Guevarist Tendencies towards Idealism.

[cullinane]

Much like a rural Auguste Blanqui, Che Guevara believed that through an act of will, his guerrilleros would overthrow the ruling class of the modern state.
The capitalist mode of production is made of two classes, the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. Capitalism has created its own gravediggers in the form of the wage labourer, as the only force capable of destroying the bourgeois mode of production. Its vast numbers, its concentration in the urban metropoles of finance and manufacture and thus its strategic position with the means of production, the proletariat has the social power and class interest in overthrowing the current economic system.
To organically carry out this task from within the working class is the need of a revolutionary workers party of revolutionists who can bring forward the ideas of Marxist socialism and create class consciousness.
To the extent that Che looked to any layer of support, he looked to the peasants. This group is atomised, lacks cohesion, social power and clear class interests of the two fundamental classes. In the normal functioning of free market economics, peasants as a petty bourgeois class are competitive and their fundamental aspiration is to be a propertied class. However an oppressed landless peasantry can be the key revolutionary factor but cannot lead a working class revolution. It will precariously follow either a bourgeoisie or a proletariat stance.
To some extent, Guevara's politics were an idealist, voluntarist brand of Marxism.
Lacking the economic resources to achieve prosperity, Guevara simply dismissed the workes' desires for a decent standard of living as "bourgeois". His socialism was to be built by exhorting the labouring mass to "sacrifice" and ignore their supposedly base material interests.
In his essay "Socialism and Man in Cuba" Guevara rejects material incentives in favour of "moral" incentives.
Socialism as an economic model can only be built at the highest level of development of the forces of production, thereby achieving equality of the basis of plenty. Marxists want a society whose labour rule is to eliminate scarcity, not glorify it.

[Guest]

i think that u r quite right about che's idealism, but this idealism is what makes him different. che thought that everyone thinks the way he does. che was idealistic in his ideas as well as his behavior. he was very tough to himself and he thought that each one can bear what he beared for the sake of the communist society that he was trying to create. i read "socialism and man in cuba" too. but i think that it's great. che was a marxist, but when u read his writings u can find it different from marx's. marx's problem was that he thought only about economy. i know that economy is soooo imprtant, but u can't just interpret everything in life as an economic struggle. che understood this point. he talked about MAN not economics. he was trying to build a communist society by creating the real communist MAN first. i know that his idealism can never be true( we can't make people work by MORAL INCENTIVES), but i love him because of his idealism, and che became a symbol because of his idealism. i'm not a communist, but che made me deeply respect him because of his belief in his ideals.
HASTA LA VICTORIA SIEMPRE!!
CHE LIVES!

[cullinane]

Hello Guest,
Thank you for the input. May I just bring up one point with you? You made the observation that
"i know that economy is soooo imprtant, but u can't just interpret everything in life as an economic struggle. che understood this point. he talked about MAN not economics."
I think what is particularly important for us to grasp is that economics is not a metaphysic. Infact, economics is man. We cannot abstract economics as an external force outside of man. Economics is at its most fundamental the study of man in charge of scarce resources and the choice we make with those scare resources. Without a doubt, Che was a deeply courgeous and idealistic figure, as you point out, and I think thats his charm especially among non-Marxists.

[booga]

Quote: from Guest on 12:57 am on Nov. 10, 2001
i know that economy is soooo imprtant, but u can't just interpret everything in life as an economic struggle. che understood this point. he talked about MAN not economics. he was trying to build a communist society by creating the real communist MAN first. i know that his idealism can never be true( we can't make people work by MORAL INCENTIVES), but i love him because of his idealism, and che became a symbol because of his idealism. i'm not a communist, but che made me deeply respect him because of his belief in his ideals.
HASTA LA VICTORIA SIEMPRE!!
CHE LIVES!


okay, of what i was able to understand, some excellent points were made by the later 2. my perception being this (no point to be made) did Che know the totallity and outcome of his "ideal" goal, or did his self-teachings and beliefs help him with his achievments. he also spoke on the technological age and im wondering what ideas he shared with young men shortly before he died that we are not aware of? maybe im trying to analyze this man too closely but in the spirit of Che i see him different although i must admit i dont know about him as well as you. thank you for the insight, it's quite refreshing.

[Guest]

Che was absolutely charming.

And he was not wrong in that the moral incentive is the highest goal to aim for. The problem is not scarcity, there is plenty, it is just mononopolized in the hands of an elite. The problem is greed- immortalized by lack of societal morals.

~Paris