The Fourth International and Cuba che
The thirtieth anniversary of Ernesto "Che" Guevara's death has been marked by an outpouring of publications. Shameless consumerist exploitation is mixed with the rebirth of a myth. But as Livio Maitan recalls, during his life, Guevara was a controversial figure in the workers' and anti-imperialist movements. For most Latin American Communist Parties, Che was the symbolic target of their polemics around the ideas and positions of the Cuban Revolution. For most Communist leaders, Guevara was at best a left deviationist, at worst an irresponsible adventurer. Chinese leaders went so far as to ban any mention of his Bolivian experiences, or even his death.
The Fourth International, on the other hand, identified with and supported much of what made Che so unpopular with the leaders of the Communist movements.
Immediately after the overthrow of Batista, Quatrième Internationale, our theoretical journal, used its first issue of 1959 to present the victory of Fidel Castro's movement as one of the most important events of the anti-colonial revolutionary struggle. In September, an editorial note in the magazine analysed the first months of the new regime, the unfinished nature of the revolution and the radical character of the measures already adopted, such as agrarian reform.
"the Cuban revolution ... after the progress it has already made, has essentially gone beyond the limits of bourgeois democracy in passing new laws which attack the very structure of the capitalist order."
At that time, our articles reflected the fact that, first, we did not have enough factual knowledge (especially on the role Che played as a guerrilla leader), and second, did not yet fully comprehend the unique dynamic or nature of Castroism. It was primarily the expropriations of October 1960 which led us to adopt this analysis and to build on it for the next World Congress, scheduled for January 1961, where we introduced a resolution bluntly stating that "Cuba has ceased to be a capitalist state and has become, for all intents and purposes, a workers' state." We also emphasised the development of the revolutionary leadership:
"The Fidelista leadership was born as a Jacobin team characterised by petty bourgeois social composition and non-pro16 International Viewpoint #294 letarian ideology, but from its birth it has forged links first with the peasant masses and then, especially after taking power, with the mass of the proletariat. In a situation such as Cuba's and in the current international context, this leadership must become increasingly receptive to the powerful influence of these two social groups. It must free itself from the petty bourgeois and even conservative elements with which it has made temporary common cause and instead find a way to move ahead empirically and boldly following the logic of permanent revolution as it goes far beyond its original goals."!
A few months earlier, despite the opposition of various communist parties and of the Cuban Stalinists, Trotskyist militants from five countries (Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Peru, and Uruguay) had taken part in the first congress of Latin American Youth, held in Havana, where they offered "unconditional support for the Cuban Revolution"
the following organisations and our publications praised the most important decisions of the Cuban revolutionaries. In April 1962 Quatrième Internationale published the entire text of the second Havana declaration, writing in the editorial that: "not since the first years of the 3" International has the revolutionary movement heard such a loud, passion-
. Three months later, another editorial was dedicated to the dismissal of Anibal Escalante, denounced by Castro as a supporter of bureaucratic tendencies and
It was on this occasion that the magazine first highlighted Che's role. The review paid special attention to a speech he gave at the end of April in which he insisted on the importance of Cuba as an example for all of Latin America but also did not hesitate to criticise the growing gap between the leaders and the masses ("it seems like we speak two different languages").
That same year, the Fourth International called for solidarity with Cuba around the Missile Crisis and criticised Khruschev's decision to pull out the missiles without consulting the Cubans.
Though we did not condemn the Soviet leaders for "not pushing the game of brinkmanship to the breaking point, which at a certain moment was very possible... Outbreak of a nuclear war is not in the interests of the workers' states or of the international proletarian movement.... Nor is it in the interests of a socialist Cuba" (Quatrième Internationale, December
In 1963, our World Congress returned to the Cuban question with renewed vigour, viewing the Cuban revolution as an inspiration and motor for the rise of a revolutionary movement throughout Latin America. The document titled "The Theoretical and Political Bases for a Re unification" pointed out, among other things, that "the appearance of a workers' state in Cuba -whose form is not yet fixedis of particular interest because the revolution which occurred there was brought about under a leadership totally free of the Stalinist taint. The evolution of the July 26th Movement towards revolutionary Marxism provides a model which can now serve as an example for a whole series of
This convergence around the question of the Cuban Revolution by both the International Secretariat and groups linked to the American SWP was one of the bases of the reunification of the Fourth International, approved by that Congress. (Quatrième Internationale,
But it was the years from 1964 to 1967 during which the Fourth International and its sections deeply identified themselves with the Cuban Revolution and especially with Che's struggle. In 1964, a major economic debate opened in Cuba under the auspices of Guevara, then Minister of Industry. Ernest Mandel took part in this debate in person during one visit, and also through a contribution which appeared in the journal Nuestra industria. His commentaries and his analysis were also expressed in an article in Quatrième Inter-
"The Law of Value, Workers' Self Management, and Investment in Workers' State Economies."
