Nicole Moore Sanborn

Ernesto “Che” Guevara transitioned from a medical student to a world-renowned guerilla leader and socialist. His journey through Latin America changed him and shaped his ideas. The film Motorcycle Diaries, analyzed in conjunction with Guevara’s writings, “Guerilla Warfare: A Method” and “Man and Socialism” provide insight into Che’s transition. The people Che met along his journey in Motorcycle Diaries, specifically the men trying to find work at the mining company, experiences with the leper colony in Peru, encounters with Incan culture and society in Peru, and works he read over his journey were key encounters that shaped Guevara’s thoughts on inequality, exploitation, capitalism, and imperialism, thoughts that echo in his writings.

An underlying concern of Guevara’s is the inequality he sees along his journey. His writings reflect the goal to remove inequality and elevate the poor masses. In Motorcycle Diaries, Guevara became angry with the mining company for not taking all of the men for work and not giving them water when they were thirsty and in the desert. Another instance of inequality that influences Che is inequality in the leper colony. The nuns, nurses, and doctors all wear gloves when interacting with the lepers, despite the fact leprosy cannot be spread by contact. The glove rule combined with the nuns refusing dinner to those who do not attend mass anger Guevara. The separation between religious and non-religious, the natural separation of the leper colony from the “clean” by the Amazon river, and the message wearing gloves sends to the patients, spark realization of inequality throughout Latin America.

Guevara becomes a man of the people during his journey. In “Guerilla Warfare: A Method,” Guevara references the Second Declaration of Havana and declares the rural population is the majority of the population of Latin America and that it lives under horrible conditions of oppression and exploitation (144). Guevara argues guerilla warfare is a means to the end goal of the seizure of power (142), necessary to level inequality. Directly referencing the Second Declaration of Havana, Guevara supports the claim revolution is inevitable and argues the necessity of a revolution is determined by conditions of exploitation in the nation he saw present (145). Guevara also fights inequality in his writing “Man and Socialism.” Che believes in a capitalist society, man is tied to society as a whole and one can win only at the cost of others (370-371). Specifically, Che references the capitalistic United States’ elevation of Rockefeller. Guevara sees Rockefeller not as an example of the success of capitalism, but as a prime example of inequality. He poignantly reminds readers few mention or give thought to the depravity, suffering of others, and poverty Rockefeller caused and required to acquire his fortune (371). Capitalism, then, is a root cause of inequality and must be replaced by socialism.

Imperialism, also evil in Guevara’s eyes, rears its ugly head in the film and both of Guevara’s writings. Motorcycle Diaries depicts a scene where Guevara is sitting in Machu Picchu and comparing it to Lima. He notes the Incas had math and science and built an empire and beautiful Machu Picchu, now a ruin for the ages. The Spanish defeated the Incas because they had gunpowder and built Lima, living out their exploitatively imperialist ways and building a much less beautiful city. Guevara also talks to an indigenous woman who tells her story of working with livestock, not being able to attend school, and only knowing Quechua, the language of the Incas. Because she does not know the Spanish language and is indigenous by blood, she is not able to either attain the same resources of an education or earn the same amount of money as Spaniards. Drawing from his experiences, in “Guerilla Warfare: A Method,” Che discusses how in an agrarian feudal system and society, guerilla warfare may develop to destroy imperialism (143). Che mentions the “worldwide crisis of imperialism” (145) and states his observation of a “reactionary alliance between the bourgeoisie and the landowning class of each country which has a greater or lesser preponderance of feudalism” (146). The dictatorship oppresses the proletariat (146) and is therefore imperialistic in nature. Most importantly, Che provides reasons for the masses to agree with the necessity of guerilla action to win their struggle. His second reason of three in favor of guerilla warfare is the struggle of the poor masses is fighting an “alliance between local and foreign exploiters” (151).

In conjunction with Guevara’s belief in an alliance of exploiters, in “Guerilla Warfare: A Method,” Che later states the national bourgeoisie has united with North American imperialism, which inevitably leads to the clash of the exploited and the exploiters though guerilla warfare fighting traditional warfare (157). North American imperialism appears to be a specific reference to the United States, which entertains his writings in “Man and Socialism” of the dangers of a capitalist (in his mind, also imperialist) economic system. “Man and Socialism” says, “the commodity is the economic cell of capitalist society” (371). Guevara’s “new man” has transitioned from being a slave of capitalism. Man as a commodity ceases to exist in Guevara’s ideal. In Che’s new society, man acquires a new status where he is not working as a commodity, but works for the fulfillment of his social duty (372). “Man and Socialism” also states “man truly reaches his full human condition when he produces without being compelled by physical necessity to sell himself as a commodity” (373). In his writings, he fights against the feudal system rampant with exploitation, feudalism, and imperialism. Imperialism, feudal systems (wealth of landowners and therefore exploitation of rural masses), and capitalism must cease to exist. Guerilla warfare will transition societies from feudal, capitalist, and imperialistic to one of proletariat dictatorship (Guerilla Warfare 145), equality, and working not as a commodity but for the good of society and of the masses.

Motorcycle Diaries shows Guevara reading Marx and Marti. Subtle, yet significant, Che’s readings on his journey ultimately influence his writings. Guevara read works written by Marti, Marx, and Lenin, all arguing for a new socialist society. Guevara connects the ideas he reads with the stories of the people he encounters, thereby justifying (in his mind) a call to arms in the form of guerilla warfare. In his writings, he references and quotes these men. “Guerilla Warfare: A Method” quotes Lenin and Marti. Guevara quotes Lenin saying class antagonisms are irreconcilable and immediately argues for a complete and total revolution and the total elimination of bourgeois legality, otherwise the nation will once again be enslaved (146-147). Che also quotes Marti discussing when to wage war in a country. Guevara uses this to further fuel his argument violence and revolution in the form of guerilla warfare ought to be used when the moment arrives, and that moment is now (147). Marxist-Leninism influences his thoughts in “Man and Socialism” when Che discusses the Marxist ideal of man reaching his human potential when he ceases to sell himself as a commodity.

Che Guevara was a man who had to reconcile his seemingly compassionate nature with his ideological belief in the need for guerilla warfare and violence in revolution. His compassion is evident in his interactions with and listening to the stories of the people he encounters. Che has compassion on the sick in Motorcycle Diaries, despite the fact they are dying. The medical side of him shows his innate desire to cure humanity. Guevara’s ruthlessness, however, is evident in his writings, especially in “Guerilla Warfare: A Method.” Che’s innate desire to cure humanity, his inspiration by Marti, Marx, and Lenin, and his alignment of ideological views with those writers causes him to desire a violent overthrowing of the current state. Guerilla warfare is a necessary means to an end. The oppressive landholders, feudalism, imperialism, capitalism, and inequality must be reversed and overthrown. Che’s ultimate ideological shift remains rooted in his innate desire to cure, and though he clearly prescribes a violent revolution, he sincerely believes it is the only means to an end he believes will cure his continent.