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CSUDH - Habermas - UWP

California State University, Dominguez Hills
University of Wisconsin, Parkside
Soka University Japan, Transcend Art and Peace
Created: November 11, 2001
Latest Update: November 11, 2001
jeannecurran@habermas.org

Man and Socialism

By Che Guevara

Che describes the stages of the rvolutionary struggle as he saw it in Cuba:

"Then came the stage of guerrilla struggle. It developed in two distinct elements: the people, the still sleeping mass which it was necessary to mobilize; and its vanguard, the guerrillas, the motor force of the movement, the generator of revolutionary consciousness and militant enthusiasm. It was this vanguard, this catalyzing agent, which created the subjective conditions necessary for victory.

"Here again, in the course of the process of proletarianizing our thinking, in this revolution which took place in our habits and our minds, the individual was the basic factor. Every one of the fighters of the Sierra Maestra who reached an upper rank in the revolutionary forces has a record of outstanding deeds to his credit. They attained their rank on this basis. It was the first heroic period and in it they contended for the heaviest responsibilities, for the greatest dangers, with no other satisfaction than fulfilling a duty."

Che is speaking here to the unwilliingness of defenders of democracy to hear the validity claim that many people are excluded from that democracy: the poor, the different, the ethnic groups outside the mainstream. Democracy becomes complicit with the original colonists and oppressors when it adopts this denial, this unwillingness to listen in good faith.