Radicalization of a Communist: El Salvador, Marxism, and Latin American Revolution in the Works of Roque Dalton

The article is devoted to the analysis of the work of the Salvadoran poet Roque Dalton as a representative of the Latin American revolutionary movement. Based on the fiction and journalistic works of R. Dalton, the author examines his perception of the contradictions between the “orthodox” pro-Soviet communists and supporters of the Cuban model of revolutionary activism. The methodology of the study includes a comparison of R. Dalton’s poetic texts with his journalism. The biography and ideological evolution of the poet are integrated into the political history of El Salvador. Considerable attention is paid to the relations between the Salvadoran Communist Party and other political forces in the country, the factor of constant military coups that hindered the development of democratic institutions. The article shows the formation of R. Dalton as a Marxist under the influence of the international leftist culture of Latin America in the 1950s, as well as trips to the USSR, Czechoslovakia and other countries. The author examines R. Dalton as a participant in the discussions in the International Communist Movement about the continental revolution, primarily as an employee of the editorial board of the journal “Problems of Peace and Socialism”, a sympathetic critic of the concept of the “guerrilla hearth” of Régis Debray, and also a Latin American who did not accept “real socialism”. It is shown that in his works R. Dalton directly or allegorically independently rethought the “dogma” of Marxism-Leninism, projecting it onto Latin American realities. He often entered into correspondence discussions with leading Latin American left-wing intellectuals. Being a convinced supporter of the leading role of Cuba, he professed purely personal views on socialism and revolution. The work concludes with an analysis of the reasons for his transition to the ranks of active supporters of armed struggle, which became a symbol of the search for identity on the eve of the civil conflict in El Salvador.