Workers of the world, unite!
THE MILITARY THOUGHT OF THE
PARTY
(CONCLUSIONS)
1.
The Party's Military Thought, spanning more than five decades, has
unfolded through the first and second restructurings of contemporary
Peruvian society. That is, through the emergence and development of
bureaucratic capitalism in the first instance, and its deepening in
the second. Corresponding to both historical periods are two moments
or milestones in the life of the Party: its Constitution and its
Reconstitution.
In
the Constitution of the Party, Military Thought is embodied as a
Outline and Outline of the Path, while in the Reconstitution, it is
embodied as its Definition and Foundations.
2.
Throughout this entire process, the central and primary question is
the question of the Party itself, that is, the construction of a New
Type of Party, capable of leading the Armed Struggle.
3.
The Party's Military Thought continues its development in the Third
Moment of contemporary Peruvian society, which corresponds to the
general crisis of bureaucratic capitalism. At this moment, the Party
assumes leadership of the armed struggle, and Military Thought is
expressed in the Application and Development of the Path.
4.
The Application and Development of the Path has launched our armed
struggle, Marxist-Leninist-Maoist—Guiding Thought—through the ILA
(Institutional Armed Movement), primarily a peasant war, and is
currently being carried out as a development of guerrilla warfare,
which necessarily leads to the establishment of revolutionary support
bases.
5.
Through Guerrilla Warfare, we have established and deployed guerrilla
zones, the immediate next step being the development of these zones
to build revolutionary support bases.
6.
The Second Campaign of Defeat prepares the conditions for the Great
Leap Forward: Creating Bases. The future of our Armed Struggle
depends on this.
MILITARY
THOUGHT OF THE PARTY IN THE CONSTITUTION AND RECONSTITUTION
Outlining
and Sketching the Path: Constitution
1895
– 1928
I.
Struggle for the Constitution
1895
– 1945. First Moment of Contemporary Peruvian Society.
The
founding of the PCP by José Carlos Mariátegui (JCM). It has
historical significance, changing the terms of the political struggle
in the country. It is the beginning of the National Democratic
Revolution. It is of great importance. The working class organizes
itself into a Party to seize power. Military Thought in six points:
Party, Revolutionary Violence, Path, Protracted War, Building the
Armed Forces, Strategy and Tactics.
Need
to create the Party. The construction of the Party led to ten years
of hard struggle for JCM, developing an internal fight against the
anarchist positions of González Prada, and reactionary positions
such as those of APRA, which denied the need to create the Party. The
working-class comrades organize themselves in their Party, the
highest form of organization. JCM clearly understood that without a
Party there could be no revolution. JCM's position is clear.
He
adheres to Revolutionary Violence and has written theses on the
subject from 1921, 1923, 1925, and 1927. “There is no measured,
balanced, gentle, serene, or placid revolution. Every revolution has
its horrors.” “If the Revolution demands violence, authority, and
discipline, I accept it wholeheartedly, with all its horrors, without
cowardly reservations.”
He
clearly understood revolutionary violence.
Mexican
Review of 1923: “The indigenous rights movement is the task of
Socialism.” “The strength of the Revolution has always resided in
the alliance of agrarian and labor movements; that is, the strength
of the working and peasant masses.” “Socialist doctrine is the
only one that can give a modern, constructive meaning to the
indigenous cause, which, situated on a true social and economic
terrain and elevated to the level of a creative and realistic policy,
relies for the realization of this undertaking on the will and
discipline of a class that is making its appearance today in our
historical process: the proletariat” (“The Revolution Will Come
Down from the Andes,” 1927).
Gamonalism
as the basis of the State. The need to liquidate feudalism.
When
analyzing the Mexican Revolution, JCM posits the need for a people's
war, understanding that it was a country with a peasant majority and
that our situation was not the same as that of capitalist countries.
In Latin America, a different path had to be developed. JCM tells us
that, regarding the Chinese Resolution and the Eastern countries, the
Second International did not see the need to find its own path for
underdeveloped countries.
MILITARY
THOUGHT OF THE PARTY IN THE CONSTITUTION AND RECONSTITUTION
Outlining
and Sketching the Path: Constitution
1895
– 1928
I.
