All his previous experiences surged together in a denunciation of the dictator Batista's regime; his vague ideas materialized into specific proposals, set down for the first time at his trial. He devoted scarcely five minutes to his own defense, which his accusers had hoped would occupy most of his time. Instead he pleaded that the judges, corrupt Batista stooges, redeem themselves by following him, Fidel Castro, in overthrowing the Batista regime. He still believes in the program he outlined at that trial in 1953; it forms the ideological basis of the Revolution.

Castro's Revolutionary War

Castro told the judges, "There are five revolutionary laws that would have been proclaimed immediately after the capture of the Moncada barracks and would have been broadcast to the nation by radio.

"The First Revolutionary Law would have returned power to the people and proclaimed the Constitution of 1940 the supreme Law of the land...and punished those guilty of all crimes against the republic and against humanity.

"The Second Revolutionary Law would have granted property...to all planters and squatters who hold parcels of less than five caballerias (166.7 acres)...and the state would indemnify the former owners over a period of ten years. (The bonds of Castro's Agrarian Reform are actually 20 year bonds).

"The Third Revolutionary Law would have granted workers the right to share in 30 per cent of the profits of all the large industrial, mercantile and mining enterprises, including the sugar mills...

"The Fourth Revolutionary Law would have granted all planters the right to share 55 per cent of the sugar production...

"The Fifth Revolutionary Law would have ordered the confiscation of all holdings and ill-gotten gains of those who had committed frauds during the previous regimes...and to implement this, special courts with full powers would gain access to all records...to investigate concealed funds of illegal origin, and to request that foreign governments extradite persons and attach holdings (illegally removed from Cuba."

Castro further proposed the nationalization of electric and telephone companies, the return to the people of all exorbitant amounts paid for electricity and telephones, the reform of the educational system (including making Camp Columbia, the military headquarters of Havana, into a school,