At that time, no one, in Cuba or elsewhere, suspected that Che's time in Cuba was at an end, or that 1965 would be marked by his departure for places as yet unknown. We had no more knowledge of this than others and therefore we limited ourselves to a few hypotheses. In a sober and prescient article ( A new Field of Battle for Che Guevara', World Outlook #30, 1965) Joe Hansen first reviewed the Latin American and world context, and especially the counterrevolutionary coup d'état in Brazil and the escalation of American involvement in Vietnam. He
then advanced a theory which would later be confirmed: "It would seem justifiable to surmise that the Kosygin-Brezhnev team lodged a stiff protest in Havana over Guevara's revolutionary declarations in African and certain criticisms that have come to their attention...
"What happened between Castro and Guevara, of course, we do not know. The top Cuban revolutionists, in their inner circle, have spoken frankly and often heatedly, since they first constituted their ream, on every problem they faced. This occasion was most likely no exception." (The whole world now knows that a long meeting between the two leaders took place the moment Che returned to
"It is possible that the incident has made the dilemma faced by the Cuban revolutionists all the more clear," Hansen
"They have decided to do all in their power, including making painful concessions, to preserve their strong ties to the USSR. On the other hand, they know that Moscow's policy of "peaceful coexistence" constitutes a grave and permanent danger for their revolution. The Cuban revolution must receive support from new revolutions, especially in the Western Hemisphere, if it is not to suffer eventual defeat. This fundamental need is the crux policies vis-à-vis Latin
"To Guevara above all," Hansen continued, "it must therefore seem that extraordinary efforts must be made to overcome the setbacks, to reverse the effect of the defeat in Brazil, to move more energetically than every before to achieve another victory, to bolster the defence of the Cuban Revolution by advancing the world socialist revolution at any point where an opportunity might be found or created. Is it so extraordinary to conceive a revolutionist like Guevara dedicating himself to personal responsibility in such a course? There is nothing of revolutionary romanticism' in it at all. It is the same dedication to a great cause that made him a socialist in the first place, and which gives meaning to existence for every revolutionary socialist in the world today...
"In any case, the central problem facing the Cuban revolution, Guevara's involvement in it, is clear enough. As partisans of their revolution, we can only wish the Cubans well in their fortress Strengthen their beleaguered heroic efforts to safeguard its conquests
Throughout the first months of 1967, the various sections of the Fourth International publicised Che's message to the Tricontinental meeting, with whatever means they had at their disposal. Michael exemplify our understanding of Che and our feelings at
"In this explosive and incisive document, Che develops the following themes:
1) Imperialism, the highest stage of capitalism, is a world system, and must be defeated in a broad, prolonged global
2) in order to struggle against the common enemy of the human race, US imperialism, socialist countries and their supporters must unite their efforts, despite ditferences. The current form these differences take is a weakness, but the necessary unity will come about in the end, because enemy blows will put pressure on all;
3) in this enormous struggle, the historic task of third world peoples is to eliminate imperialism's basis of subsistence in underdeveloped countries which today lie in absolute dependence, to remove its source of profits and raw materials and its markets for goods produced in the indus-
4) today, we need a global strategy for war against imperialism, one capable of materially helping the localised vanguard of the world proletariat: Vietnam. That is, we need to create two, three, many Vietnams to force imperialism to spread out its forces (M. Löwy, The Thought of Che Guevara, Maspero Press, 1970, pp. 108-
Meanwhile, an editorial in the July issue of Quatrième Internationale stated that: "In Latin America, all vanguard militants are responding to Che Guevara's call. In many countries there are already small guerrilla focos (nuclei)... Latin American vanguard militants will soon find ways of organising and mounting actions which will strengthen and spread the armed conflicts which have begun on this continent."
