The Grandeur of Our Cultural Identity
As the date approaches for the essential speech «Words to the Intellectuals,» delivered by the maximum leader of the Revolution, Fidel Castro Ruz, on June 30, 1961, it is worth reflecting on its significance through the criteria of two important figures: essayist, critic, and professor Graziella Pogolotti, and philosopher Armando Hart Dávalos, Minister of Education at that time and later Minister of Culture.
Dr. Pogolotti expressed that she felt «how we had begun to walk together, hand in hand, aware of a history, of a common past, of a united present, and of a future toward which we were all consciously heading.»
«Thus, as a consequence of that meeting and those words, a policy was designed, an action was taken, our Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba emerged, our spaces multiplied, and a deep policy was also designed aimed at the democratization of culture, at the extension of culture to the most remote areas of the country, and the laying, on new foundations, of the training of creators and the structuring of what would later become the artistic education system.»
Likewise, in his analysis, Hart Dávalos stated that «the ideas of ‘Words to the Intellectuals’ opened unsuspected paths for the Revolution in culture and facilitated the creation of an immeasurable work.»
As we approach the commemoration of the 40th anniversary of Fidel’s speech to intellectuals, let us seek in his ideas the essences of what constitutes the unquestionable growth of the grandeur of our cultural identity, which we enjoy and must not lose under any circumstances.
