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Che Guevara Archive
A Neglected Interview with Che
Two Chinese Communist journalists, K'ung Mai and Ping An,
interviewed Che Guevara at his home on April 18, 1959, or, as they
put it, on "the 108th evening after the victory of the revolution."
Though Peking radio and the New China News Agency in London gave summaries
and a few direct quotations from it, the interview was not reported
in any of Peking's three leading newspapers. It was, however, published
in full in the lesser-known journal Shih-chieh Chih-shih
(World Knowledge) of June 5, 1959. This neglected interview apparently
never appeared in Cuba, nor was it translated from the Chinese into
any other language until William E. Ratliff published a complete English
translation, thoroughly documented and annotated, in the Hispanic
American Historical Review of August, 1966.
Reporter: Will you please tell us how
Cuba achieved her revolutionary victory?
Guevara: Certainly. Let us begin at the time I joined
the 26th of July Movement in Mexico. Before the dangerous crossing
on the Granma the views on society of the members of this organization
were very different. I remember, in a frank discussion within our
family in Mexico, I suggested we ought to propose a revolutionary
program to the Cuban people. I have never forgotten how one of the
participants in the attack on the Moncada army camp responded at that
time. He said to me: "Our action is very simple. What we want
to do is to initiate a coup d'etat. Batista pulled off a coup and
in only one morning took over the government. We must make another
coup and expel him from power . . . Batista has made a hundred concessions
to the Americans, and we will make one hundred and one." At that
time I argued with him, saying that we had to make a coup on the basis
of principle and yet at the same time understand clearly what we would
do after taking over the government. That was the thinking of a member
of the first stage of the 26th of July Movement. Those who held the
same view and did not change left our revolutionary movement later
and adopted another path.
From that time on, the small organization that later made the crossing
on the Granma encountered repeated difficulties. Besides the never-ending
suppression by the Mexican authorities, there was also a series of
internal problems, like those people who were adventurous in the beginning
but later used this pretext and that to break away from the military
expedition. Finally at the time of the crossing on the Granma there
remained only eighty-two men in the organization.
The adventurous thought of that time was the first and only catastrophe
encountered within the organization during the process of starting
the uprising. We suffered from the blow. But we gathered together
again in the Sierra Maestra. For many months the manner of our life
in the mountains was most irregular. We climbed from one mountain
peak to another, in a drought, without a drop of water. Merely to
survive was extremely difficult.
The peasants who had to endure the persecution of Batista's military
units gradually began to change their attitude toward us. They fled
to us for refuge to participate in our guerrilla units. In this way
our rank and file changed from city people to peasants. At that same
time, as the peasants began to participate in the armed struggle for
freedom of rights and social justice, we put forth a correct slogan
-land reform. This slogan mobilized the oppressed Cuban masses to
come forward and fight to seize the land. From this time on the first
great social plan was determined, and it later became the banner and
primary spearhead of our movement.
It was at just this time that a tragedy occurred in Santiago de Cuba;
our Comrade Frank País was killed. This produced a turning
point in our revolutionary movement. The enraged people of Santiago
on their own poured into the streets and called for the first politically
oriented general strike. Even though the strike did not have a leader
, it paralyzed the whole of Oriente Province. The dictatorial government
suppressed the incident. This movement, however, caused us to understand
that working class participation in the struggle to achieve freedom
was absolutely essential! We then began to carry out secret work among
the workers, in preparation for another general strike, to help the
Rebel Army seize the government.
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The victorious and bold secret activities of the Rebel Army shook
the whole country; all of the people were stirred up, leading to the
general strike on April 9 last year. But the strike failed because
of a lack of contact between the leaders and the working masses. Experience
taught the leaders of the 26th of .July Movement a valuable truth:
the revolution must not belong to this or that specific clique;, it
must be the undertaking of the whole body of the Cuban people. This
conclusion inspired the members of the movement to work their hardest,
both on the plains and in the mountains.
At this time we began to educate our forces in revolutionary theory
and doctrine. This all showed that the rebel movement had already
grown and was even beginning to achieve political maturity. . . .
Every person in the Rebel Army remembered his basic duties in the
Sierra Maestra and other areas: to improve the status of the peasants,
to participate in the struggle to seize land, and to build schools.
Agrarian law was tried for the first time; using revolutionary methods
we confiscated the extensive possessions of the officials of the dictatorial
government and distributed to the peasants all of the state-held land
in the area. At this time there rose up a peasant movement, closely
connected to the land, with land reform as its banner. . . .
