revolutionary action movement (ram) - Michael Schwartz Library

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National Liberation Front (FSLN) named after General August C . Sandioni,
leader of the first guerrilla force to fight U .S . Marines . Fighting them
in 1,000 battles from 1926 to 1934, Sandioni was assassinated in 1934 . 13
During 1961 to 1963, the FSLN was formed, defining itself as an antiimperialist,
revolutionary organization dedicated to overthrowing Somoza
and destroying the bureaucratic,
military and economic structures that
supported his government . The FSLN immediately developed a guerrilla army .
In
1963, military attacks on government outposts were launched from
Honduras but they were militarily unsuccessful .
The FSLN then turned its
efforts towards developing a political
base in Nicaragua and building a
clandestine and semi-legal network to provide logistical and political
support for armed struggle .
This work was concentrated in
the cities in the form of popular civilian
committees and the Revolutionary Student Front . After 1966, the FSLN,
after developing the nucleus of a revolutionary army,
returned to the
mountains launching an offensive at Pancasan Campaign which was seen
as a
political victory to most of the Nicarguan left . 14 The FLSN began to put
emphasis on protracted war . After evaluating 1962-1967 experiences, they
developed a strategy known as prolonged popular war ( guerra popular pro -
longada , GPP) . The GPP stressed organizing the rural proletariat, the
largest sector of the working class, as the main social base of the revolutionary
movement . 15
13 NACLA"S Latin America and Empire Report . "Nicaragua ." Vol . X, No . 2,
(February 1976), p . 14
14 Ibid ., p . 15 .
15 Nicaragua : On the General Political-Military Platform of Struggle of
the Sandinista Front for National Liberation 11- . (Oakland, Calif . : esistance
Publications, 1978 . Also, NACLA Report on the Americas, "Crisis in
Nicaragua," Vol . XII, No . 6, November December ,p. 20 .