page_title: Sandinista ideology
section_title: History of the implementation of Sandinism
hierarchical_section_title: Sandinista ideology / History of the implementation of Sandinism
caption_attribution_description: Source Fotografía propia. --txo Mayo 1988 (UTC)
context_page_description: Sandinista ideology or Sandinismo is a series of political and economic philosophies championed and instituted by the Nicaraguan Sandinista National Liberation Front throughout the late twentieth century. The ideology and movement acquired its name, image and, most crucially, military style from Augusto César Sandino, a Nicaraguan revolutionary leader who waged a guerrilla war against the United States Marines and the conservative Somoza National Guards in the early twentieth century. Despite using the Sandino name, the principals of modern Sandinista ideology were mainly developed by Carlos Fonseca, who, in likeness to the leaders of the Cuban Revolution of the 1950s, sought to inspire socialist populism among Nicaragua's peasant population. One of these main philosophies involved the institution of an educational system that would "free" the population from the perceived historical fallacies spouted by the ruling Somoza family.
context_section_description: Through the transformation of the Movement for a New Nicaragua (MNN) to the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) in 1961, Carlos Fonseca and his fellow revolutionary leaders adopted the image of 1930s guerrilla fighter, Augusto César Sandino to gain popular support across Nicaragua. Prior to the 1970s, the FSLN competed for peasant and worker support with other Somoza opposition groups such as the Partido Socialista de Nicaragua (PSN). The PSN claimed to be a "pure" Marxist group that was committed to fostering mass support of the proletariat and participating in elections before agreeing to any type of revolution. While the FSLN and PSN had been aligned at first, this alliance broke due to the PSN refusing to take on Sandino's image because he had originally refused to embrace Marxism, and the FSLN leaders disagreeing with the PSN and Conservative association.
  In the mid-1960s, the FLSN failed at their revolutionary attempts by using Ché Guevara's foco model, which stated that under the correct repressive and alienating economic and political conditions of the rural population, a small armed movement would be able to spread like wildfire throughout rural and urban populations. While many FSLN members were wiped out, the decade Fonseca spent underground allowed him to research Sandino and come up with a more concrete ideological framework and a more appropriate time to resurface on the Nicaraguan scene.
  This opportunity emerged in the 1970s, when the Somoza government confiscated relief funds for personal gain instead of giving aid to individuals and families after the 1972 Managua earthquake. Fonseca stated that the persistent problems that existed in Nicaragua could not be solved through legal activities and elections. Instead, Fonseca drew from the success of the Cuban Revolution and the life of Sandino to persuade students, workers, and peasants to gain power through the revolutionary force of the FSLN.
  Sandino, who had fought a six-year guerrilla war against the Conservatives and the United States Marines in Nicaragua from 1927 to 1933, was generally viewed as a popular war hero prior to his death. While student movements had used his name in brief struggles, Sandino's assassination in 1934 and the censorship of his name by the Somoza regime and the United States backed Guardia Nacional (Nicaragua) resulted in the meaning of his struggle being lost through the generations. Incidentally, the only book that was publicly available domestically to Nicaraguans was an account of Sandino that portrayed him as a bandit and communist, written by Somoza.
  Fonseca revived Sandino's image by writing five texts: Proletarian Guerrilla, Tricontinental, The Political Ideology of General Sandino, Chronology of Sandinista Resistance and Secret Chronicle: Augusto César Sandino Confronts His Betrayers. While symbolic heroes are remembered for their successes, Sandinistas value Sandino as a hero but also recognize his failure to fulfill his mission due to the lack of class-consciousness that existed during the 1930s. Fonseca explained, "It was to the glory of the people of Nicaragua that the most humble class responded for the stained honor of the nation. At the same time, it was a tragedy because we are speaking of a peasantry without any political awareness. The result was that once Sandino was assassinated, his movement was incapable of continuity." Due to Sandino's ambiguous writings, such as those indicating his years as a Liberal and his friendship and break with Augustín Farabundo Marti, a communist, it is difficult to ascertain how Fonseca reconstructed Sandino's image. However, the end result focused on Sandino's anti-imperialist struggle as a path that failed but would succeed under the correct path, making use of the masses.
  Carlos Fonseca adopted many of the Sandinista military goals from Che Guevara in 1959. Just as Guevara had implemented his Guerrilla foco in the Sierra Maestra mountains of the Oriente province, Fonseca believed Nicaragua's Revolution would begin with mass insurgency in the countryside.
caption: Augusto César Sandino.
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