68TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE FOUNDING OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF PERU
The Communist Party of Perú (PCP) was founded by José Carlos Mariátegui on October 7, 1928, on solid Marxist-Leninist basis. Mariátegui outlined how the people must, in the first place, define their ideological and political position and secondly, how they must forge their organizational structure.
Mariátegui resolved the political problem in our country. He knew very well that the proletariat generated organic forms such as trade unions, workers' alliance, and workers' weaponry. Mariátegui then set forth the task of forming the proletarian Party in our country, when he created the Communist Party (at first called Socialist Party), affiliated to the Thrid International and subject to the principles outlined by Lenin in 1919.
The need for the Party to lead the struggle for the conquest of power was established since the birth of Marxism, reiterated by Leninism and reaffirmed as transcendental by Maoism.
Without a revolutionary Party of the new type, Marxist-Leninist-Maoist, there is no revolution for the proletariat and the people. Mariátegui provided the PCP with his basic theses about Peruvian society, the land problem, imperialist domination, the role of the Peruvian proletariat, as well as programmatic points and a general political line and lines derived therefrom.
We understand the history of the Party in three parts corresponding to the three moments in contemporary Peruvian society and the Constitution of the Party. For that, the proletariat counted on José Carlos Mariátegui, a full-fledged Marxist-Leninist; but Mariátegui was fought against in his lifetime. Later on he was negated, his line abandoned, and the Constitutional Congress that he left as a pending task never took place. The Congress that was labeled "of Constitution" approved as we know, the so-called "national unity line," diametrically opposed to the thesis of Mariátegui. The Party would then begin tumbling down into opportunism and revisionism; suffering the noxious influence of Browderism, to which Del Prado [TNF: current head of Unidad Party] was linked, and later on to contemporary revisionism.
THE TASK OF THE COMMUNIST PARTIES IS TO MILITARIZE THEMSELVES
All the above processes will take us to a second stage which is that of the reconstitution of the
Party led by President Gonzalo. This is a new struggle, in synthesis, against revisionism. It is a
period that begins developing itself from the beginning of the 1960's in a clear and intense form,
a process that will lead the bases of the Party to unite against their revisionist leaders and expel
them at the IV Conference of January 1964.
The process of Reconstitution will go on developing in the Party until 1978-1979. That process would end around those years, and the Party then enters a third moment, the moment of the leadership of the People's War, in which we are still developing it at present.
The Militarization of the Communist Party.
President Gonzalo proposes the thesis that the task of the Communist parties of the world is to
militarize themselves for three reasons:
FIRST. Because we are in the strategic offensive of the world revolution. We live in the times when imperialism and reaction will be swept for good off the face of the Earth within the next 50 to 100 years. These times are marked by violence expressed in all kinds of wars. We notice how reaction militarizes itself more and more, and militarizes the old states, and their economies. It develops wars of aggression, trafficks with the people's struggles and aims at a world war. The task of the Communist Parties is to raise the banners of revolution and thus, materialize the main form of the struggle, the People's War. Hence, world counterrevolutionary war must be opposed by world revolutionary war.
SECOND. Because capitalist restoration must be opposed. When the bourgeoisie loses Power, it infiltrates the Party, uses the army and seeks for ways to usurp Power, to destroy the dictatorship of the proletariat in order to restore capitalism. Therefore, the Communist Parties must militarize themselves and exercise their omnimodous dictatorship of the three instruments [TNF: People's Army, Party and Front], forge themselves in the People's War and empower the armed organization of the masses, the people's militia, so that it engulfs the Army. For this reason, he teaches us: "Forge the militants, first and foremost, as Communists, as fighters and administrators." Every fighter is forged in the People's War and alerted against any attempts at restoration.
THIRD. Because we march to a militarized society. By militarizing the Party, we complete one step toward the militarization of society, which is the strategic perspective to guarantee the dictatorship of the proletariat. The militarized society is the sea of armed masses which Marx and Engels, spoke of, cautioning about the conquest of power and its defense. Let us take the experience of the Chinese Revolution, of the anti-Japanese base of Yenan, which was militarized society where everything flowed from the barrels of the guns: Party, People's Army, State, new politics, new economy, and new culture. Let us therefore develop the war for Communism: the political plan of the Party.
ABOUT THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF THE WORLD
Marx said that the working class creates organizations after its image and likeness, that is, its
own organizations. In the 19th Century, with Marx and Engels, we were provided with a
scientific conception, our own doctrine, our own objective, a common goal, and how to take
power and the means to do it. Marx taught that the proletariat cannot act other than a class,
which constitutes itself a political party, which is different and opposite to all the political parties
created by the exploiting classes. The Party is the highest form of organization, the Army the
principal form of organization, and the Front is the Third instrument.
