In the midst of the terrible drama that humanity is experiencing today, with an unsustainable economic and social order incapable of responding to global problems; It is necessary to dedicate a few minutes to meditate, to think; to propose a moment of philosophy as the fruitful intellectual Armando Hart Dávalos invited us on many occasions. Go to the essences, dig into the roots, safeguard our culture and identity, defend the nation from any attack and attempt to undermine its ideological and cultural bases, keep the homeland safe; it is an indispensable part of the generational duty that we have.

The Homeland needs sacrifices, and it must be served and never taken to use it; Hence, faced with the dangers it runs, those that emanate from the aggressive and ruthless stance of the US government against our people, and those that come from itself, those that only Cubans can resolve without interference or foreign threats; an exercise in thought and a movement towards the increasingly conscious and coherent study of the theoretical postulates and practical experiences of the Revolution is vital. Living the Revolution from the knowledge, the culture that we continually create, the critical assimilation of the human work that has preceded us and has been deposited in us, demands a constant reading and a permanent dialogue with history, the present and the future look of our existence as a nation.

For this, it is essential to read texts that help to grow intellectually, to know the elements that define us, to enhance and defend Cuban identity. Texts and authors that serve as a starting point for an encounter with the identity roots, with the creative spirit of the nation's fathers, with the values ​​that underpin our history of revolutionary struggle. And this is the case of the work of José Cantón Navarro , which as a whole provides a significant interpretation of what Cuba has been throughout its history, the meaning of the Revolution and its most prominent figures. Part of that work is found in José Martí in the forge and defense of the Cuban nation, a compilation of articles and lectures by said professor that comes to us from the hands of theEditorial José Martí in 2016 and that we revisit today for its validity and timeliness.

The eminent historian who knew how to enter into the historical phenomenon, with a scientific base, from a dialectical-materialist conception, always walked in this endeavor, as a good Marxist that he was; and above all, from an endearing theoretical and practical identification with the foundational and programmatic thought of José Martí. I speak of the outstanding intellectual José Cantón Navarro, one of our most prolific historians and interpreters of what has been called the forging of the nation. Cantón Navarro knew well how to unravel the solid ethical, cultural and ideological bases of the Cuban nation, of its revolutionary process for independence and sovereignty, of its heroic construction of socialism. Cantón Navarro knew well to delve into the founding essences of the Homeland.

This is how he goes in search - and we see this in the whole of his work - of the word of Martí, of the ideas of the Apostle of Independence, of the man whose decolonizing and emancipatory thinking maintains an impressive topicality and universality. Hold on to the thought of José MartíIt is a necessity, especially when we face an imperialist threat that is becoming more acute every day and ominous bullets are fired on the Cuban people in order to overthrow the Revolution. The most disastrous methods of Unconventional Warfare are tried and applied, shamelessly appealing to attacks on our culture and identity. Undermining the platforms that sustain the ideology of the Revolution is the end of the historical enemy and its neoplattist and neo-annexationist allies. Martí becomes the guiding compass of this heroic resistance, of this cultural battle, of thought; as an ethical referent of our revolutionary praxis.

The texts that make up José Martí in the forging and defense of the Cuban nation invite today to a necessary reading due to the contents addressed and, above all, because of the lights it provides on the concept of the Homeland of José Martí, the Republic in Martí, the meaning of his phrase «With everyone, and for the good of everyone», his reflections on Cuban culture, his influence on revolutionaries such as Julio Antonio Mella and Rubén Martínez Villena , his ethical, humanist and anti-imperialist legacy, and his presence in the work of thought and action of Fidel. These and other topics are the result of lectures given and articles written by José Cantón Navarro, which, when properly selected, make up a work worthy of today's combat, for the battle for the defense of the Homeland, the Revolution and Socialism in Cuba. .

It is vitally important to clarify concepts and ideas that are in Marti's work, which have been distorted and manipulated by the detractors of the Revolution. Martí is decontextualized, sentences are given to him, the meaning of those he certainly said is violated; with the sole purpose of discrediting us as Marti and supporting the thesis of antimartianity in the defenders of the Revolution, in the Revolution itself. That is why Professor Cantón Navarro goes to the depths of Martí's thought, and clarifies the meaning, for example, of the phrase With everyone, and for the good of all ; starting from the scope of the term all in Marti's work, stating that this:

(…) It always and only refers to certain types of men: honest, hard-working and worthy men, patriots; and that it is used to encompass these men without distinction of sex, race, nationality, political militancy, ideological current or religious creed. That is the spirit of the term all used by the Master, from which he categorically excluded the representatives of colonialism, the opportunists, the traitors, the schemers; to all those who opposed, openly or covertly, the cause of independence. [1]

As we stated a while ago , Martí's Con todos… , does not admit anything, neither neofascists, nor neo-annexationists, nor seekers of media prominence from the practice of mercenarism in the 21st century. These employees of imperialism exclude themselves. They are not capable of doing for the Homeland, because the first thing they harbor is selfishness, individualism, lies, the denigrating of the human condition; because, returning to Cantón Navarro:

(…) When Martí speaks of everyone , he refers to men and women of all social backgrounds, of all nationalities, of all colors, of all ideas, who sincerely and decisively embrace the cause of emancipating Cuba and build a just homeland. [2]

It is noted then that there is no exclusive thought in Martí for those who come to the call of unity, the defense of the homeland, the fight for a common cause.

(…) Martí did not exclude any active and useful element, anyone who came without being stained by blood, corruption or dishonor. If some finally declined the call, it was they who excluded themselves: it was not the Revolution who rejected them. [3]

In summary, this core theoretical concept of Martí is an essential basis for his ideal of a Republic; the one that had a profoundly democratic conception, fundamentally far removed from the American model, which was rejected by Martí from an early age such as 18, in which he writes in his notebook:

Americans postpone sentiment to utility. We postponed utility to sentiment (...), if they sold while we cried, if we replaced their cool and calculating head with our imaginative head, and their heart of cotton and ships with a heart so special, so sensitive, so new that It can only be called a Cuban heart. How do you want us to legislate for the laws with which they legislate? (…) American laws have given the North a high degree of prosperity, and have also elevated it to the highest degree of corruption. They have metallized it to make it prosperous. Damn prosperity at such a cost! [4]

Many are the texts in which Martí is laying the foundations of what the republic founded in Cuba should be once independence was achieved. Reading this work by José Cantón Navarro gives us a lot in this sense because one of his articles exposes with great clarity and depth the features of the republic dreamed of and thought by Martí. Similarly, the author's treatment of the concept of the Master's homeland is key; exposing those ideas that illustrate its integrative character and qualitatively superior to the definitions or «(...) positions of bourgeois nationalism, which hypocritically raises the flag of exclusivism and national superiority and which reduces the conception of homeland to the defense of the interests of the bourgeoisie"; holding that «(…) much less does Martí coincide with the chauvinist aberration,[5]

This becomes another theoretical concept of Martí published in the newspaper Patria , in the section At Home:

Homeland is humanity, it is that portion of humanity that we see more closely, and in which we were born; And neither should it be allowed that with the deception of the holy name useless monarchies, ventruded religions or brazen and hungry politics are defended, nor because these sins are often given the name of the country, should man refuse to comply his duty of humanity, in the portion of it that is closest to him. [6]

Today, when the homeland is being threatened and degradingly attacked by the US empire, with a criminal blockade that constitutes an act of economic warfare and genocide; when our culture is attacked by Neoplattists; today, faced with the challenges imposed by the global context and facing the difficult pandemic; It is necessary to safeguard the values ​​of the nation, defend the sovereignty of the country and continue to build Socialism with unity. For all this we need José Martí; hence the relevance of returning to an organic and current text: From the hand of Cantón, with Martí, in the forging and defense of the Cuban nation .

[1] José Cantón Navarro: José Martí in the forging and defense of the Cuban nation , Editorial José Martí, 2016, p.123.
[2] Idem, p.125.
[3] Idem, p.127.
[4] José Martí: Notebook, Complete Works , volume 21, p. 15 and 16.
[5] José Cantón Navarro: José Martí in the forging and defense of the Cuban nation , Editorial José Martí, 2016, p. 29 and 30.
[6] José Martí: Dominican Literary Magazine , ( Patria , January 26, 1895), Complete Works , volume 5, p. 468.