The Political Theory of Che Guevara

by Llorente, Renzo Tramer

  6. “La necesidad de este libro,” found in Guevara, Apuntes críticos, 31.

  7. “Reunión bimestral, diciembre 21 de 1963,” found in Guevara, El Che en la Revolución cubana, 6:423; see also “La conferencia para el comercio y desarrollo en Ginebra,” found in ibid., 1:84.

  8. “Discurso en el acto de graduación de la escuela de administradores ‘Patricio Lumumba,’” found in Guevara, Escritos y discursos, 8:174. For data on literacy in Cuba on the eve of the Cuban Revolution, see Yaffe, Economics, 72.

  9. Yaffe, Economics, 139.

  10. “Con el periodista uruguayo Carlos Granda,” found in Guevara, El Che en la Revolución cubana, 5:269.

  11. “Against Bureaucratism,” found in Guevara, Che Guevara Reader, 181.

  12. C. B. Macpherson, “Elegant Tombstones: A Note on Friedman’s Freedom,” in Democratic Theory: Essays in Retrieval (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1973), 151–52.

  13. See, for example, Guevara, “Conferencia ofrecida,” 172; “Volunteer Labor,” found in Guevara, Che: Selected Works, 307; “Meaning,” found in Silverman, Man and Socialism, 101; and “Socialism and Man in Cuba,” found in Guevara, Che Guevara Reader, 221.

  14. Lukács, Process, 127.

  15. “Meaning,” found in Silverman, Man and Socialism, 101.

  16. Ibid., 98–99. According to Marxist theory, the relations of production of a given mode of production (for example, feudalism) initially promote the development of—and in this sense “correspond to”—the forces of production, while in a later phase they hinder or inhibit the forces’ continued development. The appearance of the latter phase indicates the need for new relations of production and thus the need for revolution as well.

  17. “Plan tentativo,” found in Guevara, Apuntes críticos, 25.

  18. Guevara, “Conferencia ofrecida,” 155–56 and 173–74; see also “Selección de Actas de reuniones efectuadas en el Ministerio de Industrias: 2 de octubre de 1964,” found in Guevara, Apuntes críticos, 339 (the transcript of a meeting held two months earlier).

  19. “What We Have Learned and What We Have Taught,” found in Guevara, Che Guevara Reader, 61.

  20. “Social Ideals of the Rebel Army,” found in ibid., 95.

  21. “Acto del 1o. de mayo en Santiago de Cuba,” found in Guevara, El Che en la Revolución cubana, 2:50.

  22. “At the United Nations,” found in Guevara, Che Guevara Reader, 326; “Colonialism Is Doomed,” found in Guevara, Che: Selected Works, 335.

  23. “Conferencia en el salón de actos del Ministerio de Industrias,” found in Guevara, El Che en la Revolución cubana, 5:397.

  24. “Inicio de la campaña de honradez y honestidad en la COA,” found in ibid., 2:106; “The Working Class and the Industrialization of Cuba,” found in Guevara, Che: Selected Works, 231 and 238. The latter lecture ends with a reference to the goal of unity not included in the English translation; see “Programa TV ‘Cuba Avanza,’” found in Guevara, El Che en la Revolución cubana, 2:265.

  25. “Reunión bimestral, diciembre 5 de 1964,” found in ibid., 6:578.

  26. Ibid., 578 and 579.

  27. “Reunión bimestral, julio 14 de 1962,” found in Guevara, El Che en la Revolución cubana, 6:272; “Terminación de la primera etapa de las escuelas populares,” found in ibid., 4:332. For a rather different Marxist argument to the effect that unions should cease to exist in the postrevolutionary society, see Anton Pannekoek, “World Revolution and Communist Tactics,” in Pannekoek and Gorter’s Marxism, ed. D. A. Smart (London: Pluto Press, 1978), 114–16.

