ABSTRACT
An immersion into postcolonial Congo's revolutionary imagination, this chapter advocates against a division of labor between Third World bodies and First World minds in histories of the 1960s. It presents a narrative of the Congolese revolution that seeks to account for a Congolese understanding of global connections in the 1960s. The identification of Congolese politics' international connections was at stake in the Congo crisis itself. In this context, cold war interveners debated the reality of the Congolese Left. L'Eclair publicized the Congolese revolution to the world, while offering to its Congolese readers foreign examples to follow, asking them to take inspiration from student activism in countries like Vietnam, the Dominican Republic, Korea, and Algeria. Che Guevara increasingly felt a sense of alienation due to his increasingly distant relationship with the Cuban volunteers, the lack of communication with the Simbas and their leadership, and his inability to ease tensions between the Congolese fighters and Rwandan volunteers.
