© 2009
Che Guevara The Economics of Revolution
Authors: Yaffe, H.
About this book
About the authors
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Che Guevara remains an iconic figure, four decades after his death. Yet his most significant contribution - his work as a member of the Cuban government - is rarely discussed. This book explores his impact on Cuba's economy, through fascinating new archival material and interviews.
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Table of contents (10 chapters)
- Introduction
- Revolutionary Consolidation and the Emergence of the BFS
- The Great Debate
- Education, Training and Salaries
- Administrative Control, Supervision and Investment
- Collectivising Production and Workers’ Participation
- Science and Technology
- Consciousness and Psychology
- Critique of the Soviet Manual of Political Economy
- Guevara’s Legacy in Cuba
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Citations18
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Bibliographic Information
Book TitleChe GuevaraBook SubtitleThe Economics of RevolutionAuthors
H. YaffeCopyright2009PublisherPalgrave Macmillan UKCopyright HolderHelen YaffeeBook ISBN978-0-230-23387-4DOI10.1057/9780230233874Hardcover ISBN978-0-230-21820-8
------
Review
The book is an exciting, well written and well-documented narrative and analysis of Che's economic thought, based on years of research with primary (interviews and unpublished files) and secondary sources What is unique about Yaffe's book is her impressive use of new, until now unexplored, Cuban sources: archival material including manuals, annual reports, factory inspection reports, transcripts of the internal meetings at the Ministry of Industry, led by Guevara, and last but not least, interviews with nearly 50 of Che's closest collaborators. In this sense, it is safe to suggest that Helen Yaffe's book is to date the most complete account of the economic thought of Ernesto 'Che' Guevara. - Claes Brundenius, Journal of Latin American Studies
"Che Guevara, whose unorthodox economic philosophy has recently been uncovered in a brilliant book by Helen Yaffe, Che Guevara: The Economics of Revolution..." - Richard Gott, The Guardian
'This is really an excellent study. I suspect that few 'bourgeois' economists would be even slightly persuaded by Yaffe's arguments, much less Guevara's, but considered as a monograph, Yaffe's book is exhaustively researched, interesting, coherent, well-organized and written, novel, and, frankly, quite provocative in places.' - Richard J. Salvucci, Economic History Review
'The importance of this book is in its knowledge of Che Guevara, and in improving the theory of socialist development, as a theory in construction and permanent enrichment given new contemporary experiences accumulating in difficult conditions in the 21st century. The result is a book that cannot be ignored, a book that should be translated into Spanish and other languages as soon as possible. It is not perfect, as no human work can be; but everyone who reads it should feel the duty of participating in the discussion and analysis that Helen Yaffe presents in this work, with the same rigour and objectivity with which she has done so.' - Dr Jesus Pastor Garcia Brigos, London School of Economics, IDEAS, Latin America Programme
' Helen Yaffe's Che Guevara: The Economics of Revolution must represent one of the most important contributions to debates about Marxist economics of recent years. As a highly original exposition of Guevara's personal thinking and achievements in the broader effort to create a revolutionary economy, Yaffe's work fills an important gap in the economic history of post-revolutionary Cuba. But as a reminder of the concrete commitment to revolutionary change that Guevara has been immortalised for in such idealistic terms, amid renewed debate about the form taken by global capitalism and the revival of state ownership and redistribution across Latin America, this book makes essential reading.' - Gavin O'Toole, Latin American Review of Books
'Thanks to Helen Yaffe, readers in the English-speaking world now have a chance to discover a Che who was a profound economic thinker and doer, not in addition to his life as a revolutionary, but as an inseparable part of it. Even a much longer review could not give an adequate idea of the scope of this work, based upon hundreds of books, documents, reports and interviews. It provides a mass of detail in areas from science to workers' participation, from investment to psychology, without ever losing track of the main threads or becoming bogged down. I can't think of enough superlatives to describe it.' - Allen Myers, Direct Action
'With the passion of an activist and the erudition of an academic, Helen Yaffe's new book examines Che's contribution to Cuba's economic development and socialist political economy.' - Enrico Tortolano, Tribune
'Helen Yaffe's book demonstrates how good history can make a timely and valuable contribution to contemporary debates. The socialist thought of 'Che' Ernesto Guevara (on top of his heroic guerrilla and internationalist role) has special relevance for the current global economic crisis and the strong resurgence of socialist-inspired 'alternatives' in Latin America.' - Tim Anderson, University of Sydney
