Uruguayan Way to Socialism: Rodney Arismendi's Thought and the Unity of the Left

Understanding Rodney Arismendi's interpretations and elaborations regarding what he called the Uruguayan Way to socialism is fundamental for analyzing the strategies and alliances between classes and fractions thereof, which impacted the creation of the Broad Front, or Frente Amplio, as a space of unity for the Uruguayan left. Arismendi was General Secretary of the Communist Party of Uruguay (PCU) and editor of Revista Estudios, a theoretical organ of the aforementioned organization, between 1955 and 1989. Furthermore, the leader held the seat of National Deputy for 27 consecutive years. Arismendi's intellectual and political activity sought to understand the reality of the Platino country in the light of Marxism. His open reading of the thoughts of Marx, Lenin, among others, transformed the communist leader into the protagonist of debates surrounding the roads, methods and ways to achieving a socialist society. The author's interpretation of the Cuban Revolution or the election of Salvador Allende, as well as the perspectives of the armed or peaceful struggle for socialism, reveal an unusual originality in the scenario that marked the middle of the 20th century. As Rodney Arismendi contrasted each of the predominant strategies, in the communist movement or on the left in general, with the Uruguayan reality between 1955 and 1971, the author developed concepts and categories that were unusual for the period. Thus, the interpretation of reality and the political strategies adopted by Rodney Arismendi contributed centrally to the emergence of an innovative experience in the Latin American context with the founding of the Uruguayan Broad Front in 1971.