As soon as the existence of a guerrilla movement led by Che in Bolivia was known, the Fourth International expressed its solidarity for his efforts. This was particularly evident in the Bolivian section, whose militants, though facing harsh repression, did not hide their desire to identify themselves with Che's movement, politically and organisationally. Before his arrest, the secretary of the POR, Hugo Gonzalez Moscoso, wrote an appeal which says, among other things: "We wholeNancahuazu! They are a call to arms. This is not a crazy adventure. Nor is it the mechanical and artificial transfer of the Cuban guerrilla experience. It has emerged in Bolivia as the natural culmination of the country's internal political process. The armed struggle is not alien to the Bolivian people. On the contrary. it represents the conclusion which the people have drawn from the present objective reality." (World che
That summer, a meeting of the Organisation of Latin American Solidarity (OLAS) was held in Cuba, which ended with the adoption of a 20 point resolution reaffirming the principles of Marxism and Leninism and explaining clearly that "armed revolutionary struggle is the basic path of revolution in Latin America." Joe Hansen, at that time a leader of the American SWP and the Fourth International, was present at the meeting. He wrote that "both conclusions - the hemispheric dimensions of the struggle and the need for taking up arms in order to assure a socialist outcome — were supported in speeches and resolutions which resonated throughout the world. The attitude was symbolised in a striking manner by two huge portraits, one of Simon Bolívar, the Liberator, and the other of Che Guevara, placed side by side" (Quatrième Internationale, November-December, 1967) According to Hansen, the meeting had overcome the uncertainties and ambiguities resulting from the Tricontinental meeting in 1966, and moreover, had tolerated no discrimination.
Solidarity with the Cuban revolution and with the guerrilla movement led by Che did not deter the Fourth International from putting forth its own analysis of the Latin American situation and outlining its own conception of revolutionary struggle. In July, Quatrième Internationale published my own systematic critique of Regis Debray's book Revolution within the Revolution? published in Havana but distributed throughout Latin America and supposed to reflect the Cuban position on armed struggle.
Thirty years later, it is still difficult to understand why Cuban leaders encouraged Debray, someone whose ignorance about Latin America was vast, to pursue such a strange politico-literary undertaking. Why did they endorse an effort which, as was foreseeable, would immediately provoke virulent criticisms among Latin American revolutionary circles and which, in many ways, contradicted a document presented by the Cuban delegation just after the OLAS meeting?
The Fourth International, for its own part, while supporting the attitude of the
Bolivian Trotskyists in favour of Che's guerrilla strategy, said: "In our opinion, the discussion in progress within the Latin
American revolutionary movement will be
che
useful and productive insofar as it focuses on analysing specific situations in certain countries rather than on drawing generalisations which are as vague as they are enticing.
"It is precisely the originality of the Cuban experience - in many respects it took all tendencies in the international working class movement by surprise -which should counsel avoidance of rigid schemas, especially in connection with the concrete forms and stages of the revolutionary process." (International Socialist Review, September-October 1967)
The announcement of Che's assassination caused great pain and a feeling of revolt among all revolutionary Marxist militants. Underground Bolivian militants expressed this in a letter which appeared in World Outlook #36, 1967 "The assassination of Che Guevara is a heavy blow to the Bolivian guerrilla struggle. Nevertheless, it must be pointed out that guerrilla the door of the network controlled bv the pro-Moscow Communist Party, hostile to Che's efforts from the beginning.?
In April 1969, at the 9th World Congress of the Fourth International, a resolution on Latin America was adopted which attempted to draw the lessons of the Bolivian experience and other armed struggles on the continent. That resolution "particularly honoured the memory of comrade Ernesto Che Guevara, a symbol generation of intrepid revolutionaries all round the world." * 1) This proposal was adopted by a majority of the International Secretariat, against the opposition of two representatives of the Posadist current, Adolfo Gilly and Albert Sendic, who later changed their minds as the Congress continued. Sendic wrote an analysis of the Cuban workers' state in the November issue of Quatrième
Internationale of the following year, under the pseudonym A. Ortiz. The text adopted by the Congress was pub lished separately in the first issue of Quatrième Internationale in 1961. In that same issue, the chapter on Cuba which it replaced was accidentally kept as part of the general resolution on the colonial revolution. The positions taken by the Posadist current - so called because its leader, an Argentinean of Italian ancestry named Homero Cristali, used the pseudonym J. Posadas - after its break with the Fourth International, and especially in 1965 and 1966 when it held that Che had been assassinated by Fidel, undoubtedly contributed to hardening Fidel. and to a much lesser extent, Che, against expressing openly any agreement with our movement or with Trotskyism in general. 2) These problems were discussed in greater depth in my article "From guerrilla warfare to people's war? The Mystified Self-criticism of Regis Debray", Quatrième Internationale, Spring, 1975. 3) Quatrième Internationale, May 1969. The question of guerrilla struggle was discussed at length in the resolution mentioned above in 1969 and revisited in the form of self-criticism during the 1975 and 1979 World Congresses
Into a new and better century!
war, in Bolivia as in any other country in which it arises, has deep national and world-economic causes. It is the duty of
The International Institute for Research and Education in Amsterdam is a research and revolutionists in Bolivia and Latin training centre that is meeting the challenges of the neo-liberal world order by renewing and
America, as the Bolivian POR sees it, to re-founding an alternative perspective. Fields under study at the IIRE include economic back the present guerrilla struggle, globalisation, 20th-century history, ecology, feminism, ethnicity, racism and radical strengthen it, break it out of isolation, link
The results of our work are made available to a larger public mainly through our publication up with the mass movement in the cities and the mines, and bring in the peasantry as a fighting force.
