Pluralism and Vanguardism in the Nicaraguan Revolution

Abstract

One of the major principles of the Nicaraguan constitution is that state guarantees the existence of political (Article 5). One clear aspect of such pluralism is the maintenance of a multiparty system. Indeed discussion with representatives of the Frente Sandinista de Liberacion Nacional (Sandinista National Liberation Front, or FSLN) as well as active scholars within Nicaragua reveals that political pluralism is often simply identified with a multiparty system.' Yet it is clear that the FSLN as the sees its function as guiding the revolution. Traditionally the concept of a vanguard party has been connected with the notion of the dictatorship of the proletariat and a monopoly of state power by a single party; in a word, it has been associated with Stalinist strategy for maintaining political control through the Communist Party. How, then, can these two concepts work together? Here I will not speculate on the view that these concepts are combined only as a sort of cynical manipulation on the part of the FSLN.2 Only the future can show whether this is in fact the case. Here my concern is to show that the concepts of pluralism and of the vanguard have been synthesized in Nicaraguan theory and practice in a manner that does violence to neither of them. Further, I hope to show that such a synthesis can yield valuable theoretical insights which can go beyond the particular context of contemporary Nicaragua; the dynamism of contemporary Nicaragaun life is partially derivative of the combination in practice of two apparently contradictory notions. This example demonstrates that a creative approach to the combination of old political ideas can yield practical realities that go beyond old expectations. The notion of hegemony constitutes a key linkage between the concepts in question here. Hegemony, often associated with the thought of Gramsci, but commonly used in the Nicaraguan context without clear relation to his works, suggests that particular social orders function within the context of