TWO-LINE STRUGGLE AGAINST OPPORTUNISM
"A strict distinction must be made between the two different types of contradictions: those
among the people, and those between ourselves and the enemy. Contradictions among the
people must not be made into contradictions between ourselves and the enemy; nor must
contradictions between ourselves and the enemy be regarded as contradictions among the
people.
"It is normal for the masses to hold different views. Contention between different views is
unavoidable, necessary and beneficial. In the course of normal and full debate, the masses will
affirm what is right, correct, and wrong, and gradually reach unanimity.
"The method to be used in debates is to present the facts, reason things out, and persuade through reasoning...When there is a debate, it should be conducted by reasoning, not by coercion or force. In the course of debate, every revolutionary should be good at thinking things out for himself and should develop the Communist spirit of daring to think, daring to speak, and daring to act. On the premise that they have the same general orientation, revolutionary comrades should, for the sake of strengthening unity, avoid endless debates over side issues."
[Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, Aug. 8, 1966]
The international work for any revolution has always been a difficult task. President Gonzalo teaches us that we should begin any task with our own resources and available means. He said that our errors should be corrected only through practice and we should carefully study the environment in which we work. An imperialist country has a different culture, history, language and political development. Lenin said that words can be translated into another language; the problem is how to deliver them with their real political meaning [Lenin's Speech, 4th Congress of the Communist International.]
Why do we denounce Luis Arce Borja, and Adolfo Olaechea? Because these two individuals are working frantically to create a split in our movement by resorting to many dishonest tricks, spreading rumors, and slinging mud against honest supporters of the Peruvian revolution. The overwhelming majority of the people want unity in the International Communist Movement and are opposed to the campaign of slander and character assassination launched by these two individuals. They slander the PCP-generated organizations (MPPs) and fraternal parties in the world, and they undermine the unity of the revolutionaries in the International Communist Movement, which goes against the desire of the overwhelming majority of the people of the world. People can see through their tactics of sham unity, such as the ghost entity "World Mobilization Commission (WMC)," actually a splitting organization. Historically, none of the splitters who betrayed Marxism-Leninism- Maoism, Gonzalo Thought ever came to a good end.
With Mao's words, we advise those who are working to create a split: "To rein in at the brink of the precipice... They believe that they are not yet at the 'brink', and they are not ready to rein in. Apparently, they are very much interested in continuing their splitting activities. Let them go on creating trouble if they must. The masses and history, will pass judgement on them." [More on the Differences Between Comrade Togliatti and Ourselves, Foreign Languages Press, Peking, 1963, p.193.]
A pernicious political line based on individualism and liberalism is being advanced by Luis Arce Borja and Adolfo Olaechea among the supporters of the Peruvian revolution in Europe. The charlatan Olaechea is based in London, and the petty bourgeois journalist Arce Borja is based in Brussels. Both of them were given the label of "Ambassadors" by the genocidal regime of Fujimori. They enjoy unrestricted publicity by the reactionary press in Peru, which is known to be mostly controlled by the National Intelligence Services (SIN.) This is the same reactionary press that has never reported objectively on the People's War, and has not once granted an interview to the combatants and leaders of the Communist Party of Peru, who are leading the revolution.
What is the background of these individuals? Olaechea was never accepted into the ranks of the PCP-generated organizations Peru People's Movements (MPP) abroad because of his known eccentric and liberal tendencies, and his lack of mass work, which are incompatible with the Party. Arce, a former militant of the United Left in Peru, who advanced to a progressive political position with El Diario of Lima in the late 80's, emigrated to Europe and worked closely with Bob Avakian's Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP) and Committee of the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement (Co-RIM.) The RCP along with the government of Fujimori was instrumental in inflating his supposed "leadership" in the PCP. It is important to understand that Arce's El Diario Internacional (EDI) should not be confused with El Diario of Lima. In Peru, after 1988, Arce's name as Editor of El Diario, was used as a rubber stamp or figurehead only.
