NCJ Number
62752
Date Published
1971
Length
16 pages
Annotation
REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENTS ARE USUALLY TRANSNATIONAL BY NECESSITY, NOT BY DESIGN, AND THEIR OVERWHELMING DESIRE IS FOR POWER, ACCORDING TO THIS ESSAY FROM THE HARVARD UNIVERSITY INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS CENTER.
Abstract
TRANSNATIONAL REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENTS--MOVEMENTS ACROSS STATE BOUNDARIES THAT ARE NOT CONTROLLED BY THE CENTRAL FOREIGN POLICY ORGANS OF GOVERNMENTS--HAVE INCREASINGLY PROCLAIMED AN ALLEGIANCE TO WORLD REVOLUTION BUT CONTINUE TO ACT AS COVERT GOVERNMENTS OR ILLEGAL ARMIES, UNDERGROUND OR IN EXILE. SIMILAR CONTRADICTIONS APPEAR TO EXIST BETWEEN THE NATIONAL ASPIRATIONS AND GOALS OF THE REVOLUTIONARY AND THE IDEOLOGICAL DIVISIONS BETWEEN FORMER ALLIED STATES. THE ORGANIZATION OF THE SOLIDARITY OF THE PEOPLES OF AFRICA, ASIA, AND LATIN AMERICA OR 'TRICONTINENTAL', AN ORGANIZATION FOUNDED IN HAVANA, CUBA IN 1966, DID NOT PROVE A VIABLE STRUCTURE FOR WORLD REVOLUTION, ALTHOUGH ITS STRATEGIES, BASED ON THE WRITINGS OF CHE GUEVARA AND BUILT ON ASIAN COMMUNIST THEORIES AND THE CUBAN EXPERIENCE, HAVE HAD EXTENSIVE APPEAL. DESCRIBED ARE THE DE JURE EXISTENCE MAINTAINED BY AFRICAN REVOLUTIONARY ORGANIZATIONS SUCH AS THE CONFERENCE OF NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS IN THE PORTUGUESE COLONIES, THE MORE LOOSELY ORGANIZED REVOLUTIONARY ORGANIZATIONS OF LATIN AMERICA, AND THE PAN-ARAB NATIONALISM REPRESENTED BY THE ARAB NATIONAL MOVEMENT OF GEORGE HABASH. ALSO DISCUSSED ARE THE IMPLICATIONS OF TRANSNATIONAL VIOLENCE AND TRANSNATIONAL RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN REVOLUTIONARIES AND THEIR ALLIES. THE ARTICLE CONCLUDES THAT REVOLUTIONARIES ARE NOT YET DEVOTED TO TRANSNATIONALISM, THAT THEIR IMMEDIATE GOAL IS TO CONTROL NATION-STATE UNITS, AND THAT THEIR ORGANIZATIONS WILL CONTINUE TO DOMINATE THE INTERNATIONAL SCENE. FOOTNOTES ARE PROVIDED. (AOP)