[Marxism] Marta Harnecker: Ideas for the struggle #1 -- Insurrections or revolutions? The role of the political instrument | Links

[glparramatta <glparramatta@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

[This is the first in a series of regular articles.]

By *Marta Harnecker*, translated by *Federico Fuentes* for /Links 
International Journal of Socialist Renewal/ <http://links.org.au>

1. The recent popular uprisings at the turn of the 21^st century that 
have rocked numerous countries such as Argentina and Bolivia -- and, 
more generally, the history of the multiple social explosions that have 
occurred in Latin America and the rest of the world -- have undoubtedly 
demonstrated *that the initiative of the masses, in and of itself, is 
not enough to defeat ruling regimes. *

2. Impoverished urban and country masses, lacking a well-defined plan, 
have risen up, seized highways, towns and neighbourhoods, ransacked 
stores and stormed parliaments, but despite achieving the mobilisation 
of hundreds of thousands of people, *neither the size nor their 
combativeness have been enough to develop from popular insurrection into 
revolution.* They have overthrown presidents, but they haven’t been able 
to conquer power and initiate a process of deep social transformations.

3. On the other hand, the history of triumphant revolutions clearly 
demonstrates what can be achieved when there is *a political instrument 
capable of raising an alternative national program that unifies the 
struggles of diverse social actors behind a common goal*; that helps to 
cohere them and elaborate a path forward for these actors based on an 
analysis of the existent balance of forces. Only in this manner can 
actions be carried out at the right place and right time, always seeking 
out the weakest link in the enemy’s chain.

Full article at http://links.org.au/node/1059

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