El Socialismo y el Hombre en Cuba (Che Guevara Publishing Project)

by Ernesto Che Guevara

Here, Che Guevara’s classic work on social change and human nature, reviewing the early years of Cuba’s revolution and analyzing the role of the individual in transforming the social, economic, and political structures of capitalist society. It is one of the most important political and philosophical documents to emerge from the Cuban Revolution and the 1960s, featuring photographs taken by Che in Cuba.

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction, History, Theory, Philosophy, Essays, Spanish Literature

50 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1965

About the author

Ernesto "Che" Guevara, commonly known as El Che or simply Che, was a Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, intellectual, guerrilla leader, diplomat, and military theorist. A major figure of the Cuban Revolution, since his death Guevara's stylized visage has become an ubiquitous countercultural symbol and global icon within popular culture.

His belief in the necessity of world revolution to advance the interests of the poor prompted his involvement in Guatemala's social reforms under President Jacobo Arbenz, whose eventual CIA-assisted overthrow solidified Guevara's radical ideology. Later, while living in Mexico City, he met Raúl and Fidel Castro, joined their movement, and travelled to Cuba with the intention of overthrowing the U.S.-backed Batista regime. Guevara soon rose to prominence among the insurgents, was promoted to second-in-command, and played a pivotal role in the successful two year guerrilla campaign that topled the Cuban government.

After serving in a number of key roles in the new government, Guevara left Cuba in 1965 to foment revolution abroad, first unsuccessfully in Congo-Kinshasa and later in Bolivia, where he was captured by CIA-assisted Bolivian forces and executed.

Guevara remains both a revered and reviled historical figure, polarized in the collective imagination in a multitude of biographies, memoirs, essays, documentaries, songs, and films. Time magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century, while an Alberto Korda photograph of him entitled "Guerrillero Heroico," was declared "the most famous photograph in the world" by the Maryland Institute of Art.

Reviews

[Peiman E iran · Rating 4 out of 5]

‎دوستانِ گرانقدر، این کتاب به نامه ای مربوط میشود که <چه گوآرا> برایِ سردبیرِ هفته نامۀ «مارچا» نوشت .. که در کشورِ اروگوئه، منتشر شد... بخش هایی از جملاتِ خردمندانهٔ چه گوآرا را به انتخاب در زیر برایِ شما خردگرایانِ گرامی مینویسم... این جملات بی گمان تعریفی از مردمانی است که این روزها ساکن در سرزمینِ عزیزتر از جانم، "ایران" هستند
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‎اکنون در تاریخِ انقلابِ کوبا، شخصیتی با خصوصیاتِ کاملاً مشخصِ خود پدیدار شده بود، شخصیتی که از آن پس بطور منظم اعلام حضور ميکرد: «تودۀ مردم» ... بله، «تودۀ مردم»، اين موجودِ کثيرالچهره، آنگونه که ادعا میشود، حاصل جمعِ عناصر همگون نيست... آنهم عناصری که به دستِ نظامِ حاکم به يک قماش تنزل يافته اند... قماشی که مانند یک گلۀ گوسفند عمل میکند
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‎عزیزانم، زمانی که این جملات از <چه گوآرا> را خواندم، به یکباره ملتِ ایران، که البته بهتر است بگویم امتِ ایران (زیرا بیشترِ مردمی که هم اکنون در ایران زندگی میکنند ایرانی نیستند، بلکه عرب پرستانی هستند که امتِ اسلامی را ساخته اند) را تجسم نمودم و یادِ آن جملۀ «علی شریعتی»، آن بیسوادِ بی اصل و ریشه و پست نهاد افتادم که گفت: "امام پیشوا است و عامل حیات و حرکت امت است، وجود و بقای اوست که وجود و بقای امت را ممکن میسازد. حیات وجود امت مستلزم روحی است بنام امام... بنابراین انسانی که امام خود را نمی شناسد بمانند گوسفندی است که شبان خود را گم کرده باشد
‎ دوستانِ عزیز و نورِ چشمانم، ببینید سرزمینِ پاکمان تا چه اندازه خار و کوچک شده است که عرب پرستانِ کثیف و حرامی همچون علی شریعتیِ بی بُته و بی ریشه، که خودشان همچون شتر، بدنبالِ بیابان گردهایِ وحشی و بی فرهنگ عربستان، راه افتاده اند و خویش را سگِ دربارِ این تازیانِ بیابانی میدانستند، باید این مردم را گوسفند خطاب کنند
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‎در بخشی از این نامه، <چه گوآرا> میگوید: این که فقرا و ضعیفان در آن دنیا به پاداشِ اعمالِ خود میرسند، خرافات و موهوماتی است که نظامِ سرمایه داری در سرِ مردم جا میاندازد، خود این دنیا را دارند و آن دنیایِ موهوم و پوشالی و دروغین را به مردم وعده میدهند
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‎امیدوارم این ریویو در جهتِ شناختِ این کتاب، کافی و مفید بوده باشه
‎<پیروز باشید و ایرانی>