'This book is a rarity in studies of Che Guevara, by offering something genuinely new that goes well beyond the familiar tendency to romanticise or to present one-dimensional images. Using fascinating new sources, Yaffe gives us a detailed and knowledgeable picture of a different Che - the minister and economic manager, grappling with the real (as opposed to theoretical) challenges and practicalities of creating a revolutionary economy in an underdeveloped society, but doing so without losing sight of his genuinely innovative challenge to socialist orthodoxy. The result is a valuable contribution to our understanding of Guevara but also to debates on the Left.' - Tony Kapcia, Professor of Latin American History, University of Nottingham, UK
'Yaffe has no full peers. This book presents an insightful and fascinating exposition of the path of development of Guevara's economic ideas. Yaffe's book makes an unparalleled stride to fill a gaping hole in the literature: Guevara as an economic theorist and practitioner.' - Frank Thompson, Lecturer in Economics, University of Michigan, US
'Helen Yaffe has produced a very important book which can only be described as essential reading for all socialists. On the basis of 60 interviews with Che's former colleagues and extensive archival research, including consultation of Guevara's crucial notes for a critique of the Soviet Manual of Political Economy, Yaffe gives us unprecedented insight into his vital contribution to the Cuban Revolution and to Marxist theory. One thing is certain: for anyone engaged in the struggle for a better world, the thought of Che Guevara is a fundamental point of departure, and this book is an essential work of reference.' - Diana Raby, Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Latin American Studies, University of Liverpool, UK
'The book captures the enormous energy of Guevara...This is an important and interesting book...' - The Spokesman
'...a book that is well researched and offers an innovative portrait of one of the most unique individuals of the twentieth century.' Bulletin of Latin American Research.
Read less
About the Author
HELEN YAFFE completed her doctoral thesis in the Economic History Department at the London School of Economics, with an ESRC studentship. She then went on to an ESRC Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Institute for the Study of the Americas, University of London and is now a Latin American history Teaching Fellow at University College London. She has worked on a variety of newspapers and publications and has presented papers at conferences and seminars. She has an article in the March 2009 issue of the journal Latin American Perspectives - a special issue commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution.
---------------
Product details
Paperback: 354 pages
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan; 2009 edition (February 25, 2009)
----------------
Top Reviews
MrWhooHoo
5.0 out of 5 starsRun, do not walk, to get your copy of this bookMarch 18, 2009
Format: Paperback
Friends in Britain sent me an copy of this book before its US release. Helen Yaffe has given us a wonderful and timely present in this superb book. This is a well written, thorough study of the work and thought of the `Unknown Che' - the Che who worked tirelessly behind the scenes in the early years of the revolution, leading the struggle to consolidate the Cuban economy and defend it from the sabotage, disruption and destruction created by imperialism. It is based on dozens of interviews with Che's deputies, collaborators and subordinates, on previously confidential documents and on a wide range of primary and secondary materials difficult to find outside Cuba.
This could have been a dull dense boring scholarly tract; instead it is a lively, dense, exciting adventure through the early years of the Cuban revolution. We witness the incredible creativity and sacrifice of Cuban workers to free themselves from the grip of imperialism. We eavesdrop on the discussions on the Law of Value led by Che - the `Great Debate'. We discover Che's innermost thoughts about socialist transition as he reads and annotates the Soviet Manual of Political Economy. We watch the development and implementation of the Budgetary Finance System, in opposition to the soviet Auto-Financing System. We learn about the extraordinary steps taken to replace the skilled professionals and technicians who fled to the USA rather than support their country, about the preparation to deploy the most advanced scientific and technological techniques in the service of the Cuban revolution. It seems almost impossible to exhaust the range of activities that Che left his mark on and little in the economic sphere that Che left untouched.
It is a stimulating book - I found myself reaching for Lenin's writings on the economic transition thinking, `isn't that what Lenin meant when ...?' and rereading parts of Capital. But this is not a book for the armchair commissars of academic Marxism. `Analysts had interpreted Cuba's economic stagnation in various ways; the point, however, was to change it'(p31). Yaffe brings the Cuban workers struggle to change the economy vividly to life with illuminating examples and with her interviewees' reminiscences. This is a serious book, not a light read and is for those prepared to put some effort into really understanding what was happening in the early years of the revolution. They will be paid back tenfold.
