By W. T. Whitney Jr., November 6, 2017, https://mltoday.com/article/2885-che-guevara-s-road-to-revolution/90-frontpage-stories

“Walker, there is no road, we make the road by walking.” To these words of Spanish poet Antonio Machado, which say much about the life of Ernesto “Che” Guevara, we add: “But there is a map.” Che of course used a map provided by Karl Marx.

Che Guevara once suggested that Marx had a “capacity of love [that] reached out to the suffering people of the whole world.” Marx “carried the message to them of serious struggle, of unbreakable optimism [and] has been disfigured by history to the point of his having been cast as an idol of stone. We must rescue him so that his example may shine even more.”

Was Che, who wrote that “the true revolutionary is guided by a great feeling of love,” presuming too much of Marx? Did Che search out Marx’s “capacity for love” among comrades of the international Communist movement? How in fact did Che, an anomalous figure within the Marxist tradition, connect intellectually with Marxist thought?

October 8, 2017 marked the 50^th anniversary of Che’s murder in Bolivia, and commemoration of the 100^th anniversary of the Russian Revolution followed a month later, on November 7. So the timing may be right to explore Che’s contribution to the theory and practice of revolutionary socialism.

Theoretician Che

In his short essay “Socialism and Man in Cuba” – 23 pages long in a 1993 Cuban edition – Che looks at the process through which individuals become politically aware. (1) He thinks political consciousness develops gradually and with difficulty.

Che proposes “to define the individual actor in this strange and passionate drama of constructing socialism. In line with Marx, he says that, “In capitalist society individuals are controlled by a pitiless law usually beyond their comprehension. The alienated human specimen is tied to society as a whole by an invisible umbilical cord: the law of value.”

Che’s central concern is the problem of human alienation. He or she harbors “the residue of an education systematically oriented to the isolation of the individual… Remnants of the past are carried forth to the present in the individual’s consciousness and it takes continual work to eradicate them.”

Che blames the “persistence of merchandizing relationships, merchandise being the economic cell of the capitalist society.” They affect “the organization of production and therefore consciousness.” And, “to pursue the chimera of realizing socialism with help from the jagged tools of capitalism leads down a blind alley.”

The task is “to choose the correct instrument for mobilizing the masses and this instrument must be moral in character.”  Evoking values, Che departs from Marxist theoreticians, who deal more with material realities than with abstractions.  He adds that, “in moments of great peril it is easy to muster a powerful response with moral incentives. Retaining their effectiveness, however, requires the development of a consciousness in which there is a new scale of values. Society as a whole must be converted into a gigantic school.”

Individuals “try to adjust themselves to a situation that they feel is right and that their own lack of development had prevented them from reaching previously. They educate themselves.” Doing so, “They follow their vanguard [which] has its eyes fixed on the future and its reward, but this is not a vision of reward for the individual. The prize is the new society in which individuals will have different characteristics: the society of communist human beings.” Leaders must not “lose sight of the ultimate and most important revolutionary aspiration: to see human beings liberated from their alienation.”

Che regards Cuba’s Communist Party as “still in diapers” because of “scholasticism that has held back the development of Marxist philosophy.” For people to be “educated for communism,” the Party must be “the living example; its cadres must teach hard work and sacrifice.”

For Che, consciousness is influenced by community and culture, and so what works in Europe may not apply to Latin America. So, “Cuba … occupies the post of advance guard [and shows] the masses of Latin America the road to full freedom.” Che points out that capitalism’s contradictions show up first in “countries [in the global periphery] that were weak limbs on the tree of imperialism.  Liberation from misery and foreign oppression causes capitalism to “explode” in such places, and “conscious action does the rest.”

Ultimately then, Che sees the mental processes of individuals as a venue for revolutionary struggle. People, he says, act according to values and material interests alike. And values are malleable, shaped as they are by the experiences, culture, and history of communities they belong to. Che calls for a narrative of Marxist theory that accepts differences among groups and individuals but, seeking unity, centers on their common values – moral in nature – and interests.

Self-education.

