Love and Guns (Che Guevara) Exercises

Part One

1. Under “invisible laws of capitalism,” Guevara alludes to the law of value and the misery and depravity behind the rise of “one Rockefeller.” We interpret his text to reference Marx’s concept of “surplus value.”

After reading about surplus value, how do you explain Guevara’s text? And what are your thoughts on this?

Part Two

2. Guevara’s philosophy is materialist, as he follows Marx’s materialist philosophy. How does he connect a new material foundation of society with a new man and a new woman? How does art under socialism connect with materialism?

Part Three

3. We sometimes hear people in the U.S talk about how social change might never happen or might take a long time (longer than their lives).

     “Direct propaganda is carried out by those entrusted with explaining the inevitability of class society, either through some theory of divine origin or a mechanical theory of natural law. This lulls the masses, since they see themselves as being oppressed by an evil against which it is impossible to struggle”.

Do you think Guevara might have a point? Explain how this might apply or not to the political situation in the United States.

Part Four

4. Guevara himself, and the Cuban Revolutionaries in general, were known for public execution of those who were (sometimes summarily) judged as counterrevolutionaries. In lieu of this fact, how to you explain this phrase:

“At the risk of seeming ridiculous, let me say that the true revolutionary is guided by great feelings of love”.

5. Is Guevara’s “New Man” a slave, a master, or Nietzsche’s “Over Man”? Explain why and use quotes from Guevara and Nietzsche to support your argument.