Political terrorism is a symbolic act influencing political behavior through violence,

rooted in deeply held, unchangeable ideas influenced by people's perceptions of their

surroundings, government, and society. Today, it is believed that religious fanatics who
misunderstand the nonviolent teachings of many global religions Christian, Islamic, or
Judaic are the primary cause of terrorism rather than just being a political issue. However,
the historical roots of many other groups are deeply ingrained in political theory and
ideological grievances. The majority of authors on the topic even define political
terrorism as "a symbolic act designed to influence political behavior based on extra-
normal means, entailing the use or threat of violence," which is based on a definition
from the early 1960s. More recent definitions of terrorism place greater emphasis on
religious ideology, even placing it on par with political motivations. Surprisingly,
political and historical movements originating from mid-19th-century Europe have a
strong influence on even terrorist organizations such as al-Qaeda who are largely
motivated by religious dogma. The term "leftist," which originates from a French system
of governmental continuum in which more conservative politicians were physically
seated on the right of an assembly and those deemed more radical were seated on the left,
refers to the ideologies that have had the biggest influence on contemporary terrorism.
Global political classifications have been influenced by this symbolism. For example; the
American cultural wars between the "left" and the "right". The term "leftist" has
undoubtedly been used to characterize anarchist and liberal beliefs alike.

The writings of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, who lived in Russia in the 1800s, are
major sources of inspiration for left-wing extremism. According to their philosophy, the
working class should be given back its power and autonomy by altering or abolishing the
capitalist system, which is thought to be corrupt and repressive. While the objectives to
give working people a brighter future are undoubtedly commendable. Marxism places a
greater emphasis on methods for toppling governments than it does on upholding law and
order. Extremist leftist views emphasize anarchy and revolution above nonviolent protest
as a means of influencing political systems. After the political events in Europe in 1848,
dubbed the "Springtime of the People," the idea initially gained popularity. The
movement started in France, when a loose alliance of middle-class and working-class
French citizens overthrew the constitutional monarchy and promoted self-rule. Similar
revolutions soon started in Poland, Germany, Austria, Hungary, and Italy; shortly after,
their kingdom in Denmark too faced a similar end. Even while not all revolutionary
upheavals were successful, their violent character had a lasting effect on subsequent
revolutionaries around the world in addition to the nations in which they occurred.
Some radicals in Russia aligned themselves with the most effective revolutionary
doctrines articulated in France. Anarchism is the view that society should be built
on free association and voluntary collaboration between people rather than a
centralized authority. Pierre Joseph Proudhon, a radical who contributed to the
philosophy of the French rebellion in 1848, was the first to articulate it. He coined
the expression "property is theft," which inspired subsequent anarchist groups in
Russia and elsewhere. He was the first individual in history to identify as an
anarchist. In essence, Proudhon proposed that political power is derived from
property ownership, and that authority is far too frequently utilized to subjugate
people who do not own it. Proudhon himself later denied that his slogan was
unclear, citing the concept's complexity. But for Russia, his retraction came too
late. Proudhon's ideas were taken to heart by revolutionary figures like Mikhail
Bakunin, Sergei Nechayev, and Peter Kropotkin, who vehemently called for the
overthrow of all forms of government and centralized power. The government
was to be abolished and the new "owners" of all property would be the middle
class and working class "people." The majority of the time, pro-revolution
publications, leaflets, and intellectually rich salon discussions served as passive
propaganda tools to promote violent revolution and devastation. Despite his
frequent writings portraying him as a violent revolutionary, Proudhon was
actually far more of a publicist. When Nechayev and Bakunin released the
revolutionary treatises in 1869, violence broke out in Russia and radical left-wing
political thought was born.