  28. “Reunión bimestral, julio 11 de 1964,” found in Guevara, El Che en la Revolución cubana, 6:509; Guevara, “An Interview with ‘Che,’” 344; “Reunión bimestral, diciembre 5 de 1964,” found in Guevara, El Che en la Revolución cubana, 6:579.

  29. “Entrevista filmada para la TV canadiense,” found in ibid., 4:379; “Create Two, Three, Many Vietnams (Message to the Tricontinental),” found in Guevara, Che Guevara Reader, 353.

  30. Ernesto Che Guevara to [His] Children (1965), found in ibid., 383.

  31. “Socialism and Man in Cuba,” found in ibid., 213.

  32. Ernesto Che Guevara to [His] Children (1965), found in ibid., 383; and Arcos Bergnes, Evocando, 101.

  33. As another of Guevara’s close collaborators, Óscar Fernández Mel, puts it, Guevara’s “life revolved around the Revolution” (interview with Doctor Óscar Fernández Mel, found in Barrio and Jenkins, Che Handbook, 264).

  34. “Reunión bimestral, febrero 22 de 1964,” found in Guevara, El Che en la Revolución cubana, 6:453.

  35. “It would be truly utopian to think that ninety miles away from American territory you can make a social revolution that completely changes the structure of the country, that changes the relations of production, that inaugurates a new era . . . and that it can all be done without sacrifices” (“En la Universidad de Montevideo,” found in ibid., 3:327).

  36. “En relación con la II zafra del pueblo,” found in ibid., 4:61; see also “Curso de adiestramiento para funcionarios y empleados del Ministerio de Industrias,” found in ibid., 3:229; “Graduación del curso de administradores,” found in ibid., 3:558; “Technology and Society,” found in Guevara, Che: Selected Works, 302; “A New Culture of Work,” found in Guevara, Che Guevara Reader, 148; and “Volunteer Labor,” found in Guevara, Che: Selected Works, 305.

  37. Guevara, “Cuba and the U.S.”

  38. “To Be a Young Communist,” found in Guevara, Che Guevara Reader, 159; “The Cadre: Backbone of the Revolution,” found in ibid., 157.

  39. “Discusión colectiva; decisión y responsabilidades únicas,” found in Guevara, El Che en la Revolución cubana, 1:113.

  40. “In Cuba Imperialism Was Caught Sleeping, but Now It Is Awake,” found in Guevara, Che Guevara Talks to Young People, 64; “Graduación del curso de administradores,” found in Guevara, El Che en la Revolución cubana, 3:558; “Reunión bimestral, febrero 22 de 1964,” found in ibid., 6:453.

  41. “Reunión bimestral, julio 14 de 1962,” found in ibid., 6:258.

  42. “Reunión bimestral, diciembre 5 de 1964,” found in ibid., 6:571; “Socialism and Man in Cuba,” found in Guevara, Che Guevara Reader, 226.

  43. “Honoring José Martí,” found in Guevara, Che: Selected Works, 211. Guevara made these remarks before Fidel Castro had proclaimed the socialist orientation of the Cuban Revolution.

  44. See chapter 1, note 108.

  45. Guevara, “La conferencia de prensa,” 350.

  46. “The Cadre: Backbone of the Revolution,” found in Guevara, Che Guevara Reader, 157.

  47. “Entrega de premios a ganadores en la emulación de Círculo de Estudio,” found in Guevara, El Che en la Revolución cubana, 4:79 and 80; see also “Reunión bimestral, enero 20 de 1962,” found in ibid., 6:152.

  48. “Memoria Anual 1961–1962,” found in ibid., 6:684; see also “Inauguración plenaria provincial de la CTC de Camaguey,” found in ibid., 5:164.

  49. See, for example, Castro, “Las ideas,” 89; and Borrego, Camino, 280.

  50. Guevara mentions the importance of moral compulsion in “Memoria Anual 1961–1962,” found in Guevara, El Che en la Revolución cubana, 6:684; and he briefly explains his understanding of the term in “On Party Militancy,” found in Guevara, Venceremos!, 349.

