A few general questions on Che - just to get a basic underst

[Silent Eye]

I came across this site while doing some research on che and in order to get a basic overview of the man, i ask that you answer my basic questions(some may have been answered earlier but bear with me)

What was Che politically? Just socialist, or a communist?

How did Che view pacifistic revolutionary movements?

What was Che's opinion on religion, Lenin, Mao, Stalin, Khrushchev, etc.

How would che compare to the US?(As in, would he have been viewed the way Osama Bin Laden is viewed now by the yanks?)

[thursday night]

“What was Che politically? Just socialist, or a communist?

Che was a Marxist-Leninist. He served as Fidel Castro’s Minister of Industry and also President of the Bank in socialist Cuba and was instrumental in implementing a Soviet styled economy for Cuba.

“How did Che view pacifistic revolutionary movements?”

I believe Che once said something along the lines of ‘Any revolutionary political party which participates in the electoral process is not truly a revolutionary party.’ Che was highly critical of Jacobo Arbenz, the elected leftist leader of Guatemala for not abolishing the military and arming the people against the US backed coup which forced him from power.

“ Our every action is a battle cry against imperialism, and a battle hymn for the people's unity against the great enemy of mankind: the United States of America. Wherever death may surprise us, let it be welcome, provided that this, our battle cry, may have reached some receptive ear, that another hand may be extended to wield our weapons, and that other men be ready to intone our funeral dirge with the staccato singing of the machine guns and new battle cries of war and victory. Ernesto Che Guevara”

“ What was Che's opinion on religion, Lenin, Mao, Stalin, Khrushchev, etc.”

Che laid a wreath at Stalin’s tomb during his official visit to the Soviet Union in the early sixties, and he also signed off letters in his youth as ‘Stalin II.’ He met Mao in person and was a fan of him, once saying that he thought “The Chinese showed a higher socialist morality than the Soviets.” As to Lenin, of course he liked him as Che was a Marxist-Leninist.

As to your last question, Che ordered to be executed in 1967 by a CIA officier.

[Larissa]

Politically, he was more Maoist.

[thursday night]

An interesting thing to note is that, because of his advocation of guerilla warfare, Che was after his death branded a 'Maoist' by the Kremlin.

[Larissa]

Quote: from thursday night on 9:38 pm on Mar. 29, 2003
An interesting thing to note is that, because of his advocation of guerilla warfare, Che was after his death branded a 'Maoist' by the Kremlin.Well, he actually did admire Mao a lot.

[Wolfie]

Che was definatly a Maoist, he secretly supported mao in the sino-russian disputes, and he was quoted as saying that the chinese have a "higher socialist morality". He apparently admired mao the most for his efforts to spread rural guerrilla warfare.

[YerbaMateJ]

He called his oldest daughter, Hildita "his little Mao" when she was a baby because she looked Chinese...

As far as pacifist movements, Che did not think they worked in the particular political situations in Latin America at the time and did not think pacifist means would be effective in fighting off the imperialism that was victimizing Cuba, other parts of Latin America, and the world. Like it was stated above, his experience in Guatemala has a lot to do with his view on this.

I would guess though--- and this is just a guess---that he admired pacifist revolutions such as that of Ghandi in India and the Civil Rights Movement lead by Dr. Martin Luther King in the United States. They were pacifist, but they did create massive change. Che was too intelligent to have denied that fact.

YMj:biggrin:

(Edited by YerbaMateJ at 10:15 am on April 1, 2003)


(Edited by YerbaMateJ at 10:15 am on April 1, 2003)

[Just Joe]

I heard Mao thought Che was a bit of a twat when they met.

From a very unofficial source so I don't know how much truth there was to it.

[Rastafari]

From what I have read, Mao was not one to call others a "twat". Apparently, he took pride in his rural upbringing enough to carry many of the informal manuerisms and habits up to the top with him.
He would often belch, fart, and interrupt during conversation, which led many to underestimate him, and many (like Stalin), to be pissed off at great lengths.

[Silent Eye]

Thank you. But i see no reason why to think supporting the chinese in the Soviet Chinese disputes would be abad thing, as technically Mao did not stray from the route of Marxism as much as the Soviets. Even though he built his revolution from the peasants, his ideas were still more true to the cause than i would wager any Soviet leaders were.

[Larissa]

Quote: from Silent Eye on 6:58 pm on April 3, 2003
Thank you. But i see no reason why to think supporting the chinese in the Soviet Chinese disputes would be abad thing, as technically Mao did not stray from the route of Marxism as much as the Soviets. Even though he built his revolution from the peasants, his ideas were still more true to the cause than i would wager any Soviet leaders were. I agree with you Silent eye, and particularly in this sense I believe Che supported Mao a lot more than the USSR.

[thursday night]

I tend to walk a similar line as the Worker’s World Party ([url]http://workers.org/[/url) when it comes to the Sino-Soviet dispute. Generally, the People’s Republic of China was more true to original Marxist-Leninist roots in it’s belief that the revolution should be exported to other Third World countries (although their support of the FNLA over the MPLA in Angola was extremely questionable), however I believe that the Chinese officials went too far when they began to use derogatory rhetoric like ‘Social-Imperialist’ when it came to the Soviet Union, because despite it’s faults and bureaucraticism the USSR was still building socialism.

(Edited by thursday night at 1:34 am on April 5, 2003)

[Silent Eye]

Oh, no please, i am not trying apologize, Mao had MANY faults, I am by no means a Maoist, but he was "the lesser of two evils" so to speak.

[Urban Rubble]

To whoever said Che left a wreath at Stalin's tomb, I believe it was Lenin's tomb.

[nz revolution]

About the tomb, wasnt Stalin tossed out of the masoleum (spelling) and burried next to a wall?

Che was accused of being both a Maoist and a Trotskyist/ite for promoting revolutions unlike the Soviet ilk that basically told the French CP to side with the French ruling class during the 68 rebellion in Paris. All their lack of support for revolutionary movements so the West would go easier on them and using Lib. movements as pawns in power politics.

Also he denounced the Soviet Bloc a coupe of times and got in a fair bit of shit with Fidel and Raul and the pro-Soviets in the Cuban CP.

What was the chant that many cubans said after the soviets pulled the nukes from cuba? something about Nikita the faggot, hahah.

Wasn't the term Marxist-Leninst coined by the Stalinists in the CPSU? I'm sure Lenin said that he was a Marxist not a Leninist as such. Stalinist manipulation...

(Edited by nz revolution at 10:55 pm on April 21, 2003)