The Sandinista Revolution is arguably the most significant event in Nicaraguan history. Because of its historical importance and distinctive socio-cultural context, the Sandinista Revolution offers significant opportunities for scholarly inquiry. The literature on the Sandinista Revolution is substantial. However, little is known about the organization Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) and how it evolved into the leader of the movement which sought to overthrow the 45-year Somoza dictatorship. In revolutionary literature, the concept of revolutionary vanguard or vanguard party is common. However, the notion of vanguardism as a process and what constitutes a vanguardist organization is yet to be explored. This study aims to provide such an investigation, through an examination of the insurrectional period (1974-1979) leading up to the Sandinista Revolutionary Victory in 1979. Grounded in Scott's (2008) institutional framework, this study describes the evolution of the FSLN into the vanguard of the anti-Somoza movement, identifying relationships between institutional elements involved in the FSLN's institutionalization process and progression into "leader" of the movement. Data from interviews, newspaper articles, and video documentaries were scrutinized in search of answers to the question: How do mechanisms, carriers, and agency as elements of institutions explain vanguardism in the case study of the FSLN? This research reveals critical mechanisms, carriers and agency in the vanguardism of the FSLN, and explains how these elements supported this process. In this sense, this research reveals distinctive characteristics in vanguardism as an institutional process, which differentiate vanguardism from other processes. This research presents an opportunity to learn about the FSLN-a vastly unique politico-military organization. Additionally, there is an opportunity to broaden our observational lens, taking a neoinstitutional approach, to illustrate new ways in which organizations evolve, change and adapt to their environments. Lastly, this study hopes to pave the way for future studies in organizational vanguardism. / Ph. D.

