The Continental Revolution
NACLA
In February, reporters from Cuba, Britain, Le Monde and the New York Times were secretly taken to a three-hour press conference held in a suburb of Buenos Aires by representatives of the National...
...LATIN AMERICA MARCHES TOWARD SOCIALISM The triumph of the Cuban Revolution on the first of January, 1959, began the final march of the Latin American people towards socialism, towards true national independence and towards the collective well-being of the people...
...that for the victorious development of the entire guerrilla process, it is necessary to mobilize all the people under the leadership of the revolutionary proletariat...
...Beginning with the formidable triumph of the Cuban people who, under the skillful and insightful leadership of Fidel Castro and a group of Marxist-Leninist leaders, were able to defeat the Batista army and establish the First Latin American socialist state at the very doorstep of imperialism, the people of the continent strengthened their revolutionary faith and began a new, massive mobilization...
...a struggle which already spreads throughout our continent under the banner and example of Comandante Guevara...
...The legendary Nicaraguan leader Augusto Cesar Sandino, a metallurgical worker, led one of the most heroic of those battles when his guerrilla army held and defeated U.S...
...that under the direction of the proletarian party it is necessary to build a powerful popular army, an iron-clad nucleus of revolutionary forces, which will be united with and nourished by the people...
...Che Guevara, Message to Tricontinental The National Liberation Movement (Tupamaros) of Uruguay, the Movement of the Revolutionary Left (MIR) of Chile, the National Liberation Army (ELN) of Bolivia and the Peoples' Revolutionary Army (ERP) of Argentina, issue this declaration to let it be known to workers, peasants, urban poor, students and intellectuals, Indians, and the millions of exploited people of our suffering Latin America, our decision to unite in a Junta for Revolutionary Coordination...
...imperialism has been exposed...
...that the material condition of the popular army will ensure the total annihilation of the counterrevolutionary armies...
...The continental character of the struggle is indicated fundamentally by the presence of a common enemy...
...Its social base consists of pro-imperialist bourgeoisie who compete with the traditional oligarchy for the favors handed out by imperialism...
...and it exaggerates the importance of legality and of constitutionality...
...that it is also necessary to build a massive workers front which will mobilize all progressive and revolutionary people, various popular parties and unions and other similar organizations...
...In this unequal war, whose flames still burn, the warlike, treacherous character of U.S...
...These organizations, with long histories in their respective countries, have come together under the shared symbol of Che Guevara, whose internationalist spirit and strategy (which included forming the ELN in Bolivia) set the guidelines for the revolutionary council...
...And you have Shell, Esso or Standard Oil, United Fruit, ITT, the money of Mr...
...Therefore, the National Liberation Movement (MLN-Tupamaros), the Movement of the Revolutionary Left (MIR), the National Liberation Army (ELN) and the People's Revolutionary Army (ERP) call upon the oppressed workers of Latin America, the peasants, the urban poor, intellectuals and students, Christian revolutionaries and all elements of the exploited classes who support the just popular cause, to take up arms with determination, to incorporate themselves actively in the revolutionary struggle against imperialism and on behalf of socialism...
...The document also names representatives of U.S...
...The armed banner is raised in constant ideological and political struggle against bourgeois nationalism, reformism and other currents of lesser importance...
...we have discovered through our own experience the international nature of our struggle, recognizing that we must oppose the united imperialist, capitalist enemy with the strongest unity of our people...
...Bound by the similarity of our struggles and our positions, we four organizations first established fraternal ties, exchanged experiences, and increasingly worked together so that now we can take this decisive step...
...This struggle is not short...
...Rockefeller and Mr...
...Its rejection of the necessity of using revolutionary violence to attain power characterizes its abandonment of the Marxist concept of class struggle...
...OUR STRUGGLE IS ANTI-IMPERIALIST The people of the world live under the permanent threat of the most aggressive and rapacious imperialism that has ever existed...
...The continental strategy of the revolution corresponds to the international strategy of imperialism...
