While reading biography of Ernesto Guevara de la Serna, popularly known to the world as “Che Guevara,” “El Che,” or just “Che,” one feels like being present with this anti-imperialist and pro-socialist revolutionary; as if he is still alive amongst us in a physical sense, and we are and observing his daily routine with our own eyes, carefully listening to his revolutionary ideas, getting inspired, and finally shedding a tear or two at his heart-rending death. A biography of Che Guevara by Richard L. Harris is a fascinating read.
It won’t be an exaggeration to say that Che is arguably one of the most renowned revolutionaries in world history who fought against the social injustices first in Cuban revolution, then in the Congo, and finally in Bolivia, where he was eventually captured and executed. His hands were amputated and body buried in an unmarked grave, which was discovered many years after his death.

His legacy in Cuba remains unparalleled. Heaps of praises are showered on Che’s intellectual contribution, political acumen, military virtues, guerrilla skills, and also his revolutionary ideas in shaping Cuba’s socio-political future. No wonder then, that in January 2000, Time magazine named Che one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century.
In the context of Kashmir’s popular revolution of 1989, riding high on full backing of the local population, and now seemingly somewhat diminishing peoples’ support for it today due to various complex reasons and circumstances (Indian military’s deadly operations against Kashmiri militants being one of the main reasons), this biography by Richard L. Harris should be read. And then it should also be understood in the context of guerrilla warfare and its various demands and complexities, and multi-layered realities involved in a conflict situation.

The book intensely talks about various aspects of Che’s struggle and revolution — the highs and the lows, successes as well as the failures. One gets to know about Che’s first love, health issues, education, military, political, and many other varied aspects of his personal life. By educational qualification Che was a medical doctor. He was fond of smoking, and asthma gave him lot of troubles.
In this biography the history of legendary revolutionary Che Guevara is discussed across 13 chapters, which include his early life, the motorcycle diaries, a call to arms, Che’s ideas about imperialism, his missions in Africa and Bolivia, enduring legacy, and also his death on October 9, 1967.
Among many other things, one of the main highlights of this book is the revelation how Che’s early life prepared him for leadership in the Cuban revolution.
Richard Harris, the author, in the introductory part of the book, writes that Che’s name, his ideals, and his romantic image have become part of the spirit and symbolism of those who believe that the social injustices and worst forms of human exploitation in this world can be erased only by revolutionary means. “Che’s iconic face appears on posters, banners, billboards, flags, books, periodicals, murals, Web sites, T-shirts, and walls in every region of the world. Indeed, his face and to a lesser extent his name are known to people of all ages everywhere.”

Talking about the present generation of Kashmiris — assertive and intelligent — which is also ‘radically’ active on social Web sites we find many young Kashmiri boys and girls using Che’s iconic poster image as their display picture or profile picture on Facebook and Twitter. Many young Kashmiris identify with the iconic revolutionary Che Guevara. Unlike few pseudo, fake and digital revolutionaries of modern times, who manipulate revolutionary ideas for personal growth and career building, Che sacrificed his life for the cause.
Nearly five decades (46 years to be precise) after Che’s death, he remains a symbol of resistance, icon of revolution, and a figure of veneration among the oppressed people across the globe.
According to the author, Che has influenced many social activists, radical intellectuals and guerrilla fighters in the world. At the same time, the author articulates, there are also people, especially in Cuban-exile communities throughout the Americas, who dislike, hate and vilify Che Guevara and remain vehemently opposed to the socialist government of Cuba.

The relevant question that one could perhaps raise is whether the Cuban-style socialist revolutions throughout the rest of Latin America can be replicated in today’s world?
There is a small confusion about Che’s actual date of birth. He was born on May 14, 1928 in Rosario, Argentina. But his parents, Ernesto Guevara Lynch and Celia de la Serna, register his official date of birth as June 14, 1928. One has to give full marks to the author for his intense research on every single detail and aspect concerning Che’s life. Richard Harris’s eye for detail is truly inspirational.
In 1947, Guevara’s family moves to Buenos Aires and Ernesto begins his medical school at the University. In 1952, Che, with his friend Alberto Granado, travels through Latin America where he records his experiences in his famous ‘Motorcycle Diaries’.
Che Guevara’s lucid and candid accounts and anecdotes recorded in his ‘Motorcycle Diaries’ are pretty interesting. The author, in Chapter Two, quotes the following account of an incident where Ernesto Che Guevara got drunk, after being invited by the mechanics at the garage in Temuco to have drinks with them and go to a village dance, which resulted in an altercation on the dance floor:

‘Chilean wine is very good and I was downing it at an amazing rate, so by the time we went on to the village dance I felt ready for anything….One of the mechanics from the garage, a particularly nice guy, asked me to dance with his wife because he’d been mixing his drinks and was the worse for wear. His wife was pretty randy [feeling horny] and obviously in the mood, and I, full of Chilean wine, took her by the hand to lead her outside. She followed me docilely but then realized her husband was watching and changed her mind. I was in no state to listen to reason and we had a bit of a barney [quarrel] in the middle of the dance floor, resulting in me pulling her toward one of the doors with everybody watching. She tried to kick me and as I was pulling her she lost her balance and went crashing to the floor.’ (page 42)
This account obviously makes one wonder can Kashmir’s revolutionary leaders gather courage to reveal anecdotes of their life. At times, they (political resistance leadership) don’t even reveal to their people who they meet ‘secretly’, for what purpose, and why. Almost everything about them remains a ‘top secret’.

