PHILOSOPHY OF THE URBAN GUERRILLA: The Revolutionary Writings of Abraham Guillen

by Abraham Guillen ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 3, 1973

Virtually unknown here, as Hodges notes in his introduction, Guillen is an urban guerrilla theorist and active mentor to various Latin American groups, of whom the most famous and ""successful"" are the Uruguayan Tupamaros. This is the first English sampling of Guillen's voluminous writings, heavily drawn from his Dialectics of Politics (1967). The sections which will have greatest interest for most readers outline Guillen's strategy for Latin American revolution -- an army of liberation building ""the unity of country and city,"" luring Yankee imperialism into ground-fighting in the interior, launching revolution by ""a handful"" of insurgents on behalf of the people. In these selections Guillen does not dwell on tactics (kidnapping and the like) but on what he sees as guerrilla groups' failure to go beyond them. His strategy for Brazil -- a seemingly absurd and destructive one -- is for the trade unions to try to regain their '60's wage cuts by forcing lower economic growth, which in turn will force a crisis! The greater part of the book, however, is devoted to discussions of revolutionary history, Soviet bureaucratism, and U.S.-European relations. In the long prefatory essay Clark gives a detailed intelligence report on Guillen's activities since his exile from Spain and a precis of his efforts to synthesize Marxism and anarchism. It may be concluded that Guillen's amalgam -- a ""popular front"" national liberation approach plus terrorism -- represents a misunderstanding of Marxism as well as an underestimation of the past failures of anarchism. In any case the book will inspire debate among both counter-insurgent planners and would-be rebels.

Pub Date: April 3, 1973

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Morrow

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1973

Categories: NONFICTION