today marks 53 years since Che's untimely death, murdered by cowards as he attempted to bring about revolution in bolivia.
Che, in my opinion, is the immaculate ideal of a Marxist: compassionate, intelligent, witty, well-read, self-sacrificing, and guided by an unwavering moral center--the list goes on and on. a doctor and a warrior. a healer who knew what was poisoning this world and paid with his very life to attempt to stop it.
he left his country, home, friends, and family to fight with comrades under several nations' flags. severly asthmatic since childhood--sometimes needing to be carried by his comrades in inhospitably humid battlefields--still, he fought in the sierras of cuba. he fought with conviction and strength, and he helped win cubans their freedom.
and what did he do then? did he sit and accept his reward from his newly-adopted country, enjoy some of what he helped build? no. there were battles yet to be fought. and so he fought, until liberation or death came.
i'm a bit drunk but, i love Che and had to vent/ramble. please please please, read jon lee anderson's Che if you haven't: it's a long read but endlessly fascinating and never not inspiring
¡Que viva El Che!
At the risk of seeming ridiculous, let me say that the true revolutionary is guided by a great feeling of love. It is impossible to think of a genuine revolutionary lacking this quality. Perhaps it is one of the great dramas of the leader that he or she must combine a passionate spirit with a cold intelligence and make painful decisions without flinching. Our vanguard revolutionaries must idealize this love of the people, of the most sacred causes, and make it one and indivisible. They cannot descend, with small doses of daily affection, to the level where ordinary people put their love into practice.
The leaders of the revolution have children just beginning to talk, who are not learning to call their fathers by name; wives, from whom they have to be separated as part of the general sacrifice of their lives to bring the revolution to its fulfillment; the circle of their friends is limited strictly to the number of fellow revolutionists. There is no life outside of the revolution.
In these circumstances one must have a great deal of humanity and a strong sense of justice and truth in order not to fall into extreme dogmatism and cold scholasticism, into isolation from the masses. We must strive every day so that this love of living humanity will be transformed into actual deeds, into acts that serve as examples, as a moving force.
RIP to a real one.
what brought me to socialism was the idea of a comrade: a person who across cultures and languages fights for you and defends you because they understand the exact same hardship you are feeling.
o7 rip compañero
that's really it, isn't it? it's a beautiful world we're striving to build
If you tremble with indignation at every injustice then you are a comrade of mine. -- Che Guevara
that's really cool, thanks for sharing. it's interesting, how things like that can plant a seed in us that will bear fruit only later in life. glad you made it back comrade!
One of the most irritating reactionary anti-communist things to find online is when people slander Che as a mass-murderer or terrorist.
Of all the socialist revolutionaries in history, Che was possibly the most earnest and kind-hearted one of them all.absolutely. they can't find anything to truly impeach his character so they just: make it up. when you read about how terrified US intelligence was of Che and his example when he was alive, it makes sense they'd try this hard to slander him. thankfully it seems to only have stuck in the US itself, and only somewhat
He really was the epitome of the Socialist Revolution. Everything he did, he did for liberation, to give innocent humans a shot at a decent life. Completely filled with compassion, but backed up by the threat of violence. Che wrote about executing reactionaries in a completely detached and scientific manner as if he was pulling weeds or performing some other banal task. This combination of cold indifference to the death of your enemies paired with the warm drive of compassion is the Essence of the Revolution. Everyone should strive to be more like Che.
totally. having those two forces inside of you is the alchemy of a virtuous fighter. also that's what i find so inspiring about him. it's drilled into your head from birth, about the need for compromise. compromising your values, your vision for a better world, etc. but his life stands as a total and complete testament against that
I think I've always been meant to be a Communist purely because I personally feel compassion for the poor as well as a burning hatred for those who oppress them. Even as a young liberal I always hated the weakness of the liberal mindset and the mercy they grant those who harm the people. Otherwise, as a white man coming from a fallen petit bourgeois family I'd probably be a fascist.
and as a bonus, have a short but powerful excerpt of Che speaking on imperialism
so true. thanks for the great video and quotes--so powerful. and thanks for translating for our non-spanish-speaking comrades :)
i love the aesthetics of moto-riding across a continent to spread socialism
the "most complete man of our times"
rip to a real one
edit: also, has anyone seen that Steven Soderbergh series on Che and is it any good?
Yep, I've watched it. I thought it was pretty good. It can be a little hard to follow at times. But I would definitely recommend it.
Castro and Che were the first ML figures I sort of unlearned the propaganda I've been taught about them. Learning the real truth of what happened in Cuba and how they helped that country really was astounding. They always have a special place in my heart, in my journey to being a leftist.
Also Che is just super hot. 10/10 would be his wife.
the story of cuban liberation is so important, agreed. it's practically a perfect narrative too. hollywood could never write something so pure and suspenseful and exhilarating and heartening. and all for the noblest of causes
(hahaha i tried so hard to not mention his looks but since you bring it up: agreed 100%. he's so hot, just my type)
It really is so fascinating!! I'd love to visit Cuba one day in general, see the land and all.
(also hey, nothing wrong with pointing out the obvious!! :che-smile: )
me too!!! i'd love to visit cuba, see Che's home, see the gorgeous vistas, talk to the people. very grateful to be able to speak spanish for such a trip! hope you a pleasant trip there someday :)
(haha you're right! it needed to be said :che-smile: :heart-sickle: )
that's awesome. did he say anything you'd want to share? happy you got to meet!
He wrote a book about his brother's life, it was during the signing. He talked about him and the book and answered some questions. The only one i remember is him confirming that Castro didn't betray Che.