To carry out thoroughly the law providing for the abolition of the
latifundia system will be the concern of the peasant masses themselves.
The present State Constitution provides for mandatory monetary compensation
whenever land is taken away, and land reform under it will be both
sluggish and difficult. Now after the victory of the revolution, the
peasants who have achieved their freedom must rise up in collective
action and democratically demand the abolition of the latifundia system
and the carrying out of a true and extensive land reform.
Reporter: What problems does the Cuban Revolution
now face, and what are its current responsibilities?
Guevara:
The first difficulty is that our new actions must be engaged in on
the old foundations. Cuba's anti-people regime and army are already
destroyed, but the dictatorial social system and economic foundations
have not yet been abolished. Some of the old people are still working
within the national structure. In order to protect the fruits of the
revolutionary victory and to enable the unending development of the
revolution we need to take another step forward in our work to rectify
and strengthen the government. Second, what the new government took
over was a rundown mess. When Batista fled he cleaned out the national
treasury, leaving serious difficulties in the national finances. .
. . Third, Cuba's land system is one in which latifundistas hold large
amounts of land, while at the same time many people are unemployed....
Fourth, there is still racial discrimination in our society which
is not beneficial to efforts to achieve the internal unification of
the people. Fifth, our house rents are the highest in the world; a
family frequently has to pay over a third of its income for rent.
To sum up, the reform of the foundations of the economy of the Cuban
society is very difficult and will take a long time.
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In establishing the order of society and in democratising the national
life, the new government has adopted many positive measures. We have
exerted great effort to restore the national economy. For example,
the government has passed a law lowering rents by fifty percent. Yesterday
a law regulating beaches was passed to cancel the privileges of a
small number of people who occupy the land and the seashores. . .
.
Most important is the land reform law, which will soon be promulgated.
Moreover. we will found a National Land Reform Institute. Our land
reform here is not yet very penetrating; it is not as thorough as
the one in China. Yet it must be considered the most progressive in
Latin America. . . .
Reporter:
How will Cuba struggle against domestic and foreign reactionary enemies?
What are the prospects of the revolution?
Guevara:
The Cuban Revolution is not a class revolution, but a liberation movement
that has overthrown a dictatorial, tyrannical government. The people
detested the American-supported Batista dictatorial government from
the bottoms of their hearts and so rose up and overthrew it. The revolutionary
government has received the broad support of all strata of people
because its economic measures have taken care of the requirements
of all and have gradually improved the livelihood of the people. The
only enemies remaining in the country are the latifundistas and the
reactionary bourgeoisie. They oppose the land reform that goes against
their own interests. These internal reactionary forces may get in
league with the developing provocation's of the foreign reactionary
forces and attack the revolutionary government.
The only foreign enemies who oppose the Cuban Revolution are the people
who monopolize capital and who have representatives in the United
States State Department. The victory and continuous development of
the Cuban Revolution has caused these people to panic. They do not
willingly accept defeat and are doing everything possible to maintain
their control over the Cuban government and economy and to block the
great influence of the Cuban Revolution on the people's struggles
in the other Latin American countries. . . .
Our revolution has set an example for every other country in Latin
America. The experience and lessons of our revolution have caused
the mere talk of the coffee houses to be dispersed like smoke. We
have proved that an uprising can begin even when there is only a small
group of fearless men with a resolute will; that it is only necessary
to gain the support of the people who can then compete with, and in
the end defeat, the regular disciplined army of the government. It
is also necessary to carry out a land reform. This is another experience
that our Latin American brothers ought to absorb. On the economic
front and in agricultural structure they are at the same stage as
we are.
The present indications are very clear that they are now preparing
to intervene in Cuba and destroy the Cuban Revolution. The evil foreign
enemies have an old method. First they begin a political offensive,
propagandising widely and saying that the Cuban people oppose Communism.
These false democratic leaders say that the United States cannot allow
a Communist country on its coastline. At the same time they intensify
their economic attack and cause Cuba to fall into economic difficulties.
Later they will look for a pretext to create some kind of dispute
and then utilize certain international organizations they control
to carry out intervention against the Cuban people. We do not have
to fear an attack from some small neighboring dictatorial country,
but from a certain large country, using certain international organizations
and a certain kind of pretext in order to intervene and undermine
the Cuban Revolution. . . .
The Agrarian Reform, which
Guevara speaks about in the future tense, became law on May 17, 1959,
i.e., in the interval between the granting of the interview and its
publication in China.
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