Title: The political theory of Che Guevara /
Authors: Llorente, Renzo Tramer
Date: 2018
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield International Ltd.,
Physical description: xii, 183 pages ; 24 cm
Language: English
LC classification: F
Abstract: Nearly half a century after his death, Ernesto "Che" Guevara remains a compelling and controversial figure. He was an original social theorist, and many of his writings attest to an innovative interpretation of various concepts and commitments central to Marxist thought. This is one of the first works to comprehensively consider his contribution to social and political theory for a student audience. Firstly, the book provides thorough and reliable accounts of the key theses, concepts and commitments that give Che Guevara's theoretical, and political, orientation its distinctive character. It addresses Guevara's views on topics such as work, morality in socialism, egalitarianism, prefigurative politics, internationalism, and the process of "disembourgeoisement". Secondly, the study situates Guevara's ideas within the context of the Marxist theoretical tradition and, on the other hand, twentieth-century Latin American social thought. To this end, it will explore both the affinities and dissimilarities between Guevara's views on certain fundamental questions and the views represented by such figures as Marx, Lenin, Herbert Marcuse and Jose Carlos Mariategui. Finally, it will provide critical assessments of Che's key ideas, many of which remain relevant to contemporary debates in socialist theory.
Contents: The new human being -- The transformation of human nature -- The new human being and communism -- The nature of the new human being -- A strategy of debourgeosification -- Challenges to Guevara's concept of a new human being -- Was Che Guevara the new human being? -- The problem of work -- Work as a problem -- Reconceiving work -- Voluntary labor -- Moral incentives -- Guevara on work: an assessment -- Some neglected aspects of Guevara's philosophy of work -- Internationalism and anti-imperialism -- The contours of Guevara's internationalism -- Guevara's conception of imperialism -- Armed struggle -- Guevara's internationalism and anti-imperialism today -- Socialism, communism and revolution -- Socialism and communism -- Guevara's conception of revolution -- Accelerating development -- The dictatorship of the proletariat -- Containing the counterrevolution -- The significance of Guevara's views on socialism, communism and revolution -- Consolidating the revolution and the building of socialism -- The Cuban transition to socialism in context -- The value of unity -- The duties of revolutionaries -- Worker empowerment and workers' rule -- Guevara's economic philosophy -- An alternative approach to socialist economic management -- Guevara's ideas on building socialism -- The Guevarist legacy -- An eclectic Marxism -- Guevara's Marxist humanism -- Marxism as a moral outlook -- The question of 'voluntarism' -- Guevara's continuing relevance -- 'Be like che' -- Bibliography -- Index.
Subject headings (LCSH): Guevara, Che, 1928-1967--Political and social views.; Socialism--Cuba--History--20th century.; Socialism--History--20th century.