Struggle for the Constitution
1895
– 1945. First Moment of Contemporary Peruvian Society.
The
founding of the PCP by José Carlos Mariátegui. It has historical
significance, changing the terms of the political struggle in the
country. It is the beginning of the National Democratic Revolution.
It is of great importance. The working class organizes itself into a
Party to seize power. Military Thought in six points: Party,
Revolutionary Violence, Path, Protracted War, Building the Armed
Forces, Strategy and Tactics.
Need
to create the Party. The construction of the Party led to ten years
of hard struggle for JCM, developing an internal fight against the
anarchist positions of González Prada, and reactionary positions
such as those of APRA, which denied the need to create the Party. The
working-class comrades organize themselves in their Party, the
highest form of organization. JCM clearly understood that without a
Party there could be no revolution. JCM's position is clear.
He
adheres to Revolutionary Violence and has written theses on the
subject from 1921, 1923, 1925, and 1927. “There is no measured,
balanced, gentle, serene, or placid revolution. Every revolution has
its horrors.” “If the Revolution demands violence, authority, and
discipline, I accept it wholeheartedly, with all its horrors, without
cowardly reservations.”
He
clearly understood revolutionary violence.
Mexican
Review of 1923: “The indigenous rights movement is the task of
Socialism.” “The strength of the Revolution has always resided in
the alliance of agrarian and labor movements; that is, the strength
of the working and peasant masses.” “Socialist doctrine is the
only one that can give a modern, constructive meaning to the
indigenous cause, which, situated on a true social and economic
terrain and elevated to the level of a creative and realistic policy,
relies for the realization of this undertaking on the will and
discipline of a class that is making its appearance today in our
historical process: the proletariat” (“The Revolution Will Come
Down from the Andes,” 1927).
Gamonalism
as the basis of the State. The need to liquidate feudalism.
When
analyzing the Mexican Revolution, JCM posits the need for a people's
war, understanding that it was a country with a peasant majority and
that our situation was not the same as that of capitalist countries.
In Latin America, a different path had to be developed. JCM tells us
that, regarding the Chinese Resolution and the Eastern countries, the
Second International did not see the need to find its own path for
underdeveloped countries.
JCM.
“The Revolution is the Party's task,” understanding that only the
Party can lead. The peasantry would always fail without the
leadership of the proletariat, which is the only one capable of
carrying out the tasks of the national democratic Revolution.
Those
of the reactionary position said that the indigenous problem is an
educational problem. JCM argues that the Revolution will descend from
the Andes wearing sandals Ojotas).
1927.
Gamonalismo (Landlordism). The problem is to liquidate feudalism,
given the semi-feudal character of society, which was the path for
underdeveloped countries.
“The
term gamonalismo does not designate only a social and economic
category: that of large landowners and agrarian proprietors; it
designates an entire phenomenon. Gamonalismo is not only represented
by the gamonales themselves; it comprises a long hierarchy of
officials, intermediaries, and agents.”
JCM
aligns the Party with the Third International, stating that it
adheres to Marxism-Leninism. We are part of the International
Communist Movement (ICM) and practice proletarian internationalism.
Point 8 of the PCP Program: “Marxism-Leninismo is the revolutionary
method of the stage of imperialism and monopolies.” Point 9: “The
PCP is the vanguard of the proletariat. The political force that
assumes the task of its orientation and leadership in the struggle
for the realization of its class ideals.”
Power
is seized through violence and maintained through dictatorship. It
recognizes the relationship between revolutionary violence and the
dictatorship of the proletariat; it is not only a matter of seizing
power, but of maintaining and implementing it as a dictatorship of
the proletariat.
C.
“Once the Landlordism (latifundist) feudal system is overthrown,
urban capital will lack the strength to resist the growing working
class.”
It
raises the two problems to be solved: the national question and the
land question. Stages of the Revolution: Republic of New Democracy,
which is led by the proletariat through the Workers' Party. The
bourgeoisie can no longer lead because it has historically become
obsolete, and leadership now belongs to the working class, which is
the only class capable of leading.
“The
emancipation of the country's economy is possible only through the
action of the proletarian masses, in solidarity with the global
anti-imperialist struggle. Only proletarian action can first
stimulate and then carry out the tasks of organizing and defending
the socialist order.”