The RCP and Arce used their "support" for the PCP as a political capital and to cover themselves with political legitimacy, and tried to build themselves up as a the real leaders of the world revolution, while they were objectively spreading demoralization and defeatism about the People's War. The alliance of Arce (who was acting on behalf of the capitulator Javier Esparza and of Sol Peru-Paris) and the leaders of the RCP came to an end only in early 1994, when Arce published in his EDI a mild critique, "The Silence of the Lambs" against his former patrons [English version, The New Flag Vol. 1, No. 2, p. 9] He, who now claims to be a 100% anti-Avakianist, was indeed an agent of Avakian himself at least until 1994. For example, on November 3, 1993, because the MPP had been criticizing the opportunist line of the Committee to Support the Revolution in Peru (CSRP), a RCP organization, Arce, on behalf of the RCP, attacked the comrades of the MPP in the U.S. (clandestine), threatening to reveal their identities in his EDI and in the reactionary Peruvian press, so that their relatives in Peru can be taken care of by the death squads of the murderous regime of Fujimori. a public reply from the MPP was issued on November 12, 1993 which prevented Arce's reprehensible threat.
Why do Arce and Olaechea attack and openly slander the Peru People's Movements, whose international tasks follow the International Directives of the Party and are guided by Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, Gonzalo Thought? The slanderous allegations of these individuals against the MPPs are the same ones used by Peruvian reaction and the regime's agents, known as Senderologists. No wonder there is a close alliance between Olaechea and Senderologists such as a Simon Strong! They pretend to raise the red flag to attack and oppose the red flag of the Party. Their anti-Avakianism is a smokescreen to cover up their alliance with the capitulators, whose ideological positions have not been criticized by EDI at all, during the last three years. They try to fool the supporters of the revolution abroad by claiming that the capitulators are only members of the "police," period! Thus, they also avoid the ideological analysis of this sinister force that was wiped out from inside the Party by February 1994 but whose remnants are still active in Peru and abroad. They slander the MPPs as a being "impostors", "fake," "Avakianist agents," "SIN,", etc. These are exactly the same weapons used by imperialism and reaction to discredit the People's War and its supporters abroad. In addition, the tactic of suddenly creating a fake MPP-Belgium and Sol Peru-Belgium, whose only active member is Arce himself, has the purpose of confusing the people, and has already been unmasked. This "MPP-Belgium" is the originator of the WMC.
The opportunists Arce and Olaechea
have a long history of trafficking with false
support for the People's War and at the same
time actively discrediting the Peruvian
Maoists organized in the MPPs, as a well as a
our foreign supporters. Their methods are old
and vicious. Their main goal is to isolate the
MPPs, create confusion and doubt in the
masses by claiming that the MPPs do not
belong organically to the Party, and they seek
to weaken and split them. These are exactly
the same goals of the Peruvian regime and of
Yankee imperialism. Have they ever said a
word about the old MPP in Paris that
capitulated? Never. They never criticize them.
Why? Because Arce was a protégé of these
traitors. He trafficked under the wings of Sol
Peru Paris and the "individual of Sweden."
Why have his articles hardly even mentioned
his former buddies (compinches) of Sol Peru
Paris? Has he ever stated that all of them were
police agents? However, Arce and Olaechea
make all types of unsubstantiated allegations
and diatribes against honest supporters of the
People's War. Should we allow this? No. We
must criticize them with facts.
THE LEADERSHIP MUST BE FROM
THE MASSES TO THE MASSES, NOT
FROM A BUREAUCRACY (Co-RIM or
IEC) TO A GHOST BUREAUCRACY
("WMC") OF ARCE BORJA.
For the reactionaries, the myth of "Mother Courage" is over. In the same manner, for genuine Maoist revolutionaries, the myth of Fujimori's "Ambassadors" Arce Borja and Olaechea are also over! Arce should no longer traffick with the Interview of President Gonzalo to prove his "credentials." Lenin teaches us that "Communists don't live in the past." With regard to Olaechea, his high-handed patronizing self-importance and egomaniac tendencies are well known in Europe. All Olaechea does is promote himself.
What lessons have we learned from the failed experiences of the International Emergency Committee to Defend the Life of Chairman Gonzalo (IEC), a creation of Co-RIM? At the time that they were most needed, they remained silent, and then abandoned the support of the People's War. Nearly two years after the fact, they claimed, as a the regime does, that the counterrevolutionary hoax of letters from President Gonzalo in prison calling for peace talks, was purely an internal matter of the Party calling it a "two line struggle." According to them, the intelligence services (CIA, SIN, Dincote, etc.) did not play a role. Until recently, these opportunist groups led by the RCP have been arbitrarily assuming the "authoritative" international representation of the People's War in Peru. Some Peruvian groups, such as a the MPP-Malmo who are unable to carry out the mass work, are repeating the same mistakes of the old MPPs, colluding with the opportunists of Co-RIM, and begging for representation and recognition.
