#123 The National Bourgeoisie in Post-Revolutionary Nicaragua
By Richard Sholk
Abstract
Due to a unique combination of structural and historical factors, the Nicaraguan Revolution was carried out by an alliance of a significant portion of the national bourgeoisie with the popular sectors. In the three years following the triumph of the Frente Sandinista de Liberaci6n Nacional (FSLN) over the Somoza regime, an ideological contest has been played out in Nicaragua. The contest reflects the conflicting class interests underlying the revolutionary alliance. This paper emphasizes the central importance of those contradictions in the development of the revolutionary process, in specific areas of economic, social, and political organization. Illustrations are drawn from the tensions surrounding the cattle, milk, and sugar industries; the allocation of foreign exchange; and laws restricting political activity. While there is potential for a change in consciousness on the part of the national bourgeoisie in the long run--i.e., for the FSLN to consolidate its hegemony in the ideological sense--international pressures have combined with the internal political dynamic to narrow the space for political discourse within Nicaragua.
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