In the 20th Century Lenin understood that the revolution was ripe and created the Proletarian Party of the new type. He materialized the form of struggle, insurrection, and the organizational form. the detachments, more mobile and superior to the barricades of the previous Century, which were fixed forms. Lenin sets forth the need for creating new, clandestine organizations, since the advance of the revolutionary struggle meant the dissolution of the organizations that had been legal by the police. This transformation was only possible by going over the heads of the old leaders, above the old Party, and destroying it to build a new one. The Party should model itself on the modern armies, with its own discipline and with its own will and flexibility.
With President Mao Tse-Tung, the class understands the need for building the three instruments of the Revolution: Party, Army and United Front, interrelated. Concretely, it resolves to build the Party around the gun and that is the heroic fighter. The Party is leading his or her own construction, the Army and the Front. President Gonzalo sets forth the militarization of the Communist Parties, and the concentric construction of the three instruments, in which the Party leads everything, and never allows for the gun to command the Party.
The militarization of the Communist Parties is a political directive with a strategic content, as the "set of transformations, changes and readjustments needed to lead the People's War as the principal form of struggle generating the new State." Hence, the militarization of the Communist Parties, is key for the democratic revolution, the socialist revolution and the cultural revolutions.
THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF PERU AND THE PEOPLE'S WAR
We struggle for the Communist Program, whose essence is to organize and lead the class struggle of the proletariat, so it conquers political power, carries out the democratic revolution, the socialist revolution, and the cultural revolutions, until Communism, the goal toward which we march. We count on the general political line of the revolution, that is, the laws governing the class struggle for the conquest of power.
There are six aspects of the construction of the party. The ideological construction, the political construction, the organic construction, the leadership, two-line struggle, and mass work. In synthesis, thanks to the toil and leadership of President Gonzalo, we have a Marxist-Leninist- Maoist, Gonzalo Thought Party, a Party of the new type leading the People's War in the perspective of conquering total Power in the country, thus helping world revolution.
Sixteen years and five months have elapsed [TNF: 17 years and 7 months to December 1997], during which the PCP, on its ideological and political base, amidst the class struggle and the two- line struggle, has been developing the People's War in Peru This is a People's War, whose success has only been possible because of the existence of a Party of the new type, a Party now celebrating 68 years of its founding. Many events worthy of mentioning have taken place along this heroic road. Great transcendental events such as the celebration of the First Congress of the PCP, a victorious feat, which fulfilled a debt we had pending and which the founder himself established; let it be clear that of the four Congresses taking place until 1962, under revisionist leadership, none was a Marxist Congress, none was based strictly on the proletarian concept. Therefore, the Congress of 1988 was the First Congress, a Marxist-Leninist-Maoist, Gonzalo Thought Congress.
This First Congress enabled a balance to be made of the entire process followed and to draw the positive and negative lessons. This Congress enabled the sanctioning of a base of partisan unity conformed by its three elements (ideology, programme and general political line). This Congress has also managed to lay down the foundations in perspective of the conquest of Power.
The Congress also developed other situations. It enabled a fuller assessment and understanding of the process of the People's War, and in particular, of the need to construct the conquest of Power. Also, this Congress clarified the fact that in the PCP, the two-line struggle develops against revisionism as the principal danger.
After 68 years of the founding of the PCP, the slogan is "Overcome the bend in the road" and "Develop the People's War." In order to overcome the "bend in the road," with the development of the People's War, and the conquest of Power throughout the country, we must establish the People's Republic of Peru with a seal of class. With the 68th anniversary of the founding of the PCP, the Party continues to be the lighthouse of world revolution. Furthermore, it continues to be the luminous path on which we must travel until we reach our undefeatable goal that is Communism.
"...We walk as a small united group, on a steep and difficult road, firmly grabbing each other's hand. We are surrounded on all sides by enemies. Most of the time, we must walk under their fire. We have been united by virtue of a freely adopted decision, precisely to be able to struggle against the enemies and not trip into the nearest swamp. The swamp's dwellers reproached us from the outset for having detached ourselves as a group, and for having chosen the road of the struggle instead of conciliation. And all of a sudden, some of us began to cry: " We're headed for the swamp." When they attempted to go there shamelessly they said to themselves: What a backward lot we are, how aren't we ashamed of denying ourselves our freedom and of inviting others to choose a better way.' Ah, yes, gentlemen, you are free not just to invite us, but of going wherever you choose, even to the swamp; we even consider that your rightful place is there precisely. We feel well disposed to render you our help so you will get there indeed. But in that case, please let go of our hands . . . because we too are free to go wherever we choose, free to struggle not just against the swamp, but even against those who may deviate in that direction." V.I. Lenin.
Translated, reproduced and distributed by Perú People's Movement (MPP) of North America and The New Flag: 30-08 Broadway, Suite 159, Queens, New York 11106.
E-Mail:lquispe@nyxfer.blythe.org