...The cowardly bourgeois "criollos" and their armies were unable to honor the revolutionary legacy of the glorious anticolonial struggle of our people, who, led by heroes such as Bolivar, San Martin, Artigas and so many others, won independence, equality and liberty...
...In the midst of violent repression characterized by arrests, assassination and torture, these organizations have not only survived, but have been able to develop a broader analysis and a common strategy...
...Economic domination led to political and cultural control and domination...
...OUR PROGRAM We are united by an understanding of the following: that no viable strategy exists for Latin America other than the strategy of revolutionary war...
...And so you have the plundering of Mexico, the occupation of Puerto Rico, the intervention in Santo Domingo, the Bay of Pigs and other acts of war which our America will neither forget nor forgive...
...and Ernest Siracusa, who was the ambassador to Bolivia at the time of the 1971 coup against the nationalist military government of Juan Jos6 Torres, and who in April 1973 became ambassador to Uruguay...
...Although slow, this process paradoxically is also the shortest, least costly path to attaining the objectives of the disposed classes...
...Wherever reformism has imposed its conciliatory, pacifist politics, the enemy and its armies have carried out the greatest massacres of the people...
...This argument is painfully refuted by facts...
...They have suffered repeatedly from military intervention and wars which have been unjustly waged or initiated by the Northamerican army or the multinational corporations...
...TO THE PEOPLES OF LATIN AMERICA "This is the road of Vietnam...
...THE EXPERIENCE OF OUR ORGANIZATIONS The Tupamaros (MLN), the Movement of the Revolutionary Left (MIR), the National Liberation Army (ELN) and the People's Revolutionary Army (ERP), in the course of our patriotic and revolutionary struggle, have understood the necessity of uniting...
...This is the definitive awakening of our people, with thousands and thousands of workers on their feet, which goes forth inevitably towards the Second Independence, towards the elimination of the unjust capitalist system and the establishment of revolutionary socialism...
...that is, the broadest front of people whose common struggle converges with the military action of the popular army and with the clandestine political action of the proletarian party...
...Not only must we confront the barbaric economic and military might of imperialism, but more subtle enemies and dangers lie in wait to attack the revolutionary forces and their efforts to carry out the anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist struggle...
...They have witnessed, not with indifference, the genocide organized and led by Yankee imperialism against the heroic Vietnamese people...
...The neocolonial capitalist system, which came to exploit, oppress and deform the working classes of our continent for the past one hundred years, was established in this way...
...However, in reality, they are not anti-imperialists, and actually give in to new and more subtle forms of foreign economic penetration...
...The movement springs from the factories, from the towns, from the countryside and the cities and is spreading throughout the continent without restraint...
...Given the particular characteristics of the continental revolutionary struggle at present, we refer specifically to two currents of thought and action which forcefully conspire against our efforts...
...that revolutionary war is a complex process of struggle, armed and unarmed, peaceful and violent, in which all forms of struggle develop around the axis of the armed struggle...
...The recent Chilean experience, with more than 20,000 men and women murdered, makes further comment unnecessary...
...imperialism is developing an international strategy to stop the socialist revolution in Latin America...
...The following document is the presentation of their political analysis and strategy...
...Ford...
...The majority of the Communist parties, the most conscientious and organized of that period, reverted to reformism...
...This event is significant because it represents the determined effort of the armed left to combat the continental strategy of the United States, exemplified by the imposition of brutal military governments in country after country as the only option left to stopping the people's just struggle against foreign domination...
...They announced the formation of a joint revolutionary council to coordinate the struggle against imperialism throughout Latin America...
...You have the CIA, which, with its Pappy Shelton, Mitrione and Siracusa, has left indelible imprints of the powerful United States against the popular movement in Latin America...
...Following the glorious example of the heroic Vietnamese people, we Latin American workers know how to fight without becoming discouraged, and with growing efficiency...
...The four organizations signing this declaration have decided to form the Junta of Revolutionary Coordination precisely to contribute to the strengthening of that revolutionary banner on a continental scale...