Submitted by Erika Demachki (erikademachki@gmail.com) on 2015-02-03T17:51:40Z No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertação - Roger dos Anjos de Sá - 2014.pdf: 2409543 bytes, checksum: 0ca0c54b9202cdac71aefbd8a49fd939 (MD5) license_rdf: 23148 bytes, checksum: 9da0b6dfac957114c6a7714714b86306 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Erika Demachki (erikademachki@gmail.com) on 2015-02-03T17:56:10Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertação - Roger dos Anjos de Sá - 2014.pdf: 2409543 bytes, checksum: 0ca0c54b9202cdac71aefbd8a49fd939 (MD5) license_rdf: 23148 bytes, checksum: 9da0b6dfac957114c6a7714714b86306 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-02-03T17:56:10Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertação - Roger dos Anjos de Sá - 2014.pdf: 2409543 bytes, checksum: 0ca0c54b9202cdac71aefbd8a49fd939 (MD5) license_rdf: 23148 bytes, checksum: 9da0b6dfac957114c6a7714714b86306 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-09-25 / Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Goiás - FAPEG / In July 1979, the Sandinista Revolution triumphed in Nicaragua, thus constituting a political framework of great importance for the history of the last quarter of the twentieth century. In front of the revolutionary process, was the FSLN (Sandinista National Liberation Front), an organization founded in the early 1960s inspired by Augusto César Sandino, a nationalist who fought against the domination exerted by the United States of America in that country in the late 1920s and in the beginning of next decade. Sandino was assassinated at the behest of the then chief of the National Guard, Anastasio Somoza García, in 1934. In 1937, Somoza took over the government of Nicaragua inaugurating the longest of all dictatorships of America, which lasted until 1979. Associated various political ideologies derived from various social segments the FSLN led a popular uprising that toppled the dictatorship and began a period of intense disputes and social, economic and political transformations in Nicaragua. The tactic of economic transformation was conducted by the mixed economy and the political model was guided by plurality. Meanwhile the Sandinista Front sought to consolidate its hegemony through the cooptation of popular and mass organizations and also through the establishment of an Army. A few years after the revolutionary triumph came one armed counterrevolution, what made the consigning a war that consumed in huge sums of money following years and a concentration in military defense of the Revolution. The counterrevolutionary forces were formed under the auspices of the American government of Ronald Reagan. In this sense, the period between 1979 and 1990, Nicaragua became an important center of American interference, which combined the groups opposing the Sandinista Front, mainly the bourgeoisie and the upper hierarchy of the Catholic Church constituted together, armed groups, the cons, who fought with the government a civil war. The Sandinista Revolution lasted until 1990, when the FSLN was defeated electorally by a counterrevolutionary coalition called UNO (National Union Opposition) that was financed by the United States. / Em julho de 1979, a Revolução Sandinista triunfou na Nicarágua, constituindo assim um marco político de grande relevância para a história do último quartel do século XX. Na dianteira do processo revolucionário, estava a FSLN (Frente Sandinista de Libertação Nacional), organização fundada no início da década de 1960 inspirada em Augusto César Sandino, um nacionalista que lutou contra a dominação exercida pelos Estados Unidos da América naquele país no final dos anos 1920 e no início da década seguinte. Sandino foi assassinado a mando do então chefe da Guarda Nacional, Anastásio Somoza García, em 1934. Em 1937, Somoza assumiu o governo da Nicarágua, inaugurando a mais longa de todas as ditaduras da América, que durou até 1979. Associados a diversas ideologias políticas oriundas de variados segmentos sociais, a FSLN liderou uma insurreição popular que derrubou a ditadura e iniciou um período de intensas disputas e transformações sociais, econômicas e políticas na Nicarágua. A tática de transformação econômica foi conduzida pela economia mista e o modelo político foi pautado pela pluralidade. Entrementes a Frente Sandinista buscou consolidar sua hegemonia mediante a cooptação de organizações populares e de massa e também através da constituição de um Exército. Poucos anos após o triunfo revolucionário, surgiu uma contrarrevolução armada, o que fez com que se consignasse uma situação de guerra que consumiu nos anos seguintes enormes somas monetárias e uma concentração na defesa militar da Revolução. As forças contrarrevolucionárias foram formadas sob a tutela do governo norte-americano de Ronald Reagan. Neste sentido, no período entre 1979 e 1990, a Nicarágua tornou-se um importante polo da ingerência norte-americana, que aliada a grupos opostos a Frente Sandinista, principalmente à burguesia e à alta hierarquia da Igreja Católica, constituíram juntos grupos armados, os contras, que travaram com o governo uma guerra civil. A Revolução Sandinista durou até 1990, quando a FSLN foi derrotada eleitoralmente por uma coalização contrarrevolucionária denominada UNO (União Nacional Opositora), financiada pelos Estados Unidos.

In 1990, ten years after the Sandinista revolution's triumph, came its end. What followed were anti-Sandinistas' attempts to erase Nicaragua's revolutionary past and Sandinistas' defense of that project and the party that represents it, the Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional (FSLN). For most Sandinistas, to publicly remember the revolution was a form of defense. Their memories were considered counter-hegemonic ones that reminded people that the past and the revolution's propositions still had value. However, Sandinistas' revolutionary narratives of the past are not free of problems and contradictions. The FSLN has popularized a Sandinista collective memory that idealizes the revolution. This is an indulgent memory that avoids talking about mistakes and problems. It is also a sentimental memory that links sandinismo to high morals and goodness and, in doing so, inhibits questioning the past and the present. This collective memory hinders discussions about other Sandinista memories, but, most importantly, it legitimizes problematic continuities in the way power is exerted; continuities which are not unique to sandinismo. This dissertation analyses how Sandinista peasants from a region in the old agrarian frontier of the country remember the revolution. In analyzing their memories one can see the ways in which the revolution is felt, the meaning of sandinismo among that population, and the kinds of political compromises they have to make today. Their memories show that the strength of the FSLN lies not only in economical or political interests, but also in the way the narratives of the past reaffirm attachments built over thirty years or more. While remembering the revolution's political ideals continues to be an important political statement and source of inspiration, constant critiques should be part of any memory work. To start with, memory work needs to acknowledge the constructed character of any memory, be those personal or collective, and the omissions that constitute them. To do so entail recognizing that memories are made of exclusions, repetitions, and forgetting and that the political work of memory not only never ends but involves the difficult task of questioning itself. / text

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