The Political Theory of Ernesto Che Guevara
| Author | Geoffrey William Hurd |
| Published date | 01 October 1972 |
| Date | 01 October 1972 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/004711787200400510 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
527
THE
POLITICAL
THEORY
OF
ERNESTO
CHE
GUEVARA
GEOFFREY
WILLIAM
HURD
This
article
attempts
a
critical
assessment
of
the
main
themes
of
Guevara’s
writing
on
revolutionary
aims
and
ideas.
Perhaps
the
lack
of
any
recent
study
can
be
partly
explained
by
the
difficultly
of
treatment
that
the
material
presents
and
one
of
the
major
problems
has
been
achieving
thematic
unification
and
analytic
balance
in
dealing
with
the
works
of
a
political
leader
required
to
speak
on
many
formal
and
informal
occasions
to
a
wide
range
of
audiences.
Therefore,
frequent
use
of
quotations
has
been
made
in
order
to
mitigate
this
difficulty
and
to
provide
as
coherent
an
analysis
as
possible
from
an
incoherent
series
of
speeches
and
essays.’
The
importance
of
making
an
assessment
of
Guevara’s
political
theory
lies
in
the
impact
his
ideas’
have
had
among
revolu-
tionary
groups
in
the
underdeveloped
world
and
the
industrial
countries
of
the
west
as
well
as
his
contribution
to
the
Cuban
Revolution
and
its
repercussions
on
the
international
affairs
of
the
American
continent.
Why
did
Guevara
become
the
pre-eminent
theorist
of
the
Cuban
revolution?
Although
it
is
impossible
to
give
any
definitive
answer
three
factors
that
differentiate
him
from
other
members
of
Castro’s
guerrilla
force
may
have
influenced
his
intellectual
develop-
ment
in
this
direction.
Firstly,
he
was
an
Argentine
among
Cubans:
when
he
met
the
exiles
from
the
Moncada
attack
of
1953
in
Mexico
in
the
summer
of
1955
he
does
not
appear
to
have
had
any
particular
identification
with
the
Cuban
situation.
As
he
wrotc
himself,
his
link
with
Castro
was
&dquo;...
by
a
tie
of
romantic
adventurous
sympathy,
and
by
the
conviction
that
it
would
be
worth
dying
on
a
foreign
beach
for
such
a
pure
ideal.&dquo;’
As
an
outsider
Guevara would
have
consciously
had
to
learn
the
background
to
the
revolution
and
probably
felt
the
need
to
under-
stand
it
at
least
as
well
as
his
Cuban
companions.
His
non-involve-
ment
in
Cuban
politics
prior
to
1955
would
have
tended
to
lead
him
to
endow
Castro’s
political
opposition
with
a
significance
that
it
did
not
possess
in
its
early
phase
and,
rather
than
seeing
Castroism
from
the
perspective
of
Cuban
political
history,
it
is
likely
that
he
surveyed
the
Cuban
experience
from
the
viewpoint
of
Castroism.
Not
being
a
National
member
of
the
invasion
group
his
position
within
it
undoubtedly
needed
some
justification
both
to
himself
and
to
others.
While
they
took
their
guerrilla
status
for
1
Unless
otherwise
stated
all
of
Guevara’s
works
are
taken
from
Venceremos,
the
speeches
and
writings
of
Ernesto
Che
Guevara,
edited
by
John
Gerassi.
Panther,
1969.
2
Reminiscences
of
the
Cuban
Revolutionary
War,
Che
Guevara.
London
1969,
p.
39.
528
granted
Guevara
had
to
earn
his
by
being
both
extraordinarily
brave
and
energetic.
Quite
simply
Guevara
had
more
reason
to
think
hard
about
why
he
was
in
Cuba
than
most
of
the
Granma3
survivors
and,
by
following
his
thoughts
through,
arrived
at
a
more
profound
explanation
of
the
revolution
than
most
of
his
comrades.
Secondly,
Guevara
had
a
wider
experience
of
Latin
America
because
he
had
been
able
to
travel
and
work
in
many
countries
of
the
continent
as
well
as
in
the
U.S.A.
Apart
from
expeditions
to
the
major
provinces
of
Argentina
he
had
spent
time
in
Ghile,
Peru,
Venezuela,
Ecuador
and Guatemala
before
he
arrived
in
Mexico.
It
is
reasonable
to
assume
that
his
assessment
of
the
revolution
in
Cuba
as
part
of
a
continental
upheaval
owes
its
inception
to
his
early
wanderings.
Thirdly,
he
was
the
only
medical
doctor
in
the
guerrilla
army
and
had
a
singular
status
among
his
group
from
the
first
hour
of
the
invasion,
looking
after
the
sea-sick
on
board
ship,
to
caring
for the
wounded
of
both
sides
after
military
engagements
had
taken
place.
Perhaps
Guevara
had
to
establish
in
his
own
mind
the
compatibility
between
doctor
and
soldier,
while
in
his
explana-
tion
of
why
he
made
the
choice
of
a
box
of
ammunition
rather
than
his
medical
supplies
in
the
retreat
from
Alegria
del
Pi01
there
is
a
symbolism
that
hints
at
more
fundamental
questionings
within
him-
self.
As
a
doctor
he
would
have
been
the
confidant
of
many
guerrillas
and
listening
to
their
problems
and
trying
to
answer
them
would
have
required
him
to
make
judgements
and
come
to
conclu-
sions
more
readily
than
the
men
concerned
solely
with
fighting.
Without
doubt
there
were
other
factors:
his
childhood,
upbringing
and
personality,
which
influenced
his
development
but
are
less
readily
assessed
from
the
information
available
and
the
picture
that
emerges,
though
tentative,
is
of
an
individual
distinguished
from
his
situation
by
certain
characteristics
that
encouraged
him
to
make
an
assessment
of
the
process
he
was
a
part
of.
Guevara’s
first
major
step
towards
becoming
a
revolutionary
theoretician
was
participation
in
a
revolution:
revolutions
are
not
initiated
or
sustained
by
a
set
of
abstract
ideas
and
revolutionaries
are
not
the
conscious
executors
of
an
ideological
weltaunschaung.
Lenin
was
a
revolutionary
before
he
became
a
marxist
and
Guevara
had
attained
revolutionary
consciousness
before
he
became
a
marxist-leninist.
By
1954 he
had
finished
his
notes
on
the
Conduct
of
a
Revolutionary
Physician
in
which
he
considered
revolution
as
the
liberator
and
guide
of
man’s
individual
talents
and
the
most
fundamental
question
of
social
organisation;
how
to
unite
individual
endeavours
and
the
needs
of
total
society.
Most
importantly
he
laid
down
the
following
maxim:
i
&dquo;For
one
to
be
a
revolutionary
doctor
or
to
be
a
revolutionary
at
all,
there
must
first
be
a
revolution&dquo;.
3
Name
of
the
yacht
in
which
Castro’s
invasion
force
sailed
to
Cuba.
Also
name
of
official
government
newspaper.
4
Alegria
del
Pio
is
in
Oriente
province
in
Cuba.
Castro’s
army
was
decimated
there
by
Batista’s
forces
on
5
December
1956.
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