[Peiman E iran · Rating 5 out of 5]

در ابتدا باید بگم، نمیدونم چرا «فیدل کاسترو» نامش در کنارِ نامِ «چه گوآرا » به عنوانِ نویسنده نوشته شده!! احتمالاً همانطور که در مبارزه تمامِ زحمات رو چه گوآرا کشید و به نامِ کاسترو تمام شد، اینجا هم همینجوری باید اسمش آورده شه
دوستانِ گرانقدر، تا اونجا که یادم میاد این نوشته، مربوط میشه به نامه ای که چه گوآرا برایِ سردبیرِ هفته نامۀ « مارچا » نوشت .. که در کشورِ اروگوئه، منتشر شد

دوستانِ خردمندِ ایرانی، بخش هایی از جملاتِ زیبایِ چه گوآرا رو انتخاب کردم که در اینجا مینویسم... جملاتی که بی شک تعریفی از مردمانی است که این روزها ساکن در سرزمینِ عزیزتر از جانم، ایران هستن

اکنون در تاریخِ انقلابِ کوبا، شخصیتی با خصوصیاتِ کاملاً مشخصِ خود پدیدار شده بود، شخصیتی که از آن پس بطور منظم اعلام حضور ميکرد: «تودۀ مردم» ... بله، «تودۀ مردم»، اين موجودِ کثيرالچهره، آنگونه که ادعا میشود، حاصل جمعِ عناصر همگون نيست... آنهم عناصری که به دستِ نظامِ حاکم به يک قماش تنزل يافته اند... قماشی که مانند یک گلۀ گوسفند عمل میکند
دوستان خردمند وقتی این جمله از چه گوآرایِ بزرگ رو خوندم، به یکباره ملتِ ایران، که البته بهتر است بگوییم امتِ ایران ( چون مردمی که الان ساکن ایران هستن ایرانی نیستن، اکثراً عرب پرست هستن) رو تجسم کردم و یادِ آن جملۀ « علی شریعتی» آن بیسوادِ حرامزاده و بی اصل و ریشه افتادم که گفت: « امام پیشوا است و عامل حیات و حرکت امت است، وجود و بقای اوست که وجود و بقای امت را ممکن میسازد. حیات وجود امت مستلزم روحی است بنام امام... بنابراین انسانی که امام خود را نمی شناسد بمانند گوسفندی است که شبان خود را گم کرده باشد »
چقدر مردم سرزمینمون خار و کوچک شدن که عرب پرستانِ کثافتی همچون علی شریعتیِ بی بته، که خودشان همچون شتر، بدنبالِ بیابان گردهایِ نجسِ عربستان، راه افتاده اند، باید این مردم رو گوسفند خطاب کنه

در بخشی از این نامه، چه گوآرا میگه، این که فقرا و ضعیفان در آن دنیا به پاداشِ اعمالِ خود میرسن، خرافات و موهوماتی است که نظامِ سرمایه داری در سرِ مردم جا میاندازد، خود این دنیا را دارند و آن دنیایِ موهوم و پوشالی را به مردم وعده میدهند