P.W.:
He presents us with the idea of total war; he analyzes the
different revolutions and the movement of leaders who call themselves
revolutionaries. Not just any movement can be called revolutionary,
but only those that advocate social, economic, and political goals,
those that destroy the economic foundations of the State; that is to
say, also the relations of production.
JCM,
analyzing the Atusparia movement, says that it failed because “when
the revolt aspired to transform itself into a revolution, it felt
powerless due to a lack of weapons, a program, and a doctrine.” He
already saw the problem of the three instruments (1930)
JCM
analyzes the phenomenon of imperialism as an international force that
exerts oppression and exploitation in underdeveloped countries. In a
document discussing Eastern countries, he states that capitalism
thrives at the expense of European workers, colonists, slaves, and
indigenous peoples of the East—of underdeveloped countries.
Imperialism generates its social support, which JCM calls the
“merchant bourgeoisie,” and which develops bureaucratic
capitalism.
He
conceives of Marxist-Leninism as a development of the First
International and the need to apply it to the concrete reality of
underdeveloped countries, thus establishing the path forward. JCM
died two years after founding the PCP (Peruvian Communist Party);
this is his historical limitation.
11.
Questioning and Negation of the Red Line
Struggle
for Mariátegui's Path and Revolutionary Violence.
1930.
This
year Mariátegui dies without having been able to solidify a New Type
of Party that embodies the General Political Line he established;
They usurp the Party's leadership, question its line, and focus
everything on the CGTP (General Confederation of Peruvian Workers)
and its demands, neglecting the Party and the problem of power. This
is what right-wing opportunism does, always aiming to seize control,
change the line, and change the Party's image, abandoning the path.
There
is an abandonment of Revolutionary Violence and the Path, insofar as
they only talk about revolutionary violence but don't put it into
practice, leading them to abandon it.
By
abandoning the path, they invoke insurrection, which is not the path
of our Party. Revisionism has usurped the Party and changes the
program and the line, claiming to follow the path of Russia, but in
essence, what they sought were elections, aligning themselves with
the big bourgeoisie.
Ravínez
and Jorge del Prado, in the struggle of the Malpaso workers, stated:
"Only once every five hundred years does the opportunity to
stage an insurrection arise." Speaking of insurrection, of
organizing soviets; leftist positions that, at heart, are right-wing,
are a misunderstanding of the path, in the Party's bases, JCM's
article "The Revolution will come down from the Andes with
flip-flops" is anonymously disseminated, forcing debate and
development of the two-line struggle, and for the red line to be
expressed.
In
1939, they supported Manuel Prado's candidacy, calling him the
"Peruvian Stalin," thus aligning themselves with the upper
bourgeoisie. World War II began, and under the pretext of halting the
spread of fascism, they called for "uniting the entire nation"
in a national front to support Prado, as, according to revisionism,
he represented the nation's interests. This electoral tactic was
sanctioned at the First National Congress in 1942, further
solidifying their alignment with the big bourgeoisie and thus
abandoning the established path. They had participated in elections
since 1931; 1939, 1945. They declared war on Germany. The working
class in our country emerged through struggle and underwent a process
until it became a Party and came of age.
Definition
and foundations of the path; Reconstitution.
New
impetus for the development of the Party and the beginning of the
struggle against revisionism.
1945.
I.
Browderist Electoralism
Electoral
party; they changed the party's name to "Socialist Vanguard."
Browderism was counter-revolutionary; they proposed criteria for
organizing a party as an organizational machine, not a combat force
for seizing power, but rather mired in electoralism.
Electoral
opportunism. Bourgeois pacifism; they renounced violence, centered on
parliamentary cretinism.
They
abandoned the path, further developing capitulationism, changing the
character of the party into a revisionist party; in essence, they
capitulated to reaction.
They
advocated a national defense front, which was an electoral front,
abandoning the party. In the post-war period, they continued to
follow the lead of the big bourgeoisie. They brought Bustamante to
power under the pretext of continuing to block fascism, "in the
face of the imminent danger of fascism," calling for the unity
of the entire nation.
II.
Reactivation of the Party
1950
In
the mid-1950s, the struggle to reactivate the Party, which had been
sidelined, began.
