The Commodification of Revolution

Revolutionary sympathizer, Italian publisher, Giangiacomo Feltrinelli, known famously for smuggling the unpublished manuscript of Dr. Zhivago out of Soviet Russia, went to Cuba after a brief stint in Bolivia where he learned of Che’s revolutionary work.  With the foresight of a capitalist, he “saw a business opportunity in the possible assassination of Che.”*  In Cuba, he approached Korda in 1967 for a good picture of Che.  Korda kindly obliged, giving him two copies of the now famous picture.  Immediately following the death of Che, Feltrinelli copyrighted the image, selling 2,000,000 posters within half a year.  Korda never received royalties for the picture due to Cuba’s reluctance to sign at Berne Convention.** 

* www.pix.dk, “The story about the image of Che Guevara,” http://www.pix.dk/korda2.htm (accessed April, 2007).

** Ibid.

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