دوستانِ خردمند، امیدوارم این نامه یا مقاله رو بخونید... دنیایی از جملاتِ پر معنا، بود
در پایان این نامه آمده بود، « یا مرگ یا وطن»
ای کاش روزی برسه که قدرِ خاکِ سرزمینِ عزیزمون ایران رو بدونیم و شعارِ اندیشمندان و بزرگانِ سرزمینمون که مبارزه با خرافات و عرب پرستی، بوده رو سر لوحۀ کارِ خود قرار بدیم

پیروز باشید و ایرانی

[Amirsaman · Rating 2 out of 5]

ادعای خیلی بزرگی است اینکه بگوییم حالا که در دنیای سرمایه‌داری، مردم از شغل‌هایشان فقط برای رسیدن به پول و مصرفِ بیشتر استفاده می‌کنند و ازخودبیگانه می‌شوند (چون مالکِ کالای تولیدی‌شان نیستند)، پس ما جامعه‌مان را سوسیالیستی می‌کنیم و این مسئله را حل می‌کنیم. البته هم چگوارا و هم فیدل کاسترو اذعان می‌کنند که نتوانستند این مسئله را کاملا حل کنند و حتا چگوارا به این اصل بدیهی معترف است که بعضی شغل‌ها واقعا دوست‌نداشتنی‌اند.
اما راه‌حل کوبا جالب است. آن‌ها نوعی جهاد ایجاد کرده‌اند که کارگران از کارخانه‌هایشان مرخصی می‌گیرند و برای ساختن مدرسه و درمانگاهْ داوطلبانه کار می‌کنند. کاسترو معتقد است این‌گونه، کارگران باعلاقه کار می‌کنند و هم کارشان کیفیت بیشتری دارد و هم دولت سود می‌کند.
کاسترو چند جایی هم در سخنرانی‌اش می‌گوید امپریالیست‌ها مردم را خر می‌کنند و بیماری قلبی می‌گیرند چون کار نمی‌کنند، برخلاف ما.

اما کوبا موردی نیست که بشود سرسری‌اش گرفت، با این همه تحریم و فشاری که بهش تحمیل می‌شود. باید از نزدیک دید.
چه کسی هست که با من به کوبا بیاید؟

[Fatemeh Mehrasa]

همانطور که خوزه ماری گفتست: همچنان که انسان هایی وجود دارند بی وقار و بی غرور، انسان های دیگری هم می توان یافت که در درونشان وقار و غرور عده زیادی را حمل می کنند.

کمونیسم را قبول ندارم. مثل هر مکتب دیگری، اگر بدی هایی دارد، خوبی های خاص خودش را هم دارد. "چه" انسان خاصیست که هنوز برای من حل نشده است.


پی نوشت: کتاب رو از بیست و نهمین نمایشگاه تهران گرفتم.

[misael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Deixe-me dizer-lhe, correndo o risco de parecer ridículo, que o verdadeiro revolucionário é movido por grandes sentimentos de amor.

Neste ensaio em forma de resposta a uma pergunta do jornalista Carlos Quijano, do semanário Marcha, de Montevidéu, Che Guevara analisa, simultaneamente, as fases de aplicação do socialismo com o horizonte na construção da sociedade comunista, bem como a experiência cubana (até então) de progressivo estabelecimento da sociedade socialista.

Indispensável para quem pretende estudar a Revolução Cubana e o pensamento marxista-leninista latino-americano de Che e Fidel.

[John Farebrother · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating book from an iconic and controversial figure of the Cold War. It not only sets out the main thinking behind the American Revolution and its ultimate goals, but perhaps more importantly, allows a glimpse into the mind of the bearded doctor himself. A mind in which everything fit logically into an overarching, detailed world view and plan, where everyone had a place and a role. An expression of love for humanity, by a man accused by some of being a murderer. Is it a practical utopia, complete with road map? Historically, the US has for decades done everything in its power to make the Cuban revolution fail, including an aborted invasion at Playa Girón 1961. It is thus a rebel yell, a cry of defiance by a martyr of the revolution, and ranks alongside William Wallace's and Gavrilo Princip's calls to arms. Patria o muerte!

