A lot of fiction has been written about Che Guevara, killed forty years ago by a CIA assassin's bullet in Bolivia. In order to discredit his memory, he has been variously described as a "1960's student icon", a "trotskyist", an "adventurist", a Soviet GRU agent, or even a murderer. But he did not suddenly appear as an icon. His background and ideology was a product of the circumstances surrounding his life, and the lives of others of his generation. What are the facts behind the fiction, and what is his legacy to the working class?
Ernesto Che Guevara was born on 14 June 1928 in Rosario, Argentina's third city. The countries of Latin America all had varying mixtures of immigrant, former slave and indigenous Indian populations that developed their individual and collective cultures. Argentina had, in the main, an immigrant population originating from countries such as Spain, Italy and Ireland, although descendants of native Indians and former slaves made up much of the working class in the interior of the country.
During Guevara's youth the Spanish Civil War was raging, and many Latin American workers, including Guevara's uncle, volunteered to fight with the Republicans (Cuba, incidentally, with the biggest contingent of volunteers). After the Republican defeat, many Spanish refugees fled to Argentina and other Latin American countries where they had relatives.
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Ernesto Che Guevara
born 14 June 1928, executed 9 October 1967.
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Stories of struggle
The volunteers returned with stories of the struggle. During World War II, Guevara joined the youth section of Accion Argentina, an antifascist organisation supporting the allies against the Nazis. Like many of his generation across the world, he followed the successes of the Red Army as they smashed the Nazi military machine and became a supporter of the USSR under the leadership of Stalin.
In 1952, he set off with his colleague, Alberto Granado (who had been jailed in 1943 for his involvement in political work against the dictator Juan Peron), on what became the famous motorcycle journey. The journey, Granado's suggestion, was to expose them to the reality of poverty across Latin America, to the humanity of the people and an understanding of class, and to the role of the United States in colonising the continent and suppressing any opposition to itself or its companies that controlled many governments in Latin America. He was deeply moved by the death of Stalin in March 1953, and after qualifying as a doctor he set off on his second trip across the Americas which led to his most influential experience in Guatemala.
Guatemala, the classic banana republic, had long been regarded as the property of the US United Fruit Company. Following the 1932 peasant revolt led by the Communist Party in neighbouring El Salvador and in which 30,000 peasants were killed by the El Salvador government reprisals, Ubico, the Guatemalan dictator, launched a decade of bloody anti- communist repression to make sure it could not happen in Guatemala.
Although the repression in Guatemala was supported by the US, opposition grew among students and the army. In 1944 Ubico was forced to resign and give way to the anti communist General Ponce who was then overthrown by an uprising involving young army officers and civilians armed by them.
US intervention
The result was the government of Jacobo Arbenz. His government, allied with the trade unions and Communist Party, embarked on a land reform programme to give land to peasant farmers who were mainly nativeIndians. The US could not tolerate this, especially when some of the United Fruit Company's land was nationalised, and it intervened militarily to bring the government down in 1954. What followed was a half century of the worst bloodshed committed by US-backed government death squads ever seen on the continent.
Guevara was in Guatemala at this time and caught up in the events. He learnt that if the working class was to take state power to deal with the injustices on the continent, they would have to fight to retain that control and avoid what happened in Guatemala.
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Cuba today: Che Guevara remains an inspiration
Photo: Workers
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Che was eventually deported with others, including Cuban communists, to Mexico where he met up with Fidel Castro's "July 26th" movement who were planning to launch a revolutionary guerrilla war against the Batista regime in Cuba.
He joined the group and eventually became a Comandante in the rebel army, showing great tactical and strategic military qualities. Their campaign culminated in the capture of the Cuban city of Santa Clara, when they destroyed and captured a munitions train sent from Havana by Batista to reinforce his beleaguered forces. This decisive battle brought about the collapse of the Batista regime and the rebel army entered Havana and Santiago de Cuba.
After the victory of the revolution, Guevara's role was varied. His experience in Guatemala taught him that for the success of the revolution, the old enemies who had murdered and tortured revolutionaries and trade unionists had to be dealt with. He oversaw the Courts of Revolutionary Justice that tried and sentenced counter revolutionaries and those who had oppressed the people. He also set an example of doing and encouraging voluntary work, whether cutting sugar cane or construction.
Guevara was the Finance Minister, and one of his acts was to stop the construction, well under way, of a new bank, saying, "The Revolution doesn't need more banks." He oversaw the transformation of this bank into a major hospital in Havana. He represented Cuba in the UN, in other international forums and met revolutionary leaders from newly independent nations such as Algeria. He visited China and the USSR, although not enamoured with Krushchev.
He pioneered a policy that Cuba should support revolutionary struggles in Latin America and liberation struggles in Africa. After all, many Cubans were brought to the island as slaves from Africa. He led an armed group in a failed attempt to help the Simba (Lumumba supporters) in the Congo who were fighting the neo-colonial government following the murder of the Congo's first President Patrice Lumumba.
Sent to Bolivia
Guevara always wanted to go back to Argentina to help make revolution there using his experience gained in Cuba. But it was to neighbouring Bolivia that he was sent in 1966 as part of Cuba's support of revolutionary movements in Latin America. Guevara and his group of Bolivian, Peruvian and Cuban communists launched a guerrilla war against the Bolivian government.
The year-long campaign failed for a number of reasons, although the guerrillas made some significant victories against the now-demoralised Bolivian army. The US was now involved in the hunt for the guerrilla and in a military operation organised by the CIA and US Army Special Forces he was captured and summarily executed by Lieutenant Mario Teran of the Bolivian Army on 9 October 1967.
His legacy to the international working class is immense. His internationalism and commitment to African liberation led eventually to covert Cuban military and medical support to the Guinea Bissau liberation forces led by Amilcar Cabril who defeated the Portuguese colonialists. This triggered the military coup that brought down the Portuguese fascist dictatorship and led to independence for Angola and Mozambique.
Guevara's values of internationalism and selflessness led to Cuba responding with military support to the MPLA in Angola when South African troops invaded and the US supported military aggression against Angola. This in turn led to the defeat of the South African Defence Force, assisted the collapse of the Apartheid regime in South Africa and brought independence for Namibia. In Latin America today, Che Guevara is held up as a revolutionary hero, not only in his home country of Argentina, but in Bolivia where he was killed – the new government of Evo Morales insists that his country's path is based on the values of Che – and right across the continent.
Ask any Cuban today what values Che represents to them and they will list his humanism, internationalism, anti imperialist outlook, determination to emancipate the poor, the have nots and the exploited of the world, his economic thinking, courage, loyalty to Fidel and socialism, his exemplary nature and constant willingness to sacrifice himself, and his humility.
This is not hero worship of an individual, but recognition of someone who set an example that others strive to emulate. For example his values are seen today in the 32,000 doctors of the Cuban Medical Brigades working in the poorest and most dangerous areas of 70 countries and the scores of thousands of free scholarships for students from poor countries who study in Cuba.
There is so much we can learn as British workers from these communist values which represent the very antithesis of capitalism and the very best of working class values.