◆ SpookStack

vA . ei eerie nae ¥ 7 oad = BS GES PTD EE EE | igiy BEE a re et ee ee SOCIAL DEMOCRATS | Soggdl democrats (also called Mensheviks aft oe reformést party in the Russian Revolution) believe that there ts no need” for an armed struggle in order for sécialism to cone into existence er place the highest priority on voting‘ socialism into office. . ey also reject the notion of a.vanguard party advocating a | | Single political line (democratic centralism) but rather believe the party must be mass based and open to various points of view. — Social democrats are heavily against Stlin, seeing him as the ~-- example of what can happen ina socialist country if there is no freedom of speech, freedom of the vress, etc, In the contempora: left, the New Amerecan Movement is the most prominent of this — _ tyne of group although they have not yet oriented themselves © .toward a national electoral campaign, The strategy of the — Communist Party, U.S.A. falls into this category although they would firmly reject the label of social democrat. An example f the shortcomgs of this strategy is what haprened- to Seivador Allende in Chile because of his orientation toward gradual reformist measures. ‘héne is an interesting contrast | , - between his strategy and that of the Communists in Portugal | oo where even though the Socialist Party (social democrats) were 4 voted into office the military junta and the Communist Party have not allowed the Socialists to take a strong foothold, thus giving an opening for totally reactionary elements to once again rule the country. . . oe FCCOISTS Focoists exist predominantly in Latin America and are of a major concern for us in terms of déveloping. our revolutionary theory. They vattern their strategy after that of the Cuban revolution, believing that the moving force o8 the revolution is the guerrilla focos (small bands of guerrilla fighters operatin; in the rural areas predominantly) . They see the merger of the military and the political and see that a contradiction exists when the political party in the city is in command of the military arpect of the struggle which is.occurring in the countryside. They believe in “politico-military" orgainization where the armed elevtns who are fighting on the front are the leadership of the revolution, Focoists believe in one-stage revolution such as what occurre in Cuba, rather than the protracted guerrilla warfare such as hanneded in China with the involvement of many bourge ois elements The most well-known focoist theoreticlans are Che, Debray, and Carlos Marighela. Focoists see the foco strategy as the path to " pevolution for Latin America thouch as guerrilla movements heave suffered cetpacks they have come more and more to incorporate ‘ a elements of a more traditional Maoist strategy into their practice.