Theory from practice. There is an epistemological point embedded in Che’s praxis that is worth emphasising. As Che advocated learning and training in action, a companion principle to this is the idea of deriving theory from actual practice. This also implies a non-dogmatic approach to social theory and particularly to Marxism.
In reflecting on the period of armed struggle and the transformations then taking place, Guevara (1996: 412) writes that ‘we began drawing theoretical conclusions in the heat of these events to create our own body of ideas’. He goes on to describe how they began developing new ways of describing what was taking place with the rapid and profound transformations that the revolution implied. ‘We are now speaking a language that is also new, because our thinking is not able to keep up with the speed we are travelling. We are in a state of continual motion, and theory moves more slowly’ (Guevara 1996: 413).
The development of theory from practice can also be seen in the nature of educational programmes as advocated by Paulo Freire (2001) and other popular education-oriented initiatives such as the Highlander Folk School in the US. Knowledge and theory are developed from analyses of the lived reality of educational participants. Educational programmes and social action (practice) that emerge from and alongside these initiatives are also based in these realities. For Gramsci (1977: 173), in fact, the most accurate expression of historical development was the lived realities of the oppressed classes. In other words, an analysis of the actual state of the oppressed classes provides the best theoretical picture of the nature of social development.
The masses of workers and peasants are the only genuine and authentic expression of the historical development of capital. By the spontaneous and uncontrollable movements which spread throughout their ranks and by rela- tive shifts in the position of strata...the masses indicate the precise direction of historical development.
The epistemological point of theory from practice takes on ontological aspects (Allman 2007) when we consider how Guevara explains the Marxist nature of the Cuban revolution without necessarily the leadership being made up of Marxists. Che was well aware that not all of the guerrillas or most of the leadership at the time of the armed struggle were Marxists, yet, paradoxically, the revolution seemed to be Marxist in nature. On this point, Guevara (2003a: 123) says:
Along that road of rebellion, by struggling against the old power structure, by basing ourselves on the people to destroy that structure, and by having the well-being of the people as the foundation of our struggle, we are simply fitting into the predictions of Marx the scientist. That is to say, and it is well to emphasize this once again: The laws of Marxism are present in the events of the Cuban Revolution, independently of whether its leaders profess or fully know those laws from a theoretical point of view.
From an ontological perspective then, we can say that reality itself is revolutionary. If a movement is organically based in the demands of the most oppressed, the movement will inevitably find the resolution of these demands in a revolutionary solution. Marxism for Guevara (1968: 346), while absolutely essential, was ‘only a guide to action’: it did not provide a set formula; and for Che, mechanical thinking drawn from dogma was to be avoided at all cost.
A very important example of Guevara deriving theory from practice was the lessons of the Cuban revolution for revolutionary movements throughout Latin America. He first identified two lessons (Guevara 1969: 204), but later determined that there were three fundamental lessons: