Cuba: Exceptional Case or Vanguard in the Struggle Against Colonialism
Cuba: Exceptional Case or
Vanguard in the Struggle Against
Colonialism?
By Che Guevara
[...]
...Some sectors, in good faith or with axes to grind, claim to see in
the Cuban Revolution a series of exceptional origins and features
whose importance for this great historical event they even inflate
to that of the decisive factor . They speak of the exceptionalism of
the Cuban Revolution as compared with the course of other
progressive parties in America and conclude therefrom that the
form and road of the Cuban Revolution are unique and that in the
other countries of America the historic transition of the peoples
will be different.
We accept that there are exceptions which give the Cuban
Revolution its peculiar characteristics. It is a clearly established
fact that every revolution has this type of specific factor, but it is
no less an established fact that all of them follow laws which
society cannot violate. Let us analyze, then, the factors of this
purported exceptionalism.
file:///F|/litany/pdfs/cheexceptionalcase.htm (1 of 12) [6/19/2002 3:08:24 AM]
Cuba: Exceptional Case or Vanguard in the Struggle Against Colonialism
The first, perhaps the most important, the most original, is that
cosmic force called Fidel Castro Ruz, a name that in a few years
has attained historic proportions. The future will accord our Prime
Minister's merits their exact place, but to us they appear
comparable to those of the greatest historic figures of all Latin
America. And what are the exceptional circumstances about the
personality of Fidel Castro? There are various features of his life
and character which make him stand out far above all his
compa?eros and followers. Fidel is a man of such tremendous
personality that he would gain the leadership in whatever
movement he participated in; and so it has been throughout his
career from his student days to the premiership of our country and
of the oppressed peoples of America. He has the quali