Latin American revolutionary leader, who rejected both capitalism and orthodox Soviet communism. Guevara lived an adventurous life. Guevara's tragic early death in Bolivia created a legend that still lives.

Ernesto Guevara was born in Rosario, Argentina into a middle-class family of Spanish-Irish descent. His family was liberal, anti-Nazi and anti-Peronist, and not very religious. In his youth Guevara read widely and among his reading list in the 1940s were jean-paul sartre, Pablo Neruda, Ciro Alegría, and karl marx's das kapital. He also kept a philosophical diary and in Africa 1965 Guevara planned to write a biography of Marx.

In 1953 Guevara graduated from the University of Buenos Aires, where he was trained as a doctor. During these years Guevara read joseph stalin and benito mussolini but did not join radical student organizations. He made long travels in Argentina and in other Latin America countries. At the same time his critical views about the expanding economic influence of the United States deepened. In 1952 he made journey with his motor bike, which opened his eyes about the situation of the Indians and was crucial for the awakening of his social conscience. Guevara recorded his impressions in The Motorcycle Diaries of the journey.

After witnessing American intervention in Guatemala in 1954, Guevara radicalized and become convinced that the only way to bring about change was by violent revolution. In Guatemala Guevara met Hilda Gadea. They married in 1955 and had one child. Guevara was arrested with fidel castro in mexico for a short time. He had joined Castro's revolutionaries to overthrow the Batista government. In 1956 they loaded a 38-feet long motor yacht full of guerrillas and weapons and sailed to cuba, landing near Cabo Cruz on December 2.

They made their base in the mountains of Sierra Maestra, attacking garrisons and recruiting peasants to the revolutionary army. In the areas controlled by the guerrillas Guevara started land reform and socializing process. Guevara enjoyed the hard conditions and war, in spite of his chronic asthma. He was respected by his men, although considered violent - Guevara shot Eutimio Guerra who had cooperated with dictator Fulgencio Batista's army.

In the mountains Guevara met Aleida March in 1958, a 24-year-old revolutionary fighter, and she became Guevara's second wife in 1959. He continued to write his diary and composed also articles for El Cubano Libre. Cuba became a hot subject for the media - New York Times, Paris Match and Latin American papers sent reporters to the mountains to make stories of the revolutionaries. At the same time when Guevara was in the mountains, his uncle was Ambassador to Cuba.

Guevara rose to the rank of major and led one of the forces that invaded central Cuba in the late 1958. After the conquest of power in January 1959 Guevara gained fame as the leading figure in Castro's government. He attracted much attention with his speeches against imperialism and US policy in the Third World. He argued strongly for centralized planning, and emphasized creation of the 'new socialist man'. In a discussion on September 14, 1961 he opposed the right of dissidents to make their views known even within the Communist Party itself. However, privately Guevara was critical of the Soviet bloc, but so was also Nikita Khruschev. When the executions of war criminals started Guevara acted as the highest prosecuting authority. The condemned were soldiers found guilty of murder, torture and other serious crimes. there were lso a lot of people shot who were just opponents of the communists. Because Guevara was a doctor, one of his friends once asked how he could work in such a position. Guevara's answer was like from Western movies: "Look, in this thing you have to kill before they kill you." In 1959 Guevara adopted formally the nickname Che and was granted honorary Cuban citizenship. He was visited by such intellectuals as Sartre and de Beauvoir, who saw in him the 'perfect and most complete man'.

From 1961 to 1965 Guevara was minister for industries, and director of the national bank, signing the bank notes simply 'Che'. He traveled widely in Russia, India and Africa, meeting the leading figures of the world, among others Jawaharel Nehru and nikita khruschev. Guevara was also the architect of the close relations between Cuba and the Soviet Union. He also followed the emergence of the Maoists, although Cuba's good relationships with moscow was the cornerstone of Castro's foreign policy. In 1965 Guevara made public his disappointments in Algiers and described the Kremlin as 'an accomplice of imperialism'. Guevara's dismissal from the ministry followed immediately on his return from Algiers.

To test his revolutionary theories Guevara resigned from his post as a politician. He had published highly influential manuals GUERRILLA WARFARE (1961) and GUERRILLA WARFARE: A METHOD (1963), which were based on his own experiences and partly chairman Mao Zedong's writings. President John F. Kennedy had Guerrilla Warfare rapidly translated for him by the c.i.a.. Guevara stated that revolution in Latin America must come through insurgent forces developed in rural areas with peasant support. The is no need for right precondition for revolution - guerrilla warfare can begin the activities.

During his disappearance from public life Guevara spent some time in Africa organizing the Lumumba Battalion which took part in the Congo civil war. He was not happy how Laurent Kabila fought against Joseph Mobutu. In 1966 he turned up incognito in Bolivia where he trained and led a guerrilla war in the Santa Cruz region. However, he failed to win the support of the peasants and his group was surrounded near Vallegrande by American-trained Bolivian troops.

Guevara was captured and shot in La Higuera on October 9, 1967. His last words were according to some sources: 'Shoot, you coward, you're going to kill a man.' In order to make a positive fingerprint comparison with records in Argentina, the soldiers chopped off his hands. They were later returned to Cuba.

The most famous picture of Guevara was taken by Alberto Diaz Gutiérrez, known professionally as Korda. He declined to take royalties when the picture became worldwide icon, appearing on posters, t-shirts and the like and inspiring artists.

Richey Edwards said about this song (revol, or: 'lover' when read backwards): 'All those lines like 'Brezhnev married into group sex' are just analogies really. It's trying to say that relationships in politics, and relationships in general, are failures.'