against whom did the non-aligned countries protest over the intervention in and blockade of Cuba, over the intervention in Santo Domingo and over the maintenance of bases in Guantanamo, Panama and Puerto Rico against the peoples' will?

Who was behind Lumumba'a assassination? Who supports the murderers of Amilcar Cabral? Who is helping to maintain a white racist state in Zimbabwe and helping to turn South Africa into a ghetto of black men and women living under conditions of semi-enslavement?

In all these cases the guilty party is the same U.S. imperialism which also supports Portuguese colonialism over the peoples of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde, Angola and Mozambique.

When our resolutions cite the millions of dollars, pounds sterling, francs and marks which every year leave developing, neocolonized or colonized states as a result of spoliatory investments and one-sided loans, they are condemning imperialism and not any other social system. It is impossible to change reality with ambiguous statements.

All attempts to pit the non-aligned countries against the socialist camp are profoundly counterrevolutionary and solely and exclusively benefit imperialist interests. The only objective of inventing a false enemy is to flee from the true enemy. The success and future of the non-aligned movement will lie in not letting itself be infiltrated, confused or deceived by imperialist ideology. Only the closest alliance among all the world's progressive forces will give us the strength necessary to defeat the still powerful forces of imperialism, colonialism, neocolonialism and racism, and to struggle successfully to fulfill the hopes for justice and peace of all the world's peoples.

With the anguishing and increasing needs for power resources and raw
materials which the capitalist and developed countries are experiencing to maintain the absurd consumer societies they have created, if the extraordinary restraining power represented by the socialist movement did not exist, imperialism would parcel out the world, humanity would suffer the scourge of new wars and many of the independent countries which today form this movement would not even exist. In high U.S. Government circles there are even now those who openly advocate armed intervention in the Middle East should U.S. oil requirements so demand.

To alienate ourselves from the friendship of the socialist side would be to weaken our position and be left at the mercy of the still powerful imperialist forces. This would be a clumsy strategy and colossal political shortsightedness.

Mr. President, Latin America watches with concern how Brazil, under the sponsorship of the United States, is building a powerful military machine, which goes beyond the needs of its rulers to use military brutality, murder, torture and imprisonment against its people, and is obviously geared toward becoming a military enclave within the heart of Latin America at the service of North American imperialism. The Brazilian Government which, together with the U.S. Government, participated in the invasion of Santo Domingo and in similar complicity worked to overthrow the progressive Bolivian regime and recently assisted in the establishment of a reactionary dictatorship in Uruguay, is not only an instrument of the United States, but is gradually becoming an imperialist state. Today it has an observer at this conference, as does Bolivia. He hope that such regimes are never admitted into the non-aligned countries' movement.

There has been much talk here of the situation which exists in Southeast Asia and in the Near East, of peoples being oppressed and held by Portuguese colonialism, of brutal racist repression in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia.

Yankee imperialism continues to support the neocolonialist regime of South Vietnam, which refuses to comply with the Paris agreements, and still supports the puppet Lon Nol government in Cambodia; Israel mocks UN agreements and refuses to return territories occupied by force; Portugal, with the support of the United States and of NATO, scorns world opinion and the resolutions taken against it by international organizations. Racist governments not only increase repression; they are also threatening other African states. These are bitter and irritating realities which are testing the force, the unity and the will to fight of the non-aligned countries.

The leaders and representatives of more than 70 states are meeting here. Let us adopt concrete measures and agreements to isolate and defeat the aggressors. Let us give decided and resolute support to the Arab peoples who are under attack and to the heroic Palestinian people, to those who struggle for the independence of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde, Angola and Mozambique and to the oppressed peoples of South Africa,Zimbabwe and Namibia. Let us consistently fight against the imperialist countries which support and endorse these crimes.

Non-aligned countries, let us recognize the Provisional Revolutionary Government of South Vietnam. And let us give it our unrestrained support in its struggle for the fulfillment of the Paris agreements. Let us support the patriots of Laos and Cambodia, and no force in the world will be able to prevent the solution of these problems which affect our countries in the Near East, in Africa and in Southeast Asia. The true strength and the real depth of the non-aligned countries movement will be measured by the decisiveness with which we act on these problems. Cuba will decidedly support the agreements reached in this regard, even if it requires giving our blood.

We cannot ignore the Democratic Republic Vietnam. This thousand-times heroic people suffered the most devastating war of aggression. Millions of tons of bombs were hurled against its economic installations, cities, villages, schools and hospitals. Its unselfish and triumphant struggle against imperialist aggression has served the interests of all humanity. He must not content ourselves solely with expressions of sympathy. Currently that admirable nation is facing the harsh task of reconstruction. We propose that the non-aligned countries participate in the reconstruction of North Vietnam, each sending its contribution to the extent of its own possibilities. This would give a new and revolutionary dimension to the non-aligned countries in the field of international solidarity.

It is necessary that the non-aligned Countries support Zambia and Tanzania against the aggressions of South Africa and Rhodesia. It is equally necessary that the non-aligned countries support the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in its efforts to achieve the peaceful reunification of the Korean people; that we give the Panamanian people all our support in their just struggle for the recovery of their sovereignty over the Canal Zone; that we express cur solidarity to the Chilean people in view of the imperialist conspiracy; that we unite with Argentina in its just claim over the usurped territory of the Falkland Islands; and that we defend the Puerto Rican people's right to total sovereignty.

Our country has to endure the humiliating presence of a Yankee military base on a portion of our territory. This base is maintained by force, against the absolute will of our people who thus face a tight and criminal economic blockade by the United States.

Nevertheless, Cuba is standing firm and successfully carrying on the
construction of socialism at the very doorstep of the United States. Our country has been able to make headway because it has carried out a true revolution which has radically eliminated all forms of exploitation of man by man and has built a high fighting morale and a solid and indestructible unity on this basis.

If one truly wishes to liberate a country from imperialist exploitation one must also liberate the people from the sacking of the product of their work by the feudal lords, the landowners, the oligarchs and social parasites of all types. We request your solidarity with the Cuban people also.

The understanding among the socialist countries is vital to our victory but the unity of the countries struggling for independence and development is an indispensable condition. We support all declarations calling for greater unity among the non-aligned countries with respect to the main problems of international life mentioned in the various motions presented here.
However, we are concerned, and more than concerned——disgusted——to learn that a leader of the stature of Sekou Toure has to defend himself not only against the Portuguese colonialists but against plots hatched inside his own underdeveloped Africa. Our faith in certain declarations and postulates of unity decreases when we see how the People's Republic of the Congo and the Somali Democratic Republic are not free from attacks by other African forces and when we learn of the problems the revolutionary regime of the democratic and proletarian Yemen Arabic Republic races in order to smash hostile acts which, although they may originate in Washington, are carried out in other not less distant places.

This shows once again that pure unity does not hinge on a passing
non-alignment but on a deeper and more permanent identity purpose based on revolutionary principles, a common anti-imperialist program and the hope for substantial and definitive social changes.

These are Cuba's stances. The viewpoints I have just outlined probably will not be shared by all leaders present here, but I have fulfilled my duty to set them forth with respect and loyalty to all of you. Thank you.