Ernesto Che Guevara, RIP

Che is dead, and we all mourn him. Why? How is it that so many libertarians mourn this man; how is it that we just received a letter from a brilliant young libertarian, a former objectivist and Birchite, which said, in part: “if they did finally get Che ... I am sure that his memory will live to haunt both Latin America and the U.S. for decades to come. Long live Che!” How come? Surely not because Che was a Communist. Precious few people in this country or anywhere else will mourn the passing, for example, of Brezhnev, Kosygin, or Ulbricht, Communist leaders all. No, it is certainly not Che’s Communist goals which made his name a byword and a legend throughout the world, and throughout the New Left in this country.

Volume 3, Number 3 (Spring-Autumn 1967)