In addition to eight speeches by Cuban revolutionary leader Ernesto Che Guevara, the book includes a preface by Armando Hart, an introduction by Mary-Alice Waters, and the speech Cuban president Fidel Castro gave when the remains of Guevara and his comrades were returned to Cuba from Bolivia in 1997. It also contains photos, glossary, and an index.

The translation and publication of the book is the result of the work of 14 volunteers in Greece. Bobbis Misailides and Natasha Terlexis edited the translation.

In the second week of January—the first time the new edition was distributed here—53 copies of the book were ordered by nine bookstores in central Athens. An additional 12 copies of other titles published by Diethnes Vima were also ordered.

During the third week of January, volunteers placed orders for another 42 copies of the book, along with 30 copies of other Diethnes Vima titles, at six bookstores. The largest bookstore in Athens, a five-story shop, which also has the biggest chain of such stores, ordered 20 copies of Che Guevara Talks to Young People in Greek, as well as 10 copies each of the Greek-language editions of Problems of Women’s Liberation and Imperialism’s March Toward Fascism and War. This particular bookstore had not placed an order for Diethnes Vima titles for 11 years.

Volunteers distributing the book said that the response by bookstore managers to Che Guevara Talks to Young People has been quite warm. Prior to the visits, each store received by fax a press announcement of the book’s publication along with a copy of the cover. A number of managers said they had seen the announcement and decided to place an order after reading it. In one major store, which had not ordered any Diethnes Vima titles in three years, the manager put in an order for 10 copies of the new book and asked for a catalogue to place orders for other titles too. In the northern city of Katerini, a five-hour drive from Athens, one bookstore placed an order for 10 copies of the new book along with five other Diethnes Vima titles.

The publication of this book coincided with the final days of the showing of the film The Motorcycle Diaries, depicting Guevara in his youth, at movie houses here. Two cinemas each placed an order of 10 copies to be sold at the film showings.

The Greek-Cuban Friendship Association has decided to purchase an initial stock of 100 copies of the book to have available at a January 30 meeting to be held in Athens celebrating the Cuban Revolution. The Association said it will also make the book available for sale at other Cuban solidarity activities and at their offices.

On January 16, eight volunteers who had worked on the book’s production met to map out a promotional effort. Plans include broadening placement of the book in neighborhood bookstores in working-class districts beyond the center of the Greek capital, visiting the University of Athens bookstore, tabling on that campus with the book and other titles, sending a team to farmers’ mobilizations due in the north of the country at the end of January, and accepting two offers to present the book at public meetings at the Katerini Public Library and at the immigrant rights club in Athens. Presswork was planned too. A separate release will also be sent to publications dealing with educational issues. One of the volunteer translators, who teaches Greek at the University of Athens, took an initial consignment of 10 copies to sell.

“The results of our efforts to distribute the new book have been very exciting,” said Terlexis February 2. “To date 256 copies have been either purchased or ordered. 108 were ordered by bookstores. Last night we got a call from one of Athens’s main bookstores ordering more because their initial order of 5 had sold out. In addition, 56 other titles have been ordered or sold, bringing the total titles sold in the last three weeks to 312!”

Outlining the importance of the current book at the January 16 meeting, Terlexis compared it to recent works about Che found in Athens stores. There is a general tendency to separate Che Guevara from the Cuban Revolution, she said. Although most of these books salute Che’s “heroic efforts,” they present him as a romantic but unrealistic figure. “Guevara, who was born in Argentina, became a product of the Cuban Revolution and a leader of it,” Terlexis said. “His internationalist missions were not adventures but rather attempts at expanding the struggle against imperialism and for socialist revolution by workers and farmers. Che and Cuba go together, then as now.”  
 
 
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