Ernesto Che Guevara: Revolution

“Of course there are dangers in the present situation, and not only that of dogmatism, not only that of weakening the ties with the masses midway in the great task. There is also the danger of weaknesses. If a man thinks that dedicating his entire life to the revolution means, that in return he should not have such worries as that his son lacks certain things, or that his children's shoes are worn out, or that his family lacks some necessity, then he is entering into rationalisations which open his mind to infection by the seeds of future corruption.
In our case we have maintained that our children should have or should go without those things that the children of the average man have or go without, and that our families should understand this and strive to uphold this standard. The revolution is made through man, but man must forge his revolutionary spirit day by day.”

Ernesto Che Guevara

Man and Socialism in Cuba (1965)

Life , Children , Family , Shoe

“The Cuban Revolution takes up Marx at the point where he himself left science to shoulder his revolutionary rifle.”

Ernesto Che Guevara

Notes on the Cuban Revolution (1960)
Context: The Cuban Revolution takes up Marx at the point where he himself left science to shoulder his revolutionary rifle. And it takes him up at that point, not in a revisionist spirit, of struggling against that which follows Marx, of reviving "pure" Marx, but simply because up to that point Marx, the scientist, placed himself outside of the history he studied and predicted. From then on Marx, the revolutionary, could fight within history.

Science

“The revolution is not an apple that falls when it is ripe. You have to make it fall.”

Ernesto Che Guevara

Intercontinental Press (Vol. 3 January-April 1965); also, in Che Guevara speaks: Selected Speeches and Writings (1967)

“The greatest threat of the Cuban revolution is its own example, its revolutionary ideas”

Ernesto Che Guevara

Tactics and Strategy of the Latin American Revolution (1962)
Context: The most submissive countries and consequently, the most cynical, talk about the threat of Cuban subversion, and they are right. The greatest threat of the Cuban revolution is its own example, its revolutionary ideas, the fact that the government has been able to increase the combativity of the people, led by a leader of world stature, to heights seldom equaled in history. Here is the electrifying example of a people prepared to suffer nuclear immolation so that its ashes may serve as a foundation for new societies. When an agreement was reached by which the atomic missiles were removed, without asking our people, we were not relieved or thankful for the truce; instead we denounced the move with our own voice. We have demonstrated our firm stand, our own position, our decision to fight, even if alone, against all dangers and against the atomic menace of Yankee imperialism.

Idea

“The revolution is made through human beings, but individuals must forge their revolutionary spirit day by day”

Ernesto Che Guevara

“Thanks for Playa Girón. Before the invasion, the (Cuban) revolution was weak. Now it's stronger than ever.”

Ernesto Che Guevara

On the Bay of Pigs Invasion (1961)

“The victory of the Cuban Revolution will be a tangible demonstration before all the Americas that peoples are capable of rising up, that they can rise up by themselves right under the very fangs of the monster.”

Ernesto Che Guevara

Mobilising for Invasion (1961)
Variant: The victory of the Cuban Revolution will be a tangible demonstration before all the Americas that peoples are capable of rising up, that they can rise up by themselves right under the very fangs of the monster.

People , Victory

“The first liberating revolutions never destroyed the large landholding powers that always constituted a reactionary force and upheld the principle of servitude on the land.”

Ernesto Che Guevara

Cuba as Vanguard (1961)

“The university, vanguard of our struggling people, cannot become a backward element, but it would become so if the university did not incorporate itself into the great plans of the Revolution.”

Ernesto Che Guevara

Speech to University students (1959)

People , Universe

“On various occasions emissaries of the U. S. State Department came, disguised as reporters, to investigate our rustic revolution, yet they never found any trace of imminent danger. By the time the imperialists wanted to react — when they discovered that the group of inexperienced young men marching in triumph through the streets of Havana had a clear awareness of their political duty and an iron determination to carry out that duty — it was already too late.”

Ernesto Che Guevara

Cuba as Vanguard (1961)

Men , Time

“I feel that I have fulfilled the part of my duty that tied me to the Cuban revolution in its territory, and I say farewell to you, to the comrades, to your people, who now are mine.”

Ernesto Che Guevara

Farewell letter to Fidel Castro (1965)

People , Feeling , Parting

“Great strategic links are being developed abroad to destroy our Revolution. Those forces are trying to attract all those who have been hurt by the Revolution. We do not refer to the embezzlers, criminals, or the members of the old government; we are thinking of those who have remained on the margin of this revolutionary process, those who have lost economically but support the Revolution in a limited way.”

Ernesto Che Guevara

Speech to University students (1959)

Way , Support , Thinking , Hurt

“Each time a country is freed, we say, it is a defeat for the world imperialist system, but we must agree that real liberation or breaking away from the imperialist system is not achieved by the mere act of proclaiming independence or winning an armed victory in a revolution. Freedom is achieved when imperialist economic domination over a people is brought to an end.”

Ernesto Che Guevara

Afro-Asian Conference (1965)

People , World , Freedom , Time

“What is our ideology? If l were asked whether our revolution is Communist, I would define it as Marxist. Our revolution has discovered by its methods the paths that Marx pointed out.”

Ernesto Che Guevara

As quoted in Cuba: A Dissenting Report (1960) by Samuel Shapiro, New Republic

“The difficult thing for someone not living the experience of the revolution to understand is this close dialectical unity between the individual and the mass, in which the mass, as an aggregate of individuals, is interconnected with its leaders.
Some phenomena of this kind can be seen under capitalism, when politicians capable of mobilising popular opinion appear, but these phenomena are not really genuine social movements. (If they were, it would not be entirely correct to call them capitalist.) These movements only live as long as the persons who inspire them do, or until the harshness of capitalist society puts an end to the popular illusions which made them possible.”

Ernesto Che Guevara

Man and Socialism in Cuba (1965)

Understanding , Appearance , Personality

“The university cannot be an ivory tower, far away from the society, removed from the practical accomplishments of the Revolution. If such an attitude is maintained, the university will continue giving our society lawyers that we do not need.”

Ernesto Che Guevara

Speech to University students (1959)

Universe

“Revolution, in history, is like the doctor assisting at the birth of a new life, who will not use forceps unless necessary, but who will use them unhesitatingly every time labor requires them. It is a labor bringing the hope of a better life to the enslaved and exploited masses.”

Ernesto Che Guevara

Method of Guerrilla Warfare (1963)

Life , Hope , History , Birth

“There are no other alternatives; either a socialist revolution or a make-believe revolution.”

Ernesto Che Guevara

Message to the Tricontinental (1967)

“To send men to the firing squad, judicial proof is unnecessary. These procedures are an archaic bourgeois detail. This is a revolution! And a revolutionary must become a cold killing machine motivated by pure hate. We must create the pedagogy of the paredón”

Ernesto Che Guevara

execution wall
As quoted in The Cuban Revolution : Years of Promise (2005) by Teo A. Babun and Victor Andres Triay, p. 57, citing "Che Guevara: Assassin and Bumbler" by Humberto Fontova from Mensnewsdaily.com, 2 March 2004; Fontava does not identify a source for Guevara's statement.
Disputed

Men , Hate , Motivation

“In a revolution one wins or dies, if it is a real one.”

Ernesto Che Guevara

In a revolution, one triumphs or dies (if it is a true revolution).
Farewell letter to Fidel Castro (1965)