Che also epitomized a mode of revolutionary practice aimed at guaranteeing that changes for the better in the individual’s consciousness might take root.  That he was his own teacher prepared him for a role as teacher and exemplar during a short lifetime of zig-zag wanderings. His own experiences and observations would serve as teaching tools for a curriculum of sorts.  Like a scientist, Che put assumptions to the test of reality. His life became both advertisement and validation of a style of revolutionary practice ideal for expanding political consciousness.

In 1952 prior to finishing medical studies, Che and the young biochemist and leprosy expert Alberto Granados left Argentina for a long trip across South America.  The two motorcycled, walked, and hitchhiked.  They slept in peasants’ huts, shivered at night on mountain sides, and bedded in prisons in little towns.  One cold night in the Chilean desert, they shared a blanket with a copper miner and his wife, both hungry and cold. They were members of the banned Chilean Communist Party, and Che remembered their dedication.

Che and Granados arrived in Lima, Peru. There Che came to know Dr. Hugo Pesce, famous worldwide as a leprologist and in Peru as co-founder with José Carlos Mariátegui of the Peruvian Communist Party. They talked with Pesce night after night. Pesce, says one commentator, was the first physician Che knew “motivated by Marxist ideology” rather than by “winning a piece of heaven” through being a doctor.

Dedicating his 1961 book “Guerrilla Warfare” to Pesce, Che wrote: “To Doctor Hugo Pesce who, without knowing it perhaps, provoked a great change in my attitude towards life and society – with as always the same adventurous spirit, but channelled toward goals more harmonious with the needs of America.” Che visited the scientist the following year and Pesce greeted him with great emotion.”

What Che and Pesce talked about is unknown, but “It’s not difficult to imagine that the young Guevara was … nourished with the writings of José Carlos Mariátegui, writes Argentinian Marxist scholar Néstor Kohan. That exposure bore fruit, at least according to Peruvian scholar Gustavo Pérez Hinojosa who in November 2005 presented a paper titled “Latin American Marxism, Mariátegui and Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara” at the Centennial Forum on Josè Carlos Mariátegui.

Mariátegui, as quoted by Pérez Hinojosa, critiques intellectuals who “exaggerate … the determinism of Marx and his school” thereby “declaring them to be a product of the mechanistic mentality of the 19^th century, something incompatible with the voluntarist, heroic idea of life embraced in the modern world” – and by Che Guevara.

In the same vein: “The proletarian movement … from the origins of the First International to its present manifestation in the first experiment with state socialism, the USSR, [requires that] each word, each act of Marxism impart the flavor of faith, of voluntarism, of heroic and creative conviction.”

“Marxism fundamentally is a dialectical method … It’s not …a body of principles with rigid consequences, equal for all historical climates and every social latitude … Marxism in each country, in every people, operates on and affects the environment and all aspects of it.” Che and Mariátegui, each in their own era, were foes of Eurocentric modes of political thinking.

Says Mariátegui: “We certainly don’t want socialism in America to be a copy or imitation. … We have to give life to indo-American socialism with our own reality, in our own language.” The pioneering Peruvian Marxist thus joined Cuban national hero José Martí in loyalty to, in Martí’s words, “Our America.”

Pesce had firsthand knowledge of friction between leaders of world communism and Latin American currents of the movement. South American Communists allied to the Third International met for the first time in 1929 in Buenos Aires under clandestine circumstances. Mariátegui would have delivered a report from the Peruvian Socialist Party – really the Communist Party – but was sick. Hugo Pesce and another comrade represented Mariátegui. Later the Third International’s Latin American representative condemned the report which Pesce delivered; supposedly the Peruvians had confused “the national problem with the agrarian problem” and showed signs of a “revolutionary movement of the most diverse, non-proletarian tendencies.”

Che’s boyhood home in Argentina was full of books, political books, even Marx. His parents in the 1930s supported the Spanish Republicans. On the recommendation of fellow medical student Tita Infante, a Communist, Che read Bourgeois Humanism and Proletarian Humanism by Argentinian Marxist Anibal Ponce. One of Che’s boyhood friends was the son of socialist university reformer Deodoro Roco. Che explored that family’s library which contained books on anti-imperialism and cultural diversity.

Che would add to his education in 1954, when he found himself amid the CIA-organized coup that year in Guatemala. Later, he worked intermittently as a doctor in Mexico City where he was joined by his first wife Hilda Gadea, a Peruvian Marxist with a big supply of socialist books.

