Revolutionary Love in Jose Marti and Che Guevara: Why Developers Should Care about Imperialism and Philosophy

Abstract

Che Guevara famously claimed that a true revolutionary is motivated by love. Some see a contradiction between this statement and Guevaras defense of armed struggle. Nineteenth century Cuban philosopher, JosMart also argued for the revolutionary force of love while at the same time, twenty years before Lenin, becoming the first out-right anti-imperialist (Retamar 2006, 13). I argue that Guevaras critics ignore the bigger philosophical picture, particularly issues about understanding. If development theorists, for example, were more aware of imperialism, as they should be, they might recognize the philosophical issues and better respect philosophers of the South, such as Guevara and Mart