...But this war has shown once more, the weakness of the system and its military power, when faced by a people determined to fight and be free...
...Bourgeois nationalism is favored by imperialism because it can distract and divert the peoples' struggle when counterrevolutionary violence has lost its effectiveness...
...The direct and indirect political and military counterrevolutionary intervention by Yankee imperialism, together with the deficiencies of anarchism, of the socialist currents, and the Communist parties, resulted in a temporary defeat...
...Ralph "Pappy" Shelton, the Green Beret who tracked down Che in Bolivia...
...it embellishes the national bourgeoisie and the counterrevolutionary armies with whom they constantly seek to ally themselves...
...The international bourgeoisie is determined to use any means to prevent this revolution, even in just one country...
...This force will be able to defeat once and for all the capitalist reactionaries, to annihilate counterrevolutionary armies, to expel European and Yankee imperialism from Latin American soil, country by country, to initiate the construction of socialism in each of our countries and to achieve complete unity in Latin America...
...The April war, a general uprising of the Dominican people, forced the direct intervention of Yankee imperialism, which had to send 30,000 soldiers to put down that uprising with a massacre [in 1965...
...The bourgeoisie possesses the official and pseudo-official weapons, both military and informational, to use against the people...
...His heroic death, as well as his exemplary life and development of Marxist-Leninist strategy, opened up the new revolutionary movement which grows daily in power and strength...
...The ruling classes, defending their group interests, united with the imperialists, collaborated with them, facilitated their economic penetration, and progressively handed over control of our economy to the insatiable hunger of foreign capital...
...Therefore, our revolutionary war in its initial phases is one of wearing down the enemy, leading up to the formation of a popular army stronger than that of the enemy...
...But that formidable revolutionary mobilization of the people was not victorious...
...In spite of past differences and experiences in their own countries, they have now united in the call for combining the clandestine and public forms of struggle against imperialism under the leadership of a Marxist-Leninist Party, and that this struggle of necessity means the building of socialism throughout the continent...
...This is the just and open rebellion of the exploited of Latin America against a barbaric neocolonial capitalist system imposed since the end of the last century by European and Yankee imperialism...
...that the leadership is to be held by a Marxist-Leninist party of proletarian character, capable of centralizing, leading and uniting all aspects of the popular struggle in a single powerful unit, thus guaranteeing a just, strategic leadership...
...The decade of the 60s saw the emergence of great popular struggles, violent guerrilla battles, powerful mass uprisings...
...Reformism, on the other hand, is found among the working people and reflects the fear of confrontation on the part of petty bourgeois sectors and union aristocracy...
...There is no doubt that this coordination and collaboration will result in our people waging a more effective struggle against the common enemy...
...In their politics of deceit, they brandish a verbal anti-imperialist position and try to confuse the people with their preferred nationalist thesis: that they are the third option...
...However, we do not exclude all possible forms of struggle: legal and clandestine, peaceful and violent, economic and political...
...By trial and error, our people and their leaders launched with determination the anti-imperialist fight for socialism...
...this is the road that America will follow with the special characteristic that the armed groups will be able to form councils of coordination to make the repressive task of Yankee imperialism more difficult and to aid our own cause...
...Attaining this sacred objective will not be easy: the cruelty and strength of imperialism will make a prolonged revolutionary war necessary, as Commander Guevara foresaw, and will turn Latin America into a second and third Vietnam...
...The imposition of fascist regimes in countries whose rising mass movements threaten the established power of the oligarchies is not purely coincidental...
...troops in 1932...
...This important step reflects a deepfelt necessity to bring our people together organizationally to unite the revolutionary forces against the imperialist enemy in order to carry out more efficiently the political and ideological battle against reformism and bourgeois nationalism...
...Reformism spreads out harmful pacifist and liberal ideas among the people...
...All of these forms play an effective role in the ARMED STRUGGLE, according to the specific situation of each region and country...