In future it will be quite impossible to conduct an intelligent discussion about Che Guevara, about the early years of the Cuban revolution or about the transition to socialism in underdeveloped countries without having read Che Guevara - the Economics of Revolution. Run do not walk to get your hands on a copy of this book; study it, do not just read it; above all, enjoy it and learn from it.
Read less
10 people found this helpful
Citations18
Mentions18
Readers11
Reviews9
Downloads995
Provided by Bookmetrix
Bibliographic Information
Book TitleChe GuevaraBook SubtitleThe Economics of RevolutionAuthors
H. YaffeCopyright2009PublisherPalgrave Macmillan UKCopyright HolderHelen YaffeeBook ISBN978-0-230-23387-4DOI10.1057/9780230233874Hardcover ISBN978-0-230-21820-8
------
Review
The book is an exciting, well written and well-documented narrative and analysis of Che's economic thought, based on years of research with primary (interviews and unpublished files) and secondary sources What is unique about Yaffe's book is her impressive use of new, until now unexplored, Cuban sources: archival material including manuals, annual reports, factory inspection reports, transcripts of the internal meetings at the Ministry of Industry, led by Guevara, and last but not least, interviews with nearly 50 of Che's closest collaborators. In this sense, it is safe to suggest that Helen Yaffe's book is to date the most complete account of the economic thought of Ernesto 'Che' Guevara. - Claes Brundenius, Journal of Latin American Studies
"Che Guevara, whose unorthodox economic philosophy has recently been uncovered in a brilliant book by Helen Yaffe, Che Guevara: The Economics of Revolution..." - Richard Gott, The Guardian
'This is really an excellent study. I suspect that few 'bourgeois' economists would be even slightly persuaded by Yaffe's arguments, much less Guevara's, but considered as a monograph, Yaffe's book is exhaustively researched, interesting, coherent, well-organized and written, novel, and, frankly, quite provocative in places.' - Richard J. Salvucci, Economic History Review
'The importance of this book is in its knowledge of Che Guevara, and in improving the theory of socialist development, as a theory in construction and permanent enrichment given new contemporary experiences accumulating in difficult conditions in the 21st century. The result is a book that cannot be ignored, a book that should be translated into Spanish and other languages as soon as possible. It is not perfect, as no human work can be; but everyone who reads it should feel the duty of participating in the discussion and analysis that Helen Yaffe presents in this work, with the same rigour and objectivity with which she has done so.' - Dr Jesus Pastor Garcia Brigos, London School of Economics, IDEAS, Latin America Programme
' Helen Yaffe's Che Guevara: The Economics of Revolution must represent one of the most important contributions to debates about Marxist economics of recent years. As a highly original exposition of Guevara's personal thinking and achievements in the broader effort to create a revolutionary economy, Yaffe's work fills an important gap in the economic history of post-revolutionary Cuba. But as a reminder of the concrete commitment to revolutionary change that Guevara has been immortalised for in such idealistic terms, amid renewed debate about the form taken by global capitalism and the revival of state ownership and redistribution across Latin America, this book makes essential reading.' - Gavin O'Toole, Latin American Review of Books
'Thanks to Helen Yaffe, readers in the English-speaking world now have a chance to discover a Che who was a profound economic thinker and doer, not in addition to his life as a revolutionary, but as an inseparable part of it. Even a much longer review could not give an adequate idea of the scope of this work, based upon hundreds of books, documents, reports and interviews. It provides a mass of detail in areas from science to workers' participation, from investment to psychology, without ever losing track of the main threads or becoming bogged down. I can't think of enough superlatives to describe it.' - Allen Myers, Direct Action
'With the passion of an activist and the erudition of an academic, Helen Yaffe's new book examines Che's contribution to Cuba's economic development and socialist political economy.' - Enrico Tortolano, Tribune
'Helen Yaffe's book demonstrates how good history can make a timely and valuable contribution to contemporary debates. The socialist thought of 'Che' Ernesto Guevara (on top of his heroic guerrilla and internationalist role) has special relevance for the current global economic crisis and the strong resurgence of socialist-inspired 'alternatives' in Latin America.' - Tim Anderson, University of Sydney
'This book is a rarity in studies of Che Guevara, by offering something genuinely new that goes well beyond the familiar tendency to romanticise or to present one-dimensional images. Using fascinating new sources, Yaffe gives us a detailed and knowledgeable picture of a different Che - the minister and economic manager, grappling with the real (as opposed to theoretical) challenges and practicalities of creating a revolutionary economy in an underdeveloped society, but doing so without losing sight of his genuinely innovative challenge to socialist orthodoxy. The result is a valuable contribution to our understanding of Guevara but also to debates on the Left.' - Tony Kapcia, Professor of Latin American History, University of Nottingham, UK
