April 12th, 2013, 2:14 pm
QuoteOriginally posted by: PolterQuoteOriginally posted by: Traden4AlphaQuoteOriginally posted by: FermionQuoteOriginally posted by: PolterQuoteDespite a brief interest in Gandhi, he was not a pacifist; indeed, he was a harsh, uncompromising figure who believed, with Mao, that power came out of the gun barrel. Mr. Castaneda's book includes a gripping passage about the self-serving justification Guevara made for carrying out executions within the ranks, even when he understood that the alleged offenses did not merit death.There's lots to analyse in this stupid remark.Firstly Che never claimed to be a pacifist as he knew full well that it would take a monumental armed struggle to dislodge the US from Latin America. To the contrary he was a very successful military commander in the liberation of Cuba responsible amongst other victories for taking the key town of Santa Clara. A more accurate term than "harsh" or "uncompromising" was disciplined. He sacrificed himself to the struggle and expected everyone else who served with him to do the same. The allegation of "executions within the ranks" comes without the citation of any actual event. However, in his autobiographical "Memories of the Cuban Revolutionary War" he describes in great detail and with great humanity the difficult decisions he had to make to protect his men and turn them into an effective fighting force. I don't recall all the details, but he tells a story of one of his junior officers, when disciplining a new recruit, caused a horrible accident. He held a threatening gun to the recruit's head which then went off accidentally killing the recruit. Che was then faced with disciplining the officer for his egregiously stupid behavior in the face of outrage and potential mutiny from the other (armed) recruits who witnessed the event. I can't remember for certain, but I think he ordered the execution of the officer and may even have done it himself. How many military officers could describe making such decisions with such open-hearted candour? I am very grateful that I have never been in such a situation myself. That probably makes me, unlike Che, a coward. But I think anyone who is going to judge Che needs to tell us what they would have done in his place. And, in general, any armchair critic who likes to character assassinate those who have given their lives fighting against oppression needs to be put in their place."The true revolutionary is guided by a huge sense of love" -- Che Guevara.It would seem that certain ends justify violent means but that we disagree on which ends are right and sufficiently important to justify said means.+1 -- executions without trial, firing squads, secret police, confinement of dissidents, and labor camps aren't exactly self-defense.What executions without trial? Do you claim that the people's courts were not qualified to try the collaborators, torturers and murderers? Are you against the death penalty? I am, but then I have never had the responsibility of governing a country that has just thrown out a vicious dictatorship.Every country in the world detains its dissidents. In the USA they are mostly black and use marijuana. This is not to condone it but to point out the double standard.As regards labor camps, it's a general principle throughout the world, that people who are able-bodied should work if they want to benefit from work. In fact every capitalist country is a giant labor camp. Are you going to talk about that too?