Che lives

Che inserted ideas about the individual and about consciousness into both revolutionary theory and practice and thus contributed to the socialist movement. He also left his mark on the wider history of our time, especially among young people.

He spoke for and defended the humble and oppressed, while moving around, volunteering, studying, observing, and fighting. His image as a practitioner of revolution was that of a single-minded and optimistic idealist who never slackened or compromised. Che symbolized hope for change and a better world.

Ilka Oliva Corado, who migrated to the United States from Guatemala, writes about migrants’ lives prior to, during, and after their crossings. She talks with “people from countries I didn’t know existed. … They ask about Che as if he were a friend on the block.”  As for herself: “Just  seeing the shoes he was using the day he was captured, one understands the immortal grandeur of a human being who lives on in our epoch now and who left everything to go out in search of freedom for the peoples, and not only in Latin America but in the world.”

But Che, especially Che the Marxist revolutionary, was for real, or so says Oswaldo Martinez, president of the Economic Affairs Commission of Cuba’s National Assembly. Che, he observes, “freed us from the myth, as if from a manual, of socialism being irreversible once it was established.  He offered the supreme lesson that it’s in human consciousness and not in material stimuli that socialism can be made irreversible – as long as we are educated into that consciousness and fed with the values of solidarity.”

End Note: (1) “Socialism and Man in Cuba” first appeared March 12, 1965 in the journal Marcha, published in Montevideo. Its title then was: “From Algeria, for Marcha, the Cuban Revolution Today.”

Monday, October 9, 2017

Miguel Díaz-Canel in Santa Clara: Che’s colossal example lives on and multiplies day after day

https://communismgr.blogspot.com/2017/10/miguel-diaz-canel-in-santa-clara-ches.html

Source: Granma Internacional.

Miguel Díaz-Canel, first vice president of Cuba’s Councils of State and Ministers gave a speech during the ceremony marking the 50th anniversary of the death of Che and his compañero.

It is with great emotion that we gather here at this sacred place of the homeland to pay tribute to the protagonists of one of the most important internationalist exploits, an example of the struggle for the liberation of peoples subjected to imperialism. Today, the feat undertaken by Comandante Ernesto Guevara and a small but brave army during an 11 month campaign in Bolivia, moves tender-hearted men and women across the world, stated Party Political Bureau member and First Vice President of Cuba’s Councils of Sate and Ministers, Miguel Díaz Canel- Bermúdez.

Recalling the landscapes where he struggled between life and death, firm in his redemptive commitment, proves to us his altruism, the depth of his convictions, his legacy, his revolutionary and internationalist dimension, he added.

“Today we commemorate the 50th anniversary of his fall in battle, on October 8, 1967. Without surrendering, after putting up a heroic resistance, wounded and his gun rendered useless, he was able to be captured.

His captors cared nothing for the dignity and etiquette his revolutionary legacy demanded, and was vilely murdered; but history only remembers the cowardice of those murderers, while the colossal example of Che lives on and multiples day after day,” noted the Cuban official.

Díaz-Canel went on to recall that on announcing the bitter and painful new of Che’s death to the people of Cuba, Fidel described him as the most extraordinary of our compañeros of the Revolution.

In addition to his qualities as a revolutionary, the Party Political Bureau member also spoke about his convictions and values, forged in the struggle, which would see him become an exceptional revolutionary, and a special man with a very unique outlook on life.

Fidel, Raúl, Almeida, Camilo, Ramiro, and other compañeros from during and after the guerilla struggle, as well as the Cuban people, saw and recognized in Ernesto his simplicity, sincerity, camaraderie, his reckless willingness to do the most difficult tasks, his prestige as a leader, teacher and artist of the revolutionary war; tireless in his commitment and willingness to struggle until victory or death, for the freedom of the peoples, stated the Cuban official in his remarks.

Che hasn’t died like his murderers wanted, his figure continues to grow with time as new generations of Cubans – raised under his example and that of his legacy – discover, recognize and assume his paradigm as a revolutionary.

