An Phoblacht Reviews Che books 9-Oct-97 id VAA14624; Fri, 10 Oct 1997 21:24:41 -0400 Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit From APRN 09 October 97 Full edition of APRN is available on Thursdays at: http://www.irlnet.com/aprn/current/news/index.html ************************************************** APRN 09 October 97 Gripping revolutionary tale Che Cuevara: A Revolutionary Life By John Lee Anderson Price #25 (Hardback) Published by Bantam Press (UK) Published by Grove Press (USA) Pombo: A Man of Che's Guerrilla By Harry Villegas (Pombo) Published by Pathfinder Press Price: #14.45 (paperback) Ernesto Che Guevara, revolutionary, socialist, guerrilla fighter, economist, medical doctor and hero of the Cuban Revolution is probably one of the best known figures worldwide of any socialist or liberation movement. There have been many biographies and books written about the man, but in a A Revolutionary Life John Lee Anderson explores aspects of him not previously written about. It has to be the definitive account of his life. The book is 800 pages long, has three distinct parts - Unquiet Youth, Becoming Che and Making of a New Man - and 29 chapters and it definitley holds the reader's attention. Previously secret files and highly-placed sources from Havana Moscow and Washington are explored to build up the previously unseen picture of Che. The help of the Cuban Communist Party's Central Committee was also secured. It begins with Che's fascinating family background and his birth in Argentina in June 1928 and a brief turbulent history of that country; his asthma-affected youth in the Alta Galcia, a rural area of Argentina; his early political awareness in the late `30s (the Spanish Civil War had a deep effect on the liberal Guevaras); his teenage years in Cordoba during World War Two and his study of medicine in Bueno Aires. It was at university in the late `40s/early `50s that he began to explore socialism more fully. He consulted such works as Mussolini on Fascism, Stalin on Marxism, biographies of Lenin, The Communist Manifesto and Das Kapital. He was however to remain on the political peripheries, an observer rather than a participant. He had a ``grudging respect'' for Argentinian leader Peron and his wife Evita. The left in Argentina or opposition had little to offer Che. It was also during this period that Ernesto began his journeys in Argentina's interior where he discovered his two lifelong rituals: travelling and writing. Detailed accounts of his early adventures and travels around South America are included with excellent accounts and narration. He returned to an Argentina in grief. Five days before his return Evita Peron had died of cancer. He now hoped to finish studies as a doctor. He obtained his degree in June 1953 at the age of 25. In July 1953 he was off again, this time to Bolivia. After Bolivia he went to Guatemala. He was there during the CIA/US backed coup in 1954. He then went to Mexico City where he joined the Cubans he had first met in Guatemala. It was here he met Fidel and Raul Castro and the July 26 Movement and met his first wife in 1955. The book deals at length with the training for and execution of the expedition to Cuba to topple the US-backed Batista regime. From the Granma landing to the initial setbacks, from the early fighting in the Sierra Maestras to the eventual victory of the revolutionary forces in 1959. All the time the reader is kept captivated by all the developments, told in graphic detail. Interviews with people from as far afield as Moscow, Havana, Argentina, Paraguay, Bolivia and Spain give an intricate account of post-revolutionary Cuba and Che's role in the new government: his Minister of Industries position, Soviet contacts, Bay of Pigs, US/Soviet tug of war over Cuba's political direction and all the various contacts, conferences and international trips undertaken by Che. A chapter entitled The Long Good-Bye marks his leaving of Cuba and his longing to return to the ``revolutionary battlefield'', his tour of the African continent and his disastrous foray into the Congo in 1965. The ill-fated Bolivian expedition in 1966 was his last. It was here he met his death after his capture by the Bolivian military on 9 October 1967, exactly 30 years ago to the day. The author is to be commended for undertaking such a major work. Although a hefty #25, it is well worth having in any collection. oOo Pombo: A Man of Che's Guerrilla is an account of the ill-fated Bolivian campaign written by a young Cuban fighter who was with Che. He is now a brigadier in the Cuban Army. It is a comprehensive account, complete with maps and never before seen photographs. Villegas won't win any prizes for literary style.but it is a fascinating story and this is another book I would recommend. .....CIARAN HEAPHEY [I wouldn't criticize others' style, Ciaran...This reads like a high school book report. --NY Transfer] ------------------------------------------- Murder most foul In a series of articles, Aengus O'Snodaigh marks the 200th anniversary of the judicial murder of United Irish leader William Orr. More sympathy for the United Irish cause was created by a single act of brutality than by all the other repressive measures the English colonial masters carried out in Ireland in what became known as The Year of the Lost Opportunity: 1797. The judicial conspiracy and `public' hanging of United Irishman William Orr on 14 October 1797 became a rallying cry for Irish people until the risings the following year. Ireland in 1797 was under military siege. Ulster was under martial law and much of the rest of the country was feeling the brunt of English military repression as the authorities tried to force the hand of the United Irish leadership; `rise up now and we'll crush you, or we'll crush you anyway'. What frightened England most was not the United Irishmen's connections with the French revolutionary government or the failed landings in Bantry Bay in December 1796; it was the degree to which the United Irish had penetrated the military structures thus threatening their ability to take action in the event of a rising. Militia regiments, yeomanry companies and regular army soldiers were all found to have adopted the United Irish oath. With the full backing of England's direct rulers in Ireland, General Gerard Lake set about terrorising a suspect populace. Ulster was first proclaimed - placed under martial law - on 3 March. Within ten days, 5,462 guns, a sizeable portion of the United Irish armoury, was captured. To ensure the loyalty of the Yeomanry and Militia forces Orange Order members were encouraged to enlist into them, prejudices and all. A stricter martial law was announced on 17 May and this was further augmented on 25 June, which was the final day on which those who had sworn the United Irish oath could come forward to receive a pardon, take an oath of allegiance and give recognisances for future behaviour. But, even before this date the excesses and barbarity of the English forces against the United Irishmen, or those merely suspected, meant fewer were willing to come forward than on other occasions when England tried the same tactic. People coming forward to take the oath of loyalty were being arrested anyway, and those who surrendered arms were subject to the same uncontrolled wanton brutality as those who had not. The blatant bias of the courts in favour of the military drove many to seek protection in the United Irish oath, for they were persecuted whether they had taken it or not. The poorer Catholics suffered most in Lake's campaign of terror and they flocked into the republican movement, making the sought-after alliance between the United Irishmen and the Defence a reality. Hell bent on breaking the United Irish leadership the English were already plotting and scheming. Through the use of secret service agents and informers, the bribing, intimidating or terrorising of others they formulated evidence. In what has been described by the historian Dr Richard Madden as ``judicial murder'' the authorities conspired to do away with one William Orr, a popular United Irish leader in Country Antrim. A Presbyterian, one-time member of the Masonic Order and a member of a prosperous farming family in Farranshane in County Antrim, William Orr at the time of his arrest was a member of the Head Northern Committee of the United Irishmen and a regular contributor to its newspaper the Northern Star. Along with his two brothers James and Stewart, William organised the spread of republican ideals amongst his farm workers and neighbours who swore the united Irish oath. It as through his befriending of Samuel Turner of Newry at the HeadNorthern Committee that Orr came to the attention of the English. Turner was a turncoat who had accepted a bribe to reveal the inner workings of the movement. Unwittingly Orr, when revealing the secrets of the United Irish structure to his confrere was hastening his capture. Turner's role in Orr's arrest and the large amounts of blood money he received did not emerge till years later. Next week: Orr's arrest and trial ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytire-10.10.97-21:24:38-7251