The
abandonment of revolutionary violence continued.
Capitulation
persisted, but the local councils fought for the Party and the path
forward; a two-line struggle developed. Local councils sent a
document to the Party demanding a return to Khrushchev's theses.
Electoral
tactics continued.
III.
Khrushchev's Revisionism and the Struggle over Revolutionary
Violence.
Two
Paths.
1960
The
Party remained focused on elections; however, after thirty years, in
the 1960s, the talk of revolutionary violence and armed struggle
resurfaced. A debate ensued regarding which of the two paths was
best: the peaceful, electoral path, or the violent one. It was the
revisionists who spoke of two paths, but there were no such paths;
there was only one, the violent path, which today is embodied in
armed struggle.
The
comrades who were striving along this path began the fight against
revisionism. A great advance was made. Pronouncements were issued by
the various Party apparatuses; the Chinese Revolution and Maoism, as
well as the Cuban Revolution, also played a strategic role here.
Internationally, the great debate between Marxism and revisionism
unfolded, driven by Chairman Mao Zedong with the CCP Charter, which
presented 26 points to the CPSU, distancing itself from Khrushchev's
revisionism (who assumed power after Stalin's death). This letter is
taken up by Chairman Gonzalo, who leads the class faction, drawing on
Maoism, which will later lead him to reunite with JCM. The struggle
against revisionism develops violently.
The
problem of the path of the Revolution begins to be discussed; the
proposals are presented ambiguously, unclear, regarding the two
possible routes.
The
electoral tactical line continues, focusing on the FLN (National
Liberation Front), whose candidates are Father Bolo and General Pando
Egúsquiza. The Party agrees to vote for Belaúnde, whom they
consider to be part of the national bourgeoisie (revisionists);
however, the Arequipa Regional Committee, with Chairman Gonzalo at
its head, speaks out against participating in the elections and
exposes Belaúnde as belonging to the big bourgeoisie. We see the
role of Chairman Gonzalo's faction, which, although a minority, makes
its position clear.
Establishment
of the General Political Line and Reconstitution of the Party
1963
I.
The Path of Encircling the Cities from the Countryside (CCCC).
The
path becomes clearer thanks to the faction's actions. Comrade
Gonzalo, following in the footsteps of JCM, develops his actions in
the Ayacucho Regional Committee and elaborates on the line. He tells
us that the Party is for seizing power, not for elections. Based on
Marxist-Leninist revolutionary theory, drawing on Stalin and Chairman
Mao, "without revolutionary theory there can be no revolutionary
practice," the goal is the seizure of power and communism. He
organizes the Ayacucho Regional Committee on M-L-M principles.
In
1967, Comrade Gonzalo drafts a document for the 20th Plenum with a
report on the Three Instruments: the Party, burdened by revisionism;
the United Front for electoral purposes; and the Armed Forces,
operating with mercenary criteria. Although revisionism had already
been expelled, revisionist conceptions and organizational forms
persisted; the document proposed modifications to restructure the
party apparatus. It was not approved because the Party imploded
beforehand. Patria Roja was expelled, along with entire Regional
Committees, anarchists, and amautas, due to Paredes's erroneous,
right-wing handling of the struggle by liquidationism.
In
1968, the need to reconstitute the Party was raised for the first
time because, burdened by these revisionist elements, it could not
fulfill the task of leading the Revolution to seize power.
Internationally, the Party's position within the International
Communist Movement was one of adherence to Maoism, and it was one of
the first parties to break with Russia.
1963.
The struggle against revisionism led to the expulsion of Jorge del
Prado and his associates. In January 1964, at the Fourth National
Conference, spurred by the international debate between revisionism
and Marxism, and led by Chairman Mao against Khrushchev, the CCP's
25-Point Charter to the CPSU was debated and studied. A break with
revisionism was made, and a rapprochement with Maoism took place.
Opposition
to focusing on elections was directed against voting for Belaúnde
and the FLN, which was seen as opportunistic.
Comrade
Gonzalo put forward basic theses, returning to the origins of the
Party. Within the Party, he refocused on the problem of the
Revolution, emphasizing that our Revolution was peasant-led,
following the path of encircling the cities from the countryside.
