Intellectual Foundations of the Nicaraguan Revolution

Donald C. Hodges (1923–2009) was Professor of Philosophy at Florida State University, Tallahassee.

• Abbreviations Preface Part One. Sandino 1. The Making of a Revolutionary The Mexican Experience The Struggle in Nicaragua Revitalizing an Ailing Cause Understanding Sandino 2. Activating Ideologies The Legacy of Mexican Anarchism Spiritualist, Freemason, Theosophist The Spiritism of the Magnetic-Spiritual School The Anarchism of Austere Rational Philosophy Sandino’s “Rational Communism” The Coming “Proletarian Explosion” 3. Strategy for Subversion Appeals to Patriotism Sandino’s Liberalism The Turn toward Populism Sandino and the Comintern 4. The War in Nicaragua The Yankee “Machos” The Bankers of Wall Street The “Whited Sepulcher” Nicaragua’s Political Leaders The Defending Army of National Sovereignty Stimson or Sandino? Part Two. The Sandinistas 5. From Sandino to Sandinismo Recovering Sandino’s Thought Transmitting Sandino’s Example The Marxist Influence Promoting the New Marxism What Is Sandinismo? 6. Political Assessments Nicaragua’s Neocolonial Status The Rise of a Bourgeois Opposition The Emergence of a Proletarian Vanguard The Development of a Revolutionary Situation 7. Reflections on Strategy The Original “Foco” Strategy The Strategy of Prolonged People’s War The Strategy of Popular Resistance The Strategy of General Insurrection 8. Ideologies of the Revolution The Cult of the New Man The Defense of Human Rights The Religious Policy of the FSLN Ernesto Cardenal’s Tour de Force The Ideological Pluralism of the FSLN Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index

This is a fascinating book, which should be must reading for anyone seriously concerned with the crisis of Central America, and particularly the Nicaraguan revolution. (American Historical Review)