Leadership, it is defined as the process of social influence in which somebody who enlist the aid and support of other people to accomplish a common specific task. One of the icons of the 20th century, the leader that people have admired, came to life on June 14, 1928, in Argentina, and died at the age of 39, Ernesto Rafael Guevara de la Serna. One of the history’s best-known freedom fighters, his political opinion has led him to become that. He studied medicine and received his degree in the 1953 and as his interests grew in Marxism, he decided to abandon medicine believing that the only thing that could bring justice to South America was the revolution. (Gateway2MBA, n.d.)
To understand why Che Guevara became such a famous leader, we must understand what made him the man he was, and what affected his personality. Despite the evidence of the brutal tactics, Guevara was upheld as the hero of people. He had a special sympathy with the poor. Many qualities have helped him to become a leader; one of them was the staying of his legend power. Guevara was born at the right time, meaning that he was made a leader by the circumstances of the world he was born into. He became the international representative of the revolution. He was a very well-known figure of the revolution of Cuban; He worked with Fidel Castro and traveled the world in an effort to become a leader and to cause revolutions. He took the title of revolutionary leader to a completely different level. He, being a Universalist has helped him in the person he has become; he was charming and charismatic and had a strong and early influence on people. (Why is Che Guevara regarded as a legend?, 2015)
The role played by the historical interpretation that has helped to shape Guevara can be divided into many sections, the revolutionary leader and illustrates developments shaping his evolution into a leading figure in the world. When he gained his great fame, his reputation was being shaped in a good way, and the period back then has helped a lot in shaping his reputation. He later expressed his desire to spread revolution in other parts of the developing world, and in 1965, Castro announced that Guevara had left Cuba. (Che Guevara (1928-1967), n.d.)
When talking about the myths of Guevara, many things can be said. One day-perhaps not soon, but someday- the myth of the kind and benevolent and compassionate Che will eventually slide into oblivion because a democratic government in Havana will not lie, by either omission or commission, about a man who co-founded Cuba’s dictatorship and when that day arrives, tourists who visit will finally learn something real. Even from sympathetic sources, some negative aspects of his personality and his beliefs can be gleaned. For example, Jon Lee Anderson writes that Guevara was an ardent Stalinist who used to admire the dictator’s brutal rules in the Soviet Union. He was directly involved in suppressing independent union activists, including anarcho-syndicalists. Guevara was also the author of the policy requiring people to go unpaid. Anderson also tells us that Che Guevara was convinced that individuals had to be subordinated to the collectivity. In the 1960’s, he famously declared that ”one has to constantly think on behalf of the masses and not on behalf of individuals, it is criminal to think of the individuals because the need of individuals became completely weakened in the face of the needs of the human conglomeration.” (MLB, 2016),
Since his death, Guevara has become a legendary political figure. It has been almost 50 years since the death of Guevara. Since his death, the history has a role in constructing Guevara’s reputation. His legacy remains much as it was. Che remains the somewhat universally recognized brand and one of the pop items. Back then, he was a legend and revolutionary hero. By 1965, Cuba was well on the way to social reform, Che left to organize similar revolutions around the earth. In the 90’s, people admired Guevara, described him as an icon of freedom, his reputation was good for the people who loved him, but there are always those who hated him and saw him as a bad person. Therefore, still, at this time, his reputation remains as a legend. Until this day, we still see Guevara’s pictures and quotes in many places, meaning that people still remember him. He remains one of the most inspirational and enigmatic characters of the 20th century. One of the greatest influencers. (Che Guevara Biography, 2017)
The different times and cultures for sure make use of the old past and the sources of it when it comes to the building and constructing of Guevara’s reputation. The date of 9 October 1967, was not the tragic end of the revolutionary life of the Che Guevara. Thirteen years divided between the victory of the American intelligence on Jacobo Arbenz’s regime in Guatemala, His struggle in the Congo, his assassination in Bolivia and eight years in Cuba. This history was also the beginning of the eternal life of a revolutionary who combined the model of the revolutionary fighter with the radical thinker. The history and culture do not think of Che Guevara as only a courageous fighter, but also a revolutionary thinker, carrying a moral political project, a set of ideas and values that fought for his life. In addition, the Marxists provided that He dedicated his life and death to the poorest men. They think of him as one of the rare revolutionary faces that achieved a consensus between the always conflicting and torn tendencies of the progressive student world.
Ernesto Che Guevara was and will stay one of the most controversial yet iconic revolutionary leaders in the 20th century. Some worship him and some, however, despise and regard him as a failed communist. Moreover, to stay honest, both opinions have their own valid points. On this day in 1967, the Bolivian army killed Che Guevara. The 1967, the year that one great legend left us, the year Guevara was executed in, at the age of 39. 1967, at the public tribute of Che according to Harris (2010), Fidel Castro emotionally declared: ”If we want a model of a person that does not belong to our time but to the future, I say from the depths of my heart that such a model, without a single stain on his conduct, on his actions, or his behaviour, is Che! (p. 193)”. Overall, regardless of what opinions people might have, Guevara will never be forgotten too soon. His life that was full of revolution is a living proof that there are things in life worth dying for, such as the freedom, and the social justice. (Guevara is executed , 2015)