The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 did little to alter this gloomy prognostication. Variations of communist ideology, Marxist or Maoist, continued to fuel insurgencies in Colombia, Peru, Mexico, Spain, Sri Lanka, Turkey, Nepal, East Timor, and the Philippines. Added to this was the growth of the Muslim religious factor in such localized insurgencies as Israel-Palestine and Kashmir and in renegade terrorist organizations such as Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda. Bin Laden, a wealthy Saudi Arabian expatriate and religious fanatic, patched together a worldwide network of followers whose activities during the 1990s and beyond included a series of hideous bombings. Forced to take refuge in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, bin Laden planned the aerial suicide attacks of September 11, 2001, on the United States. Although this deed led to the elimination of bin Laden’s headquarters in Afghanistan and to a subsequent “war on terror,” al-Qaeda continued to take credit for terrorist attacks.

Purpose and motivation

Fundamental to militant revolution is a cause, which unfortunately has never been difficult to find in a less-than-perfect world. The guerrilla cause may assume several guises: to the world it may be presented as liberating a country from a colonial yoke or from an invader’s rule; to the peasant it may be freedom from serfdom, from oppressive rents to absentee landlords, or from taxation; to a middle-class citizen it may be establishment or restoration of representative government as opposed to a military or totalitarian dictatorship.

Whether real or artificial, whether inspired by political ideology, religion, nationalism, or, more often, a genuine desire for a better life, this cause is fundamental in motivating people to armed action. Mao leaves no doubt of its importance:

Without a political goal, guerrilla warfare must fail, as it must if its political objectives do not coincide with the aspirations of the people and their sympathy, cooperation, and assistance cannot be gained.

The lack of a viable political goal has often been the key factor in an insurgency’s failure. It will continue to be so as long as an insurgency is tainted by extreme criminal actions. Some insurgent leaders recognize this basic fact in confining revolutionary activities to their traditional purposes.

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Popular support

Revolutionary writings have constantly stressed the guerrillas’ affiliation with the people. Guerrillas spring from the people, who in turn support their spawn, not only by furnishing sons and daughters to the cause but also by furnishing money, food, shelter, refuge, transport, medical aid, and intelligence—support that must simultaneously be denied to the enemy. Although T.E. Lawrence called for no more than “a friendly population, not actively friendly, but sympathetic to the point of not betraying rebel movements to the enemy,” he also wrote that his guerrillas “had won a province when the civilians in it had been taught to die for the ideal of freedom.” Georgios Grivas, a Greek soldier who led the Cypriot rebellion in the 1950s, wrote that a guerrilla war stands no chance of success unless it has “the complete and unreserved support of the majority of the country’s inhabitants.” Mao repeatedly stressed the importance of proper troop behaviour: the Chinese guerrilla was required to pay a peasant for food, to respect his property, and not to offend propriety by undressing in front of a peasant woman.

Essential to maintaining domestic support and to gaining international support is vigorous, intelligent, and believable propaganda. Tito spread the word by newspaper and the Algerians by newspaper and radio, thereby enforcing Lawrence’s dictum that the press is the greatest weapon in the army of a modern commander. The printed word has since been supplemented by the television camera, which has been defined as “a weapon lying in the street, which either side can pick up and use—and is more powerful than any other.” Today images of guerrilla and counterguerrilla clashes are delivered in real time, via satellite television and the Internet, from around the world.

Leaders and recruits

Such are the vicissitudes of guerrilla warfare that outstanding leadership is necessary at all levels if a guerrilla force is to survive and prosper. A leader must not only be endowed with intelligence and courage but must be buttressed by an almost fanatical belief in himself and his cause. Lawrence, Tito, Mao, Ho, Castro, the Soviet leaders Vladimir Ilich Lenin and Leon Trotsky, the Filipino Luis Taruc, the Israeli Menachem Begin, the Kenyan Jomo Kenyatta, the Malayan Ch’en P’ing, the Algerian Ahmed Ben Bella, the Palestinian Yāsir ʿArafāt, the Sri Lankan Vellupillai Prabhakaran, the East Timorese Xanana Gusmão, Osama bin Laden, a host of IRA leaders in Northern Ireland and ETA leaders in Spain—these and many others attracted followers to a cause, organized them, and instilled a disciplined zeal matched only by the most elite military organizations.

The guerrilla recruit must be resourceful and enduring, committed totally to the cause if he is to withstand the hardships and dangers of guerrilla fighting. A prolonged and difficult campaign may force guerrilla leaders to abandon selectivity and resort to intimidation in order to gain recruits—as was the case in Vietnam, where rigorous political indoctrination only partially compensated for lack of voluntary zeal.