A biography of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels by Che Guevara,
revealing Che's fervent interest in studying their lives and writing.
Che Guevara wrote this biographical introduction to Marx and Engels
after his 1965 mission to Africa. He studied the writing of the German
revolutionaries intensively, and in his travels he immersed himself in
the classic works of Marxism. He sought to draw lessons and inspiration
from Marx and Engels, and noted: "The Cuban Revolution takes up Marx at
the point where he put aside science to pick up his revolutionary
rifle."
Many of Che's comments about Marx might also refer to Che himself, such
as his observation: "Such a humane man whose capacity for affection
extended to all those suffering throughout the world, offering a message
of committed struggle and indomitable optimism, has been distorted by
history and turned into a stone idol."
With his tremendous grasp of theory and his own practical experience,
Che observes Marx's evolution through his own view of radical change in
Cuba, considering how it might apply to other countries after they
achieve their definitive liberation from colonialism.