From
the beginning of the Reconstitution, he clearly outlined the path.
Our focus is the countryside, the main point of work.
-
1968 marked the beginning of agrarian policy: "Land for those
who work it," which included confiscation. That the war is
protracted, with a winding path, marked by ups and downs.
1969.
He developed a Research Plan for the countryside, aiming to
understand it in relation to the Armed Struggle and the people's war.
He conducted a political, economic, historical, military,
geographical, and other analyses.
Report
(Initial). He described the character of the Ayacucho Zone, the main
zone, recognizing its strategic importance in relation to the armed
struggle. This initial plan was updated in 1976. He established
military work zones for the Party, countering the opportunistic
positions that opposed them.
He
stated that, in essence, our Revolution is peasant-based and prepares
for total war.
Comrade
Gonzalo established special work in the countryside, linking it to
military work.
Organizations
that fulfill three tasks: political, logistical, and peasant; with
three functions: to fight, to build the Party in its early stages,
and to organize for the armed struggle. He advocates for
self-sufficiency, contrasting it with positions that went so far as
to rely on canned goods—mercenary positions. Comrade Gonzalo: “We
are sustained and supported by the masses; we are not mercenaries.”
1965.
The Second National Conference takes place, where the main theme is
the construction of the armed forces, and it is determined that
Belaúnde does not belong to the national bourgeoisie. He analyzes
the Vietnamese guerrilla movement, which relies primarily on the
peasantry, following the strategy of encircling cities from the
countryside. He explains that it is a small nation that dares to
fight against a superpower and defeats it.
1967.
A Strategic Plan is established for the war, outlining measures for
the construction of the three instruments: relocation of the
leadership to the countryside; the countryside being the main theater
of the war.
Comrade
Gonzalo is consistent with his positions; it is through these
positions that he conceives the path forward and imposes it amidst
the struggle between two lines; even though at that time the faction
was in a defensive phase, because it did not have a majority. Comrade
Gonzalo and the faction wage a hard struggle against revisionist and
opportunist positions.
II.
Reconstitution of the Party for People's War
The
Sixth National Conference of the Party sanctions the Reconstitution
of the Party for People's War and the Basis of Party Unity. General
Political Line. Thus providing the Party with an
ideological-political foundation it lacked, and it is agreed to
"maintain the banners against the capitulationist positions that
question the Party." The bureaucratic leadership of the Party is
antediluvian. Fight for the Party's survival, never lower the
banners. Comrade Gonzalo relies on the masses, on the grassroots,
organizing Party work. He breaks the encirclement and promotes work
among the masses in both rural and urban areas, establishing the
relationship between grassroots = masses = power. The Party leads the
masses to seize power.
1973.
Organization of the Party at the national level. Expansion of
organizational work. Work in Lima.
Events
include: Sixth National Conference 1968, Second Plenum January 1970,
Third Plenum 1971, Fourth Plenum 1973, Fifth Plenum 1975, Sixth
Plenum 1976.
Power
is the central issue, and revolutionary violence has a concrete
expression: armed struggle, people's war, and the Party exists to
seize power.
He
applies and develops Maoism in practice.
Fulfillment
of the strategy of encircling the cities from the countryside; The
main task is peasant labor, without which there can be no revolution;
labor guided by the Marxist-Leninist-Massive (MLM) and the People's
Party (PG), directed by the Party, without which there can be neither
Armed Forces nor People's War.
1969.
Chairman Gonzalo develops the Agrarian Program and presents us with
two paths regarding the land problem and the destruction of
feudalism: the landowning path of expropriation and the peasant path
of confiscation, which leads us to defend it with arms, to armed
struggle. The landowning path perpetuates feudalism; the peasant path
destroys feudalism.
Peasant
events: from the Provincial Federation of Peasants of Ayacucho;
there, the agrarian problem was raised and the document "Allpa"
was produced. It analyzes the Agrarian Law and exposes its
reactionary character and how it develops the landowning path
("People's Voice"). Three Steps: Who grants it? Who
implements it? Confiscation or expropriation.
The
construction of the Armed Forces, led by the Party and based
primarily on the peasantry. There can be no national democratic
revolution, nor a new state, without an army to support it and
without the peasants building it with their own hands, led by the
Party. Our People's War is peasant-led, or it is nothing. These are
criteria based on Marxism-Leninism, which we are now developing to a
higher level. Today we are engaged in Agrarian War.
