Lou Proyect on Nicaraugua

[Michael Perelman <michael@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Ken Hanley asked what I thought of the FSLN drift to the
right. You can post this to PEN-L in reply. It was written by
Mike
Friedman, a Marxism list subber, who I agree with completely.)

I can't claim any intimate knowledge of the process going on in
Northern Ireland, but I can claim more than passing knowledge
with
what appears to be a parallel, and that is the trajectory of the
FSLN
in Nicaragua. During the '80s, when the Frente held power by
virtue
of a revolution, many of us argued that the FSLN leadership and
party
consisted of various currents, which somehow justified the
party's
increasingly pro-capitalist trajectory.

In reality, this may have been true during the early years,
before a
clear tendency won out. I remember Tomas Borge was quoted in '83
as
saying something like "el nuestro es un proceso enredado, y al
pueblo
no le gustan los enredos." Under the pressure of imperialism, the

FSLN ceded political and economic terrain to the oligarchy, as
the
latter continued to decapitalize the country and destabilize the
revolutionary government, while disenfranchising the masses who
had
made the revolution. I experienced this, and can go into the gory

details, if you wish, but I'll assume it's common knowledge. In
the
end, again pointing the finger ultimately at U.S. imperialism,
the
FSLN ceded power electorally. But, the story doesn't end
there. In subsequent years, the FSLN leadership, all
beneficiaries of
their years in power, or family wealth, has consistently opposed
mobilizations by popular sectors seeking to defend themselves
from
the capitalist onslaught, instead opting for parliamentary
maneuvering and signing pacts with the current right-wing
governing
clique in order to preserve "quotas of power."

This refers in particular to the FSLN's acquisition of
appointments
in the Supreme Court, according to my brother-in-law, so that it
can
better act on behalf of popular interests, prevent electoral
fraud,
etc. More recently, with electoral campaigning underway, the
Frente
re-activated community organizations. This past summer, there was
an
effervescence in the barrios and on campuses that hadn't existed
for
many, many years. But, these mobilizations were not around
concrete
demands: they were campaign rallies for the FSLN. Except for some

student mobilizations to gather material support for a starving
rural
population. What will happen after the elections? Will this
popular
organization continue, perhaps develop its own momentum? You can
be
sure that Washington is striving to make sure that doesn't
happen.
And the problem is that the leadership has sold out to its vision
of
bourgeois "realism."
--

Michael Perelman
Economics Department
California State University
Chico, CA 95929

Tel. 530-898-5321
E-Mail michael@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx