I had a question regarding one of your footnotes to the Urbano article you reprinted from Tricontinental. Our research indicates that Malinovsky was a Czarist police infiltrator into the ranks of the Bolshevik party who gained considered stature before he was eventually discovered and executed. The Malinovsky you refer to could just as easily have been the one Che meant, but how would anyone know? What made you pick him?
Karen Wald
Havana, Cuba
[Wald works with Tricontinental organizing translation from
Spanish to English.]
The Militant replies:
Thanks for your note asking about the source for the Militant's footnote to the interview with Urbano.
The text quotes Urbano saying: "[Mario] Monje [general secretary of the Communist Party of Bolivia] made a dismissive gesture and said, `Che, I would not hand over command even if it were Lenin.' Che then asked him in a sarcastic voice: `And if it were Malinovsky?'" The Militant footnote identified this individual as Gen. Rodion Malinovsky, Soviet defense minister at the time (1966 -67) and commander of its land forces.
The draft translation we received from Tricontin- ental identifies this person as Roman Malinovsky, saying "Malinovsky was a Czarist police agent provocateur who managed to infiltrate the workers and Bolshevik movements in Moscow from 1906 - 1914 and rise to the level of Central Committee member before being detected and eventually executed in 1918."
The source used by the Militant was Inti Peredo's book, Mi campaña con el Che. Pathfinder published an English translation, My Campaign with Che, as an appendix to Guevara's Bolivian Diary. It is clearer in Inti's account which Malinovsky is being referred to (see pages 339-40). In the exchange Che is obviously counterposing Monje's attitude to two "foreign" military leaders: on the one hand Che himself, and on the other, Malinovsky, head of the Soviet army at the time.
Here is the passage from Inti's book, in which he is paraphrasing the debate between Che and Monje:
Che: "That is a narrow and absurd view of proletarian internationalism. The type of struggle we are calling for goes beyond the national framework. Even if we were operating within your narrow schema, do you believe it is a Marxist position to demand leadership as a right based on nationality? You are mistaken. That is not proletarian internationalism.
"I will give you the following example: If Fidel were to go to Argentina to initiate a war, I would place myself under his command owing to the historic position he holds, and because, as you are well aware, I consider him my teacher. Because of my affection and respect for Fidel, I would gladly accept his command. Or do you believe this would be a question of nationality?
"The same relationship exists between you and me. The historic circumstances have placed me in a certain position. I have military experience that you lack. You have never participated in a military struggle.
"Now I ask you: Would you hold the same view if, instead of me being in Ñancahuazú, it was Malinovsky?"
Monje: "Even if it were Lenin, my position would be the same."
Che replied, ironically, "If Malinovsky were here, you would be speaking differently."
I think you'll agree that in this context it becomes clear that Che is referring to Rodion Malinovsky, the Soviet general in the 1960s, not Roman Malinovsky, the tsarist agent in the years before World War I.
Once again, thanks for your note. If there is any further information you have on this that we should consider, please let us know.
Mike Taber
Thank you so much for the clarification. I wish we would have had access to that information while doing the translation for Tricontinental. My fault, in part: I do have the Pathfinder book but hadn't gotten around to reading the Inti section. His version is different enough from Urbano's that it really does indicate it must be the more recent Malinovsky.
Karen Wald
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