[President Gonzalo during the Third Plenum of the Central Committee of the PCP. The document has two parts. The first part addresses the fundamental political issues of the People's War (the role of the proletariat, Democratic Revolution and the World Proletarian Revolution.) The second Part addresses the problems of construction of the Communist Party that today is a valuable ideological resource for the International Communist Movement. Because of its importance, we are publishing the second portion of the document first, the remaining portions will be published in later issues. The entire document will be available in the PCP Web page (Internet) as soon as translation is completed.]
QUOTE. "The correctness or incorrectness of the ideological and political line decides everything. When the Party line is correct, we can have everything: if we have no men we will find them, if we have no guns we will get them, and if we do not have Power we will conquer it. If the line is incorrect, we will lose everything we have won."
PRESIDENT GONZALO. "Since the correct ideological political line is decisive, because our ideological political line is correct, the People's War, its development, its triumphs and victories are due to the just and correct application of our line. Ideology and politics are the starting point for all our practical work..."
QUOTE. "Practice Marxism not Revisionism, unite and don't split, be open and above board; don't intrigue and conspire."
PRESIDENT GONZALO. "Be a Marxist not a Khrushchev, nor a Gorbachev, nor a Teng Hsiaoping. In syntheses, don't be Revisionists, because we are the opposite of Revisionism. Today, revisionism is in general bankruptcy, but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist. It exists. Its accomplices are out there and plentiful. They are adopting new forms to fool the class and the people."
QUOTE. "The political line is like the key cord of a network. If one pulls it the entire net will open up." There is much of that in the X Committee. Many intrigues and machinations that have to do with these peasant bases that we must sweep away and crush. If we are communists, we must hold ourselves to what Marxism teaches us.
PRESIDENT GONZALO. "That is the key cord, and the political question is the point of departure for our daily activities. Chairman Mao tells us: The political ideology decides everything, and that must guide us to analyze our work. We reiterate that in the X Committee there is sectionalism with focus only on local issues.
What is sectionalism? It is a "small-group mentality." The application of this politics aims not at the interest of the Party, but it goes against the interests of the people and the proletariat. It has to do with splitting. It is a contrary line; therefore, we must not keep this attitude of sectionalism. It is true that here in this Committee a line contrary to the Party does not exist, but there is sectionalism, a mountain of it. The issue is whether we need to see the interests of the Committee as a UNITY or as sectionalism.
X does not criticize himself, is he acting just like the "caudillos" [populist leaders -- trans.] of the past? Like a little military dictator (militarejos)? It is clear that there is petty leadership in the Committee. There is resentment, of course!, instead of developing the interests of the Party, they are busy with personal animosities, petty intrigues and dirty infighting. We must lay the issues out openly here and find corrective actions; we must crush these attitudes.
If we do not focus our struggle in the interests of the class, of the people, of the poor peasantry, then we generate "caciques" [A populist chief in a peasant community --trans.], then we are not communists. As President Gonzalo says, the people can see that little village lords with commanding voices are so arrogant that they look like angry dogs with their tails raised.
How does the two line struggle develop here? Is it like a personal struggle, low, dirty, full of intrigues and revenges contrary to the interests of the proletariat? We must elevate it to the political level, we must put the problems on the table so that the Party can resolve them. We must keep in mind that our bases must embody both the proletarian mind and the peasant hands. Chairman Mao said that leadership must keep in mind the above quotations.
QUOTE. "It is necessary to reaffirm the discipline of the Party which consists of:
1.- The subordination of the militant to the organization.
2.- The subordination of the minority to the majority.
3.- The subordination of the lower level to the higher level.
4.- The subordination of the whole Party to the Central Committee (CC). Whoever violates these rules of discipline, undermines the Unity of the Party."
PRESIDENT GONZALO: Democratic Centralism is key, it is a condition of Communists. It serves Unity. The UNITY of Communists is precious, and must be based on principles. Unity that is not based and sustained on principles is not Unity. See how much Unity has been declared since the earliest times of the International Communist Movement, and how many treacherous revisionists have spoken about Unity. They have spoken empty words of Unity to hide their divisive positions. So where is the erroneous root for Unity not to be established? It is that individual and group interests have been established instead. Unity is sustained upon principles, upon Marxism-Leninism-Maoism (MLM) ideology, around an established plan, the process of the People's War. That is what must unite us, and not personal or group interests.