[Menna · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Let me say , at the risk of seeming ridiculous , that the true revolutionary is guided by great feelings of Love"

[Greg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Two articles. The first by Ernesto Che Guevara 'Socialism and Man in Cuba', was written in the form of a letter to Carlos Quijano, editor of Marcha, a weekly published in Montevideo, Uruguay. It was first published in the March 12, 1965, issue of Marcha.

The second article is by Fidel Castro, 'Che's ideas are absolutely relevant today'. This speech was given on October 8, 1987, at the main ceremony marking the twentieth anniversary of Guevara's death. It was held at a newly completed electronic components factory in the city of Pinar del Rio.

[atefe · Rating 3 out of 5]

از متن كتاب:
همان طور كه خوزه مارتى گفته است: همچنان كه انسان هايى وجود دارند بى وقار و بى غرور،
انسان هاى ديگرى هم مى توان يافت كه در درونشان وقار و غرور عده ى ز��ادى را حمل مى كنند. ما مى توانيم اضافه كنيم كه انسان هايى وجود دارند كه وقار و غرور جهان را با خود حمل مى كنند؛ و "چه" يكى از آنهاست.

[Ali Shiri · Rating 3 out of 5]

محتوا و ایده‌ی مقاله‌‌ای که در کتاب منعکس شده با توجه به زمان و مکانی که "چگوارا" در آن می‌زیسته است، شاید مترقی و در مواردی راهگشا بوده باشد. اما با گذشت زمان، رخ‌داد حوادث و پختگی نوع بشر، اکنون بهتر می‌توان آن را نقد نمود.
با این‌همه باز چیزی از عظمت شخصیت "چ" و شکوه حرکت او و یارانش نمی‌کاهد.

[hilly · Rating 5 out of 5]

they were cooking

[Alex Quintero · Rating 4 out of 5]

Manifest en defensa de la vida i la llibertat, que estimula l'adquisició de consciència del nou home en el període de trànsit al socialisme. Parla del paper que han de tenir durant aquesta etapa els diferents actors: les masses, l'avantguarda del Partit, l'art, la ciència, etc. La forma que té el Che d'endinsar metàfores i matisos poètics en la seva prosa revolucionària m'ha meravellat.

[Leonardo]

Aquí Guevara está luchando precisamente con la relación entre eros (el amor
personal) y agape (el amor político) y defiende su exclusión mutua; los revolucionarios «no pueden descender, con pequeñas dosis de afecto diario, al nivel donde la gente ordinaria pone en práctica su amor»; en otras palabras, su amor debe permanecer «uno e indivisible», amor por el pueblo, por la exclusión de todos los apegos «patológicos». Aunque esta puede parecer la misma fórmula de la catástrofe «totalitaria » (un revolucionario matando a individuos reales a cuenta de una abstracción como «el pueblo»), hay otra manera mucho más refinada de interpretar la posición de Guevara. Habría que empezar con la paradoja de que el singular amor erótico, tomado precisamente como lo absoluto, no debería ser planteado como un objetivo directo; debería mantener el estatus de subproducto, de algo que recibimos en forma de una gracia inmerecida. La cuestión no es que «haya cosas más importantes que el amor»; un auténtico encuentro amoroso queda como un punto de referencia absoluto en la vida de cada uno (expresándolo en términos tradicionales, es «lo que da sentido a la propia vida»). Pero la dura lección que hay que aprender es que, precisamente como tal, el amor (la relación amorosa) no debería ser el objetivo directo de la vida de cada uno: cuando uno afronta la elección entre amor y deber, el deber debería prevalecer. El verdadero amor es modesto, como el de una pareja de una novela de Marguerite Duras: mientas los dos amantes se cogen de la mano, no se miran a los ojos; miran juntos hacia delante, a algún tercer punto, a su Causa común. Quizá no haya amor más grande que el de una pareja de revolucionarios, donde cada uno de los dos amantes está dispuesto a abandonar al otro en cualquier momento si la revolución lo exige. No se aman menos que la apasionada pareja dispuesta a suspender todos sus vínculos y obligaciones terrestres para arder en una noche de pasión incondicional; en todo caso, se aman más.