Everything
is geared towards the people's war, the work of the Party, the work
of the masses, etc.: everything is geared towards organizing the
people's war. Chairman Gonzalo has given us the Strategic
Construction Plan of the Regional Committee of the Communist Youth of
the North (JCM) 1972. It defines the zones of military work and the
main point: Ongoy (between Andahuaylas and Ayacucho).
It
establishes the tactics. First Plenum and Conference. It analyzes the
regime, characterizing it as fascist, and identifies its internal
contradictions. It analyzes the Agrarian Law, the Industrial Law, and
the Education Law.
III.
Completing the Reconstitution and Laying the Foundations
It
proposes the construction of the party in relation to the armed
struggle.
The
National Construction Plan is established, with the VI and VII
Construction Plenums (1976 and 1977). The “First Displacement”
takes place.
Then,
the plan proposes completing the Reconstitution and laying the
foundations (1976 and 1978), VIII Plenum. Following this, the General
Reorganization of the Party (1978 and 1979), IX Plenum, is carried
out in relation to the armed struggle.
At
the VIII Plenum, the Party completed its Reconstitution. The key to
Reconstitution is to transform the party, burdened by revisionism,
into a New Type of Party, prepared for the struggle to seize power;
endowed with a General Political Line and the structures to implement
it. The General Political Line is determined and put into practice.
VII P. of C., 17 points.
The
struggle between two lines against right-wing positions on the
peasant question, which later becomes structured as a right-wing
opportunist line.
1977.
First National Conference of the Communist Party. The development of
urban construction in relation to the countryside and its
complementary role is considered.
The
International Liberation Army (ILA) is presented to us as a germinal
idea to be developed, starting in September 1977.
At
the International Communist Movement (ICM), Chairman Gonzalo
denounces Deng Xiaoping's counter-revolutionary coup in China. Our
Party is the only one to denounce this revisionist action and takes a
clear position in favor of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, following the red
line.
The
Eighth Plenum presents us with a Scheme for armed struggle:
1.
International Situation
2.
National Situation
3.
Strategic Location of Peru in Latin America
4.
Marxism-Leninism-Maoism
5.
People's War: Rural-Urban Management
The
leadership is proposed, and the bases for encircling the cities from
the countryside are defined.
It
shows us that the peasant path leads to the Red Republic, necessarily
to the People's Republic of New Democracy. The landowning path is the
one that drives the reactionary regime to perpetuate feudalism. It
develops the rural problem in terms of initiating armed struggle
(ILA).
Gamonalismo
persists, it concludes after analyzing the trajectory of the Peruvian
state and the need to make the Revolution.
The
landowning-bourgeois state presents us with its two classes: the big
bourgeoisie and the feudal landowners; and its two factions: the
bureaucratic bourgeoisie and the comprador bourgeoisie. They propose
to associate and not associate, and one faction or the other achieves
hegemony, but the class character of the state remains unchanged.
The
New State is the product of destroying the landowning-bourgeois state
through revolutionary violence.
It
centers the countryside for developing the main form of struggle
(armed struggle) and the main form of organization (the army).
With
the implementation of the National Construction Plan, construction
begins at the national level, since previously it was concentrated in
the Metropolitan Committee and the Ayacucho Regional Committee. The
construction of these three interrelated instruments is proposed
simultaneously. The Party is in charge of the Armed Forces and the
United Front.
S
and T. Application of tactics at the international and national
levels, with the aim of initiating the revolution.
From
the outset, the CCCC (encircle the cities from the countryside)
and the birth of the people's democratic revolution are
implicit. JCM gives us the program and the line. Develop Military
Thought, whose basic principle is to encircle the cities from the
countryside.
Then
he fights against revisionism and to reactivate the Party; in '64 he
is expelled. With ILA , the spell of more than fifty years of dark
revisionist action is broken. Hence the great importance of ILA; it
is the struggle of Chairman Gonzalo, of the Red faction, to
reconstitute the Party.
Chairman
Gonzalo takes, applies, and develops Marxism-Leninism-Maoism to our
concrete reality.
