The Isthmus of Revolution

Labour Briefing no. 69, 28 September 1988, p. 13

Transcribed or corrected by hand from the printed page.

By-line as printed: Phil Hearse, Islington North CLP.

Power in the Isthmus, by James Dunkerley, Verso, £29.95.

Historical and materialist in method, stunning in its sweep and erudition, this new book is without doubt the single most important work on recent Central American politics in the English language.

Subtitled A Political History of Modern Central America it charts economic, social, and political developments from the end of the Spanish Captaincy General in 1821 to the Arias plan in 1987.

Dunkerley provides a detailed account of changes in the region during the 1950-80 period — the backdrop to the modern rebellion.

He shows that during this period, the epoch of the long economic boom, major changes in the economy and structure of society created the preconditions for an explosion.

Agribusiness

The development of agribusiness and limited, dependent industrialisation meant the the development of urbanisation on a new scale.

While not every nation in the region shared the grotesque features of "Somoza Family Ltd." in Nicaragua, imperialism and the oligarchy nonetheless combined to keep the masses impoverished.

The result — growing population, increasingly urban and youthful, the development of mass popular organisations, and continued mass impoverishment — was an explosive mixture.

Revolutionary

Dunkerley shows how these conditions led to the development of revolutionary movements in the guise of national liberation movements (e.g. the names FMLN/FSLN).

The "states" of Central America, he notes, are of relatively recent creation. The people of the region share important elements of a common culture and of course a common language.

The general domination of the region by imperialism, the need to defeat dictatorial local oligarchies, and the ever-present land question lend a decisive weight in the revolutionary process to national and democratic tasks.

While never hectoring or sectarian, Dunkerley attempts to weigh critically the successive policies of the various mass popular organisations. This is never done without paying tribute to the extraordinary courage and creativity of revolutionary movements which are everywhere staffed by young — often very young — militants.

For Dunkerley, the outcome of the Nicaraguan revolution is as yet undecided. While stating that Nicaragua is "not any kind of workers' state" he nonetheless chides those adepts of "dogmatic Marxist orthodoxy" who see the Sandinistas making a final accommodation with imperialism or the capitalist order.

No one will agree with all Dunkerley's views, but it is surely right that critical socialist scholarship should attempt to understand popular revolutionary movements — sympathetically and without sectarianism — but also without the simplistic illusions of cheerleaders.

Victory

The victory of the FSLN in Nicaragua and the ongoing war in El Salvador have tended to overshadow the Guatemalan struggle. But Guatemala is the largest, most populous country of the isthmus, and is also the primary focus for imperialist economic investment.

Dunkerley's view is that the final outcome of the regional struggle may well be decided by the battle in the forests and mountains of Guatemala. The defeat suffered by the popular forces in that country in the early 1980s thus weigh heavily on the balance of forces in the whole region.

The loss of Central America to imperialist control — with Mexico to the north and a desperately unstable Colombia to the south — would be a massive blow in favour of socialism in the Americas.

Dunkerley insists that, despite the apparent stalemate in the region, the surge for popular power is far from over. In that sense, despite its detail, Dunkerley's own book is just the story so far.

Mistake

Verso have made a mistake in publishing this indispensable source-book in a lavish £30 edition, which should be remedied by a paperback edition as soon as possible.

Bourgeois and literary journals have mostly ignored Dunkerley's book, but the left should not — even if it means undertaking a heroic fight to force your local library to get hold of it. No socialist can really be aware of the central issues involved in the isthmus of revolution without it.

transcribed from the page image, 4 Nov 2026 (Hearse/Lloyd follow-up); spelling as printed ("meant the the development", "thus weigh heavily"). Book review under a 'BOOK REVIEW' banner; the by-line 'By Phil Hearse, Islington North CLP' sits in a ruled box in the second column. The book details line heads the body; the first two paragraphs are printed in bold and kept so. Left out the other reviews on the page (A Health Campaigner's Handbook, John Maclean battles on!, film review of A World Apart, El Salvador: Behind the lines), the page header and the subscription strip. Small type but fully legible.