Viviendo en el Final de los Tiempos Pág.121

Hoy mi deber era

[Patricia Vidal · Rating 4 out of 5]

El Che, desde Algeria, siempre dirige la mirada a Cuba, la vanguardia de América Latina <3 En este breve texto dirigido a Quijano, editor de Marcha, Guevara delinea las cualidades del revolucionario: la sociedad en transición no solo surge a través de la creación de estructuras sociales nuevas si no también requiere de la transformación profunda y radical de los hombres. El partido está compuesto por los mejores cuadros mediante un mecanismo que el Che describe de 'selección natural', la libertad emerge como sinónimo de dictadura del proletariado, y el amor, el deber y el sacrificio como ejes del 'patria o muerte': 'nuestros hijos deben tener y carecer de lo que tienen y de lo que carecen los hijos del hombre común'. El hombre nuevo se libera de la necesidad de venderse como mercancía y encuentra su realización plena en el trabajo, entendido como deber social y aporte colectivo. El arte y la cultura son de vital importancia en esta transformación subjetiva, pero raramente, afirma el Che, los intelectuales & artistas son de la misma hechura que los revolucionarios. For instance, la democracia no es otra cosa que el disfraz de la burguesía cuyos valores están profundamente arraigados, particularmente en las formas realistas de la literatura. Debido a la naturaleza tan radical de esta transición subjetiva, el Che subraya la importancia de la juventud, 'arcilla maleable' (más fáciles de dogmatizar I guess). Por otro lado, se filtran ya los obstáculos que la revolución encuentra para institucionalizarse. El Che repasa ligeramente su economía de base humanista. Y siempre reitera que si la revolución no se exporta, muere. La escritura de Guevara siembra banderas rojas sobre los peligros del escolasticismo que aqueja a las sociedades que implementan estructuras basadas en el pensamiento marxista-leninista (Stalin is this you?) Las ideas también deben transformarse de acuerdo a las realidades. No puedo evitar torcer la boca cuando encuentro los pasajes dedicados a Fidel Castro, el verdadero intérprete de las necesidades del pueblo. Gobierno y masa un solo latido, etc. Es un texto bellísimo hacia el final, cuando a riesgo de parecer ridículo (I quote), reflexiona sobre el amor [a la masa y las causas sagradas sobre todas las cosas], incluso en los momentos en que el revolucionario debe mantener la mente fría. Precisamente para poder tomar decisiones dolorosas (hemos fusilado, fusilamos y seguiremos fusilando, I guess).

[Guchu · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got it for the titular Che letter-essay (of course), I didn't much care for Castro's speech made on the 20th anniversary of Che's death even after reading it.

Che’s essay sets out to respond to the argument that the success of a socialist state depends upon the abolition of the individual. He makes a few points but overall, that the individual must be one with their community and the community with its leaders/ the state. Which he does, a successful socialist project has to have the individual in formation with their community and the community in formation with the state.

The essay, however, doesn't address the *tendency* for socialist states to abolish the individual through coercive means- I deduced that that happens when the education of the individual is incomplete and the state does not correctly interpret the needs of the people. But I would have liked to hear more.

The essay can be found online here https://t.co/4zQgyaK4H1

[pao]

“…the true revolutionary is guided by great feelings of love.”

[Conor Fitzpatrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Che demonstrating how influential and incredible as a figure and man he was to the masses, followed by a beautiful tribute/analysis to Che written by Fidel Castro. GOATS.

