Viva Che!

Remembering Che Guevara on the anniversary of his death as a true hero. Che had a deep love of the masses coupled with hatred for those who callously exploit them. In Latin America, now as then, the class divide is markedly visible. It is no wonder that this is the terrain where 21st socialism is gaining ground.

A previous post on this blog from 2005 titled Che's Ride offers a review of the Motorcycle Diaries, a semi-biographical film about Che.

Following is an edited excerpt from an article by Peter Taaffe on Socialistworld.net this month, October 2007.

[...]

Like millions throughout the world, we [Marxists] hailed his heroic efforts in combating capitalism and imperialism. Che Guevara was and remains an enduring symbol of implacable resistance to a destructive and wasteful system, and the inevitability of a revolt against it by its victims. What a contrast between Che Guevara and the politically bankrupt and cowardly misleaders of the labour movement today!

As Tony Saunois's analysis published recently on socialistworld.net demonstrates, Che Guevara was not a 'plaster saint'; he made mistakes. But he was also capable of reassessing his actions and learning from them.

[...]

Che Guevara, at the time of his death, was an increasingly vocal critic of Stalinism, which he began to reject after he had visited the 'Eastern bloc'. He read Trotsky and had a book by Trotsky in his belongings when he was murdered. Moreover, the charge of 'wanting a nuclear holocaust' because he supported nuclear missiles being installed in Cuba is false to the core. Does every capitalist government that supports nuclear weapons for 'defence' do this because they want to unleash a nuclear holocaust? Merely to pose the question shows how absurd is the charge that [some] has levelled against Guevara.

The Cuban revolution from the outset was besieged by imperialism. It had just experienced the CIA-sponsored 'Bay of Pigs' invasion. It was, therefore, entirely understandable for Fidel Castro and Che Guevara to seek to defend, through the acquisition of arms, the gains of the revolution.

There is a discussion to be had as to whether it was tactically wise for Fidel Castro and Che Guevara to support the installation of nuclear weapons in Cuba. They honestly believed it was necessary for the defence of Cuba but the real ultimate defence of the Cuban revolution was in the mass support in Latin America and worldwide.

[...]

The tragedy of Che Guevara is that he was assassinated while he was still developing his ideas. We supported this heroic figure in his combat against imperialism. But, at the same time, we pointed to some of the deficiencies in his 'guerrillaist' strategy, counter-posing to this the social role of the mass working class of Latin America.

The reprinted article below shows the consistent attitude of Marxism towards Che Guevara, not ex-post facto, but at the time of his death and since.

Taaffe, Peter. Latin America - Marxism or Guerrillaism? Socialistworld.net, 2007 (reprinted article c. 1968).

Review: Che and Cuba

Last summer, I bought a copy of Mike Gonzalez's excellent book, Che Guevara and the Cuban Revolution (American comrades should see here), at a Bookmarks stall during the Tolpuddle Martyrs rally. At the time, being busy with other things (such as getting sunburnt), I only glanced at it. Over the last few days, however, I've finally had time to properly read through it. And I can tell you, walking through that crowd of recruiters all trying to sell their own party rags, just to get to the Bookmarks tent, was absolutely worth it! I thoroughly enjoyed this unique perspective on Che and Cuba.

As the book says, "Mike Gonzalez is a senior lecturer in Hispanic Studies at Glasgow University. He has written widely on Latin American literature and culture, and on the politics of contemporary Latin America." So far, so good - the guy knows his stuff. However, Gonzalez also happens to be a member of the Socialist Workers Platform of the Scottish Socialist Party, and is in fact on the editorial board of the International Socialism journal. So some people may be rather put off - the Socialist Workers Party not being the most popular crowd in certain circles!

Nevertheless, for such a political individual, Gonzalez does a remarkable job of presenting a balanced account of Guevara's life (including his early years), with special examination of his role in the Cuban Revolution - its background, actual victory, and subsequent effect on the Cuban state and people. Of course, Gonzalez does not pretend to be disinterested or unbiased - he is obviously a committed socialist and believes strongly in its ideals. His arguments are therefore all the more passionate.

Gonzalez does, however, also detail Guevara's flaws and how they served to distort the Cuban experiment. For example, Gonzalez is critical of Guevara's quasi-Nietzschean belief in the power of the will to overcome material obstacles. In that regard, the account remains solidly left-wing, as the criticism is directed at the obstacles to revolutionary socialism in Cuba, rather than its attempted construction per se. The book is perhaps, therefore, suited more to those who are already favourably minded of socialism.

