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PHILOSOPHY OF THE URBAN GUERRILLA - THE REVOLUNTIONARY WRITINGS OF ABRAHAM GUILLEN

NCJ Number
29050
Editor(s)
D C HODGES
Date Published
1973
Length
316 pages
Annotation
THIS BOOK REPRESENTS THE FIRST TRANSLATION INTO ENGLISH OF SELECTIONS FROM GUILLEN'S MOST IMPORTANT WORKS, INCLUDING 'THE STRATEGY OF URBAN WARFARE', 'THE THEORY OF VIOLENCE', AND 'THE REBELLION OF THE THIRD WORLD'.
Abstract
GUILLEN IS MOST CELEBRATED FOR HAVING POSED AN ALTERNATIVE TO THE INSURRECTIONARY TECHNIQUES OF FIDEL CASTRO AND CHE GUEVARA: WHEREVER POSSIBLE, HE BELIEVES, REVOLUTION SHOULD BE WAGED IN THE CITIES, NOT IN THE COUNTRYSIDE, THIS FOR NUMEROUS REASONS, PERHAPS CHIEF AMONG THEM THE FACT THAT BETWEEN A FAVORABLE TERRAIN AND A FAVORABLE POPULATION, THE ARMY OF LIBERATION MUST CHOOSE THE POPULATION AND NOT THE TERRAIN. SINCE GUEVARA'S DEATH, THE STRATEGY OF THE URBAN GUERRILLA HAS RAPIDLY DISPLACED THAT OF RURAL-BASED GUERRILLA WARFARE, HAVING BECOME BY 1970 THE PRINCIPAL STRATEGY OF REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENTS IN LATIN AMERICA. GUILLEN IS ALLEGED TO BE THE THEORETICAL BRAIN BEHIND THE TUPAMAROS, THE URUGUAYAN REVOLUTIONARY GROUP. AND BECAUSE THE ORGANIZATIONAL MODEL OF THE TUPAMAROS HAS INFLUENCED THE QUEBEC NATIONAL LIBERATION FRONT AND THE BLACK PANTHERS AND WEATHERPEOPLE IN THE UNITED STATES, THERE IS REASON TO BELIEVE THAT, UNLIKE CHE'S REVOLUTIONARY STRATEGY, GUILLEN'S IS RELEVANT TO INSURRECTIONARY STRUGGLES IN ECONOMICALLY ADVANCED AS WELL AS UNDERDEVELOPED COUNTRIES. AMONG THE SPECIFIC TOPICS ADDRESSED IN THIS VOLUME ARE MATERIALISM AND REVOLUTION, INTERIMPERIALIST RIVALRIES, THE REBELLION OF THE THIRD WORLD, THE STRUGGLE BETWEEN CAPITALISM AND SOCIALISM, PROBLEMS IN REVOLUTIONARY STRATEGY, AND REVOLUTION IN LATIN AMERICA. (AUTHOR ABSTRACT MODIFIED)