[Kegan Tetz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good

[Preetam Chatterjee · Rating 1 out of 5]

#Reviewing my previous Reads, #Overrated Books To Roast:

If there’s one thing history teaches us, it’s that utopian blueprints often make excellent kindling. Socialism and Man in Cuba is a prime example: Che Guevara’s earnest but hilariously delusional attempt to reinvent human nature with nothing more than revolutionary fervor and Marxist duct tape.

Forget economics, forget logistics, forget that people like, you know, need food and toothpaste—Che is here to tell you that with enough ideology and enough sugarcane chopping, the Cuban worker will evolve into a glowing new species: the “New Socialist Man.” Picture Homo sapiens 2.0, but hungrier, smellier, and convinced that endless sacrifice is actually a personality trait.

The essay is less a political program than a motivational pep talk delivered in a bunker. Che’s basic premise? Material incentives corrupt. Salaries, promotions, comfort—these are capitalist traps. True revolutionaries should be motivated purely by conscience. In other words: “Comrades, money is fake. Passion is real. Now get out there and build socialism with nothing but good vibes and a machete.” It’s basically a spiritual TED Talk with fewer PowerPoints and more malaria.

The illogicality deepens when you remember the context. Cuba at the time was already wobbling under ration cards, shortages, and Soviet dependency. But Che’s response to this misery is… to double down. Don’t worry about not having meat, soap, or electricity, he says—true communists surpass such trivialities!

Hunger? That’s just your selfish bourgeois stomach talking.

What you really need is to cultivate revolutionary zeal so pure that it nourishes you in place of calories. Call it socialism’s first “breatharian diet.”

And the man didn’t just theorize; he practically canonized self-sacrifice as the highest revolutionary virtue. Work long hours for no pay? That’s noble. Renounce family ties in favor of The Cause?

Glorious. Never complain?

Heroic. Essentially, he wants Cubans to live like medieval monks—except instead of God, they worship Fidel. Imagine a nation of unpaid interns, all trying to out-sacrifice one another in a cosmic competition of misery. “Oh, you worked 14 hours without lunch? Cute. I cut cane until my hands bled and then wrote a love letter to Marx on the back of a ration card.”

The irony, of course, is that Che himself was puffing on imported cigars and enjoying a position of authority while demanding everyone else become ascetic worker-saints. It’s the classic revolutionary flex: “Do as I preach, not as I puff.” Meanwhile, Castro endorses this whole sermon like the Revolution’s hype man. If Che is the ascetic guru, Fidel is the carnival barker, shouting “Step right up, sacrifice your individuality, and win a glorious seat in the utopia that never arrives!”

Che’s writing reads like a cult recruitment pamphlet. Individuality? Suspicious. Personal ambition? Dangerous. Dissent? Counterrevolutionary. Happiness? Only if it photographs well for the propaganda poster.

You can almost hear him whispering: “You are not special. You are not unique. You are the Revolution.” It’s the same psychological sleight of hand every cult uses, from Jonestown to NXIVM: strip away identity, demand total loyalty, then insist that the resulting void is actually enlightenment.

And what did Cuba actually get for all this spiritual sugarcane mysticism? Not saints of socialism, but shortages, black markets, censorship, and wave after wave of people literally risking shark attacks to escape on rafts.

The “New Man” didn’t materialize; instead, the Cuban hustler did—a resourceful figure who could survive off ration cards, barter, and whatever trick the state hadn’t yet outlawed. In fact, if you want to see the true New Cuban Man, look not to Che’s manifesto but to the guy who figures out how to turn a Russian Lada into a fishing boat.

Roasting this text side-by-side with Soviet “New Man” propaganda is like watching two competing infomercials for miracle products that never work. The Soviets promised to create the perfect collective worker who would joyfully build communism in steel mills while whistling patriotic tunes. Instead, they got alcoholism, absenteeism, and jokes about standing in line for bread.

Che promised the Cuban version—selfless cane-cutters who live off conscience alone. Instead, he got people smuggling Marlboros, pirating Beatles records, and dreaming of Miami. The only real New Men produced were black-market entrepreneurs and sardonic comedians.

