Acts of sabotage are very important. It is necessary to distinguish clearly between
sabotage, a revolutionary and highly effective method of warfare, and terrorism, a measure
that is generally ineffective and indiscriminate in its results, since it often makes
victims of innocent people and destroys a large number of lives that would be valuable to
the revolution. Terrorism should be considered a valuable tactic when it is used to put to
death some noted leader of the oppressing forces well known for his cruelty, his efficiency
in repression, or other quality that makes his elimination useful. But the killing of
persons of small importance is never advisable, since it brings on an increase of
reprisals, including deaths.
There is one point very much in controversy in opinions about terrorism. Many consider that
its use, by provoking police oppression, hinders all more or less legal or semiclandestine
contact with the masses and makes impossible unification for actions that will be necessary
at a critical moment. This is correct; but it also happens that in a civil war the
repression by the governmental power in certain towns is already so great that, in fact,
every type of legal action is suppressed already, and any action of the masses that is not
supported by arms is impossible. It is therefore necessary to be circumspect in adopting
methods of this type and to consider the consequences that they may bring for the
revolution. At any rate, well-managed sabotage is always a very effective arm, though it
should not be employed to put means of production out of action, leaving a sector of the
population paralyzed (and thus without work) unless this paralysis affects the normal life
of the society. It is ridiculous to carry out sabotage against a soft-drink factory, but it
is absolutely correct and advisable to carry out sabotage against a power plant. In the
first case, a certain number of workers are put out of a job but nothing is done to modify
the rhythm of industrial life; in the second case, there will again be displaced workers,
but this is entirely justified by the paralysis of the life of the region.
