Carlos Marighella was a Brazilian politician, writer and guerrilla fighter of Marxist–Leninist orientation, accused of engaging in "terrorist acts" against the Brazilian Military Dictatorship. Marighella's most famous contribution to revolutionary struggle literature was the Minimanual of the Urban Guerrilla, consisting of advice on how to disrupt and overthrow a military regime, aiming at revolution to implement a Marxist regime. Written shortly before his death in late 1969 in São Paulo, Minimanual was first published in North America by the Berkeley Tribe in Berkeley, California in July 1970 in an English edition. Marighella also wrote For the Liberation of Brazil. The theories laid out in both books have greatly influenced contemporary ideological activism. His ideas of revolution were complementary to Che Guevara's, who proposed guerrilla activity in the countryside, Marighela's theories on urban guerrilla warfare contemplated cities as a key point of support for the peasant's armed revolt. As an advocate of urban guerrilla warfare as means to assist a larger scale rural uprising, Marighella's work was the latest tome in the small library of guerrilla literature in the 20th century.
Biography
Marighella was born in Salvador, Bahia, to Italian immigrant Augusto Marighella and Afro-Brazilian Maria Rita do Nascimento. His father was a blue-collar worker originally from Emilia, while his mother was a descendant of African slaves, brought from Sudan. He spent his young life at a house in Rua do Desterro, at the Baixa do Sapateiro neighbourhood, where he would graduate from primary and secondary education. In 1934, he left the Polytechnic School of Bahia, where he was pursuing a degree in civil engineering, in order to become an active member of the Brazilian Communist Party. He then moved to Rio de Janeiro to work in the restructuring of PCB.
Arrests
Marighella was first arrested in 1932, after he wrote an offensive poem about the administration of Bahia intervener Juracy Magalhães. On 1 May 1936, during the Getúlio Vargas time in presidency, he was once again arrested for subversion. He was arrested again by the political police led by Filinto Müller. He remained in jail for a year. He was released by "macedada". After his release, he once again entered clandestinity, along with all members of PCB. He was recaptured in 1939. He was not released until 1945, when an amnesty during the democratization process of the country benefited all political prisoners. The following year, Marighella was elected constituent federal deputy by the Bahian branch of PCB, but he lost his office in 1948 under the new proscription of the party. Back in clandestinity, he occupied several offices in the leadership of the party. Invited by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, Marighella visited China between 1953 and 1954 in order to learn more about the Chinese Communist Revolution. In May 1964, after the military coup, he was shot and arrested by agents of the Department of Social and Political Order, the political police, at a movie theater in Rio. He was released in the following year by a court order.
In 1966, he wrote The Brazilian Crisis, opting for the armed struggle against the military dictatorship. Later that year, he renounced his office in the national leadership of PCB. In August 1967, he participated at the 1st Conference of Latin American Solidarity in Havana, contradicting what party had determined. In Havana, he wrote Some Questions About the Guerrillas in Brazil, dedicated to the memory of Che Guevara and made public by Jornal do Brasil on 5 September 1968. That same year he was expelled from PCB, and founded the Ação Libertadora Nacional in February 1968. In September 1969, ALN members kidnapped the U.S. ambassador Charles Burke Elbrick in a coordinated move with the Revolutionary Movement 8th October. The group was responsible for several executions as well.
Death
After a series of successful robberies and kidnappings, the police force was determined to eliminate him. He was shot by police at an ambush at 8pm on 4 November 1969 at 800 Alameda Casa Branca, São Paulo. This ambush was organized by police deputy Sérgio Paranhos Fleury, known for his work inside DOPS.