They make his eternal call to the sanctity of study, work and fulfilling one’s duty, their own. His example of an altruistic man becomes an ideal to follow, noted Diaz-Canel, who went on to explain that as a leader and Minister, Che was able to apply new management methods to the industry sector, while his example and rigorous system of control and discipline instilled commitment in his subordinates.

He also constantly encouraged the professional development of workers and cadres. He created factories and also trained revolutionaries.

He was a tireless seeker of truth and reason in order to advance in the construction of socialism. As well as a director and guerilla, he was also a revolutionary thinker, a humanist, an intellectual who understood the need to reflect on the Revolution, socialism, society, and the Cuban people, noted the official.

“He appears in our history as a hero of the Granma expedition, the Sierra, the invasion and battle of Santa Clara, as one of our most illustrious and sacred leaders, as well as a chronicler and researcher of history, because he understood that history is a great teacher.”

Che warned us that the present cannot become a return to the past and that in order to construct the future we must always remain united, he added.

It is true, noted Díaz-Canel, that today Che is a moral giant for people of different ages and for youth across the world who find in his unwavering example, his sense of honor and dignity, in the bravery and austerity that characterize him, the inspiration to build a better world.

“This is why Fidel, in the solemn wake held in honor of his death, described Che as a true model of a revolutionary, as a new man to which we must aspire.”

What we cannot allow is for this idea to turn into an empty phrase, into a simple repeating of words; it must be assumed through commitment, through inspiration, through conviction.

We must give true substance to the call to be like him, in order to be able to face all life’s challenges, stated the Cuban official.

We grew up knowing that he had been murdered, of his heroic death, constantly fighting, dignified and firm before his captors, with his last thought for Fidel and this people that love him like a son and who didn’t know where he was but held the hope that one day he would return, stated Díaz-Canel.

“And he did return, after an intense poignant search by a formidable team of scientists. His remains were found and brought to the homeland on July 12, 1997.”

The Cuban vice president also recalled the words of Che’s daughter, Aleidita and of Fidel at that time, when his remains and those of his compañeros were laid to rest in the Plaza, 20 years ago.

He continued, stating that we are living in a world full of contradictions and uncertainties, at a time characterized by growing threats to peace, when powerful interests of domination predominate, the survival of the human species is under threat, an unjust and exclusionary economic order exists. It is in this current state of crisis that neoliberal capitalism is attempting to expand and turn the values of the people into something out-dated and unnecessary.

What is happening in Latin America is an example of these colonizing processes and in our case an expression of the marked interest in political and economic re-conquest, opening the door to brutal capitalism, stated the Party Political Bureau member.

Political interests in the sister Republic of Venezuela are attempting to prevent Venezuelans from freely exercising their right to self-determination, with the United States applying unjust sanctions.

However, faithful to our internationalist vocation, we once again reaffirm Cuba’s support for the Bolivarian and Chavista people and the government led by Nicolás Maduro, he stated.

“All together, these events are clear proof of what Che said when he explained that imperialism cannot be trusted, even a bit.”

Loyal to his legacy and to Fidel, we reaffirm that Cuba will not make concessions inherent to its sovereignty or independence, nor will it negotiate its principles or accept conditions, as changes are decided by the Cuban people, he noted.Diaz-Canel also recalled that this traditional tribute is being held for the first time without the physical presence of Fidel.

Fidel and Che will always be present because as two individuals who share the same ideals, their profound knowledge of the ills of the world, rebelliousness, anti-imperialist and pro-Latin American stance, make them robust and unbreakable examples to guide the battles of these times; the battles for sovereignty and peace, for social justice, for true emancipation and for socialism, stated Díaz-Canel.

As such, he added the Cuban people’s response to Hurricane Irma and the following recovery phase are a proof of the legacy of their examples and values.

Here, today, from the historic Plaza and Memorial, a space to express our commitment and to honor with our results, a must-visit site for those who believe in, aspire to and struggle for a better world, we can affirm that an example can multiply wills and that the future belongs to us, he stated.

