Anarchist popular power : dissident labor and armed struggle in Uruguay, 1956-76

Arguably the most impactful anarchist organization globally in the Cold War era, the FAU viewed everyday people as revolutionary protagonists and sought to develop a popular counter-subjectivity through accumulating experiences directly challenging the market and the state.

The FAU argued that everyday people transformed into revolutionary subjects through the regular practice of collective direct action in labour unions, student organizations, and neighborhood councils.

Their slogan was 'create popular power,' and their praxis differed from nationalist strains of Marxism at the time.

The strategies and tactics promoted by FAU, ones in which everyday people took on roles as historical protagonists, offered the largest threat to maintaining social order in Uruguay and thus spawned a military takeover of the state to dismantle and deflate their vibrant popular revolt.