The partisan war
The partisan war (original title: La guerra de guerrillas ) is a 1960 published book by Ernesto Che Guevaras , which should convey the characteristics of the partisan war based on the experiences of the Cuban revolution .
The book was first published in German in 1962 in Berlin (East) by the military publishing house of the GDR and a short time later also in the Federal Republic by the Rixdorf publishing house in Berlin-Neukölln. In the East German edition, the instructive sketches and detailed military instructions from the original edition were missing.
In the book Guevara puts forward the thesis that the Cuban experiences can be generalized and recommends the guerrillas throughout Latin America as a model for social change. He developed the revolutionary concept of focus theory .
content
In addition to the foreword, in which Che Guevara writes about his fallen comrade Camilo Cienfuegos , the book is divided into four chapters with a total of 24 sub-chapters.
The first part outlines the essence of partisan warfare, its strategy and tactics . It conveys the combat strategy according to the conditions of the respective terrain as well as the peculiarities of urban fighting in the suburbs.
The second chapter deals with the central role of the partisan as a reformer of society. Numerous illustrations explain details of the partisan struggle; a description of the course of the war is based on the experience gained in Cuba.
The organization of the partisan front forms the third chapter, which deals with logistical questions, the organization of civil administration and the role of women in the revolution. According to Guevara, women should take an active part in revolutionary events:
“But the women can also be entrusted with other tasks in the partisan units, for example preparing food for the fighters. For a person who leads the difficult partisan life, it is very pleasant when instead of his self-prepared food he gets tasty meals. The women do the cooking and the various other domestic chores with great pleasure and thus ensure in their own way that there is a certain order in the life of the partisans in this respect too [...]. "
Che Guevara also goes into the role of propaganda and the importance of a reconnaissance service and explains the organizational structure of a partisan army in its development into a regular army in the course of the partisan war.
In this chapter you will find Guevara's famous quote: "A lie, no matter how well it is meant, is always worse than the humblest truth."
In the appendix, Che Guevara discusses the development of a partisan army, from the first conspiratorial meetings to weapons training. Finally he explains the situation in Cuba, its history and future.
review
In the Extra-Parliamentary Opposition (APO) of Western Europe during the 1960s up to the German RAF , some invoked Guevara's theses about guerrilla warfare or were inspired by contemporary witnesses such as Régis Debray . Guevara's Cuban-inspired theory that the perseverance of a few determined guerrillas in the countryside was enough to spark a revolution, proved disastrous as it cost him his own life. Its unconditionality, its emphasis on overthrowing and the violence it practiced, including direct participation in executions, were massively criticized and , according to his biographer Jorge Germán Castañeda , among others, proved to be a major obstacle in the development of South American social democracy.
Individual evidence
- ^ The time of October 11, 1963: "Partisan War" in the GDR .
- ^ Institute for History of the University of Vienna: Myth Guerilla - Che Guevara and the focus theory . Visited on January 19, 2009