The Marxism of Che Guevara

Philosophy, Economics, Revolutionary Warfare, Second Edition

Michael Löwy - Foreword by Peter McLaren

In this seminal exploration of Che Guevara's contributions to Marxist thinking, Michael Löwy traces Che's ideas about Marxism both as they related to Latin America and to more general philosophical, political, and economic issues. Now revised and updated, this edition includes a chapter on Guevara's search for a new paradigm of socialism and a substantive essay by Peter McLaren on Che's continued relevance today. Löwy portrays Guevara as a revolutionary humanist who considered all political questions from an internationalist viewpoint. For him, revolutionary movements in Latin America were part of a world process of emancipation. Löwy considers especially Che's views on the contradiction between socialist planning and the law of value in the Cuban economy and his search for an alternative road to the "actually existing socialism" of the Stalinist and post-Stalinist Soviet bloc.

Che's varied occupations—doctor and economist, revolutionary and banker, agitator and ambassador, industrial organizer and guerrilla fighter—were expressions of a deep commitment to social change. This book eloquently captures his views on humanity, his contributions to the theory of revolutionary warfare, and his ideas about society's transition to socialism, offering a cohesive, nuanced introduction to the range of Guevara's thought.

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Pages: 178 • Trim: 6 x 9

978-0-7425-3902-0 • Hardback • April 2007 • $114.00 • (£88.00)

978-0-7425-3903-7 • Paperback • April 2007 • $38.00 • (£30.00)

978-1-4616-4475-0 • eBook • April 2007 • $36.00 • (£30.00)

Series: Critical Currents in Latin American Perspective Series

Subjects: History / Latin America / South America, History / Americas (North, Central, South, West Indies)

The Marxism of Che Guevara

Philosophy, Economics, Revolutionary Warfare, Second Edition

Hardback

Paperback

eBook

Summary

In this seminal exploration of Che Guevara's contributions to Marxist thinking, Michael Löwy traces Che's ideas about Marxism both as they related to Latin America and to more general philosophical, political, and economic issues. Now revised and updated, this edition includes a chapter on Guevara's search for a new paradigm of socialism and a substantive essay by Peter McLaren on Che's continued relevance today. Löwy portrays Guevara as a revolutionary humanist who considered all political questions from an internationalist viewpoint. For him, revolutionary movements in Latin America were part of a world process of emancipation. Löwy considers especially Che's views on the contradiction between socialist planning and the law of value in the Cuban economy and his search for an alternative road to the "actually existing socialism" of the Stalinist and post-Stalinist Soviet bloc.

Che's varied occupations—doctor and economist, revolutionary and banker, agitator and ambassador, industrial organizer and guerrilla fighter—were expressions of a deep commitment to social change. This book eloquently captures his views on humanity, his contributions to the theory of revolutionary warfare, and his ideas about society's transition to socialism, offering a cohesive, nuanced introduction to the range of Guevara's thought.

Details

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Pages: 178 • Trim: 6 x 9

978-0-7425-3902-0 • Hardback • April 2007 • $114.00 • (£88.00)

978-0-7425-3903-7 • Paperback • April 2007 • $38.00 • (£30.00)

978-1-4616-4475-0 • eBook • April 2007 • $36.00 • (£30.00)

Series: Critical Currents in Latin American Perspective Series

Subjects: History / Latin America / South America, History / Americas (North, Central, South, West Indies)

Author

Michael Löwy is research director emeritus in sociology at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and guest lecturer at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales. His many publications include The War of Gods: Religion and Politics in Latin America.

Table of Contents

Foreword: The Future of the Past
Introduction: Che's Theoretical Contribution
Part I: Che's Philosophy
Chapter 1: Che and Marxism
Chapter 2: The Revolution is Made by Men
Chapter 3: The New Man
Chapter 4: Humanist Values
Part II: Che's Economic Ideas
Chapter 5: Productive Forces and Production Relations
Chapter 6: The Law of Value and Socialist Planning
Chapter 7: The Budgetary System of Finance
Chapter 8: Material and Moral Incentives
Chapter 9: Voluntary Labor and Communism
Part III: Revolutionary Warfare
Chapter 10: Sociology of the Revolution
Chapter 11: Guerilla Warfare
Chapter 12: The General Strike
Chapter 13: The World Revolution
Conclusion: Guevarism Today
Appendix A: Che's Reading
Appendix B: "Neither Imitation nor Copy"—Che Guevara in Search of a New Socialism
Selected Bibliography

Reviews

[The Marxism of Che Guevara] would make an excellent classroom tool for anyone teaching about Latin America or revolution.
— Science & Society

A foreign correspondent interviewing Che Guevara shortly after the revolution had taken over Havana asked him if he was a Marxist. Sensing the covert malevolence of the query, Guevara replied, 'I don't know enough to be a Marxist.' This book proves that he has remedied that. He might be called a creative Marxist rather than a rigid follower or one who seeks quotations merely to further his own dogmatism. It provides us with the picture of a great, flexible, and searching mind. This book helps us to realize more fully the great loss the world sustained by the CIA and Pentagon murder of a noble and brave revolutionist.
— Carleton Beals

Michael Löwy's brief but penetrating book takes Che Guevara not as a romantic adventurer but as a serious revolutionary militant; as a Marxist who sought to develop an anti-dogmatic body of Marxist theory that would transcend both reformism and Stalinism and return Cuban Marxism 'back to the living sources of revolutionary communism.' (Previous Edition Praise)
— Telos

This short study of the ideology of Che Guevara is an excellent companion to the many anthologies of his life and work. . . . The book gives one a clear understanding of the relationship of Guevara's thought to traditional Russian and Marxist philosophy. This work should prove useful to anyone interested in either contemporary Marxist thought or the Cuban Revolution. (Previous Edition Praise)
— Choice Reviews