01 / 50 || Ernesto "Che" Guevara || "Guerrilla Warfare"

[ms-erupt.livejournal.com]

01. Guerrilla Warfare by Ernesto "Che" Guevara
Pages: 133
Genre(s): Nonfiction, Guerrilla Warfare, Latin American History
Rating: 8/10; Would recommend.

I picked up this book on a whim after watching the second half of Che with Benicio Del Toro. I realized that as much as I know (or think I know) about the man, that I'd never actually read any of his writings. I intended to pick up Motorcycle Diaries, but I saw this thin, little book with the faded orange cover sitting next to it and couldn't resist checking it out.

I wasn't sure what to expect as I began to read this book. I suppose I thought that it was, ostensibly, a manual on the techniques and strategies of waging guerrilla warfare, and it was to some extent. He writes a lot about techniques and strategies, weapons and numbers, and how one survives. But, it was less of a dry how-to guide on waging war than it was about the ideology behind guerrilla warfare.

I liked that he took great care to stress that he believed a guerrilla is a social reformer who has turned to armed struggle because oppression in one’s country is so great that legal and civil means to resist what has become a totalitarian government are all but impossible. He also emphasized the role of the people, most notably the “peasants” and workers, in carrying out a successful revolution and firmly believed that a “popular” army (i.e. an army with the support of the people) can win a war against an army with superior numbers and firepower.

I was put off by one thing in this book. I liked that he had a chapter dedicated to the role of women in the armed struggle. He wrote that women could do everything that men could do, including engage in combat. But, I thought he put a lot more words into describing their domestic capacity than their combat capacity. I also thought that his assertion that women would have a much easier time with subterfuge because soldiers would be less likely to treat women badly or violently just felt counter-intuitive when I consider the experiences of women in war zones both in the present and in the past.

Overall, I liked the book. I would recommend it to most readers whether one agrees or disagrees with Guevara’s politics and conduct. It was well worth the read, and it was a fascinating insight into the Cuban revolution.

My apologies if my tags are screwed to hell. I'm a n00b and am a little overwhelmed by the tag list!

Comments

[sanguinity]

It is a big tag list. ;-)

I'm adding "a: guevara che", because we always do the author's name. We normally also add a country or ethnicity to the tags, too, but I don't know what would be a decent choice for this book, he moved around so much.

[ms-erupt.livejournal.com]

Indeed. What a variety in this community! I've looked it over a couple of times now, so I think I have it down. :P

Thanks! I'm not sure what would be a good choice either. I feel like, after reading this book, that it's rather appropriate that it has no country or ethnicity tag. Hmmmm...