Was Che really a Stalinist or he just Admired him?

[Big Boss]

I don't know if he was a stalinist or not I just need advice I guess, I hope it is not too much trouble for you guys

[RedAnarchist]

I read somewhere that he preferred china as he though they had a more stronger sense of socialist morality, so he may just have admired Stalin.

[h&s]

He certainly did admire Stalin, that is beyond doubt. However, does it even matter?

[YKTMX]

You have to view this in a historical context. Che was first and foremost an anti-imperialist. Who at this time portrayed themselves as being the ultimate "anti-imperialist" nation? The Soviet Union. Naturally then, Che would feel a certain affinity with the Soviet Union (besides the fact that it was ""socialist"").

However, you have to remember two things. Many of the Russian people, never mind Che, were unaware of the full horrors of Stalin's rule at this point. Even after Kruchshev's speech (actually very timid) many didn't want to admit the truth. Stalin had elevated himself to a position of "unfallability" and naturally people were shocked when it was claimed he was in fact a man who made many mistakes.

If we want to judge whether Che was a "Stalinist", we need to look at his actions. What are the historical actions of Stalinists. They hop on the back of the revolution, place themselves in full charge and begin to systematically exploit and terrorize the people, while exalting themselves like some kind of Pharoah.

Were these the actions of Che? No! When he had "freed" (as he saw it) Cuba. he didn't stay to become the "next dictator". He left to spread the revolution! Individual sacrifice and eternal courage are Che's attributes, not Stalin's.

[bubbЯubbgoeswoo]

If he was at any point leaning that way I am sure he wanted to separte himself from the soviets towards the end of his life so maybe at one point but he changed his views

[encephalon]

wasn't che the first to speak out against the soviet union amongst the communist bloc?

[bubbЯubbgoeswoo]

well maybe not the first but definatley the first from fidel's gov't

[sapho]

Initially, Che admired the Soviet Union. I remember reading when Che went to Moscow and had dinner with top Soviet officials, he critisized them for eating food from "very fine expensive plates", which Che said normal people could not afford.

Later, Che preferred China's government over the USSR.

[Jack Skellington]

No he admired him for what he had done.

[Salvador Allende]

Che deeply admired Stalin and thus was one of the first people to speak out against the Khruschevist traitors in the Soviet Union. Che began to side more with China and Albania who had come out to defend Stalin and Marxism-Leninism in the face of the Imperialist USSR. Raul Castro is also said to be very fond of Stalin.

[Taiga]

Admiration doesn't mean the approval. In this context I admire Stalin too, although I don't approve him. Genius can be admired no matter if it's evil or good.

[DUNKiNUTS]

He admired Stalin, but i don't think there is any info saying that is was a Stalinist.

[refuse_resist]

Yes, Che admired Stalin. He wasn't fooled by the capitalist lies about him that many have been duped into believing. After the revisionist Kruschev took power in the USSR, Che wanted Cuba to be more pro-China and pro-Albania.

[Paradox]

Che did admire Stalin, but didn't Che also criticize the Soviet manual for building Socialism used under Stalin? He wrote critiques of it, if I remember correctly. And he gave these critiques and other writings of his to Orlando Borrego I think. It's in Jon Lee Anderson's book.

[Big Boss]

What are the lies spread by the cappies about Stalin and that everyone believes? Just curious.

[SpeCtrE]

I think he admired Stalin.

But , I don't think he admired him that much. He wasn't a stalinist.

[KuliNeMeL]

he was like me :]
admired Stalin and all communist leaders at start... and then after he realised whats going on there and understood Russia's connections with the capitalist countries he went against Stalin ... saying that true communism cant play the capitalist game....

sry for lame english...

[PRC-UTE]

Che would not have recognised the term 'Stalinist' and probably thought of Stalin as a standard Marxist-Leninist. Tbh, although I respect Che, he was not a deep theorist imo. A hero but not a theorist!

[Ian]

I'm yet to be convinced that 'Stalinists' as a population existed in the 1950s in the scheme of wide scale international revolutionary movement, I know that in Australia there were two currents on the revolutionary left, the 'Communists' and the 'Trotskyites' (or Trotskyists as they like) -- who also saw themselves as communist. There hasn't ever been a group who said 'We are Stalinist' straight off the bat, but rather all except the Trotskyists have said 'We are communist', and even the Trotskyists are now moving away from that (e.g. The Democratic Socialist Party F.K.A. Socialist Workers Party broke with the USFI -one of the larger of the 4th internationals- in 1984)

I'm pretty sure that the word would have existed, but not in the way that we use it today, ie. to describe a poster on the boards who has read Stalin and found themselves in agreement with his ideas or actions etc. (not to be confused with the deservedly maligned stalin kiddie :lol:). I've never heard any older comrades use the word Stalinist to describe their own personal political convictions, so personally Che wouldn't have considered himself a 'Stalinist'.

Probably he considered himself the fairly common euphemism for what we would call a Stalinist, a 'Marxist Leninist'.

But I think this topic has well and truly been squeezed dry in the dozen or more threads that have been about it in the boards history.

[Hiero]

he went against Stalin

He criticised Krushchev for criticising and reforming Stalins work in the USSR.

If people don't like Stalin and don't like the fact that Che had supported Stalin then simple, stop supporting Che and stop trying to fit Che into a character that sits well with your conscious.