The Politics of Che Guevara: Theory and Practice

by Samuel Farber

This reexamination of Ernesto "Che" Guevara's thoughts on socialism, democracy, and revolution is a must-read for today's activists—or anyone longing to fight for a better world. Fifty years after his death, Guevara remains a symbol to legions of young rebels and revolutionaries. This unique book provides a way to critically engage with Guevara's economic views, his ideas about revolutionary agency, and his conduct as guerrilla commander and government administrator in Cuba. Samuel Farber was born and raised in Cuba. He has written extensively on Cuba and the Cuban Revolution and is author of Cuba Since the Revolution of 1959 .

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction, History

192 pages, Paperback

First published May 10, 2016

Reviews

[Owen · Rating 1 out of 5]

Initial thoughts:

Many of the criticisms made of Che hit home, but Farber's politics are too close to New Left anti-Stalinism (eg, describing the Stalinist countries as class societies, and even referring to Soviet 'imperialism') for the critique to be really serious, at least for a Trot like me. It's also a quite incomplete analysis of Che's politics, being very selective about the aspects of Che's thought being discussed. As such, it's a bit superficial. The most interesting part is the discussion of the internal divisions in the revolutionary movement before and after the revolution. Not very highly recommended, but maybe have a look if you're curious and want to brush up quickly on your awareness of Che's shortcomings.

Amended:
... On reflection (a few days after reading it) I've downgraded it to a meagre 1 star. It really is very superficial, and it only hints at the kinds of commentary and criticism that a Marxist would make of Che. Its criticisms are OK on a basic level, but really give too much ground to the liberal narrative of an undemocratic or even anti-democratic revolution in Cuba. Only the weakest parts of Che's praxis are considered at length and those - as I've already said - are considered only superficially. I may remove Farber's other work from my To Read list after this.

[Camille McCarthy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I certainly learned a lot about Che Guevara's politics from this book. It was a little dry, although I'm not sure how that could have been mitigated so I don't blame the author for that. It was very straightforward at the same time, and clearly pointed out the flaws with Che's politics as well as what made him unique. I enjoyed it and thought it was an important book for any revolutionary to read, so that we can learn from the mistakes of those who came before us rather than simply idolizing them.

[Sam McCarthy · Rating 3 out of 5]

If The Politics of Che Guevara: Theory and Practice makes for a slightly disappointing read, it’s largely due to the fact that Samuel Farber’s subject is neither a particularly great thinker nor a terribly compelling personality.

Farber takes pains to highlight that Che’s Marxism-Leninism departed from the allegedly democratic traditions of classical Marxism. Che namely differed from Marx in his extreme “voluntarism,” or belief that the revolution could be made in any country, not simply those with advanced capitalist economies and large urban proletariats as prescribed by Marx and Engels. According to Farber, Che’s main takeaway from Marx was that workers are fundamentally alienated under capitalism and that they could only be liberated under a one-party regime that replaced market economics with collectivism and state ownership. But because such a regime would be a revolutionary workers’ state, any mechanisms for exercising checks on its power—political democracy, civil liberties, collective bargaining—would be inherently bourgeois and counter-revolutionary.

Engaging as Farber does with such a thin and illogical ideology can be exhausting. As a result, Farber accidentally makes the shrewd and charismatic Fidel Castro, more interested in amassing personal power than in propagating Marxist-Leninist orthodoxy, a much more compelling protagonist of the Cuban Revolution than Che, despite the latter’s ubiquity.

[Lucy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very theory heavy and not exactly a full history of Che like I thought it would be. Theory is in the title so I should’ve figured that out. It’s definitely helpful in sifting through this blind worship of Che Guevara that I hear from many leftists and uses lessons from what worked and what didn’t to propose that socialism, democracy and revolution need to go together to create the world we want to see.

[Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Without a stronger grasp of the historical and political context of Cuba, many parts of this book were difficult to fully grasp but it was still full of insightful moments. Farber offers a balanced account of Guevara's politics, addressing his influences, shifts in ideology, strengths and weaknesses with deliberate care to neither deify nor condemn him. I would recommend this to anyone interested in historical leftist politics, so long as they don't mind heavily academic language.

[graceofgod · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very interesting and critical look at Che's politics and actions from a Trotskyist (I think?) perspective.

[are we there yet · Rating 5 out of 5]

A surprisingly easy read. Samuel Farber was invited to a talk hosted by Haymarket Books, so I assume he's not an imperialist and has valid critics about Che. The main new thing I learned is that Che wasn't pro-workers.

I also feel like I need to learn more about Lenin, Trotsky, and Stalin now.

[Joe Xtarr · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent work here. Farber has a clear understanding of Marxism, and all of Che's perversions and deviations from it. If you own a Che t-shirt, you'll probably want to burn it after reading this book. But, hey, the truth hurts, right?

[Hoveringwords · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very critical look at Che's politics. Great, short read.