November 3, 2023 • 5 mins
"Guerrilla Warfare" by Ernesto "Che" Guevara is a seminal work that outlines the strategies and principles of revolutionary guerrilla warfare. Originally written in the early 1960s during Guevara's time as a key figure in the Cuban Revolution, the book provides an insightful and pragmatic guide for those seeking to wage guerrilla warfare in the pursuit of political and social change.
In this book, Che Guevara emphasizes the importance of committed and disciplined guerrilla fighters who are deeply rooted in the local population and terrain. He discusses the need for small, mobile, and well-trained units, capable of operating in rugged environments, and highlights the significance of ideology and motivation to maintain the morale of the fighters.
Guevara's "Guerrilla Warfare" delves into the complexities of urban and rural warfare, offering tactical guidance on ambushes, sabotage, and the practical aspects of sustaining a guerrilla movement. It also delves into the relationship between the guerrilla and the local population, stressing the importance of gaining their support.
While the book has been the subject of controversy, Guevara's insights into unconventional warfare and his commitment to the revolutionary cause have made it a significant resource for understanding guerrilla movements and their methods. "Guerrilla Warfare" continues to be studied by military strategists, historians, and those interested in the dynamics of insurgencies and revolutions.
CheGuevara GuerrillaWarfare RevolutionaryStrategy CubanRevolution GuerrillaTactics Insurgency PoliticalChange RevolutionaryThought WarfareManual MilitaryStrategy SocialJustice RevoluciónCubana LatinAmericanRevolution RevolutionaryIdeology GuerillaLeadership GuerrillaMovement TacticalInsights CombatManual Counterinsurgency HistoricalText
In this book, Che Guevara emphasizes the importance of committed and disciplined guerrilla fighters who are deeply rooted in the local population and terrain. He discusses the need for small, mobile, and well-trained units, capable of operating in rugged environments, and highlights the significance of ideology and motivation to maintain the morale of the fighters.
Guevara's "Guerrilla Warfare" delves into the complexities of urban and rural warfare, offering tactical guidance on ambushes, sabotage, and the practical aspects of sustaining a guerrilla movement. It also delves into the relationship between the guerrilla and the local population, stressing the importance of gaining their support.
While the book has been the subject of controversy, Guevara's insights into unconventional warfare and his commitment to the revolutionary cause have made it a significant resource for understanding guerrilla movements and their methods. "Guerrilla Warfare" continues to be studied by military strategists, historians, and those interested in the dynamics of insurgencies and revolutions.
CheGuevara GuerrillaWarfare RevolutionaryStrategy CubanRevolution GuerrillaTactics Insurgency PoliticalChange RevolutionaryThought WarfareManual MilitaryStrategy SocialJustice RevoluciónCubana LatinAmericanRevolution RevolutionaryIdeology GuerillaLeadership GuerrillaMovement TacticalInsights CombatManual Counterinsurgency HistoricalText
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Ernesto che Guevara, Guerrilla Warfare, nineteen sixty one two. Defense
of power that has been won Naturally, victory cannot be
considered as finally won until the army that sustained the
former regime has been systematically and totally smashed. Further, all
the institutions that sheltered the former regime should be wiped out.
(00:22):
But since this is a manual for guerrilla bands, we
will confine ourselves to analyzing the problem of national defense
in case of war or aggression against the new power.
The first development we meet is that world public opinion,
the respectable press, that truthful news agencies of the United
States and of the other countries belonging to the monopolies
will begin an attack on the liberated country, an attack
(00:45):
as aggressive and systematic as the laws of popular reform.
For this reason, not even a skeleton of personnel from
the for former army can be retained. Militarism, mechanical obedience,
traditional concepts of military duty, discipline, and morale cannot be
eradicated with one blow. Nor can the victors, who are
(01:05):
good fighters, decent and kind hearted, but at the same
time generally lacking education, be allowed to remain in contact
with the vanquished, who are proud of their specialized military
knowledge in some combat arm in mathematics, fortifications, logistics, et cetera,
and who hate the uncultured guerrilla fighters with all their might.
(01:25):
There are, of course, individual cases of military men who
break with the past and enter into the new organization
with a spirit of complete cooperation. These persons are doubly
useful because they unite with their love of the peoples
cause the knowledge necessary for carrying forward the creation of
the new Popular Army. As second step will be consequent
(01:46):
upon the first. As the old Army is smashed and
dismembered as an institution and its former posts occupied by
the new Army, it will be necessary to reorganize the
new force. Its former gorilla character operating under indae dependent
chiefs without planning can be changed, but it is very
important to emphasize that operational concepts of the gorilla band
(02:07):
should still serve as the guide to structure. These concepts
will determine the organic formation and the equipment of the
Popular Army. Care should be taken to avoid the error
that we fell into during the first months of trying
to put the New Popular Army into the old bottles
of military discipline and ancient organization. This error can cause
(02:28):
serious maladjustments and can lead to a complete lack of organization.
Preparation should begin immediately for the new defensive war that
will have to be fought by the People's Army accustomed
to independence of command within the common struggle and dynamism
in the management of each armed group. This army will
have two immediate problems. One will be the incorporation of
(02:50):
thousands of last hour revolutionaries, good and bad, whom it
is necessary to train for the rigors of gorilla life
and to give revolutionary indoctrination in accelerated and intensive courses.
Revolutionary indoctrination that gives the necessary ideological unity to the
Army of the people is the basis of national security,
both in the long and short runs. The other problem
(03:13):
is the difficulty of adaptation to the new organizational structure.
