Sergio Raimondi
HARVEST
The concept to consider in the Camagüey conference
was the dialectic between consciousness and work.
So before the speech he climbed onto a harvester
and in a few days cut forty-five thousand arrobas.
That was a declaration, at least the empirical base
to sustain a speech of forty-five thousand words.
The minister saw the macheteros at the vanguard
of the oppressed of Asia, Africa and the Americas.
The machetero saw a sugar cane, one and then another.
How to explain that this wasn’t just another field
but the potential reserves on which depended
a war against the most powerful force in history?
Up onto the machine to check how it’s working.
Badly. Of course, it’s new, right. But why?
Too many blades! Ok. Now what else.
The difference between cutting for the company
and the revolution is the revolution demands double:
it wants a muscle with the power of abstraction.
This isn’t a furrow, it’s a power plant, it’s purification
and efficient boilers, hard currency, a Russian tractor,
diversification and the coming of the Socialist World.
But in the cooperative the numbers weren’t going well.
While some of them were trying to improvise
a local replacement for the broken couplings
that for a long time now couldn’t be sourced,
others didn’t understand why they worked so hard
to bring about the day you don’t work at all.
SUIKEROOGST
Wat aan de orde gesteld moest worden in Camagüey
was de dialectische relatie tussen bewustzijn en arbeid.
Daarom klom hij voor de bijeenkomst op de oogstmachine
en kapte in een paar dagen vijfenveertig duizend arroba.
Dat was al een verklaring, de empirische basis toch zeker
om zo’n vijfenveertig duizend woorden mee te onderbouwen.
De minister zag in de rietkappers de voorhoede
van de onderdrukte volkeren van Azië, Afrika en Amerika.
De rietkapper zag riettop, na riettop na riettop.
Hoe uit te leggen dat dit niet zomaar een plantage was
maar de potentiële reserve waar de oorlog tegen
de grootste macht uit de geschiedenis van afhing?
Bovenop de machine om te zien hoe alles werkt.
Slecht. Ja logisch, die is nieuw. De vraag is waarom.
Te veel messen! Opgelost. Ander onderwerp.
Het verschil tussen kappen voor het bedrijf en kappen
voor de revolutie is dat de revolutie dubbele inzet vereist:
ze heeft spieren nodig met abstractievermogen.
Dat is geen plantgeul, dat is de suikerfabriek, zuivering
en efficiënte ketels, harde valuta en Russische tractors,
diversificatie en socialistische wereldorde in wording.
Maar de coöperatie kwam in de rode cijfers.
En hoewel sommigen echt probeerden een lokaal
alternatief te verzinnen voor de kapotte cardanassen
die je al ik weet niet hoe lang niet meer kon kopen,
snapten anderen niet goed waarom ze zo hard moesten
werken voor die ene dag waarop dat niet meer zou hoeven.
ZAFRA
El concepto a plantear en la plenaria de Camagüey
era la relación dialéctica entre conciencia y trabajo.
Por eso antes del discurso se subió a la cortadora
y en unos días cortó cuarenta y cinco mil arrobas.
Ya era una declaración, al menos la base empírica
donde sostener unas cuarenta y cinco mil palabras.
El ministro veía en los macheteros a la vanguardia
de los pueblos oprimidos de Asia, Africa y América.
El machetero veía un cogollo, otro y después otro.
¿Cómo explicar que eso no era un cañaveral más
sino las reservas en potencia de las que dependía
la guerra contra la fuerza más grande de la historia?
Arriba sobre la máquina para revisar cómo funciona.
Mal. Lógico, si es nueva. Hay que saber por qué.
¡Son demasiadas cuchillas! Listo. Ahora otro tema.
La diferencia entre cortar para la empresa y cortar
para la revolución es que la revolución exige doble:
quiere un músculo con capacidad de abstracción.
Eso no es un surco, es la central, es purificación
y eficiencia en las calderas, divisas y tractor ruso,
diversificación e inminencia del mundo socialista.
Pero en la cooperativa las cuentas no daban bien.
Y aunque algunos se iban pensando cómo inventar
un reemplazo autóctono para los cardanes rotos
que por cuánto tiempo ya no se podrían comprar,
otros no entiendían bien por qué trabajar tanto
para que llegue el día en que no se trabaje más.
From: Für ein kommentiertes Wörterbuch / Para un diccionario crítico de la lengua
Publisher: Berenberg, Berlin
HARVEST
The concept to consider in the Camagüey conference
was the dialectic between consciousness and work.
So before the speech he climbed onto a harvester
and in a few days cut forty-five thousand arrobas.
That was a declaration, at least the empirical base
to sustain a speech of forty-five thousand words.
The minister saw the macheteros at the vanguard
of the oppressed of Asia, Africa and the Americas.
The machetero saw a sugar cane, one and then another.
How to explain that this wasn’t just another field
but the potential reserves on which depended
a war against the most powerful force in history?
Up onto the machine to check how it’s working.
Badly. Of course, it’s new, right. But why?
Too many blades! Ok. Now what else.
The difference between cutting for the company
and the revolution is the revolution demands double:
it wants a muscle with the power of abstraction.
This isn’t a furrow, it’s a power plant, it’s purification
and efficient boilers, hard currency, a Russian tractor,
diversification and the coming of the Socialist World.
But in the cooperative the numbers weren’t going well.
While some of them were trying to improvise
a local replacement for the broken couplings
that for a long time now couldn’t be sourced,
others didn’t understand why they worked so hard
to bring about the day you don’t work at all.
HARVEST
The concept to consider in the Camagüey conference
was the dialectic between consciousness and work.
So before the speech he climbed onto a harvester
and in a few days cut forty-five thousand arrobas.
That was a declaration, at least the empirical base
to sustain a speech of forty-five thousand words.
The minister saw the macheteros at the vanguard
of the oppressed of Asia, Africa and the Americas.
The machetero saw a sugar cane, one and then another.
How to explain that this wasn’t just another field
but the potential reserves on which depended
a war against the most powerful force in history?
Up onto the machine to check how it’s working.
Badly. Of course, it’s new, right. But why?
Too many blades! Ok. Now what else.
The difference between cutting for the company
and the revolution is the revolution demands double:
it wants a muscle with the power of abstraction.
This isn’t a furrow, it’s a power plant, it’s purification
and efficient boilers, hard currency, a Russian tractor,
diversification and the coming of the Socialist World.
But in the cooperative the numbers weren’t going well.
While some of them were trying to improvise
a local replacement for the broken couplings
that for a long time now couldn’t be sourced,
others didn’t understand why they worked so hard
to bring about the day you don’t work at all.
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