Professional paper
Critique By Arms – From the New Left to Neo-Stalinism
Slobodan Drakulić
; Filozofski fakultet, Zagreb
Abstract
The first part gives a survey of the development of leftist urban guerrilla — from its origins in Latin America in 1960's, to the spread of revolutionary and guerrilla organizations in Western Europe. Urban guerrilla in Italy is singled out as being unique with respect to its being able of providing for a considerable social basis, which enabled its continuity and made it the only significant leftist guerrilla movement in the West.
Upheavals and downfalls of the leftist guerrilla movements show that it develops till certain quantitative stage of growth and when reaching it, it either has to spread into a mass armed movement, or it has to restrain itself in scope. Guerrilla movement condemned to a long and exhausting war starts necessarily militarizing social functions; furthermore, dt starts developing stronger etatistic functions than the previous ones.
The reason making an essentially anti-authoritarian revolutionary movement — the New Left — develop partially into rigid neostalinism is given particular attention. One part of the answer lies in the defeat of leftist movements in 1960's and 1970's; it lead to decrease in size and internal fragmentation. The second part of the answer is replacement of mass political initiatives by political will of small groups, which is sooner or later reduced to will of power. The perspective of gaining power lies not in socialist revolution, but in a historical putch. The maturity of mass revolutionary movements, aiming at destruction of the class society, is contrary to such endeavors deemed at reaffirming it.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
155985
URI
Publication date:
31.12.1980.
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