At a time when the validity of Marxism is being questioned because of the collapse of the Communist regimes in Eastern Europe, Richard Harris examines the relevance of Marxism and socialism for Latin America and the Caribbean. Dr. Harris discusses recent revolutionary regimes and attempts at socialist transformation in the region in terms of Marxist theory, comparing them with the historical experiences of the Soviet Union, China, Yugoslavia, and Vietnam. The author argues that Marxist theory offers a framework for understanding recent revolutionary transformations as well as the contradictions and limitations of existing democratic regimes in the region. Particular attention is given to revolutionary Cuba, the Allende administration in Chile, the Popular Revolutionary Government in Grenada, the Sandinista regime in Nicaragua, and contemporary leftist parties and movements throughout Latin America. He contends that democratization and the solution of the region's economic and social problems require a democratic socialist project.

This is the first new anthology of writings by Latin American Marxists to appear in over twenty years. Its purpose is to fill this vacuum and to provide a working tool for both students and activists. While including theoretical, sociological, historical, and economic writings, the majority of the documents center on political struggles throughout the continent. The anthology's method is historical, considering the evolution of Marxist thought in the context of social and political struggles during the different historical periods in Latin America, as well as in connection with developments in the international workers' movement. Of particular interest are hard-to-find documents from the early years of the Communist International; a number of important and previously untranslated texts by Jose Carlos Mariategui, widely considered the most important Marxist thinker of the Americas; documents from the 1932 revolt in El Salvador, led by Farabundo Marti; and selections from the most dynamic elements of the Latin American left, including the Central American revolutionary movements, the Brazilian Workers Party, and liberation theologists.

Over the last few decades Marta Harnecker has emerged as one of Latin America’s most incisive socialist thinkers. In A World to Build, she grapples with the question that has bedeviled every movement for radical social change: how do you construct a new world within the framework of the old? Harnecker draws on lessons from socialist movements in Latin America, especially Venezuela, where she served as an advisor to the Chávez administration and was a director of the Centro Internacional Miranda. A World to Build begins with the struggle for socialism today. Harnecker offers a useful overview of the changing political map in Latin America, examining the trajectories of several progressive Latin American governments as they work to develop alternative models to capitalism. She combines analysis of concrete events with a refined theoretical understanding of grassroots democracy, the state, and the barriers imposed by capital. For Harnecker, twenty-first century socialism is a historical process as well as a theoretical project, one that requires imagination no less than courage. She is a lucid guide to the movements that are fighting, right now, to build a better world, and an important voice for those who wish to follow that path.

Over the last two decades, economic, political, and social life in Latin America has been transformed by the region’s accelerated integration into the global economy. Although this transformation has tended to exacerbate various inequities, new forms of popular expression and action challenging the contemporary structures of capital and power have also developed. This volume is a comprehensive, genuinely comparative text on contemporary Latin America. In it, an international group of contributors offer multidimensional analyses of the historical context, contemporary character, and future direction of rural transformation, urbanization, economic restructuring, and the transition to political democracy. In addition, individual essays address the changing role of women, the influence of religion, the growth of new social movements, the struggles of indigenous peoples, and ecological issues. Finally, the book examines the influence of U.S. policy and of regionalization and globalization on the Latin American states. Sandor Halebsky is professor of sociology at Saint Mary’s University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He coedited Cuba in Transition: Crisis and Transformation (Westview, 1992). Richard L. Harris is chair of the faculty at Golden Gate University in Monterey, California. He is one of the coordinating editors of the journal Latin American Perspectives and the author of Marxism, Socialism, and Democracy in Latin America (Westview, 1992).

In this book Julio Faúndez traces the development of Chilean politics from 1932 to the overthrow of Allende in 1973, focusing in particular on the participation of Marxist parties in Chile's democratic government. Relating the various phases in the evolution of the political system to the concrete problems that had to be faced, Faúndez discusses how class alliances, political mobilization, and the role of organized labor affected developments in the country. His book adds an important new perspective to a perennial topic of debate among politicians and political scientists worldwide.

In Translating Marx, Martín Cortés ponders José Aricó’s contributions towards the constitution of Latin American Marxism. Accordingly, he studies Aricó in terms of his trajectory as a publisher and translator, while considering his thoughts on Marxism’s fundamental theoretical problems.

Reclaiming Latin America is a one-stop guide to the revival of social democratic and socialist politics across the region. At the end of the Cold War, and through decades of neoliberal domination and the 'Washington Consensus' it seemed that the left could do nothing but beat a ragged retreat in Latin America. Yet this book looks at the new opportunities that sprang up through electoral politics and mass action during that period. The chapters here warn against over-simplification of the so-called 'pink wave'. Instead, through detailed historical analysis of Latin America as a whole and country-specific case studies, the book demonstrates the variety of approaches to establishing a lasting social justice. From the anti-imperialism of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas in Venezuela, Bolivia and Cuba, to the more gradualist routes being taken in Chile, Argentina and Brazil, Reclaiming Latin America gives a real sense of the plurality of political responses to popular discontent.

José Carlos Mariátegui, the Peruvian political theorist of the 1920s, was instrumental in developing an indigenous Latin American revolutionary Marxist theory. He rejected a rigid, orthodox interpretation of Marxism and applied his own creative elements, which he believed could move a society to revolutionary action without the society having to depend upon more traditional economic factors. His interpretation of Peruvian history had a profound effect upon subsequent social movements throughout Latin America. This volume reviews the essential elements of Mariátegui's thought and important influences on his intellectual development. It demonstrates the role he played in defining a Latin american identity, the nature of his intellectual contribution to the development of indigenous revolutionary movements in Latin America, and the inflluence he had on successful revolutionary movements in Cuba and Nicaragua. An understanding of Mariátegui's thought is fundamental to understanding the nature of revolutionary changes in Latin America.