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"We Live to Struggle, We Struggle to Triumph": The Revolutionary Organization of the People in Arms and Radical Nationalism in Guatemala

Bibler, Jared S.
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1399513879

Abstract Details

2014, Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, History (Arts and Sciences).
This dissertation is an intellectual and political history of The Revolutionary Organization of the People in Arms (ORPA), a political-military movement that operated in Guatemala from 1971 to 1996 during the country's civil war. The movement's creative ideological approach, which included an interpretation of Marxism that emphasized social and cultural issues and the role of human actors, resulted in a peculiar brand of radical nationalism that differed from contemporary revolutionary movements in Guatemala and Latin America more broadly. This is not a broad history of ORPA and its military operations, but focuses on the organization's ideology and analysis of Guatemala's problems, including its perspectives on the long-debated "indigenous question" and the role of the country's indigenous majority in the revolutionary struggle. In an attempt to establish a firm ideological foundation for its members, during the 1970s, the movement's leadership produced various theoretical documents for internal use that delineated the movement's ideas, including two, lengthy documents detailing the role of racism and discrimination in the country's oppressive and exclusionary social, political and economic structures. The leadership argued that since the indigenous majority suffered both racial discrimination and economic exploitation, the revolutionary struggle had to simultaneously address race and ethnic issues, as well as class issues. Heterodox Marxist writers and decolonization theorists such as Frantz Fanon, Albert Memmi and Amilcar Cabral heavily influenced ORPA's ideas on race, colonialism and even the role of the Guatemalan bourgeoisie and intellectuals in the revolution. The study represents an important case study in Latin American radical thought of an organization's ability to escape the limited scope of contemporary Marxist-Leninist currents in order to establish a radical, inclusive and creative revolutionary nationalist ideology. Furthermore, the story of contemporary social and revolutionary movements is relevant and timely as Guatemala, and the region more broadly, continues to struggle with many of the same issues that inspired such movements in recent history.
Patrick Barr-Melej (Advisor)
284 p.
History
Revolutionary Organization of the People in Arms; Organizacion Revolucionaria del Pueblo en Armas; ORPA; Rodrigo Asturias; Guatemalan Guerrillas; Guatemalan Civil War;

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Bibler, J. S. (2014). "We Live to Struggle, We Struggle to Triumph": The Revolutionary Organization of the People in Arms and Radical Nationalism in Guatemala [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1399513879

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Bibler, Jared. "We Live to Struggle, We Struggle to Triumph": The Revolutionary Organization of the People in Arms and Radical Nationalism in Guatemala. 2014. Ohio University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1399513879.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Bibler, Jared. ""We Live to Struggle, We Struggle to Triumph": The Revolutionary Organization of the People in Arms and Radical Nationalism in Guatemala." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio University, 2014. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1399513879

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

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© 2014, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Ohio University and OhioLINK.