Αναρτήθηκε από In Defense of Communism

https://sputniknews.com/analysis/201710091058082500-che-revolution-death/

Immortalized in Hearts of People 50 Years Ago: The Kind of Man Che Guevara Was

Immortalized in Hearts of People 50 Years Ago: The Kind of Man Che Guevara Was

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Opinion

22:05 09.10.2017(updated 00:32 10.10.2017) Get short URL

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Exactly 50 years ago Comandante Ernesto “Che” Guevara, one of the most famous Latin American revolutionaries, was killed by the CIA-backed Bolivian military forces. One of Che’s dreams was to bring a revolution to his homeland, Oscar Fernandez Mell, Guevara’s friend and associate, told Sputnik, sharing memories about the Argentinean.

The rebellious spirit of Ernesto Che Guevara still inspires people around the world, as if the great revolutionary of the 20th century had not been killed 50 years ago. Today Sputnik shows you Che’s life through the eyes of his own friend, who knew him not as an iconic figure but a person with merits and demerits, successes and failures and who knows where Che wanted to bring the revolution.

Sputnik got in touch with Oscar Fernandez Mell, a doctor and Guevara’s old friend. Their friendship began in the end of the 1950s, when Cuban rebels were fighting against the regime of the US-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista y Zaldivar.

Mell, then a young doctor, was working on the west side of the Sierra Maestra mountain range, in southeast Cuba, when Che went there to organize the resistance against the Cuban dictatorship.

“The first time I saw him, he was riding a mule, and we greeted each other,” Mell recollected. “Then we went together by jeep driving on a terribly narrow road with numerous potholes that ran along the edge of the cliff. Periodically, the car stalled, and we had to start the engine again and again. I was sitting on the side nearest to the precipice.”

© AFP 2017/ TOMMY WEBER

Good-Bye, Comandante! ‘Fidel Castro Was David Who Defeated Goliath’

Realizing that Mell was in panic Che tried to divert him from his fear: “When we reach our destination I will tell you something very important,” the revolutionary said.However, when they arrived, Che immediately threw himself into work and forgot about his promise. The young doctor had to remind the partisan of his pledge.

“Then he confessed to me that he was driving a car for the first time in his life,” Mell said. “That’s the kind of man Che was.”

These peculiarities made the famous Argentinean an “atypical” person.

In the Sierra Maestra — an extremely unfriendly place — Che created the first permanent camp for the rebels. There were a hospital, an ordnance workshop, tailor’s workshop, and even a shoe-repair shop. According to Mell, “it was a luxury.”

​However, the camp was soon detected by Batista’s army which started bombarding it from the air. Nevertheless, the Comandante managed to outmaneuver his adversaries: Che took the flag of the 26th of July Movement — a revolutionary organization led by Fidel Castro — and placed it on the hill 5 kilometers away from the camp.

“After that [Batista’s] bombers flew away,” Mell noted, adding that the people called such tricks “Che’s deeds.”

© Sputnik/

Ernesto Che Guevara

Che’s African Campaign

The old doctor recalled that after their first meeting he and Che had never parted. The two took part in the Cuban revolutionary mission in Congo. Their goal was to overthrow the government. However, the situation was not as easy as it initially seemed. According to Mell, there were problems in Congo that Che “was unable to solve.”

“The information he received was inaccurate,” Che’s old friend told Sputnik. “There were no resistance fighters, but people from different tribes without any military organization.

In addition, although the Tanzanian government agreed to provide passage for Cuban revolutionaries through its territory, a person like Che, who was known worldwide, caused political problems. Therefore, Che had to remain anonymous for a period of time and Congolese revolutionaries learned about the famous Argentinean only when he was already in their territory.

© AFP 2017/ Roberto SALAS / CUBADEBATE

(FILES) This file photo taken in the 1960s shows then Cuban Prime Minister Fidel Castro (L) lighting a cigar while listens Argentine Ernesto Che Guevara

‘I Lost More Than a Friend’

After the Congolese operation the two friends never saw each other again. Che continued his revolutionary struggle which ultimately led him to Bolivia, while Mell stayed in Congo as the head of a group of soldiers who were ordered to rescue remaining Cubans in the region.

Mell believes that Che’s major goal was not Bolivia, but Argentina.

“[Bolivia] was just one step on his way to the south,” the old doctor said. “He wanted to bring revolution to his native land.”

By the time it became known that Che was killed, Mell had already been in Havana. The doctor accurately remembers this moment.

“I was in the Ministry of Armed Forces, and Ramiro Valdez Menendez [the incumbent Cuban government vice president] told us that news,” he recalled.

“At that moment I realized that I lost more than a friend,” Mell said, “I lost a man who taught me to be a revolutionary.”

© Photo: Youtube/locopedro59’s channel

Cuban Revolution Proved ‘Unthinkable’ Is Possible – Uruguay Communist Party Head

“It was very painful,” the old doctor added, confessing that although 50 years have passed he couldn’t help but miss his famous friend.Ernesto Guevara (June 14, 1928 — October 9, 1967) was an Argentine revolutionary, physician, author and military theorist who played a pivotal role in the Cuban Revolution of 1953 —1959 headed by Raul and Fidel Castro.

After the ouster of Batista, Guevara was appointed as an official in the new Cuban government, responsible for a wide range of the country’s domestic and foreign affairs. Guevara’s military skills helped the Cubans to repel the CIA-organized invasion of the Bay of Pigs in April 1961.

In 1965 Guevara left the Caribbean country to assist the revolutionary struggle in Congo and then in Bolivia, where he was captured by the country’s military forces backed by the CIA. He was killed without trial on October 9, 1967, at the age of 39.

Apart from being a military strategist, diplomat and politician, Che was a writer. His “Motorcycle Diaries” which tells the story of his voyage across Latin America in the early 1950s became nothing short of a best-seller.

In 1999 he was named among the 100 most important people of the 20th century by Time magazine.

Sunday, October 8, 2017

The 50th anniversary of Che Guevara’s assassination to be commemorated in Greece

https://communismgr.blogspot.com/2017/10/the-50th-anniversary-of-che-guevaras.html

With political and cultural events the friends of Cuba in Greece will commemorate the 50th anniversary of Ernesto Che Guevara’s assasination. 

 

In Athens:

 

On Monday 9 October, “Alkyonis” cinema will host an event in honor of Che. The major speaker will be the Ambassador of Cuba in Greece Zelmys Maria Dominguez Cortina, while the president of the Hellenic-Cuban Association of Friendship and Solidarity Nikos Karandreas will deliver a greeting message. The event will also include the projection of the film “Donde nunca jamas se lo imaginan” by Manuel Perez. 

From 5 to 11 October, “Alkyonis” and “Studio new star art” cinemas will be hosting a documentary festival, with a total of 21 documantaries from all over the world, in honor of Che Guevara. 

 

In Thessaloniki:

 

The Hellenic-Cuban Association of Friendship and Solidarity of Thessaloniki and the Commission for International Detente and Peace (EDYETH) organize a political and cultural event on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the assassination of the argentine communist revolutionary Ernesto Che Guevara.

 

The event will take place on Wednesday 18 October, at 7.00 pm, at the Thessaloniki City Hall (Hall “Manolis Anagnostakis”). The event’s speakers, who will refer to the life and action of Che Guevara, are: Apostolos Skoufas, president of the Hellenic-Cuban Association; Nikos Mottas, secretary general of the Hellenic-Cuban Association and Nikos Zokas, president of EDYETH.

 

The Ambassador of the Republic of Cuba in Greece Ms. Zelmys Maria Dominguez Cortina will attend and deliver a greeting message, while the event will also include audiovisual and music tribute to the legendary revolutionary. 

 

La Asociación Heléno-Cubana de Amistad y Solidaridad de Tesalónica y el Comité para la Paz Internacional de Tesalónica (EDIETH) organizan un acto político-cultural con motivo del 50 aniversario del asesinato del comunista revolucionario argentino Ernesto Che Guevara.

El acto tendrá lugar el miércoles 18 de octubre, a las 19.00 horas, en el Ayuntamiento de Salónica (sala “Manolis Anagnostakis”). Los oradores del evento, que se harán referencia a la vida y la acción del Che Guevara, son: Apostolos Skoufas, Presidente de la Asociación Heléno-Cubana; Nikos Mottas, Secretario General de la Asociación Heléno-Cubana y Nikos Zokas, Presidente de EDΙETH.

La Embajadora de la República de Cuba en Grecia Sra. Zelmys Maria Dominguez Cortina asistirá y dirigirá un mensaje de bienvenida, mientras que el evento incluirá también el tributo audiovisual y musical al legendario revolucionario.