Even stylistically, Socialism and Man in Cuba is a slog. Che writes with all the warmth of a dentist’s waiting room and all the clarity of a fogged-up bathroom mirror.

The essay is packed with vague exhortations, like “We must create a new consciousness,” and “Revolutionary man develops in socialist society.” Translation: nothing concrete, just vibes. It’s as if Che thought if he stacked enough slogans together, reality itself would bend. Spoiler: it didn’t.

The biggest roast, though, is existential. Che genuinely believed human nature could be rewritten by ideology. That with enough pressure, people could be turned into altruistic saints. But history shows otherwise. People don’t stop wanting comfort, freedom, love, or joy just because a manifesto says so.

Trying to suppress these desires only breeds hypocrisy and quiet rebellion. The black market becomes the real economy, sarcasm becomes the real literature, and eventually the Revolution becomes a punchline whispered in long queues.

If The Motorcycle Diaries was Che’s Instagram—romantic shots of sunsets and motorcycles—then Guerrilla Warfare was his cosplay manual, complete with jungle chic and DIY traps. Socialism and Man in Cuba, however, is his TED Talk: inspirational slogans, zero practical solutions, and an unshakable belief that vibes can feed a nation. In reality, it’s less “New Man” and more “No Man”—no man with full shelves, no man with free speech, no man with an exit visa.

So where does that leave us? With a text that is part holy scripture, part self-parody, and entirely unworkable. A book that reveals not so much the brilliance of Che as the dangerous simplicity of utopian thinking. It’s almost sweet, in a tragic way: Che really thought he was mapping the soul’s evolution. But in practice, his blueprint produced misery dressed up as virtue. The “New Man” never walked the earth; what walked instead were the hungry, the censored, the disillusioned, and the fleeing.

Che wanted to sculpt a new kind of human being out of ideology. Instead, he gave us proof that human nature is stubbornly resistant to manifestos. And that’s the ultimate roast: the Revolution tried to make saints but ended up making hustlers.

Maybe the real “New Man” is the guy selling black-market cigars under a Che poster.

Give this book a pass. .

[Alicia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Probably one of the greatest Fantasy books published in the 20th century.

[Jade Lopez-Soto · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVED it.

[❀ leila]

would definitely like to revisit this when i’m not on a time crunch but an incredibly insightful read.


“Then came the stage of guerrilla struggle. It developed in two distinct environments: the people, the still sleeping mass that had to be mobilized; and its vanguard, the guerrillas, the motor force of the mobilization, the generator of revolutionary consciousness and militant enthusiasm. This vanguard was the catalyzing agent that created the subjective conditions necessary for victory.”

“The amount of poverty and suffering required for a Rockefeller to emerge, and the amount of depravity entailed in the accumulation of a fortune of such magnitude, are left out of the picture, and it is not always possible for the popular forces to expose this clearly.”

“In our zeal as revolutionaries we try to move ahead as fast as possible, clearing the way. But we know we must draw our nourishment from the mass and that it can advance more rapidly only if we inspire it by our example.”

“There is still a need to undergo a complete spiritual rebirth in one's attitude toward one's own work, freed from the direct pressure of the social environment, though linked to it by new habits.”

“Those who play by the rules of the game are showered with honors — such honors as a monkey might get for performing pirouettes. The condition is that one does not try to escape from the invisible cage.”

“The present is a time of struggle; the future is ours.”

“At the risk of seeming ridiculous, let me say that the true revolutionary is guided by great feelings of love.” ‼️‼️‼️‼️

[Khazziro · Rating 5 out of 5]

good short book with Che's "Socialism and man in Cuba" and Fidel Castro's "Che’s ideas are absolutely relevant today".

Che inspired billions of people and will inspire even more, imperialism will be defeated in my lifetime comrades and I'm glad I'll be able to talk about this with my dear ones.

homeland or death comrades.
venceremos!

