So opens the introduction to the forthcoming book, From the Escambray to the Congo: In the Whirlwind of the Cuban Revolution, by Cuban revolutionary Víctor Dreke. The book's introduction, published in this issue, whets the reader's appetite for the richness of political questions that Dreke covers in the interviews--from his participation in the Cuban revolutionary war, to the fight to eliminate counterrevolutionary bandits during the half decade following the triumph of the revolution, to his experience as part of the international mission led by Ernesto Che Guevara to aid the national liberation struggle in the Congo.

The Militant welcomes this new title by Pathfinder and encourages everyone to read, study, and help distribute it. This book will find wide interest, especially among industrial workers and trade unionists, Black youth that socialists meet on street tables or protests against police brutality, and the growing thousands of Africans who are immigrating to the U.S. and joining the American working class.

The book helps show how ordinary working people and youth can resist, organize, become political, and build revolutionary organizations capable of leading masses of people to change the world.

The book opens a window on one of the chapters of the revolutionary struggle in Cuba that is not well known or understood outside that country--the more than six-year battle following the triumph of the revolution to eliminate the CIA-backed counterrevolutionary bands, described by Waters in her introduction, as well as the 1965 internationalist mission by 128 Cuban volunteers to aid the national liberation struggle in the Congo. This mission helped lay the foundation for successful volunteer efforts to back liberation and revolutionary struggles carried out over the next 25 years across the African continent.

From the Escambray to the Congo demonstrates the deep ties forged over four decades between the Cuban Revolution and the progressive struggles of the peoples of Africa. Today, new forces are entering into politics throughout Africa, determined to resist the rapidly accelerating ravages of imperialist domination. One expression of this was the 15th World Festival of Youth and Students in Algiers, where youth from across the continent came searching for writings of revolutionary and communist leaders.

The January issue of Perspectiva Mundial includes the introduction and the chapter, "'Lucha Contra Bandidos': Fighting the Counterrevolution in the Escambray" from the forthcoming book. The Militant will also serialize this chapter in upcoming issues. Supporters of the two periodicals are encouraged to show the PM around to coworkers and talk to people at communist literature tables on street corners to build interest in the new book. This can be used alongside the book Pombo: A Man of Che's Guerrilla, also printed by Pathfinder.

Political explosions like we see today in Argentina will mark the opening years of the 21st Century as growing numbers of workers, farmers, and youth the world over search for ways to resist the onslaught of capitalist exploitation and oppression. The Cuban Revolution's course--as related in the pages of From the Escambray to the Congo--remains living proof that in the anti-imperialist battles and revolutionary class struggles to come, there are very good reasons to "join something" and "take sides." This is what the new book has to offer.  
 
 
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