Guerrilla Warfare
By Ernesto "Che" Guevara
Written in 1961
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER I: general principles of guerrilla warfare
1 Essence of guerrilla warfare
2 Guerrilla strategy
4 Guerrilla tactics
5 Warfare on favorable ground
6 Suburban warfare
CHAPTER II: THE GUERRILLA BAND
1 Guerilla fighter: social reformer
2 Guerilla fighter as combatant
3 Organization of a guerrilla band
5 Beginning, development, and end of a guerilla war
CHAPTER III: Organization of a guerilla front
1 Supply
2 Civil organization
3 The role of a woman
4 Medical problems
5 Sabotage
6 War industry
7 Propaganda
8 Intelligence
9 Training and indoctrination
10 The organization of the army of a revolutionary movement
APPENDICES
1 Organization in secret of the first guerrilla band
2 Defense of power that has been won
Epilogue
1 Analysis of Cuban situation, it's present and its future
CHAPTER I: GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF
GUERRILLA WARFARE
1. ESSENCE OF GUERRILLA WARFARE
The armed victory of the Cuban people over the Batista dictatorship was not only the triumph of
heroism as reported by the newspapers of the world; it also forced a change in the old dogmas
concerning the conduct of the popular masses of Latin America. It showed plainly the capacity of
the people to free themselves by means of guerrilla warfare from a government that oppresses
them.
We consider that the Cuban Revolution contributed three fundamental lessons to the conduct of
revolutionary movements in America. They are:
-Popular forces can win a war against the army.
-It is not necessary to wait until all conditions for making revolution exist; the insurrection can
create them.
-In underdeveloped America the countryside is the basic area for armed fighting.
Of these three propositions the first two contradict the defeatist attitude
of revolutionaries or pseudo-revolutionaries who remain inactive and take re