New Man

Che would become known for was a concept called the “New Man”. This was an attempt by Che to reconcile individualism and collectivism (Martinez-Saenz 20). Che deplored the commonly held notion that socialist ideology required individual interested to be subservient to a statist organization (Martinez-Saenz 16). His views on the New Man are multifaceted. He emphasized ideas of social responsibility, particularly among the labor force and young people, but he desired this to be an individual outcome of their own thought, and not obtained by coercive measures (Martinez-Saenz 22-23). Additionally, he promoted the idea of individual pride in involvement with the new government (Martinez-Saenz 23). Despite this seeming slightly contradictory, he did not believe there should be a complete submission of the individual for any cause. Rather he advocated people to maintain a level of individualism including the development of specific aspects of the individual different from others in the community. But at the same time, one should not forget their community membership and its associated responsibilities (Martinez-Saenz 24).