'Yaffe has no full peers. This book presents an insightful and fascinating exposition of the path of development of Guevara's economic ideas. Yaffe's book makes an unparalleled stride to fill a gaping hole in the literature: Guevara as an economic theorist and practitioner.' - Frank Thompson, Lecturer in Economics, University of Michigan, US
'Helen Yaffe has produced a very important book which can only be described as essential reading for all socialists. On the basis of 60 interviews with Che's former colleagues and extensive archival research, including consultation of Guevara's crucial notes for a critique of the Soviet Manual of Political Economy, Yaffe gives us unprecedented insight into his vital contribution to the Cuban Revolution and to Marxist theory. One thing is certain: for anyone engaged in the struggle for a better world, the thought of Che Guevara is a fundamental point of departure, and this book is an essential work of reference.' - Diana Raby, Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Latin American Studies, University of Liverpool, UK
'The book captures the enormous energy of Guevara...This is an important and interesting book...' - The Spokesman
'...a book that is well researched and offers an innovative portrait of one of the most unique individuals of the twentieth century.' Bulletin of Latin American Research.
Read less
About the Author
HELEN YAFFE completed her doctoral thesis in the Economic History Department at the London School of Economics, with an ESRC studentship. She then went on to an ESRC Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Institute for the Study of the Americas, University of London and is now a Latin American history Teaching Fellow at University College London. She has worked on a variety of newspapers and publications and has presented papers at conferences and seminars. She has an article in the March 2009 issue of the journal Latin American Perspectives - a special issue commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution.
---------------
Product details
Paperback: 354 pages
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan; 2009 edition (February 25, 2009)
----------------
Top Reviews
MrWhooHoo
5.0 out of 5 starsRun, do not walk, to get your copy of this bookMarch 18, 2009
Format: Paperback
Friends in Britain sent me an copy of this book before its US release. Helen Yaffe has given us a wonderful and timely present in this superb book. This is a well written, thorough study of the work and thought of the `Unknown Che' - the Che who worked tirelessly behind the scenes in the early years of the revolution, leading the struggle to consolidate the Cuban economy and defend it from the sabotage, disruption and destruction created by imperialism. It is based on dozens of interviews with Che's deputies, collaborators and subordinates, on previously confidential documents and on a wide range of primary and secondary materials difficult to find outside Cuba.
This could have been a dull dense boring scholarly tract; instead it is a lively, dense, exciting adventure through the early years of the Cuban revolution. We witness the incredible creativity and sacrifice of Cuban workers to free themselves from the grip of imperialism. We eavesdrop on the discussions on the Law of Value led by Che - the `Great Debate'. We discover Che's innermost thoughts about socialist transition as he reads and annotates the Soviet Manual of Political Economy. We watch the development and implementation of the Budgetary Finance System, in opposition to the soviet Auto-Financing System. We learn about the extraordinary steps taken to replace the skilled professionals and technicians who fled to the USA rather than support their country, about the preparation to deploy the most advanced scientific and technological techniques in the service of the Cuban revolution. It seems almost impossible to exhaust the range of activities that Che left his mark on and little in the economic sphere that Che left untouched.
It is a stimulating book - I found myself reaching for Lenin's writings on the economic transition thinking, `isn't that what Lenin meant when ...?' and rereading parts of Capital. But this is not a book for the armchair commissars of academic Marxism. `Analysts had interpreted Cuba's economic stagnation in various ways; the point, however, was to change it'(p31). Yaffe brings the Cuban workers struggle to change the economy vividly to life with illuminating examples and with her interviewees' reminiscences. This is a serious book, not a light read and is for those prepared to put some effort into really understanding what was happening in the early years of the revolution. They will be paid back tenfold.
In future it will be quite impossible to conduct an intelligent discussion about Che Guevara, about the early years of the Cuban revolution or about the transition to socialism in underdeveloped countries without having read Che Guevara - the Economics of Revolution. Run do not walk to get your hands on a copy of this book; study it, do not just read it; above all, enjoy it and learn from it.