A corps to take charge of sowing the new truths
of the revolution among all the units of the army
should immediately be created. It should explain to the soldiers,
peasants and workers who have come out of the mass
of the people, the justice and the truth of each
revolutionary act the aspirations of the revolution, why there is
(03:35):
a fight, why so many companions have died without seeing
the victory? United to this intensive indoctrination, accelerated courses of
primary instruction that will begin to overcome a literacy should
also be given in order to improve the rebel army
gradually until it has become an instrument of high technical qualifications,
solid ideological structure, and magnificent combat power. Time will create
(03:59):
these three qualities. The military apparatus can continue to be
perfected as time goes on. The former combatants can be
given special courses to prepare them to serve as professional
military men, who will then give annual courses of instruction
to the people joining voluntarily or by conscription. This will
depend on national characteristics and rules cannot be stated. From
(04:22):
this point forward. We are expressing the opinion of the
command of the Rebel Army with respect to the policy
to be followed in the concrete Cuban situation. Given the
menace of foreign invasion, the conditions of the modern world
at the end of nineteen fifty nine or the beginning
of nineteen sixty, with the enemy in sight, analyzed, evaluated,
and awaited without fear, In other words, we are no
(04:44):
longer theorizing for the instruction of others about what has
already been done. Rather, we theorize about what has been
done by others in order to apply it ourselves in
our own national defense. As our problem is to theorize
about the Cuban case and locate and test our hypo
prothesis on the map of American realities, we present as
an epilog the following analysis of the Cuban situation, its present,
(05:07):
and its future.
Ernesto che Guevara, Guerrilla Warfare, nineteen sixty one two. Defense
of power that has been won Naturally, victory cannot be
considered as finally won until the army that sustained the
former regime has been systematically and totally smashed. Further, all
the institutions that sheltered the former regime should be wiped out.
(00:22):
But since this is a manual for guerrilla bands, we
will confine ourselves to analyzing the problem of national defense
in case of war or aggression against the new power.
The first development we meet is that world public opinion,
the respectable press, that truthful news agencies of the United
States and of the other countries belonging to the monopolies
will begin an attack on the liberated country, an attack
(00:45):
as aggressive and systematic as the laws of popular reform.
For this reason, not even a skeleton of personnel from
the for former army can be retained. Militarism, mechanical obedience,
traditional concepts of military duty, discipline, and morale cannot be
eradicated with one blow. Nor can the victors, who are
(01:05):
good fighters, decent and kind hearted, but at the same
time generally lacking education, be allowed to remain in contact
with the vanquished, who are proud of their specialized military
knowledge in some combat arm in mathematics, fortifications, logistics, et cetera,
and who hate the uncultured guerrilla fighters with all their might.
(01:25):
There are, of course, individual cases of military men who
break with the past and enter into the new organization
with a spirit of complete cooperation. These persons are doubly
useful because they unite with their love of the peoples
cause the knowledge necessary for carrying forward the creation of
the new Popular Army. As second step will be consequent
(01:46):
upon the first. As the old Army is smashed and
dismembered as an institution and its former posts occupied by
the new Army, it will be necessary to reorganize the
new force. Its former gorilla character operating under indae dependent
chiefs without planning can be changed, but it is very
important to emphasize that operational concepts of the gorilla band
(02:07):
should still serve as the guide to structure. These concepts
will determine the organic formation and the equipment of the
Popular Army. Care should be taken to avoid the error
that we fell into during the first months of trying
to put the New Popular Army into the old bottles
of military discipline and ancient organization. This error can cause
(02:28):
serious maladjustments and can lead to a complete lack of organization.
Preparation should begin immediately for the new defensive war that
will have to be fought by the People's Army accustomed
to independence of command within the common struggle and dynamism
in the management of each armed group. This army will
have two immediate problems. One will be the incorporation of
(02:50):
thousands of last hour revolutionaries, good and bad, whom it
is necessary to train for the rigors of gorilla life
and to give revolutionary indoctrination in accelerated and intensive courses.
Revolutionary indoctrination that gives the necessary ideological unity to the
Army of the people is the basis of national security,
both in the long and short runs. The other problem
(03:13):
is the difficulty of adaptation to the new organizational structure.
A corps to take charge of sowing the new truths
of the revolution among all the units of the army
should immediately be created. It should explain to the soldiers,
peasants and workers who have come out of the mass
of the people, the justice and the truth of each
revolutionary act the aspirations of the revolution, why there is
(03:35):
a fight, why so many companions have died without seeing
the victory? United to this intensive indoctrination, accelerated courses of
primary instruction that will begin to overcome a literacy should
also be given in order to improve the rebel army
gradually until it has become an instrument of high technical qualifications,
solid ideological structure, and magnificent combat power. Time will create
(03:59):
these three qualities. The military apparatus can continue to be
perfected as time goes on. The former combatants can be
given special courses to prepare them to serve as professional
military men, who will then give annual courses of instruction
to the people joining voluntarily or by conscription. This will
depend on national characteristics and rules cannot be stated. From
(04:22):
this point forward. We are expressing the opinion of the
command of the Rebel Army with respect to the policy
to be followed in the concrete Cuban situation. Given the
menace of foreign invasion, the conditions of the modern world
at the end of nineteen fifty nine or the beginning
of nineteen sixty, with the enemy in sight, analyzed, evaluated,
and awaited without fear, In other words, we are no
(04:44):
longer theorizing for the instruction of others about what has
already been done. Rather, we theorize about what has been
done by others in order to apply it ourselves in
our own national defense. As our problem is to theorize
about the Cuban case and locate and test our hypo
prothesis on the map of American realities, we present as
an epilog the following analysis of the Cuban situation, its present,
(05:07):
and its future.
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