Gripping revolutionary tale
Che Cuevara: A Revolutionary Life
By John Lee Anderson
Published by
Price £25 (Hardback)
Published by Bantam Press
Pombo: A Man of Che's Guerrilla
By Harry Villegas (Pombo)
Published by Pathfinder Press
Price: £14.45 (paperback)
Ernesto Che Guevara, revolutionary, socialist, guerrilla fighter,
economist, medical doctor and hero of the Cuban Revolution is
probably one of the best known figures worldwide of any socialist
or liberation movement. There have been many biographies and
books written about the man, but in a A Revolutionary Life John
Lee Anderson explores aspects of him not previously written
about. It has to be the definitive account of his life.
The book is 800 pages long, has three distinct parts - Unquiet
Youth, Becoming Che and Making of a New Man - and 29 chapters and
it definitley holds the reader's attention.. Previously secret
files and highly-placed sources from Havana, Moscow and
Washington are explored to build up the previously unseen picture
of Che. The help of the Cuban Communist Party's Central Committee
was also secured.
It begins with Che's fascinating family background and his birth
in Argentina in June 1928 and a brief turbulent history of that
country; his asthma-affected youth in the Alta Galcia, a rural
area of Argentina; his early political awareness in the late `30s
(the Spanish Civil War had a deep effect on the liberal
Guevaras); his teenage years in Cordoba during World War Two and
his study of medicine in Bueno Aires.
It was at university in the late `40s/early `50s that he began to
explore socialism more fully. He consulted such works as
Mussolini on Fascism, Stalin on Marxism, biographies of Lenin,
The Communist Manifesto and Das Kapital. He was however to remain
on the political peripheries, an observer rather than a
participant. He had a ``grudging respect'' for Argentinian leader
Peron and his wife Evita. The left in Argentina or opposition had
little to offer Che.
It was also during this period that Ernesto began his journeys in
Argentina's interior where he discovered his two lifelong
rituals: travelling and writing.
Detailed accounts of his early adventures and travels around
South America are included with excellent accounts and narration.
He returned to an Argentina in grief. Five days before his return
Evita Peron had died of cancer. He now hoped to finish studies as
a doctor. He obtained his degree in June 1953 at the age of 25.
In July 1953 he was off again, this time to Bolivia.
After Bolivia he went to Guatemala. He was there during the
CIA/US backed coup in 1954. He then went to Mexico City where he
joined the Cubans he had first met in Guatemala. It was here he
met Fidel and Raul Castro and the July 26 Movement and met his
first wife in 1955.
The book deals at length with the training for and execution of
the expedition to Cuba to topple the US-backed Batista regime.
From the Granma landing to the initial setbacks, from the early
fighting in the Sierra Maestras to the eventual victory of the
revolutionary forces in 1959. All the time the reader is kept
captivated by all the developments, told in graphic detail.
Interviews with people from as far afield as Moscow, Havana,
Argentina, Paraguay, Bolivia and Spain give an intricate account
of post-revolutionary Cuba and Che's role in the new government:
his Minister of Industries position, Soviet contacts, Bay of
Pigs, US/Soviet tug of war over Cuba's political direction and
all the various contacts, conferences and international trips
undertaken by Che.
A chapter entitled The Long Good-Bye marks his leaving of Cuba
and his longing to return to the ``revolutionary battlefield'', his
tour of the African continent and his disastrous foray into the
Congo in 1965. The ill-fated Bolivian expedition in 1966 was his
last. It was here he met his death after his capture by the
Bolivian military on 9 October 1967, exactly 30 years ago to the
day.
The author is to be commended for undertaking such a major work.
Although a hefty £25, it is well worth having in any collection.
Pombo: A Man of Che's Guerrilla is an account of the ill-fated
Bolivian campaign written by a young Cuban fighter who was with
Che. He is now a brigadier in the Cuban Army. It is a
comprehensive account, complete with maps and never before seen
photographs. Villegas won't win any prizes for literary style.but
it is a fascinating story and this is another book I would
recommend.
BY CIARAN HEAPHEY
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