From Revolutionary Dreams to Organizational Fragmentation: Disputes over Violence within ETA and Sendero Luminoso

Abstract

This article examines the evolution of ETA and Shining Path and the leaders' early theoretical justifications for armed action and the views of dissenters. Although both organizations emerged under similar circumstances, members of each differed in how they thought about violent politics. This resulted in different types and amounts of violence. Leaders revised their thinking amid constitutional change, fierce government repression and the entrance of new generations of activists. The two cases corroborate several recent scholarly theses - in particular, hypotheses about the ubiquity of discord and the propensity toward fragmentation within movements that use violence - and suggest new hypotheses about the role of leadership in the evolution of revolutionary movements.