Moving on, in July 1955, at the age of 27, Guevara meets Raul and Fidel Castro in Mexico City and joins the Cuban revolutionary movement. In over a year’s time everything changes in Ernesto’s life. He is now known as “Che”. In 1956, Che bonds with Castro brothers to launch armed uprising from the Sierra Maestra against the Batista dictatorship. Impressed by Che’s outstanding guerrilla skills, Fidel Castro promotes him to top rank of comandante in 1957. A year later, Che leads a column of guerrilla fighters who capture the critical provincial capital city of Santa Clara. Sensing trouble and realizing the end is near, the dictator Batista flees Cuba.
1959 is an important year in Che’s life, both on personal as well as on the guerrilla front. After moral and strategic victory of forcing Batista to run away from Cuba, Che’s popularity grows manifold and is soon appointed as commander of the La Cabana fortress in Havana and also made president of the Central Bank of Cuba. This elevation, in 1959, also includes his two-month long diplomatic missions to Europe, Africa, and Asia.
Author Richard Harris also discusses Che’s early romantic life and family in the book.
After divorcing his first wife, Hilda Gadea Acosta, who decides to stay in Havana with their daughter Hildita, Che marries Alieda March Torres on June 2, 1959. There is an interesting account of Che’s first crush, and first love with the 16-year Maria del Carmen “Chichina”, a pampered young princess. Che met strikingly beautiful Chichina in October 1950 at a wedding in Cordoba attended by Ernesto and his family. The romance, unfortunately, did not last long. Che was intensely in love with gorgeous Chichina and wanted to marry her. But, as the author puts it, the difference in their age and social class, disapproval of Che from Chichina’s parents, and finally the distance between them strained their relationship beyond repair.

In 1960, Che publishes his first book La Guerra de Guerrila (Guerrilla Warfare).
Little later, he is appointed Minister of Industry, heads Cuban missions to the erstwhile Soviet Union and other socialist countries in Europe, China, and North Korea.
The book provides a comprehensive account and analysis of Che’s personal and revolutionary life. It also sheds light on the secret negotiations in 1962, which Che held with the Soviet Union leadership that lead to placement of Soviet missiles in Cuba. Obviously, this provokes the infamous Cuban Missile Crisis and subsequent US Naval blockade of Cuba. Following the failure of Congo mission, as Che heads a secret Cuban military mission in 1965, the guerrilla commander stays in Tanzania for a while in 1966. As Che attempts to establish a continental base in Bolivia for revolutionary guerrilla operations in Latin America in 1967, he is unfortunately captured by the Bolivian military, the fact acknowledged by Fidel Castro.
Che was eventually executed at the age of 39.

The book denies claims that the U.S Central Intelligence Agency [CIA] involvement in the defeat of Che’s guerrilla force. The author rubbishes such claims by describing these as ‘sensational’. “CIA was ever present during the entire episode; they certainly were determined to see that Che was defeated and, if possible, captured. However, they were not responsible for the failure of Che’s guerrilla operation or his execution. In fact, the U.S government and the CIA appear to have opposed the idea of executing Che.”
Author Richard Harris argues that the complete “absence of popular support” for Che’s guerrilla operations in Bolivia was one of the main reasons, if not the prime reason, that his mission there could not succeed. Richard further articulates that revolutionary guerrilla warfare largely depends on, and is a struggle for, the loyalties of the civilian population. Close guerrilla-civilian cooperation, according to the author, helps guerrillas to develop a superior system of intelligence, have extreme mobility, and surprise the enemy’s forces catching them unawares and off-guard. There is a reason, as the author notes, why Che Guevara’s guerrilla movement failed to achieve popular support in Bolivia. The majority of Bolivians at that time were convinced that their country had already undergone its revolution in shape of national liberation.

In 1989, Kashmir’s anti-India uprising became hugely popular and achieved reasonable success only because of the peoples’ support, which, for various reasons, has ‘waned’ over the years. True, we still witness local people participating in huge numbers in the funerals of slain guerrillas, but it is equally true that the human intelligence to inform the troops about their presence also comes locally. A clear paradox!
Unfortunately, in Kashmir’s case we witness a clear and visible disconnect between the resistance leadership and the common people. An argument is made that Kashmir is in post-armed resistance phase, in which people, in general, are bound to feel disillusioned and fatigued with the role played by the resistance leadership, which, in turn, could perhaps pave way for new leadership to emerge, and that would not be a bad thing in itself.
For me, the most fascinating aspect about Che’s guerrilla life has been his original contribution to the literature on guerrilla warfare, and his deep insights on the secrets of revolution’s success. According to him the two most important prerequisites of successful guerrilla warfare are a thorough knowledge of the terrain and the cooperation of the local population.

Even Che believed that guerrilla warfare cannot in itself bring victory. Only the mature and visionary political leadership takes the struggle forward. It is difficult to find a heroic model, committed revolutionary, and the selfless human being like Che in the modern world.
There must be a reason why Che still remains trendy even in the United States, which many see as the center of global capitalism. He is also admired in countries like Venezuela and Ecuador. The regime of Hugo Chavez is in awe of Che but insists that Venezuela will have to create its own form of socialism to fit its particular history, contemporary politics, and conditions.
The author describes Che’s physical features in an interesting manner. “His eyes and moustache appear Asiatic, while the darkness of his complexion seems African, and the shape of his nose and cheeks are distinctively European.”
Following Che’s execution in 1967, leftist students, radical intellectuals, and revolutionary movements around the globe constantly quoted Guevara’s oft-repeated and famous dictum: “The duty of every revolutionary is to make the revolution.”
There lies the lesson for Kashmir, the duty of every revolutionary is to make the revolution, not fake it.
Concluding, I concur with the author that the emphasis in the book has been on facts, not glorification. So, grab a copy, read and enjoy!

Source