  51. “Volunteer Labor,” found in Guevara, Che: Selected Works, 305.

  52. “Youth Must March in the Vanguard,” found in Guevara, Che Guevara Talks to Young People, 128; “Reunión bimestral, enero 20 de 1962,” found in Guevara, El Che en la Revolución cubana, 6:149.

  53. Herbert Marcuse evokes the essence of prefiguration, without using the term, when he writes that “the images and values of a future free society must appear in the personal relationships within the unfree society” (Counterrevolution and Revolt [Boston: Beacon Press, 1972], 49).

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p; 54. From “Marta, viento cálido,” Marta Harnecker’s interview by Iosu Perales, found in Perales, Querido Che, 74.

  55. “The Cadre: Backbone of the Revolution,” found in Guevara, Che Guevara Reader, 154 and 155. Regarding discipline, see, too, “A New Culture of Work,” found in ibid., 146–47.

  56. Guevara, Guerrilla Warfare, 132.

  57. Sáenz, El Che ministro, 225.

  58. Arcos Bergnes, Evocando, 252.

  59. Ibid., 250. Helen Yaffe mentions the specific examples of “adjusting inventories . . . [and] carrying out unauthorised investments” (Economics, 218).

  60. “Reunión bimestral, enero 20 de 1962,” found in Guevara, El Che en la Revolución cubana, 6:166.

  61. “Reunión bimestral, septiembre 12 de 1964,” found in Guevara, El Che en la Revolución cubana, 6:530.

  62. Arcos Bergnes, Evocando, 252.

  63. “Reunión bimestral, enero 20 de 1962,” found in Guevara, El Che en la Revolución cubana, 6:165.

  64. Arcos Bergnes, Evocando, 253–54; Borrego, Camino, 70.

  65. Orlando Borrego, “Álvaro Vargas Llosa Jr.: Un vástago al descubierto,” Rebelión, November 21, 2005, http://www.rebelion.org/noticia.php?id=23017; Arcos Bergnes, Evocando, chap. 14.

  66. Jorge G. Castañeda, Compañero: The Life and Death of Che Guevara, trans. Marina Castañeda (New York: Vintage Books, 1998), 178.

  67. González, Che Guevara, 123. Alfredo Muñoz-Unsain fosters a similar misconception with his brief, ill-informed reference to Guanahacabibes in his posthumously circulated memoir (Alfredo Muñoz-Unsain, “Cuba, sociedad anónima: Memorias parciales de un corresponsal en La Habana,” unpublished manuscript, http://www.juangasparini.com/libros-especiales/cuba-sociedad-anonima/, 41–42).

  68. Farber, Politics, 74. In his biography of Guevara, Che: La vida por un mundo mejor (Barcelona: Plaza y Janés, 2003), Pacho O’Donnell likewise offers a very misleading account of Guanahacabibes, which he describes as a “concentration camp” (261).

  69. “Reunión bimestral, julio 14 de 1962,” found in Guevara, El Che en la Revolución cubana, 6:276; “XI Congreso Nacional Obrero,” found in ibid., 3:534, 546; “Reunión bimestral, septiembre 12 de 1964,” found in ibid., 6:522; “A los obreros más destacados durante el año 1962,” found in ibid., 4:336. See also “Selección de Actas de reuniones efectuadas en el Ministerio de Industrias: 2 de octubre de 1964,” found in Guevara, Apuntes críticos, 339.

  70. For example, “Clausura del Consejo de la CTC,” found in Guevara, El Che en la Revolución cubana, 4:124; “Reunión bimestral, febrero 22 de 1964,” found in ibid., 6:441; and “On the Budgetary Finance System,” found in Guevara, Che Guevara Reader, 199.

