Twentieth-Century Latin American Revolutions

By (author) Marc Becker

Not available to order

Publication date:

01 June 2017

Length of book:

272 pages

Publisher

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

ISBN-13: 9781442265868

Revolutions are a commonly studied but only vaguely understood historical phenomenon. 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
2 Mexican Revolution, 1910–1920
Biography: Emiliano Zapata, 1879–1919
Document: Emiliano Zapata, “Plan of Ayala,” 1911
3 Guatemalan Spring, 1944–1954
Biography: Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán, 1913–1971
Document: “Decree 900,” 1952
4 Bolivia’s Nationalist Revolution, 1952–1964
Biography: Juan Lechín Oquendo, 1914–2001
Document: The Union Federation of Bolivian Mine Workers (FSTMB),
“Pulacayo Theses,” 1946
5 Cuban Revolution, 1959–
Biography: Fidel Castro, 1926–2016
Document: “First Declaration of Havana,” 1960
6 Chilean Road to Socialism, 1970–1973
Biography: Salvador Allende Gossens, 1909–1973
Document: “Popular Unity Government: Basic Program,” 1970
7 Nicaraguan Sandinistas, 1979–1990
Biography: Carlos Fonseca Amador, 1936–1976
Document: “The Historic Program of the FSLN,” 1969
8 Guerrilla Warfare
Biography: Che Guevara, 1928–1967
Document: Che Guevara, Guerrilla Warfare, 1960
9 Venezuela’s Bolivarian Revolution, 1999–
Biography: Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías, 1954–2013
Document: Hugo Chávez, World Social Forum, 2005
10 Socialisms of the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries
Glossary
Index

Becker’s style and argumentation are always fair. He shows a firm grasp of the complicated and half-controlled evolution of revolutionary processes. He systematically maintains throughout all his case studies a convincing analysis and completes the book with a short but nuanced overview of the Pink Tide governments. It is an ideal textbook to use in the classroom. I am also sure that a more general public will appreciate this wide-ranging comparative study, filling a hiatus in an academic tradition where single case studies or monographs are more common.