communism's greatest fighter, leader, and symbol.

[kennethcrow]

thanks lvatt, for your words.

essay has been handed in, and i am now reading up some more on che for my own interests.

[lvatt]

Hello. I don't really have much time to write at length on Guevara, but I'll try to sum up some of my thoughts.

There is obviously quite a lot of misunderstandings and unfair criticism when it comes to Guevara. For instance, Humberto Fontova, a right-wing Cuban exile, has written books claiming to "expose" Che Guevara--in fact, he's simply taking blind jabs at the man and a lot of the "facts" he clings to are controversial at best and biasedly interpreted at worst.

Fontova claims for example that Guevara was contradicting his own beliefs by himself following a life of luxury while outwardly claiming to follow communist ideals. Nothing could be further from the truth. In reality, Guevara was, at his own request, severely underpaid for his activities in Cuba (his role in the Banks, for instance). He repeateldy did voluntary manual work to set an example and systematically rejected any "privilege" his popularity could bring him or his family. In contrast, he chastised the Soviet officials who were living in abundance.

People have to understand that Che was a man who had a profound will to achieve his mission. More than anything, I believe this is what he should be remembered for. He did not delude himself with any half-assed justice theory. Instead, he was well-read and knew that something had to be done, and he strongly believed in the principles that had shaped the final decade of his life.

He did not believe in the "wait and see" approach that communism could be achieved through popular elections. Rather, he believed in reforming the country through an armed revolution: a radical about face as the only antidote to a land corrupted by years of imperialism. In diplomacy, you have to make concessions, and in Guevara's ideology, "negociating" with abominations such as the United Fruit, or any billionaire capitalist investors and landowners, is a parody of communism. One of the most powerful weapons of capitalism is propaganda, and it has reached a point where as soon as someone hears the word "communism," they panic. In such a context, and in the typical western-style glorification of personal (individual) achievement, how can any diplomatic communist reform be achieved? Guevara didn't believe that to be possible. This is actually at the source of many conflicts between communists, and it is one of the reasons why many communists in Latin America did not take well to Guevara's plan of a continent-wide guerilla.

The Eisenhower US and the CIA shivered to their bones as soon as the private capitalist interests of Americans in Cuba were touched. The amount of people who died didn't matter--the important thing was that they could keep exploiting Cuba (and all of Latin America) as a chewing gum: you drain all the sugar and then dump it in the garbage.