1. UNITY OF UNDERSTANDING. If we don't begin by understanding the issues in the same manner, then there will be no basis for unification. If we don't understand the same principles and standards, we will not be able to grasp the issues with revolutionary criteria. If there is no unity of understanding, then there is no basis to talk about Unity. Unity of Understanding is the basis of the other unifications.
2. UNIFICATION IN POLITICS. Political Unification is based on the Unity of Understanding. Only by understanding things uniformly, can we establish a uniform policy. We need a unified understanding of the class struggle, the New Power and its defense, and the defense of our politics.
3. UNIFICATION IN PLAN. On the basis of Unity and understanding in Politics, arises Unification in Plan. If there were not a uniform understanding in politics, there would not be a common plan. If not, each person would establish and implement his own plan, as he sees fit. That is completely improper for Communists.
4. UNIFICATION IN ACTION. Having Unification in Plan, we enter the Unification of Action: one single action to strike like a closed fist, so as not to strike the enemy with open fingers. Based on these four unification, the fifth unification arises.
5. UNIFICATION IN COMMAND. Only thus can we have a unified Command, and on the basis of Unification of Command, we will have Centralization. That is the problem of Democratic Centralism, and one of the problems which afflicts the X Committee is the problem of Command. The command has been questioned, it is not accepted, it doesn't have the required unification. Ambushes are planned, agreed upon, then are not carried out. In reality, there is not agreement because there is not Unification in Understanding. When the actions are not being accomplished, then the infighting appears, the contentions, the questioning, the non recognitions, the lack of submission, the insubordinations, the problems of command. It is a problem of Democratic Centralism, and the cause of it is the lack of Unity of Understanding. Are they underestimating the power of our peasant bases? Learn and apply the five unifications here!
The 5 unifications must be understood well, and all unity has got to be based on principles, on established standards and politics of the Party, and not for each person to do as he pleases.
The discipline of the Party demands among other things, that the minority subordinate itself to the majority. Even in the event that your opinion has been rejected, you must support the decision approved by the majority. If you consider it necessary, you can present the matter again for reconsideration in the next meeting, but in no way can you go against the decision already adopted
We must learn better to subordinate ourselves to Party discipline, that is to subordinate ourselves to the Central Committee, to the agreements of the Zonal Committee. The right must take its turn; those vacillating will have to be crushed.
It is necessary to reaffirm ourselves in the discipline of the Party. We all understand that; clearly that's not the problem. The problem arises when we don't apply it, then we must demand its application; it is a must. The secretary must be firm with his authority. He must apply his authority, not authoritarianism. Have patience in forging the proletariat and the peasantry. Comrade secretary lacks firmness, he is flimsy, he flits around, he doesn't like to study; but he has the capacity for decision, and you, because you are friends, say nothing; then the Committee will be in an uproar because of this problem.
We abide by the principles, then we have to apply them. We are prepared to apply them. In Committee X you talk about a lot that is seen but not accepted, where the unified substance is not addressed because there is sectionalism. If we don't consider the Unity of what is attempted, each one doing as he wants, as he sees fit, there is no subordination to the majority, there is no subordination to the Central Committee; it's clear that there isn't.
Where does this theory of base government come from? There is no submission to the CC in that; the decision and submission in there comes only from the head of that Comrade. We must persist in the problem of unity; the problem is not just saying let's conduct an ambush, the problem is applying it, and for its success political struggle is required. In the struggle, we need to apply the 5 unifications; if not, our Unity is up in the air, a formality of Unity, pure appearances.
ON THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE PARTY. To be studied and applied thoroughly (see the PCP publications in Bandera Roja --Red Flag) President Gonzalo proposes three issues in the construction of the Party, through the three tasks of Marxism, which continue to be fully valid and applicable today. When they speak to us of the Party as distinct from and opposed to other parties, that continues perfectly valid, and there is no need to add or subtract anything. When Marx says that the Party is for conquering Power, what more can we add to that? Absolutely nothing.
Then when Lenin speaks to us about the problem of underground Party work, it is in essence to maintain high the flags of the revolution: that is fully valid; or when Chairman Mao talks about how to build the Party, the problem of the United Front, the armed struggle, etc., that is masterful, it is the problem of linking the Party to the armed struggle, the United Front! When he speaks to us of the Party as a compact organization, selective and efficient: all that is accurate and great. The contributions of the 3 greatest in history, our three unfading flags, is then comrades, a development that makes sense: that's how to understand the construction of the Party from the viewpoint of Marxism.
If we fully understand that the ideological and political line decides everything, then we will achieve the five unifications.
