[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,

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.
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Presents seminal exploration of Che Guevara's contributions to Marxist thinking. This title traces Che's ideas about Marxism both as they related to Latin America and to more general philosophical, political, and economic issues. It captures his views on humanity, his contributions to the theory of revolutionary warfare, and more.
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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
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[The Marxism of Che Guevara] would make an excellent classroom tool for anyone teaching about Latin America or revolution.
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.'
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Produktdetaljer

ISBN
9780742539020
Publisert
2007-04-16
Utgave
2. utgave
Utgiver
Vendor
Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Vekt
331 gr
Høyde
226 mm
Bredde
148 mm
Dybde
20 mm
Aldersnivå
G, 01
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Innbundet
Antall sider
178

Forfatter

Om bidragsyterne

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.