On the other hand, the line of Arce Borja and Olaechea, his eccentric messenger hooked to the Internet, maintains that the entire scheme of the peace hoax was a 100% police operation, a factor absolutely external to the Party. What does this revisionist line hide? It hides its collusion with the capitulators, and it throws heavy smoke to mislead the public so that they can avoid unmasking ideologically the pro-imperialist "Struggle for the New Great Decision: Peace Accords," which is being injected into the people by the campaign of the regime and the imperialist press abroad, and under which the actions of the capitulators are evident. For Arce, the role of the "individual of Sweden" (his former patron) and Sol Peru France (his political school) do not need to be combated. According to him, the public and traitorous role of historical figures and former members of the Party in prison who have capitulated, such as a Cox, Morote, Meche, Huatay, etc., have to be overlooked under the excuse that they are all police operatives. Didn't the world see the prisoner Morote capitulating to the murderer Fujimori? Who are they fooling?
Unlike the Senderologist Arce, the PCP Central Committee does not hide the facts and tells the bitter truth to the people. In its report of February 1994, it clearly condemns the role of the capitulators and provides a Marxist analysis. It is the victorious People's War that has shattered the hoax of "peace accords" with Yankee imperialism.
The vehicle used for the counterrevolutionary campaign of the right opportunist Arce in Europe is the Trojan horse of anti-Avakianism. How disgruntled he must be against his former mentor and leader! The New Flag has effectively criticized Avakian and his cohorts in their own nest which even prompted a response from the RCP Central Committee to the MPP [January 1995], and no one can question our principled stand on this.
With regard to being "representatives," Arce and Olaechea were recognized as a such not by the PCP, but by the reactionary regimes of Garcia Perez and Fujimori as a the honorable "Ambassadors of Sendero." With this "distinguished" title, they took upon themselves on paper the "leadership" of the international support of the People's War, and have been trafficking with the prestige of the Party. All they need now is a formality to "legitimize" themselves, by calling for a gathering known as a "World Mobilization Commission" to enthrone themselves as a "leaders" with a thin mantle of authority, and to impose a program of their own.
For this purpose, they are recruiting all sorts of opportunist elements that obviously are always available in the putrid "left" of Europe and the United States. One of these is the counter-revolutionary sect called Maoist Internationalist Movement (MIM) that recently "suspended its support to the People's War."
The method used by Arce to denigrate his political opponents is anti-Maoist, and has nothing in common with the theory and practice of the PCP. These two opportunists use their fake "official" positions to beat down the masses. They ruthlessly try to brand humble Peruvian exiles in Europe and America who question their political line as a "uneducated," "ignorant, "rightists," "FBI agents" and "Avakian's secret weapons," "lumpen," "saboteurs," "impostors," "plagiarizers"... In sum, their real enemy. On the other hand, we criticized them with facts and that's why they are pained. We called Olaechea to be corrupt because he has set up a fund using the support of the revolution (e.g., political prisoners in Peru who never received a penny) for his own personal benefit which was publicized by the Asian Times and direct mailings to supporters worldwide [March 24, 1993. Olaechea's Fighting Fund Appeal, Lloyd's Bank, Walham Green Branch, Account No. 7167762.] Has he ever practiced self-criticism on this or any other point? No.
They shamelessly seek bureaucratic status to impose their anti-Party activities by discrediting, and sabotaging the work of the MPPs. They present a grossly distorted caricature of the line of President Gonzalo to fit their right opportunist positions.
The "ambassadors" have taken upon themselves the following reactionary actions against the supporters of the Peruvian revolution:
1. Arce and Olaechea have no authority from the PCP to decide who may support the People's War and who may not. It is not up to them to determine which groups one must work with, and which must be avoided. Arce has been using his Diario Internacional to resolve his personal animosity against several supporters of the People's War. For example, his "case" against the group Atelier Franco-Peruano in Paris led by Dr. Maximiliano Duran, who, from the very beginning, has been an opponent of the "peace talks." He was slandered as a a "poisonous weed" and "traitor" in EDI, May of 1993. In EDI, June 1993, Arce forged a "communique" of support from the MPP-USA (NY) allegedly backing up his slander. In EDI, March 1993, p. 11, Arce and Olaechea fingered several former alleged supporters of the People's War in the United States such as a Sabina A., Rick A., and the editors of the cultural newsletter known as a El Tractor in Paris now called Labor (Paris). The logic followed by the opportunists Arce and Olaechea is: "Either you submit to our line and sell EDI, or you will be denounced as a an opportunist, agent and impostor."