...In February, reporters from Cuba, Britain, Le Monde and the New York Times were secretly taken to a three-hour press conference held in a suburb of Buenos Aires by representatives of the National Liberation Movement (MLN-Tupamaros) of Uruguay, the National Liberation Army (ELN) of Bolivia, the Movement of the Revolutionary Left (MIR) of Chile and the People's Revolutionary Army (ERP) of Argentina...
...The further development of our organizations, and the strengthening of our internationalist orientation and experience, will allow us to more effectively build a revolutionary force...
...The legendary figure of Comandante Ernesto Guevara personified and symbolized that entire period of struggle...
...They are the same enemy: bourgeois nationalism and reformism...
...Our response must be armed struggle, as the principal factor in the polarization, agitation and final defeat of the enemy...
...imperialism: Maj...
...LIBERTAD O MUERTE (MLN-TUPAMAROS) A VENCER O MORIR POR LA ARGENTINA (ERP) PATRIA O MUERTE VENCEREMOS (MIR) VICTORIA O MUERTE (ELN...
...this is the road that the people must follow...
...At times closely united, both attempt to take over the leadership of the people's movement and impose their mistaken ideas which will only end by restraining the revolutionary movement...
...It is also significant because it renews the fraternal tradition of our people who joined together and fought as one against the oppressors of the last century: the Spanish colonialists...
...We call upon the30 vanguard of all popular and workers' revolutionary groups in Latin America to organize around this Junta and its national organizations, and to struggle together...
...Unfurling the then little-known flag of socialism, united with the banner of national independence, they promoted the awakening of the peasants, of the students, of all that was revolutionary29 among our people...
...Bourgeois nationalists present themselves as firemen who will put out the flame of revolution with their influence and ability to negotiate before the people can become mobilized...
...This revolutionary banner gains strength daily in the hearts of the people, increasing its influence, improving its political and military capabilities, becoming a real option for achieving national independence and socialism...
...From the beginning of this century the working class began to rise up against that system...
...Dan Mitrione, an advisor to the Uruguayan police force involved in torture training, who was executed by the Tupamaros in 1970...
...The strength of the people will crush Yankee imperialism and its agents, contributing to the destruction of the principal enemy of the international working class, of socialism and of all the people of the world...
...In the 30's our people throughout the continent developed a movement which was able to halt Yankee imperialism, the number one enemy of the people of the world...
...The Latin American people, from the past century to the present time, have borne the heavy colonial or neocolonial yoke of the imperialists...
...THE STRUGGLE FOR LEADERSHIP OF THE MASS MOVEMENT The revolutionary road is not easy or simple...
...Anarchism, socialism and communism, as organized working class movements, were the energetic and heroic forerunners of the mobilization of the people, the trademark of the revolutionary struggle...
...Thus the uncompromising ideological and political struggle which we revolutionaries must carry out against these currents acquires a strategic dimension: we must gain the leadership of the people's struggle in order to provide it with a coherent revolutionary direction and guide it with perseverance, intelligence and ability, toward victory...
...By force, deceit and corruption, they seized our continent...
...As a result, the spontaneous uprising of the people left the revolutionary path and fell under the influence and leadership of bourgeois nationalism: a dead end to revolution and a demagogic tool wisely used by the ruling classes to prolong the functioning of the neocolonial capitalist system...
...Some of them, such as the heroic Salvadoran Communist Party, suffered cruel defeats, with hundreds and thousands of martyrs...
...This is the culmination of one of the major strategic ideas of Comandante Che Guevara, hero, symbol and precursor of the continental socialist revolution...
...They refer back to the period of the anti-colonial wars against Spain and Portugal, where the people fought together under the leadership of Bolivar, Artigas (from the region now known as Uruguay) and San Martin (from Argentina...
...One of its favorite arguments is the need to avoid violence and make contact with the bourgeoisie and the "patriotic military" in search of a peaceful road towards socialism...
...PEOPLE OF LATIN AMERICA: TO ARMS We are living decisive moments of our history...
Vol. 8 • March 1974 • No. 3