Read less
10 people found this helpful
-------------
See
discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/248981762
Article in Development
in Practice · May 2010
--
CITATIONS READS
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author:
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Helen Yaffe
Che Guevara:
The Economics of Revolution
Basingstoke,
UK: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009, ISBN: 978-0-230-21821-5, 354 pp.
Helen Yaffe’s book demonstrates how good history can make a
timely and valuable contribution to contemporary debates. The socialist thought
of ‘Che’ Ernesto Guevara (on top of his heroic guerrilla and internationalist
role) has special relevance for the current global economic crisis and the
strong resurgence of socialist-inspired ‘alternatives’ in Latin America.
I say ‘good history’ because, while the book deals with the
debates in Cuba in the early 1960s when Che was an economic minister and a
banker, the author engages with her subject more as historian than protagonist.
The surprising thing is that, 40 years after the death of Che, a young
historian can engage in substantial primary research, by way of 31 interviews
with Che’s former colleagues. Generally, the breadth of research is impressive
and independent.
The major themes of Che’s economic and socialist thought, as
identified by this book, were post-revolution ‘consolidation’ and creation of a
new budgetary system, and the ‘great debate’ in 1963–4 over the form of Cuban
socialism and its consequences in education, salaries, administration, worker
participation, and science. This discussion has only relatively recently
attracted greater attention in the English-speaking world. The impact of
earlier works such as Huberman and Sweezy’s Socialism in Cuba
(Monthly Review Press, 1969), Silverman’s compilation Man
and Socialism in Cuba: The Great Debate (Atheneum, 1971), and Bernardo’s The
Theory of Moral Incentives in Cuba (University of Alabama Press, 1971) was
buried by the second cold war and the post-1989 triumphalism of the neoliberal
project.
Nevertheless, outside interest re-appeared as Cuba’s ‘great
debate’ was addressed in the English version of Carlos Tablada’s book Che
Guevara: Economics and Politics in the Transition to Socialism (Pathfinder,
1998). Later, a compilation of writings by Che and his contemporaries, called The
Great Debate on Political Economy (Ocean Press, 2006) renewed interest. Such
works include discussion of Che’s criticism (at times stinging) of the Soviet
model. Helen Yaffe’s book adds a coherent and independent voice and overview of
this discussion.
While Che’s criticism of the Soviet system is well known,
outside Cuba the persistence of this critical and independent line of thought
within Cuban socialism is less well known. In the English-speaking world, in
particular, the propaganda wars against Cuba (combined with nearly three
decades of trade-dependency on the Soviet bloc) created crude stereotypes that
portrayed it as a Soviet acolyte, with little capacity for independent thought.
Yet, as Helen Yaffe points out, the human and moral themes associated with Che
have been re-asserted in Cuban socialism from the mid-1980s ‘rectification’
period onwards. Those who study the thought of Jose Marti and its impact on
Fidel Castro would saysuch themeshadnever disappeared. Even the nature of this
‘great debate’ has been variously interpreted. Yaffe notes that some consider
it an argument over the ‘operation of the law of value under socialism’, others
a ‘disagreement about the use of moral incentives’, others a conflict between
Cuban identity and an utopian view of the ‘new man’, still others a debate
about ‘the level of financial (de)centralisation of enterprises’ (p. 49). The
US perspective most often reduced such debates to simple personal power
struggles. The author herself gives some weight to the debate about the method
of state finance.
This book provides access to a debate that most outsiders
never knew existed nor thought possible – that a small country would engage in
its own theoretical and practical debate over how best to build a new and
Development in Practice,
Volume 20, Number 3, May 2010 463
Book Reviews
shared economic system, in a hostile, imperial world
determined not to tolerate any alternative. In a story that links to the
current financial crisis, she reminds us that Che, as chief banker, prior to
the US economic blockade, removed all reserves from the USA (those that had not
been stolen by Batista and his cronies), placing them in Swiss and Canadian
banks (p. 26). This was a precursor to the current financial reorganisation
within the ALBA group of seven Latin American countries, and which Venezuelan
President Hugo Chavez attributes to Fidel Castro’s advice.