  71. “Our Industrial Tasks,” found in Guevara, Venceremos!, 286 (“consciousness” would be a far better translation than “conscience” here).

  72. “Intervención en una reunión,” found in Guevara, El Che en la Revolución cubana, 4:95. See, too, Guevara’s comments in “Reunión bimestral, febrero 22 de 1964,” found in ibid., 6:444.

  73. “Entrega de premios de la emulación socialista,” found in ibid., 5:240; “XI Congreso Nacional Obrero,” found in ibid., 3:539.

  74. “A los obreros premiados por haberse destacado en la producción,” found in ibid., 3:75 (from a speech two months prior to the announcement that the Cuban Revolution was a socialist revolution).

  75. “XI Congreso Nacional Obrero,” found in ibid., 3:531; see also 540.

  76. “A los ganadores de la emulación de alfabetización,” found in ibid., 3:502.

  77. “Graduación de 400 alumnos de las escuelas populares,” found in ibid., 4:550.

  78. “Discurso en el acto de graduación de la escuela de administradores ‘Patricio Lumumba,’” found in Guevara, Escritos y discursos, 8:174. For discussion of specific policies for, and methods of, training, see Yaffe, Economics, chap. 4.

  79. “Graduación del curso de administradores,” found in Guevara, El Che en la Revolución cubana, 3:557; “Discusión colectiva; decisión y responsabilidades únicas,” found in ibid., 1:109. See also “Reunión bimestral, febrero 22 de 1964,” found in ibid., 6:446; and “A New Culture of Work,” found in Guevara, Che Guevara Reader, 147.

  80. “Convención nacional de los consejos técnicos asesores,” found in Guevara, El Che en la Revolución cubana, 3:69; “Our Industrial Tasks,” found in Guevara, Venceremos!, 291.

  81. “Graduación en la escuela de administradores ‘Patricio Lumumba,’” found in Guevara, El Che en la Revolución cubana, 4:324; see also “En la primera reunión nacional de producción,” found in ibid., 3:384.

  82. Guevara, “‘Pueblo de Bolivia; Pueblos de América,’” 188.

  83. “Discurso en ‘El Pedrero,’” found in Guevara, Escritos y discursos, 4:26.

  84. “Graduación del curso de administradores,” found in Guevara, El Che en la Revolución cubana, 3:552.

  85. See, for example, Guevara, Bolivian Diary, 61.

  86. Borrego, Camino, 378.

  87. Farber, Politics, 107; 68.

  88. González, Che Guevara, 164 and 151.

  89. Farber, Politics, 90.

  90. “A New Old Che Guevara Interview,” found in Guevara, Che: Selected Works, 369. For a recent work that shows how the working class did in fact play an important part in the triumph of the Cuban Revolution, see Stephen Cushion, A Hidden History of the Cuban Revolution: How the Working Class Shaped the Guerrillas’ Victory (New York: Monthly Review Press, 2016).

  91. González, Che Guevara, 101.

  92. “Create Two, Three, Many Vietnams (Message to the Tricontinental),” found in Che Guevara Reader, 354.

  93. See, for example, “Interview by Telemundo Televisión,” found in Guevara, Che: Selected Works, 382; “Acto de la Federación de Trabajadores de La Industria Textil,” found in Guevara, El Che en la Revolución cubana, 2:178; “The OAS Conference at Punta del Este” in Che Guevara Reader, 251–52; “Reunión bimestral, julio 11 de 1964,” found in Guevara, El Che en la Revolución cubana, 6:491; and “Editorial (‘Nuestra Industria Tecnológica’),” found in Guevara, El Che en la Revolución cubana, 6:720.

  94. As for Marx, see, for example, Marx, Civil War, 335; and “Gotha,” 95. One relevant passage from Lenin can be found in “The Socialist Revolution and the Right of Nations to Self-Determination”: “The socialist revolution is not one single act, not one single battle on a single front; but a whole epoch of intensified class conflicts, a long series of battles on all fronts, that is, battles around all the problems of economics and politics, which can culminate only in the expropriation of the bourgeoisie” (in Collected Works [Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1964], 22:144).

