For the Liberation of Brazil

by Carlos Marighella

Carlos Marighela was an orthodox and leading Communist in São Paulo until 1967, when he attended the conference of the Organization for Latin American Solidarity (OLAS) against his party's wishes. In 1968 he and Mario Alves set up their own pro-Cuban Revolutionary Communist Party of Brazil. In the same year he launched Action fat National Liberation (ALN), a series of armed uprisings against the forces of fascist repression in Brazil. In his letters and pamphlets Marighela emphasized the importance of adapting the strategy of the foco, pioneered by Guevara and Debray in the countryside, for use in the towns. By 1969 revolutionary bandits had taken £400,000 from the banks of Rio and São Paulo alone, and had gained widespread support from many sections of the population. After the kidnapping of the United States ambassador had succeeded in securing the release of fifteen rebel prisoners, the military junta resorted to terror and torture in double measure. On 4 November 1969 Marighela was shot dead by police.

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction, Brazil, History

191 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1970

About the author

Carlos Marighella was a Brazilian politician, writer, and Marxist-Leninist militant. He was a key figure in the armed resistance against Brazil's military dictatorship and founded the Ação Libertadora Nacional (ALN), an urban guerrilla group responsible for bank robberies, kidnappings, and other militant actions. Critical of nonviolent resistance, he advocated for armed struggle and wrote the Minimanual of the Urban Guerrilla, a widely circulated revolutionary text.
Targeted by the authorities, Marighella was ambushed and killed by police in 1969. His legacy remains controversial—while some view him as a revolutionary hero, others see him as a terrorist. His life has been depicted in literature and film, most notably in the 2019 movie Marighella, directed by Wagner Moura.

Reviews

[Tomas Castro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simply put, this book opened my third eye. I am Brazilian-American, and I always knew about the brutality of the military dictatorship but I never knew about the extent of the clandestine resistance until I found out about Carlos Marighella. How symbolic it is that a descendant of the enslaved is the principal face of our people's resistance to Brazilian fascism and U.S. imperialism? Marighella's essays on politics, strategy, and tactics paint the portrait of a man who loved his country, and saw fundamentally that the fight for a free Brazil could be put squarely in the anti-colonial, anti-capitalist, and anti-imperialist struggles. Marighella's essay about not "subordinating" the proletariat to the bourgeoisie are profound, as it reveals the futility about relying on the "opposition" tolerated by the military to deliver democratization, and that the only way to truly resist oppression is to dismantle the regime itself. As such, that particular chapter (as well as Marighella's criticism of the PCB as cowardly in the face of the coup) can be applied not only to Brazil but to the United States as well; I see so many lessons that liberals and those on the left often miss in our politics, of "criticizing the reactionary right as a matter of form" but doing nothing to resist their rise to power. If, like me, you are a U.S.-born Brazilian or Latino that did not learn enough about your own history, Marighella is a must-read for you.

[Fadillah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Where do you draw the line between liberation and enslavement? How do you weigh the unjustified act of terrors in order to fight for the one sided cause? I have so many questions while i read this book. I knew it was just a manual but I've seen a lot of blurred lines in this book. I understand Carlos Marighela's frustration over capitalism and the north American takeover the brazil's economy but the socialism idea is too good to be true.

[Jan Alain · Rating 5 out of 5]

Classic guerrilla warfare manual and educational tool