FIGHTING BACK: SOUTHERN CONE COUNTRIES 2/22/2010

Fighting Back: Reform or Revolution? Marx The outlines of an entirely new kind of society are found in the most advanced political movements of the subordinate class in the existing society.  Violent revolution  The state is an instrument of violence in the control of the ruling class  The ruling capitalist class and its proletariat antithesis, and thus the revolution, are urban based  Vanguard party an the dictatorship of the proletariat  Repressive but limited Mao  Communist revolution is possible in rural, peasant-based society  The peasantry is the main revolutionary force  Led by the proletariat and its vanguard  People's War: "political power comes from the barrel of the gun"

Fighting Back: Reform or Revolution? Che Guevara  Popular forces can win a war against the enemy.  It is not necessary to wait until all conditions for making revolution exist; the insurrection can create them.  In underdeveloped America the countryside is the basic area for armed fighting.

Fighting Back: Violent or Nonviolent? Hannah Arendt  We need to distinguish between violence and power.  Power is the ability to act or accomplish something  Violence is the ability to force compliance  The state as instrument of rule relies on violence only when it lacks power  Violence may destroy power but it cannot create it; thus the author of violence pays a high price. This cycle is ultimately unsustainable.  The fact that violent revolution is only successful where it has the support of the masses is proof that violence is not the determinant factor. Mahatma Gandhi  The success of non-cooperation depends primarily on the absence of violence in its practice  Strength comes from united will; the people are stronger than their oppressors  It is not possible to detach the object from the means adopted to attain it  Man’s dignity requires that strength be used for a higher purpose

The Revolutionary Coordinating Junta (JCR) Formed in 1973 in emulation of Che Guevara “[Latin Americans should] form something like Juntas de Coordinación to make the repressive work of Yankee imperialism more difficult and to facilitate their own cause.” Comprised of:  People’s Revolutionary Army (ERP), Argentina  National Liberation Army (ELN), Bolivia  Movement of the Revolutionary Left (MIR), Chile  Tupamaros, Uruguay

Guerrilla Movements: Argentina Montoneros  Linked to Juan Perón; ideological mix of socialism and facism  young, urban, nationalistic  committed to guerrilla warfare: kidnapping, bombings, targeted assassinations, military strikes People’s Revolutionary Army (ERP)  Socialist ideology  Strikes on military outposts and convoys, and police stations  Associated with the Revolutionary Workers Party (PRT)

Guerrilla Movements: Chile Movement of the Revolutionary Left (MIR)  Marxist-Leninist, dictatorship of the proletariat  Bases of support in the unions and shantytowns  Attempts to convert military officers and to destroy the coup from within  Targeted assassination of military leaders  Bombings  Bank and supermarket robberies to raise funds

Guerrilla Movements: Uruguay Tupamaros  Non-ideological: a mix of Marxism, Maoism, and Cuban theory  Committed to armed struggle  Viewed Uruguay as a largely urban country requiring an urban strategy  Felt that the revolutionary conditions in Uruguay were particularly well developed 3,000 Tupamaros served time in prison; 300 died, in battles or in prison, or disappeared. About 50 members of the security forces died in the war