In Piraeus:

 

Event by the Piraeus Sectoral Organisation of the Communist Youth of Greece (KNE) honoring Che Guevara, on Sunday 8 October at 7.00 pm in “Kremlino”, in Piraeus. Speech will be delivered by Manolis Rapanakis, member of the Bureau of the CC of KNE. 

Αναρτήθηκε από In Defense of Communism

Wednesday, July 19, 2017

Aleida Guevara: “The Cuban Revolution will endure because of social consciousness”

https://communismgr.blogspot.com/2017/07/aleida-guevara-cuban-revolution-will.html

Major abstracts of an interview by Aleida Guevara, daughter of the heroic Comandante Ernesto Che Guevara, during her recent visit in Cyprus. The interview was published in the portal Dialogos / Translation in english: In Defense of Communism:

We talked about great personalities like Fidel, Che, Raul, Camilo. Their personalities frequently overshadow the Revolution of the Cuban people and the resistance which lasts for so many years. Something that imperialism feeds with illusions is (the perception) that the biological death of Fidel and Revolution’s leaders will result to her collapse. How do you comment? 

“It is exactly what they did for the people of Cuba that makes them so great revolutionaries. It is that they formated social consciousness also through their own personal example. For example my father set some basic points of reference of the Revolution. One thing he taught us is when we do not understand something, we have the tast to demand an explanation. Not to be afraid of saying what we think. Always with respect and earning the right to be heard. This is very important. Our young people have this educational method. We have full consciousness of the power we have as people. Because it is something more internal, many people do not know that is like that in Cuba.

It is difficult to understand the level of Cuban people’s consciousness. […] There is a large popular critique and our people have a big powers. They hear us. This is the important. The Revolution will endure after the biological absence of great people who led our people. We endured and resisted for many years, being so close to the largest imperialist center.

 

This didn’t happen due to a handful of revolutionaries. It happened because of the developed social consciousness of our people. The people decided and knows what they want. I wouldn’t like to be in the position of the one who will lead the people after the historic leadership of the Revolution, because of the obvious comparison with Fidel. It will be difficult, but the important is the will power of the people and the dedication by the CP of Cuba (PCC).”

Regarding the changes in Cuba’s socialist system, Aleida Guevara said:

 

“There has been much criticism. The PCC prepared a series of issues. These issues were analysed by the people in every workplace, in schools, universities, everywhere. The people expressed their view. The National Assembly of People’s Power recently adopted the final document with over 1,800 modifications made by the Cuban people. The changes in the first text were made through the popular participatory democracy and that is what the Parliament verified. We are very critical as a people. We have the political education to do something like that. Therefore, what will happen is a decision taken by the people.”

In the question about the U.S policy towards Cuba and how she evaluates Trump’s announcements on Cuba, Dr. Guevara mentioned the following:

 

“Obama “varnished” a bit the aggressiveness of the USA, but the worst sanctions of Washington against our people were set during Obama’s period. He was simply a clever politician and presented himself as someone who wanted “changes”. In tactics, not in strategy. Obama’s aim remained the overthrow of the Revolution. The same policy continues and Trump is simply rougher. He proved that when he made the statements alongside the US-funded anti-Cuban mafia of Miami. Alongside terrorists and murderers. And on that point I must say that not all Cubans living in the USA are enemies of our people, like the members of this reactionary and terrorist mafia. The aim of the USA were always the same against our people. Trump simply returned to the face of the previous US Presidents. We aren’t worried. Everyone knows that our people kneels only to pay tribute to the heroes of independence and Revolution. Our struggle continues. They gave us more strength. Maybe it is even better, because many were “drifted” with Obama. They thought that there was a change. They wrongfully thought that the blockade was ended. Exactly the opposite took place. Obama was probably the worst clamp upon Cuban economy. Our people and all the people must remember what Che was saying about imperialism: You can’t trust him at all.”

 

 

Aleida also talked about Che’s admiration for the Soviet people, his affection for reading and studying. Among other things she said:

 

“My father was always a critical person. He was applying the same with the Soviet Union, but with much respect towards the Soviet people who he admired and respected also for his role in the international level”.

