Contemporary Latin American Revolutions

Marc Becker (Author)

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Description

Revolutions are a commonly studied but only vaguely understood historical phenomenon. Now updated to include the perspectives of grassroots revolutionary movements and biographies of often marginalized voices, this clear and concise text extends our understanding with a critical narrative analysis of key case studies: the 1910–1920 Mexican Revolution; the 1944–1954 Guatemalan Spring; the 1952–1964 MNR-led revolution in Bolivia; the Cuban Revolution that triumphed in 1959; the 1970–1973 Chilean path to socialism; the leftist Sandinistas in Nicaragua in power from 1979–1990; failed guerrilla movements in Colombia, El Salvador, and Peru; and the Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela after Hugo Chávez’s election in 1998. Historian Marc Becker opens with a theoretical introduction to revolutionary movements, including a definition of what “revolution” means and an examination of factors necessary for a revolution to succeed. He analyzes revolutions through the lens of those who participated and explores the sociopolitical conditions that led to a revolutionary situation, the differing responses to those conditions, and the outcomes of those political changes. Each case study provides an interpretive explanation of the historical context in which each movement emerged, its main goals and achievements, its shortcomings, its outcome, and its legacy. The book concludes with an analysis of how elected leftist governments in the twenty-first century continue to struggle with issues that revolutionaries confronted throughout the twentieth century.

Preface
1 Theories of Revolution
Biography: José Carlos Mariátegui, 1894–1930
Document: José Carlos Mariátegui, “On the Indigenous Problem,” 1928
Biography: Dolores Cacuango, 1881–1971
Documents: Ecuadorian Federation of Indians (FEI), 1946
Document: Organization of American States (OAS), “The Preservation and Defense of Democracy in America,” 1948
2 Mexican Revolution, 1910–1920
Biography: Emiliano Zapata, 1879–1919
Document: Emiliano Zapata, “Plan of Ayala,” 1911
Biography: Hermila Galindo, 1886–1954
Document: Hermila Galindo, “The Suffrage Question: Why Do Women Want the Vote?,” 1916
Document: Ambassador Henry Lane Wilson to Secretary of State Philander Knox, 1913 62
3 Guatemalan Spring, 1944–1954
Biography: Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán, 1913–1971
Document: “Decree 900,” 1952
Biography: Ester Castellanos de Urrutia, 1892–1964
Document: Guatemalan Women’s Alliance, “Appeal to the Women of Guatemala,” 1950
Document: Central Intelligence Agency, “Present Political Situation in Guatemala and Possible Developments during 1952,” 1952
4 Bolivia’s Nationalist Revolution, 1952–1964
Biography: Juan Lechín Oquendo, 1914–2001
Document: The Union Federation of Bolivian Mine Workers, “Pulacayo Theses,” 1946
Document: Antonio Mamani Alvarez, “Caranguillas Thesis,” 1947
Biography: Lidia Gueiler Tejada, 1921–2011
Document: Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), “The Outlook for Bolivia,” 1956
5 Cuban Revolution, 1959–
Biography: Fidel Castro, 1926–2016
Document: “First Declaration of Havana,” 1960
Document: Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), “Communist Influence in Cuba,” 1960
Biography: Vilma Espín, 1930–2007
Document: Vilma Espín, “A Revolution within a Revolution,” 1988
6 Chilean Road to Socialism, 1970–1973
Biography: Salvador Allende Gossens, 1909–1973
Document: Popular Unity Government, “Basic Program,” 1970
Document: Institute of Indigenous Development, “Indigenous Law,” 1972
Biography: Beatriz Allende, 1942–1977
Document: Viron P. Vaky, “Chile—40 Committee Meeting, Monday—September 14,” 1970
7 Sandinistas in Nicaragua, 1979–1990
Biography: Carlos Fonseca Amador, 1936–1976
Document: “The Historic Program of the FSLN,” 1969
Biography: Dora María Téllez, 1955–
Document: Alicia Gordon, Christa Berger, and Pilar Lacerna, “Nicaragua: We Are Millions,” 1980
Document: “Draft Law on Autonomy Proposed by the Government of Nicaragua,” 1985
Document: Central Intelligence Agency, “The Freedom Fighter’s Manual,” 1983

8 Guerrilla Warfare
Biography: Che Guevara, 1928–1967
Document: Che Guevara, Guerrilla Warfare, 1960
Document: Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), “The Latin American Guerrilla Today,” 1971
Document: The Association of Salvadoran Women, “Participation of Latin American Women in Social and Political Organizations,” 1981
Biography: Augusta La Torre (Comrade Norah), 1946–1988
Document: Popular Women’s Movement, “Marxism, Mariátegui and the Women’s Movement,” 1975
9 Venezuela’s Bolivarian Revolution, 1999–
Biography: Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías, 1954–2013
Document: Hugo Chávez, World Social Forum, 2005
Biography: Nora Castañeda, 1942–2015
Document: “Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela,” 1999
Document: “General Services Agreement between the Venezuelan Opposition and Silvercorp,” 2019
10 Socialisms of the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries
Glossary
Index
About the Author

Product details

Published	15 Jan 2022
Format	Hardback
Edition	2nd
Extent	374
ISBN	9781538163726
Imprint	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Illustrations	31 b/w illustrations; 1 table
Dimensions	239 x 160 mm
Series	Latin American Perspectives in the Classroom
Publisher	Bloomsbury Publishing

Author

Marc Becker

A splendid introduction to and survey of revolutionary movements in Latin America beginning with the Mexican Revolution and ending with the left turn embracing Venezuela’s Bolivarian Revolution led by Hugo Chávez. Biographies of key protagonists are accompanied by documents and guides to further reading. This is a splendid introduction to Lain American revolutionary traditions with a much-needed focus on the role of women and Indigenous peoples.

Barry Carr, La Trobe University, Australia
Contemporary Latin American Revolutions offers a geographically and chronologically diverse and theoretically rich array of primary sources, short biographies, and analysis of a spectrum of Latin American revolutionary movements and thought over the course of the twentieth century and into the twenty-first. The text will be an essential teaching tool to integrate Latin America into more general courses on revolutions, popular movements, and social change and to highlight the enduring significance of revolutions in Latin America’s history. The book gives attention to the grassroots as well as the leadership, to how the region’s racial and ethnic diversity has shaped movements for change, and to the external and global forces that Latin American revolutions have confronted. Really a comprehensive and in-depth introduction to the region’s revolutionary history.

Aviva Chomsky, Salem State University
Marc Becker, one of the most accomplished and prolific historians of twentieth-century Latin America, has produced a comparative account of revolutions in the region that is rigorous, thought-provoking, and highly readable. He pays due attention to structural factors behind revolutionary projects without losing sight of the centrality of human agency in them. This is the best overview of Latin American revolutions I have read. Scholars and students alike will learn a great deal from this timely and stimulating volume.

Carlos Aguirre, University of Oregon