Also, this part from Castro's speech... 🔥
When they hid Che’s body, they showed their weakness and their cowardice, because they also showed their fear of the example and the symbol. They did not want the exploited peasants, the workers, the students, the intellectuals, the democrats, the progressives or the patriots of this hemisphere to have a place to go to pay tribute to Che’s remains. And in the world today, in which there is no specific place to go to pay tribute to Che’s remains, tribute is paid to everywhere.

Today tribute is not paid to Che once a year, not once ever five, ten, fifteen, or twenty years; today homage is paid to Che every year every month, every day, everywhere, in a factory, in a school, in a military barracks, in a home, among children, among Pioneers.

[Suz · Rating 5 out of 5]

I never thought that reading a political pamphlet would make me tear up, but it did. How can you not, when thoughts you've had for years are articulated so beautifully, in the voice of someone who sacrificed their all for their ideals?

It is not a matter of how many kilograms of meat one has to eat, or of how many times a year someone can go to the beach, or how many pretty things from abroad you might be able to buy with present-day wages. It is a matter of making the individual feel more complete, with much more inner wealth and much more responsibility.

...

At the risk of seeming ridiculous, let me say that the true revolutionary is guided by great feelings of love. It is impossible to think of a genuine revolutionary lacking this quality.

...

We socialists are freer because we are more fulfilled; we are more fulfilled because we are freer.
The skeleton of our complete freedom is already formed. The flesh and the clothing are lacking; we will create them.

[Jean Christian · Rating 5 out of 5]

The new species of men created in the revolution and its aftermath are representative of the closeness, the “dialectical unity between the individual and the mass in which both are interrelated and, at the same time, in which the mass, as an aggregate of individuals, interacts with its leaders” (pg 15). This new society, revolutionary society, is interested in creating a new consciousness among the people. One that relates individual identity with the interests of the collective mass of the population.

The new (wo)man recognizes that his/her ability to transform reality exists because of the inseparability of the individual and the masses. Power in numbers, the new species of man is part of an unstoppable ‘whole’. Individuals are no longer alienated, the power to reflect and act, to think critically and change reality, exists because of the unity among the new species of people.

Patria o muerte!
Venceremos!

[Allyse Freeman · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The laws of capitalism, which are blind and are invisible to ordinary people, act upon the individual without he or she being aware of it. One sees only the vastness of a seemingly infinite horizon ahead. That is how it is painted by capitalist propagandists who purport to draw a lesson from the example of Rockefeller–whether or not is is true–about the possibilities of success. The amount of poverty and suffering required for a Rockefeller to emerge, and the amount of depravity entailed in the accumulation of a fortune of such magnitude, are left out of the picture, and it is not always possible for the popular forces to expose this clearly."

[Josh Raines · Rating 5 out of 5]

“I find capitalism repugnant. It is filthy, it is gross, it is alienating... because it causes war, hypocrisy and competition.”

- Fidel Castro

“The equal right of all citizens to health, education, work, food, security, culture, science, and wellbeing - that is, the same rights we proclaimed when we began our struggle, in addition to those which emerge from our dreams of justice and equality for all inhabitants of our world - is what I wish for all.”

- Fidel Castro

A better world is possible.

[Logan Sullivan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Only 70 pgs, a short read of a letter from Che and a speech from Castro on the 20th anniversary of Che’s death. Went down a small rabbit hole on pathfinder press (publisher), the Socialist Working Party, and Jack Barnes after seeing recommendations in the back for a bunch of books by Barnes. Of course it always comes down to being PEP (progressive except Palestine), but very weird stuff about all of the involved parties,,,,

[Sara Rocutto]

Bellissimo perchè credo sia uno dei primi libri (seppur minuscolo) che ho comprato con soldi tutti miei e frutto del mio sudore, bellissimo perchè una di quelle letture adolescenziali che però ti mostrano avanti, mettendo avanti il cuore...

[Beatriz]

Permitam-me que diga, com risco até de parecer ridículo, que o verdadeiro revolucionário é guiado por grandes sentimentos de amor, e é impossível imaginar um revolucionário autêntico sem esta qualidade.