Helen Yaffe links Che’s contributions to the current
context, particularly in the last chapter by reference to a ‘new great debate’
under Raul Castro. Yet unlike the simplistic ‘Fidel versus Raul’ theories, she
grounds that discussion in long-standing dilemmas of socialist construction,
unfamiliar to those who grew up in the neo-liberal world.
While the entry point to this discussion is the
extraordinary and multi-faceted personality of Ernesto Guevara, much less is
said of the influence of Jose Marti and Fidel Castro. While Che linked Marxist
thought to his ideas of the ‘new man’, it was Marti and Fidel who hammered out
the themes of unity, education, and popular conscience. One of them had a powerful
impact on the young Che, both in his revolutionary ideals and his socialist
thought. Fidel Castro remains one of the most remarkable and misrepresented
political leaders of the last century. Perhaps, in the future, Helen Yaffe will
apply her forensic skills to assess his contributions.
Tim Anderson
Political Economy, University of Sydney,
Australia
# 2010 Tim Anderson
464 Development in
Practice, Volume 20, Number 3, May 2010
----
Che Guevara: The Economics of Revolution
‘I didn’t know Che had any economic ideas’ has been a frequent reply I’ve received when telling people about the topic of my research and my book Che Guevara: The Economics of Revolution. It reflects the caricature of Guevara as a romantic guerrilla fighter with idealist notions of how human beings are motivated and how social change is brought about. The consequence is to overlook his contribution to Cuba’s economic development and socialist political economy debates and hence to lose any lessons that can be drawn from his endeavours.
It censors the complexity of economic decisions and debates within the Cuban Revolution, as if the revolutionaries who seized power on 1 January 1959 were chaotic adventurers whose economic policies were based on a naïve ideological agenda and not reflecting concrete conditions and constraints in the process of development. For example, Cuba’s incorporation into the socialist bloc’s trade relations, its continued dependence on sugar as a principal export and the importation of ‘backward’ technology from the socialist countries are viewed as political preferences — with little recognition made of the limits placed on Cuba’s development path by the imposition of the US blockade or the denial of credit from the Western countries. It also plays into the interpretation that sees Fidel Castro as synonymous with the Revolution, so that all policies were generated by this one omnipresent individual according to his whims, psychological traits and struggle for domination.
Che Guevara and Orlando Borrego in 1960 carrying out voluntary labour in the Havana docks. Orlando Borrego with Helen Yaffe in 2008 in Havana. |
The research carried out for this book involves interviews with 50 of Guevara’s colleagues during his work as President of the National Bank of Cuba (1959-1960), head of the Department of Industrialisation (1959-1961) and Minister of Industries (1961-1965). These individuals were not passive or homogenous. They were as varied and complicated as the rest of us. Their ideas, values and capacities evolved with their experience of working at his side. From their recollections springs a dynamic and rich history of grappling with problems, searching for solutions and experimenting with policies, structures and techniques. Guevara’s own voice emerges through them — giving us an insight into the development of his own work and ideas. It is also recorded in the internal meeting transcripts, reports, speeches, articles and letters consulted during the research for this book.
In late September 2008, George W Bush, perhaps the most neo-liberal, anti-regulation, aggressively imperialist US president in history, declared: ‘The market is not functioning properly.’ What did he mean? The market is failing to secure the continued accumulation and expansion of capital — threatening a crisis of the entire capitalist system and throwing into question the most basic premises of bourgeois economics. For decades it has been hammered into us that only the free market ensures efficiency, productivity and growth — the profit motive via cutthroat competition, deregulation and removing all constraints to ‘rational economic man’. But what form of rationality justifies the fact that 200 individuals have more wealth than over 40% of the world’s population? What logic leaves 12 million children under the age of five to die every year from malnutrition, diarrhoea and easily preventable diseases? Is this a rational way for humanity to organise production and distribution — making hundreds of species extinct each day and leading the world towards an ecological disaster?
If the market isn’t functioning what alternatives are there? There have been few such poignant moments in history to talk about the economics of revolution. In rescuing Guevara’s work as a member of the Cuban government, this book hopes to place his economic ideas firmly on the table for consideration in the search for alternatives.
Helen Yaffe, a Teaching Fellow in Latin American history at University College London, is the author of Che Guevara: The Economics of Revolution. She has an article in the March 2009 issue of the journal Latin American Perspectives, a special issue commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution. This article first appeared as an entry in her blog on 12 December 2008 under a creative commons 2.5 license.
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