European Left Populism and Authoritarian Populism

The emergence of left populism, mainly in Southern Europe, in the decade of 2010, questioned the impression that populism in Europe was only right-wing oriented. On the other hand, the expansion of populism as a common denomination favored the perception that all populisms were the same, regardless of ideology: a threat to democracy. It explains why many left parties are reluctant towards being labelled as populist. Besides, left-wing populism connected with the one from Latin America one decade before where the tensions between democratization and authoritarianism have been widely discussed. The European public opinion usually relates the Latin American left populist governments with authoritarianism, associated with the situation in Venezuela first with Hugo Chávez and, especially, now with Nicolás Maduro. For this reason, left populism in Europe was made suspicious of being authoritarian.

The Longue Durée of the Marxist Theory of Dependency and the Twenty-First Century

A critical review of the 50-year-old Marxist theory of dependency and its current situation includes discussion of its analyses of the world-system, the concepts of superexploitation and subimperialism, its reflections on development, democracy, and proposals for emancipation, and its perspectives on the rise of the Latin American left in the twenty-first century and the prospects of neoconservatism. It concludes that with the globalization of capital, Marxist dependency theory must oppose not only internal structures of dependency but the imperialist world order, and this will call for the socialization of the forces of production and the development of national, continental and global strategies. Uma revisão crítica dos 50 anos de debates sobre a teoria marxista da dependência e seu estado da arte, que inclui a discussão de suas análises do sistema-mundo, os conceitos de superexploração e subimperialismo, suas reflexões sobre desenvolvimento, democracia e propostas de emancipação, e suas perspectivas sobre a ascensão da esquerda latino-americana no século XXI e as perspectivas do neoconservadorismo. Conclui que, com a globalização do capital, a teoria marxista da dependência deve assumir sua vocação de luta não apenas contra as estruturas internas da dependência mas também contra a ordem mundial imperialista, e isso exigirá o desenvolvimento de estratégias nacionais, continentais e mundiais.

A New Kind of Vanguard: Cuban−North Korean Discourse on Revolutionary Strategy for the Global South in the 1960s

During the 1960s, the Cuban government attempted to play a leadership role within the Latin American Left. In the process Cuban leaders departed from Marxist−Leninist orthodoxy, garnering harsh criticism from their Soviet and Chinese allies. Yet Cuba found a steadfast supporter of its controversial positions in North Korea. This support can in large part be explained by the parallels between Cuban and North Korean ideas about revolution in the developing nations of the Global South. Most significantly, both parties embraced a radical reconceptualisation of the role of the Marxist−Leninist vanguard party. This new doctrine appealed primarily to younger Latin American militants frustrated with the established leftist parties and party politics in general. The Cuban/North Korean theory of the party had a tangible influence in Colombia, Peru, Brazil, Puerto Rico, El Salvador, Mexico, Bolivia and Nicaragua, as revolutionary groups in these societies took up arms in the 1960s and 1970s.

The processes of “democratic transition” in Latin America in the end of the XX - beginning of the XXI century and leftist forces of the region

Democratic transition processes manifested in the Latin American region since the mid-1980s. – the period of the beginning of the “fall” of military dictatorships and the return to civilian control. These processes were directed and organized by left-wing forces, which not only participated in struggle against dictatorships, but also took part in the restoration of key political institutions - elections, courts, and the adoption of new constitutions. This article, based on archival materials, media materials, memoirs, determines the features of the participation of Latin American left forces in the democratic transition, their place in the formed political structures in the context of the legacy of the Comintern and new opportunities.

Years of hope: the new left in Bolivia, 1960—1980

This work is devoted to the emergence of the "new left" movement in Latin America in the 60s, considering as an example Bolivia. Here it is proposed to analyze the “new lefts” that arose as a result of the crisis of traditional orthodox Marxism and communism, and not those leftists that emerged on the continent after the collapse of the USSR and the dramatic changes in the left political space, the emergence of various variants of “socialism of the 21st century”, also called "new". In Bolivia, the “new left” was formed from the search for a synthesis of Marxism and nationalism, the renewal of the ideas of socialism at the expense of Western, unorthodox Marxism, and an alliance with social Catholicism. All the political and ideological currents of the "new left" arose under the dominant influence of the Cuban revolution, the guerrilla of Che Guevara, “theology of liberation” and the "world revolution" of 1968. This phenomenon had a short existence, entering a deep crisis in the late 80s, but at the same time leaving a rich legacy for the next generations of the Bolivian left, and there is a clear continuity between the “new left” of the 60s and 70s and today's Latin American left.