  95. González, Che Guevara, 102; Farber, Politics, xix. Löwy, by contrast, notes that Guevara does espouse the principle proletarian self-emancipation (Marxism, 15).

  96. This at least seems to be the gist of one of his well-known remarks on the Paris Commune: see Marx, Civil War, 335.

  97. On the most general level, the principle holds that “the emancipation of the working classes must be conquered by the working classes themselves” (Karl Marx, “Provisional Rules of the Association,” in Marx and Engels Collected Works [New York: International Publishers, 1985], 20:14). Marx and Engels underscore the paramount importance of this principle in their “Circular Letter to August Bebel, Wilhelm Liebknecht, Wilhelm Bracke and Others” (in Marx and Engels Collected Works [New York: International Publishers, 1989], 24:269).

  98. “Entrega de premios a los 45 obreros más destacados del Ministerio de Industrias,” found in Guevara, El Che en la Revolución cubana, 4:152.

  99. See “El papel de la ayuda exterior en el desarrollo de Cuba,” found in ibid., vol. 3; and “Sobre las normas,” found in ibid., vol. 4.

  100. See “En relación con la II zafra del pueblo,” found in ibid., vol. 4; and “Plenaria Nacional Azuc
arera [a],” found in ibid., vol. 4.

  101. See, for example, “The Cuban Economy: Its Past and Its Present Importance,” found in Guevara, Che: Selected Works; “Our Industrial Tasks,” found in Guevara, Venceremos!; “Tareas Generales para 1963,” found in Guevara, El Che en la Revolución cubana, vol. 6; and “En el programa de TV ‘Información Pública,’” found in ibid., vol. 5.

  102. “En el seminario,” found in ibid., 4:455–56.

  103. “Con los visitantes,” found in ibid., 4:485–86; “The Cuban Economy: Its Past and Its Present Importance,” found in Guevara, Che: Selected Works, 141–42. For some revealing statistics on the importance of sugar in the Cuban economy on the eve of the revolution, see Yaffe, Economics, 172.

  104. Guevara, Congo, 16; see also “Reunión bimestral, enero 20 de 1962,” found in Guevara, El Che en la Revolución cubana, 6:170.

  105. Muñoz-Unsain’s comment forms part of the interview fragments included in Enrique Arrosagaray, Rodolfo Walsh en Cuba: Agencia Prensa Latina, militancia, ron y criptografía (Buenos Aires: Catálogos, 2004), 161. See also Aurelio Alonso, “El pensamiento revolucionario es invariablemente crítico,” interview by Pedro de La Hoz, in Como el primer día, ed. Pedro de La Hoz (Havana: Editorial Letras Cubanas, 2008), 24.

  106. “Reunión bimestral, agosto 10 de 1963,” found in Guevara, El Che en la Revolución cubana, 6:356ff.

  107. See, for example, “A New Culture of Work,” found in Guevara, Che Guevara Reader, 148; “Our Industrial Tasks,” found in Guevara, Venceremos!, 287; and “Entrega de premios de la emulación socialista,” found in Guevara, El Che en la Revolución cubana, 5:237 and 239.

  108. Monereo, Con su propia cabeza,” 84 and 62.

  109. “Entrega de premios de la emulación socialista,” found in Guevara, El Che en la Revolución cubana, 5:146; see also Guevara’s “On Production Costs and the Budgetary System,” found in Silverman, Man and Socialism, 119.

  110. See, for example, “Inauguración de la fábrica de galletas ‘Albert Kuntz,’” found in Guevara, El Che en la Revolución cubana, 4:5; “Asamblea de trabajadores portuarios,” found in ibid., 4:12; and “En relación con la II zafra del pueblo,” found in ibid., 4:46 and 50.