International Socialists

During the sixties and seventies Che Guevara became a powerful symbol for many on the left. You still see pictures of Che around. His name and image are synonymous with revolution, and his life was so full of drama that even Hollywood paid tribute, with one of the worst biopics of all time. So who was the man behind the image?

 

Ernesto "Che" Guevara was born into the Argentinian middle class and became a doctor. He turned his back on his class to fight for the oppressed, first getting involved in struggles in Guatemala and subsequently joining Fidel Castro's guerilla band in Cuba.

 

With Fidel, he led a small guerilla army to victory over the corrupt US-sponsored puppet government of Batista, and became a minister in Cuba's post-revolutionary government. Later, Che left Cuba to "spread the revolution" to Bolivia. His guerilla tactics failed there, and he was assassinated in 1968, at the age of 39, making his symbolic value even more potent. His book, Guerilla Warfare, had almost biblical status among radicalised youth in the early 1970s, and the hero worship continues in some circles today.

 

Guevara at times claimed to be a Marxist, but, as his life and writings demonstrate, he rejected the central tenet of Marxism - that the working class is the revolutionary agent of socialism, the only force capable of bringing about human liberation.

 

Che instead looked to a vague concept of "the people." In "underdeveloped" countries such as those of Central and South America, China, Vietnam and so on, Che argued that an unarmed working class could not defeat powerful military dictatorships. The only way that such regimes could be overthrown was through military struggle in the countryside, waged by a guerilla army with the support of the peasantry.

 

There are several problems with Che's theories:

 

Firstly, the Cuban revolution did not bring about socialism, nor was it intended to. Castro was a radical nationalist who only became a "socialist" when forced by US attacks and embargoes into an alliance with the Soviet Union. The eastern bloc provided a market for Cuba's sugar and the Soviets provided arms for Cuba's defence. Castro then retrospectively declared Cuba's revolution "socialist." Of course, socialists defend Cuba against US imperialism - but Cuba itself, despite significant reforms, is not a socialist country.

 

Secondly, Che overlooked the experience of the Russian Revolution (not to mention the near-revolution in Bolivia in 1952, based on the miners).

In 1917, the vast majority of the Russian population were peasants; the working class made up only about 3%. Yet Lenin and Trotsky correctly argued that the social weight of the working class, concentrated in the cities, gave it not only the power to overthrow the old regime, but the ability to establish a new kind of society.

 

Thirdly, for all the rhetoric about "the people," Che's view of revolutionary change is fundamentally elitist. The oppressed and exploited, whether workers or peasants, have no direct role. They are passive supporters of a self-appointed elite, the guerilla army. Liberation is not self-emancipation, but is handed down by a band of heroes.

 

Where parliamentary democracy exists, says Che, guerilla warfare is inappropriate, "since the possibilities of peaceful struggle have not yet been exhausted." While he doesn't spell out exactly what he means by "peaceful struggle," the flipside of guerilla war strategies has always been reformism. The oppressed are still largely bystanders, who look to politicians and trade union leaders to act on their behalf.

 

But Marx emphasised that the working class has to make itself "fit to rule." To defeat the bosses and build a classless society, workers must learn to organise collectively and develop their own democratic methods and structures; they have to overcome backward ideas, such as racism, sexism and homophobia, which get in the way of class unity; they have to educate themselves about working class traditions of struggle, learning from victories and defeats.

 

Without going through this often long and painful process, the working class cannot shake off what Marx called "all the old shit," the material and ideological baggage of capitalist society. This is why struggle - strikes, occupations and the like - is so important: as training for the big battles of the future.

 

Contrast this with Che's maxim that "It is not necessary to wait until all the conditions for making revolution exist; the insurrection can create them." In other words, mass consciousness can be transformed overnight, inspired by the actions of an elite.

 

Che may look cool and romantic on posters, but he's not much of a guide if you really want to change the world.