The same issue of the magazine published a message from the Unified Secretariat of the Fourth International, as an editorial. The central passage read:
"Taking power made Guevara more faithful than ever to his communist ideals... he struggled for the New Man, a truly new human being who would have nothing in common with the caricature which dominates bureaucratic societies.
Deeply committed to the international character of socialist revolution, he reminded the "wealthy" workers' states of their duty to those who were not."
In France, the newly founded Young
Revolutionary
Communists (JCR)
organised a Paris meeting in memory of
Che: 1,700 people attended. [The group, led by students expelled from the Communist Party, later formed the core of the
French section of the 4" International.]
Finally, the publication of Che's
Bolivian journal a year later brings us to a consideration of the defeat of the guerrilla movement, and its causes. From that point on, we could ask legitimate questions like the following: "Was the almost complete isolation of the foco (nucleus) inevitable?
Was the prolonged breakoff of all liaison with the towns inevitable? Was it objectively impossible to recruit a few dozen additional fighters in time?" (World
Outlook #28, 1968). We answered these questions in that article by noting that
Bolivian revolutionaries had responded in the negative. Historians returned to the questions, and still debate it, but it hard to deny that, if Che was condemned to tragic isolation and if available forces could not relieve him, the major responsibility lies at
18 International Viewpoint #294 movement strategy. series, the Notebooks for Study and Research. No.1 The Place of Marxism in History. Ernest Mandel (40 pp. £2, $3.50, 20 FF) No. 2 The Chinese Revolution - I: The Second Chinese Revolution and the Shaping of the Maoist Outlook. Rousset (32 pp. £2, $3.50, 20 FF) No. 3 The Chinese Revolution - II: The Maoist Project Tested in the Struggle for Power. Pierre Rousset (48 pp. £2.50, $4, 25 FF) No. 4 Revolutionary Strategy Today. Daniel Bensaid (36 pp. £2, $3.50, 20 FF) No. 5 Class Struggle and Technological Change in Japan since 1945. Muto Ichiyo (48 pp. £2.50, S4, 25 FF) No. 6 Populism in Latin America. Adolfo Gilly, Helena Hirata, Carlos M. Vilas, and the PRT (Argentina), introduced by Michael Löwy (40 pp. £2, $3.50, 20 FF) No. 7/8 Market, Plan and Democracy: the Experience of the So-Called Socialist Countries. Catherine Samary (64pp. £3, No. 9 The Formative Years of the Fourth International (1933-1938). Daniel Bensaid (48 pp. £2.50, $4, 25 FF) No. 10 Marxism and Liberation Theology. Michael Löwy (40pp £2, $3.50, 20 FF) No.11/12 The Bourgeois Revolutions Robert Lochhead (72pp. £4, $6, 40FF) No. 13 The Spanish Civil War in Euzkadi and Catalonia 1936-39. Miguel Romero (48pp. £2.50, $4, 25 FF) No. 14 The Gulf War and the New World Order. André Gunder Frank and Salah Jaber (72pp. £2, $3, 15 FF) No. 15 From the PCI to the PDS. Livio Maitan (48pp. £2.50, $4, 25 FF) No. 16 Do the Workers Have a Country?,
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Ernesto Guevara, also known as Che Paco Ignacio Taibo Il is an adviser to Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas, leader of Mexico's Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD) and Mayor-elect of Mexico City. He is also the author of a biography of Che Guevara (reviewed on p.19) I Myths are by their very nature eternal, resisting the flow of time. They move in a space of half truths. They include simple and more complex versions of themselves, and they can be summed up in a few words or spun out as tales over a thousand True myths cross class lines, going from a and one nights. peasant hearth to a cafe table at a university. They don't always tell the same story. Beyond the core message, versions are different and the moral of the story may change. Myths tend to be embellished: in the mouth of the teller, the hours of an operation lengthen, an improbable smile is sworn to, phrases are carefully constructed. Magic accompanies