Critical Notes on Political Economy: A Revolutionary Humanist Approach to Marxist Economics

The first publication in any language of Che Guevara’s controversial and critical analysis of the Soviet economic model. As minister for industry and head of Cuba’s National Bank, Che Guevara prepared this manuscript to compare the Cuban experience with that of the Soviet bloc. With extensive appendices, this is the complete anthology of Che Guevara on political economy. Writing in 1965, Che explained his critique was necessary “because Marxist research in the field of the economy is proceeding along dangerous routes. The intransigent dogmatism of the Stalin era has been succeeded by an inconsistent pragmatism.” He justified what he described as his “heresy” by pointing to Marx’s statement in the first few pages of Capital, about “capitalism’s inability to criticize itself, using apologetics which now, unfortunately, can be applied to Marxist political economy.” He argued for doing away with capitalist concepts and formulas and concentrating instead on the motivation and development of individual human beings. Published in association with the Che Guevara Studies Center in Havana.