 

“In order to exercise critique you have to study a lot. My father was very well-read. He studied and talked with Mao Zedong himself and he could discuss in a documented way with him. That was an advantage of Che. He wasn’t criticizing without reason. If we was criticizing something, that was because he had searched and found answers. That’s why his critique was constructive and he was treated with respect”.

 

Dr. Aleida Guevara mentioned her participation in medical brigades, where she offered her skills and knowledge, like for example in Angola. This experience, she said, strengthened her anti-racist views: “I am a pediatrician and I saw children dying, while I could save them if I had enough medicines. This is unjust. If a child is black or lives in this planet’s south, does it mean it must be condemned to death? There isn’t any right in this situation. That is why I react in everything racist and colonial and I will fight against these until my last breath”.

“Cuba remains a symbol of Socialism. She proves that with her internationalist solidarity. What makes Cuba special? Socialism and our values. The fact that human is above everything. For example, when the Ebola virus broke out in Africa, the WHO (World Health Organisation) did not call a developed capitalist country. It didn’t call the USA or the EU. It called Cuba. And the Cuban doctors stopped this epidemic which would be dangerous for the whole world. Socialist Cuba taught us to be ready to sacrifice ourselves in order to save lifes and help humanity. And the example of Cuba is very significant, because it shows that if we- a poor people- can be against american imperialism, then every people can do it.”

 

IN DEFENSE OF COMMUNISM ©.

Αναρτήθηκε από In Defense of Communism

Monday, June 12, 2017

Cuba honors the 89th anniversary of Che Guevara’s birth

https://communismgr.blogspot.com/2017/06/cuba-honors-89th-anniversary-of-che.html

Source: Granma via Guevaristas.org.

SANTA CLARA– The presence of Comandante Ernesto Che Guevara in this city will be remembered with a series of activities this June 14, on the occasion of the 89th anniversary of his birth.

In the early morning, 39 children and young people from two local schools named after the guerrilla leader will carry out the traditional exchange of floral wreaths at the Memorial where his remains and those of his fellow comrades in arms in Bolivia rest, explained Yoel Padrón, head of the Young Communist League’s (UJC) Ideological Department in Villa Clara.

This ceremony will be followed by a march of the people of Santa Clara from Antonio Maceo Park, led by young workers from factories founded by the Heroic Guerrilla in this city.

The morning will also see 89 young people presented with their UJC membership cards, while 172 small children from different educational centers in Santa Clara will be initiated as pioneers and receive their neck scarves.

On Saturday, June 10, 200 young people was scheduled to climb the Loma del Capiro, where they would hold a meeting with combatants who fought alongside the emblematic revolutionary and guerrilla leader.

In Sancti Spíritus thousands of residents took to the cane fields and other agricultural centers.

On June 11th, in another province of Cuba, in Sancti Spíritus, thousands of residents took to the cane fields and other agricultural centers of El Meso, La Sierpe and Cabaiguán, in a massive, productive mobilization to honor Che, the main promoter of voluntary work in the country following the Revolution of 1959.

Mercy Rodríguez Crespo, secretary general of the Cuban Workers Federation in the province, told Granma that in addition to commemorating the upcoming 50th anniversary of Che’s death in Bolivia, also being celebrated are the anniversary of General Antonio Maceo’s birth; National Rebellion Day, July 26; and the World Festival of Youth to be held in October in the Russian city of Sochi.

José Ramón Monteagudo Ruiz, Central Committee member and first Party secretary in Sancti Spíritus, led the work at the El Meso basic unit of cooperative production which supplies the Uruguay sugar mill, in one the areas hit hard by drought, where a special effort is needed to plant cane for next year’s harvest.

Evaluating the impact of the mobilization, Elvis González Vasallo, director of the sugar enterprise in Sancti Spíritus, described as significant the work done in cane fields in several municipalities, with the exception of Yaguajay, where the focus was on vegetable farms.

The mobilization was convoked by the Party, with other organizations participating, and included work at cattle ranches, mills and industrial sites, as well as clean-up efforts in the cities of Sancti Spíritus and Trinidad.

Αναρτήθηκε από In Defense of Communism

Imperialism’s Cold War dividend

Imperialism’s Cold War dividend