A second positive feature of the book - to me, at least - is Gonzalez's attempt to explain the role of Che's ideals in the growing anti-capitalist movement today. As a figure that is often denigrated by commercial exploitation and mocked by the liberal left as an icon of disillusioned middle-class teenagers, it is enjoyable to see the Argentinean Marxist restored to a position worthy of his lofty goals and inspiring story of self-sacrifice and anti-imperialist struggle. In short, I would strongly recommend this book!

To those of a socialist persuasion, the following IS online article from 1980 may also be worth reading: Cuba, Castro and Socialism - by Peter Binns and Mike Gonzalez!

Che's Ride

"Let the world change you... and you can change the world"

The tagline to Diarios de motorcicleta (The Motorcycle Diaries) is a message across the decades perhaps more critically received today than ever.

The Motorcycle Diaries is an amazing film, set in the early 1950's, and chronicling a cross-continental journey by a pair of young Argentine men, one of whom was Ernesto Guevara.

Guevara and his friend Alberto Granado are young medical students and decide to take a road trip from Buenos Aires, Argentina to Caracas, Venezuela. Ernesto is shown to be a very empathetic man who cares deeply for others. He had decided to become a doctor in order to find a cure for leprosy. At the beginning of the journey, Ernesto and Alberto are full of moxy and gusto, looking forward to their last great adventure before buckling down for their final medical exams.

Alberto has an old motorcycle the two friends cavalierly decide to use as their means of transportation for the over 13,000 kilometer trip. In a bit of foreshadowing, the bike spits black smoke and spins out of control as they leave their families behind in urban Buenos Aires. The two friends are undaunted, however, having both led rather charmed lives up to that point, with loving, stable families and bright futures, they felt invincible and very high spirited.

Their journey quickly teaches them that charm is not enough. As they ride but more often push their motorcycle across the Andes, they learn firsthand how fragile their social status is. They go from being treated as up-and-coming young doctors to being treated as vagabonds. Being put into this position allows them to see, for the first time, the world from the perspective of all the other people who have been displaced and forced to live at the edge of society.

Along this journey is when Che meets a displaced Indio couple who are forced to be migratory workers because their land was taken from them, due to their being Communists. As they travel together Che sees how these people and others like them are degraded and treated worse than animals.

This is probably the most political moment of the entire movie. In fact, if a viewer watching this film didn't know who Che Guevara was, she would not likely suspect this to be a film about a political figure.

The central character, Che, does not seem revolutionary at all. He is simply a compassionate young man who has dedicated his life to helping others in an open, loving and honest way (he is going to medical school to treat and find a cure for leprosy). I find a personal analogy in this story insofar as compassion for my fellow man and woman is what has led me to become a Socialist. The fundamental principles of the socialist international are all about compassion and striving to create a world in which all people have a place and can live as free members of a society of equals, without hatred or guns or borders.

Many critics of Che say he is a blood soaked murder. But in fact we continue to see that the true killers are the servants of Capital, who find, or more often create, their enemies as efficiently as they produce commodities. First the aristocracy, then the Church, then the Communists and now the Muslims (not to leave out the myriad other minority groups oppressed and murdered by Capital).

My point is simply that Che like many martyred comrades before him, had to fight for his ideals. He was constantly under attack by reactionaries. This is not an excuse for the battles he fought, it is a justification. He fought and killed for what he believed in, a right held sacred by all people in struggle, but one that Power reserves for itself. I reject the notion that Capital has a monopoly over this right and reject the definition of Che as a murderer. Miguel Ramirez, Cuban Ambassador to New Zealand made some clarifying comments about Che earlier this year, as follows:

[Che] was always very strict with discipline but he never tortured anyone, nor has he killed anyone except in military combat, and he was always a very humane leader. He just followed the ideals of the Cuban Revolution that was so humane with the Batista soldiers that they easily surrendered because they were sure what to expect, and that was an accelerating factor in the victory.

At the beginning of the revolution he was in charge of the prisons where the murderers and torturers of the Batista dictatorship were detained until they were tried by the Cuban people through legitimate trials and found guilty and executed. They were not dissenters, as Calder* would want us believe, but murderers.

Full New Zealand Herald article here...

*: The article was written in response to another article by Peter Calder

In a world where Right-wing fundamentalists quote Stalin's most murderous phrases when discussing their political opponents, we on the radical Left do not have to apologize for the legitimate actions of our heroes.

Also of interest is how Ernesto got the monkier Che. The word "Che" is used in several South American countries, noteably Argentina, in the same way as "dude" or "mate" is used in the US and England. It is probably derived from use in native South American languages where the word variably means "man" or "people." Also, in many South American countries, Che is used as slang for someone from Argentina. Finally, throughout Latin America Che is known as "le Che", basically, "the Dude."