10 Mind-Blowing Facts About Che Guevara

6. He Toured From Argentina To America By Motorcycle

Che had two notable journeys through South America in the early 1950s - first travelling through the rural provinces of his native Argentina on the back of a bicycle installed with an engine, then upon a more expansive continental motorcycle trek, stretching from Argentina and Chile, as far as Miami, Florida, accompanied by his friend, Alberto Granada.

These travels undoubtedly contributed towards Che's communist ideals. His memoirs intimately detail the continued and brutal persecution of communities, workers and those of a particular socialist ideology. He expresses distaste for wealthy, exploitative landowners, who extract unreasonable rents from hard-working farmers, miners deprived of basic working conditions, and rural communities rife with sickness and unacceptable levels of living standards. One notable theme throughout his 'Motorcycle Diaries', however, is the ability of human beings to band together into communities and act as a collective unit - a prominent theme throughout Che's later communist exploits.

"Poverty, hunger, disease", "lack of money", "the unnecessary loss of life"; the effect of Che's journeys throughout South America had a profound effect on his later life, beginning the formation of his desire to help those who at the mercy of brutal capitalistic regimes. It was in his diaries where Che first explored the possibility of armed conflict as a necessary response to depose of exploitative systems.