2. The case of the MPP-Sweden, based in Malmo. Arce Borja, the Comrades of MPP-Malmo, and the representative of Avakian in London (the Iranian activist of the group Sarbedaran who also works with A World to Win magazine) attended a Conference in Lund, Sweden, in early 1994. Arce had printed a communique from this MPP-Malmo in his Diario Internacional of November 1993, p. 10 where he praised this MPP-Malmo as a being genuine. Later on, in his EDI No. 26 of June 1995, Arce rejected and slandered as a "the impostors" the same MPP-Malmo he had praised in the recent past.
What happened? The comrades who are now being called by Arce "the imposters" criticized him publicly at the Conference of Lund, Sweden, and at other events and asked Arce to correct his anti-Maoist methods in dealing with Comrades who disagree with him. Immediately, Arce split and suddenly formed both the MPP-Belgium and Sol Peru-Belgium which along with the EDI is practically run by himself. Moreover, in retaliation against the Comrades of Malmo, he formed a parallel "MPP-Malmo" and personally "appointed" two disgruntled individuals (expelled from the IEC) as a a parallel MPP. Thus, at least in his paper, the "legitimate" one, the one generated by the Party became an "impostor."
3. The case of the Italian Maoist Party Rossoperaio: For years, the Italian Comrades carried out the task of translating and distributing the PCP documents and Arce's Diario Internacional. However, when Arce published the article "The Impostors" slandering the Comrades of MPP-Malmo, the Italian comrades who understood the support movement in Europe, refused to translate and distribute that portion of the EDI. Arce bullied them to distribute it in full or else he would denounce Rossoperaio as a well in his EDI. That's what happened. The Italian Communists work closely with the MPPs in Europe, and although they colluded with opportunist within RIM, as a a whole, their contributions to the support movement of the People's War have been very sincere and positive.
4. The case of MIM: In response to a convoluted argument of MIM with several supporters of the People's War on the Internet in early 1996, "Ambassador" Olaechea ordered MIM to discontinue support for the People's War. Surprisingly, MIM officially complied and reported it in MIM Notes No. 11, p. 10, April, 1996. What is behind this? First, Olaechea's "order" is incorrect. Secondly, MIM seized an opportunity to stab the Peruvian revolution in the back by giving the impression that the "support of the People's War abroad is being extinguished" and thus, trying to avoid criticism for its traitorous line in favor of capitulation and "peace talks."
In addition, it shows the failure of MIM's ridiculous and self- serving request that in exchange for "support of the People's War," and for denouncing Fujimori's "peace talks" hoax, MIM should be recognized by the PCP as a "the vanguard Party within the U.S. borders." [MIM's Proposed Statement of unity with MPP-USA, December 11, 1993.] The MPP rejected such a statement of unity. Later, in a document dated October 16, 1994, MIM took the following pro-peace position: 1) The letters presented by Fujimori are authentic and came from Comrade Gonzalo, 2) the "anti-peace accords" line represents the majority of the PCP, 3) there is nothing inherently anti-Maoist in favoring peace negotiations. Now MIM is an ally of Arce Borja in the U.S.
The current actions of Arce and Olaechea are anti-PCP. President Gonzalo teaches us that in any political struggle we should keep our heads cool and our hearts warm. The hot-tempered attacks from Arce and Olaechea against the MPP contain more insults than reasoning, and more slander than facts. Thus, they try to avoid the ideological debate, in which they have nothing to offer except a myriad of unsupported diatribes against the MPP. The PCP always states: "Our strong point is politics, that is our strength."
Instead, these self-promoting opportunists use the personal attacks and the nailing of clandestine members of the MPP as a a routine practice. They use new lies mixed with old slander. That is 100% revisionism. Maoism teaches us that "to insult is not to combat." Instead of seeking unity in the struggle against imperialism, the fascist Peruvian regime and the reactionaries, they step up their personal attacks, split the movement, and act with resentment and deep personal hatred against MPP cadres whom they don't even know, and desperately seek their identity to nail them in Arce's Diario International. Is this the way Arce repays these Comrades who for years have helped him and his EDI? This practice leads to political degeneration. The same old slander that they used in the past against other Comrades is now being used against the MPP.
This is certainly not the kind of leadership that the masses demand in a "world mobilization." Of course not.
The Editors of The New Flag, May 1996.