Book Reviews : Communism in Guatemala: 1944-1954. By RONALD M. SCHNEIDER. (New York: Frederick A. Praeger, 1959. Pp. xxi, 350. $6.00.)

AuthorPeter A. Toma
Published date01 September 1960
Date01 September 1960
DOIhttp://doi.org/10.1177/106591296001300345
Subject MatterArticles
834
Communism
in
Guatemala:
1944-1954.
By
RONALD
M.
SCHNEIDER.
(New
York:
Frederick
A.
Praeger,
1959.
Pp.
xxi,
350.
$6.00.)
There
has
been
a
tendency
in
this
country
to
believe
that
&dquo;the
low
level
of
industrialization,
the
strength
of
Catholicism,
the
stubborn
individualism
of
the
Latin
American,
and
the
existence
of
a
large
Indian
population
clinging
to
their
traditional
way
of
life,
particularly
when
backed
up
by
the
proximity
of
the
United
States,
would
serve
as
an
effective
bar
to
the
growth
of
Communist
in-
fluence.&dquo;
This
is
a
dangerous
fallacy.
Communism
in
some
Latin-American
countries
is
no
longer
taboo.
Testimony
to
this
is
Ronald
Schneider’s
study
of
communism
in
Guatemala.
He
points
out
that
communism
in
the
&dquo;banana
republic&dquo;
thrived
upon
three
&dquo;new&dquo;
groups
which
were
misfits
in
the
traditional
order:
the
lower-middle-class
intellectuals,
the
urban
proletariat
and
the
&dquo;mo-
bile&dquo;
rural
workers.
One
of
the
secrets
of
Communist
success
was
the
fact
that
they
offered
different
things
to
different
people.
The
workers
and
cam-
pesinos
(peasants),
for
example,
were
not
particularly
interested
in
the
working
of
intellectual
communism
or
the
realities
of
life
behind
the
Iron
Curtain,
but
rather
in
improving
their
day-to-day
life.
&dquo;In
this
respect
they
saw
that
the
Communists
showed
great
interest
in
their
problems
and
offered
what
seemed
a
reasonable
program
for
solving
them.&dquo;
The
Communists
were
quite
expedient
to
present
themselves
as
the
van-
guard
of
social
reforms;
and
by
calling
social
security,
the
labor
code,
and
agrar-
ian
reform
Communist-inspired,
the
anti-Communists
actually
enhanced
the
prestige
of
the
Communists
among
the
workers
and
facilitated
their
effort
to
identify
themselves
as
the
champions
of
popular
demands.
As
the
anti-Com-
munist
movement
was
dominated
by
the
opponents
of
social
reform,
it
could
not
make
common
cause
with
the
moderate
and
centrist
elements
who
supported
the
revolution,
but
were
opposed
to
the
growth
of
Communist
influence.
&dquo;As
a
result,
Guatemala
never
developed
any
opposition
party
which
was
willing
to
face
up
to
the
facts
of
political
and
economic
life,
accept
change
and
reform
as
legitimate,
and
devote
its
efforts
to
providing
more
satisfactory
solutions
to
the
nation’s
pressing
problems
than
those
offered
by
the
Communists
and
their
allies.&dquo;
What
was
President
Arbenz’s
role
in
this
game?
Arbenz,
a
non-Communist,
was
actually
a
victim
of
Communist
expediency.
Basically
a
person
of
limited
intelligence
and
lack
of
administrative
experience,
Arbenz
relied
upon
the
Com-
munists
for
advice
and
assistance
because
&dquo;they
had
amassed
more
information
on
national
and
local
problems
than
had
anyone
else.&dquo;
In
return,
Arbenz
al-
lowed
them
a
freedom
of
action
which
added
greatly
to
their
effectiveness.
Ac-
ceptance
and
endorsement
by
the
President
opened
many
new
doors
to
the
Communists.
The
story
of
Communist
operations
among
the
workers
(Chapter
VI)
and
the
campesinos
(Chapter
VII),
penetration
of
the
government
(Chapter
VIII),
relations
with
the
other
parties
(Chapter
IX)
rounds
out
the
portrayal
of
the
sources
of
Communist
influence
and
strength.
The
epilogue
of
the
study
deals
with
the
collapse
of
the
Arbenz
regime.

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