Nechayev and others disseminated "propaganda by the deed," endorsing acts of

violence as the principal vehicle for revolution. Additionally, revolutionaries were
encouraged to blend in with the public, win their trust, and create small, stealthy
cells that could swiftly attack the enemy's center without being detected a tactic
similar to that of more modern terrorist organizations. In the end, the intellectual
tactics of Bakunin and Nechayev would be used against the very people who were
supposed to rise up. The general populace suffered for decades under the
dictatorships and totalitarian regimes that plagued Russia and other European
nations during the 20th century. Nevertheless, the seed had been planted among
revolutionaries throughout the globe, inspiring French anarchists to use dynamite,
including Emile Henry, who is recognized as one of the forerunners of mass
terrorism. Henry famously attempted to get into the Carmaux, France,
headquarters of a mining firm. He used the fact that the bourgeoisie, or higher
class, occupied the building to argue that there could not be any innocent victims
to justify his use of explosives, which maimed helpless women and children.
Nechayev and Bakunin's anarchist tactics are also connected to a surge of political
assassinations in the early 1900s.
The notion that a tiny group of individuals possessed an excessive amount of
money and power gave rise to the Marxist movement. Instead of concentrating all
of society's riches in the hands of the ruling class, the bourgeoisie, it promoted the
industrial working class as the source of that wealth and sought to divide it
equally. In 1847, the Communist League employed Marx and Friedrich Engels to
create a thorough theoretical and practical program for Russia. In The Communist
Manifesto, Marx and Engel present a political and social theory that urged the
working class to carry out a violent revolution in order to overthrow the
monarchies that were in power in Russia and Europe at the time. Their goal was
capitalism, or governments with economies based on free market competition and
private property ownership. It was thought that private property ownership was a
sign of economic progress and that capitalism was exploitative, placing
individuals in a power struggle. Marx claimed to have developed a scientific
theory based on natural laws and human history. Marx argues that social class and
class conflict have shaped human history. Wealth and private property ownership
are the foundations of social class, and gaining control of private property has
been the central issue in all class conflicts. Marx thought that materialism, or
private property ownership, was the foundation of human history. He was
adamant that there was no god or divine creator and that the functioning of the
world is described in terms of social and economic class, which is again
predicated on the ownership of private property. Marx argues that capitalism
encourages corruption and decay because a free, competitive market produces
excess, which lowers the value of property. The result is a concentration of wealth
in a small number of hands, alienating and exploiting the majority.

All of human history and culture has strived for a new, ideal state of government.
A hallmark of communism is the total elimination of the state and private
property. Under the communist state, all goods and services are owned
collectively and made available as needed. The social state that is most relevant to
our discussion of terrorism is socialism, which is the stage between capitalism and
communism. People's resistance to ceding their private property to the
government during this time of transition led to terrorism, or violent revolution.
Socialism is the elimination of private property and means of production. The
state owns everything, and everyone is accorded the same status in the social
structure. Consequently, revolution is inevitable when the ruling classes are
"purged" throughout the transition to socialism. Marx's whole thesis is based on
the idea that social classes have been at odds with one another throughout history.
According to him, his theory was social, political, and economic in nature,
explaining how societies evolved through violent revolutions and conflicts
throughout history. His constant goal was to unite society by overthrowing the
capitalist system and establishing a more just social structure in which the
government eventually withered away and became the owner of all private
property. Marx believed that the clever and tenacious working-class leaders
known as the vanguard would be the catalyst for revolution and the downfall of
the bourgeois ruling class.

Vladimir Lenin expanded on the idea of the vanguard at the beginning of the 20th
century. Lenin felt that because his Bolshevik Party was leading the Russian
Revolution, it would be the first to raise the degree of political consciousness
across society that would be required for revolution. The vanguard takes use of
the individual distinctions that occur among a diverse population. They fight the
government using a range of strategies while also using divisions among people to
stir and disturb society. Terrorism is seen as a legal military strategy meant to
expose the flaws and vulnerabilities in the current system of governance. In an
attempt to combat terrorism, the government is "cracking down" on individual
civil freedoms, which is causing open animosities amongst social groupings and
upheaval of the established way of life in mass society. A collapse of social order
leads to unrest and ultimately revolution. Lenin claimed that the vanguard was
compelled by a moral need to take up guns; as a result, his Bolshevik Party
successfully employed terrorism and mass violence as a strategy during the
Russian Revolution. Furthermore, even though the Bolshevik Party eventually
evolved into the Communist Party of Russia, the idea of the vanguard described
how a relatively small group of revolutionaries can be developed into a coherent
political movement and ultimately a ruling government in addition to representing
those who "start the revolution."

The idea of the vanguard has changed and played a significant role in revolutions
all across the world. Ernesto "Che" Guevara (1928–1967) formulated his theories
based on the formation of a vanguard during the Cuban Revolution in the 1950s.
Guevara thought that an armed revolution led by the nation's most oppressed
people, its rural agrarian-based populace was necessary to have an instantaneous
influence on the political awareness of the governing party. Guevara, a medical
doctor by background, was instrumental in the Cuban Revolution with Fidel
Castro. Guevara believed, therefore, that the only way he could address the global
problems of capitalism and imperialism was to introduce Marxist ideas to a wider
audience outside of Cuba. He thus traveled to Bolivia in order to organize a
leading movement. The majority of the time, terrorism and guerilla training were
prioritized above intellectual debate; this strategy backfired when Guevara was
unable to win over more local support. Due to the briefness of his "revolution in
support of the people" of Bolivia, a few individuals, including Guevara, were
slain by Bolivian military personnel acting on U.S. advice. agents of the CIA in
1967.
 Guevara was a Marxist revolutionary who, in the midst of the contentious
Vietnam War (1956–1975) and questions about the foundations of capitalism,
rose to global fame as a cultural figure. The communist government of North
Vietnam and its southern supporters, known as the "Viet Cong," fought South
Vietnam and its main ally, the United States, in the protracted and unpopular
Vietnam War. With the departure of American forces in 1973 and the unification
of Vietnam under Communist rule two years later, the contentious conflict came
to a conclusion. Over 3 million individuals, included 58,000 Americans, lost their
lives in the fight. There grew to be a significant anti-Vietnam War movement in
the United States and the West. This movement was a component of the 1960s
counterculture, which was far broader. Che Guevara's writings served as a major
source of Communist propaganda throughout the Vietnam War, and the anti-
American feeling that prevailed at the time was personified by his portrait.

Guevara did not bring an end to the idea of the vanguard. The process is still
evident today in Islamic terror groups, and terrorism is very frequently the
hallmark of the vanguard. Sayyid Qutb initially discussed such idea in his ground-
breaking book Milestones, also known as Ma'alim fi al-Tariq, which is widely
acknowledged as having influenced much of the doctrine of Islamic jihad.
According to Qutb, in order to ignite a broader revolution, the Islamic vanguard
first preaches the movement, as advised by Marx and Lenin, but then immediately
turns to brutal acts of terrorism. Qutb's movement had a strong religious
undertone, in contrast to that of Marx and Lenin. Qutb said that every Muslim had
a duty to fight in the "Holy Jihad" or "Holy War" against those who had "usurped
the authority of God," knowing full well that the ruling elite would not likely give
up without a struggle. The current notion of jihadism is based on this vanguard of
violence and terrorism. The conceptual and tactical underpinnings of modern
terrorism have been evidently inspired by leftist groups, whose origins may be
traced back to Europe in the middle of the 1800s. Anarchist principles of
"propaganda by the deed" and elements of Marxism and Leninism—particularly
the concept of the vanguard have found their way into various terrorism factions,
from Islamic to leftist. Terrorism, which involves widespread killings,
assassinations, and bombings, has historically played a significant role in the
violent cultural and social changes that occurred in Russia, France, Cuba, and
other places. Terrorism has also always been a part of a leftist strategy.

Guerrilla warfare has been used in Latin America to further Marxist ideology; the most notorious
group in this regard is the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). The FARC was
founded in 1964 with the intention of representing low-income rural and agricultural Colombians
by defending their land rights against the country's richer classes, the US government's
imperialist influence, the privatization of resources, and the power of multinational businesses.
The FARC, which has around 20,000 members, is mostly active in rural and forest regions in
southern and eastern Colombia. Though its role in illegal narcotics varies by location, the FARC
is a strongly armed group that receives much of its funding from the drug trade. The majority of
kidnappings in Colombia that target foreign visitors, high-ranking government officials, and
affluent landowners are carried out by the FARC.
Taylor, R. W., & Swanson, C. R. (n.d.). Terrorism,

Intelligence and Homeland Security. Pearson.

(Taylor & Swanson, n.d.).