In addition, we must address other problems; for example that the Party is the one leading everything. Why do we start out with issues of the organization of the Party? Because there are comrades who are militants of the Party but do not apply the principles of the Party, and we see that there are comrades who have sectarian criteria; these are attitudes we must sweep away. Insist that our militants be forged as communists. We must not forget that incorporation into the Party is an organic incorporation to begin with, but the main issue is the ideological and political incorporation, and that developes in the midst of hard struggle, an internal struggle which takes place in the midst of the class struggle, of the masses and of the People's War; a struggle to incorporate within ourselves the Basis of Party Unity (BUP), the Congress, the ideology, the Programme, and the Line. That's why the struggle is carried on.
This is important. Comrade Stalin was a great organizer. No one who is a communist has any doubts about that, that is good. I believe that we must take into account the problem he taught us, that line by itself is not enough. Comrade Stalin told us: there are some who believe that line is enough, and that having the better, more beautiful and perfect line is a marvel. That is completely erroneous; line is not sufficient!
First: there must be a correct political line (Base).
Second, organization. Why? Because without organic apparatuses it is not possible to implement the political line; even definite, significant and concrete agreements could not be made into reality. Only with Organizational Apparatuses can the line be carried into practice, that is what he taught us. The line is not enough; we must shape the line into organizational aparatuses. We must consolidate, construct the Party, the People's Army of Liberation, the United Front-New State (the 6 forms of Power), firmly solid, a war machine of the proletariat, to organize the masses so that they can actively defend the revolution, so they can fight. What else do we need? A Plan!
Third, struggle must be organized by means of those organic apparatuses to put the line into practice. So, the problem is to organize the struggle. If struggle is not organized, then one cannot go on from line to reality; the line is not applied, nor is the plan.
Fourth, the cadres must be well selected, a good selection of cadres is a must.
Fifth, we have to manage the development of the cadres, and the directives for the application of the line.
There are 5 issues:
1. Line.
2. Organization.
3. Two line struggle.
4. Selection of cadres.
5. Mangement of tasks.
Comrade Stalin emphasized to us that we have to consider what Lenin taught on organization and construction of the Party; both go together; we call it organizational construction. Well, all these questions treated by Lenin and Stalin can be condensed as follows: what is principal in the organizational work is the selection of men and a good management in the accomplishment of tasks. So, he tells us, this is Lenin's general idea. The teachings of Lenin on this matter are masterful, we must keep them in mind, Why? Because the problems of organization in the Party deserve our utmost concern for the conquest of Power. In Committee X today with still more reason.
Later Comrade Stalin laid out the following, analyzing the situation of the Bolshevik Party and a series of problems which survived, he proposed solutions to get rid of the problems, telling us this:
In the first place it is important to direct the attention of our Party comrades immersed in daily problems of every kind toward the great political problems of national and international significance. In any Committee there is always a mountain of problems, daily problems that if we don't solve them will bog us down. That's how it is in the parties. So what do we do? We have to step out of these problems, so we don't get bogged down; we have to go to the great political problems of national and international character. It helps us if we remember the problem of the proletariat in the Democratic Revolution, in the World Proletarian Revolution. That helps us get rid of these problems that bog us down without getting swamped, marking time, going around and around.That is what we have to look at; that must continue to have primary attention in our work.
Another problem: Comrade Stalin stressed the important method of instructing the comrades based on their own errors; that's very important in the work. We make many mistakes; well then, what to do when confronting the cadres? We must educate them analyzing the problems, the errors they have made, the root of those problems and the road to solve them -- these 3 questions: the error made, the root of the error and the solution.
We are told that Bolsheviks must therefore be tougher, capable of acknowledging their own mistakes, capable of telling their ERRORS committed, that's why he says that we must have courage, we must destroy their causes and point out the way to correct them: that is the way to be Bolsheviks, that is also the way for us to be communists. However, Comrade Stalin says certain comrades think that it is not good to talk about the errors of the comrades, because it would diminish their authority and so they lose self-respect, thus they hide their mistakes. Using that procedure the cadres suffer, and the mistakes deepen!
PRESIDENT GONZALO: if anybody believes that to care for the self-respect of the cadres we have to hide the mistakes, where is that leading? To dangers; to keep on making mistakes, and this gets worse. By hiding their errors, they repeat them more and more, and not only that, there are NEW ERRORS. So they keep accumulating, and where does that lead? It leads to a complete failure of their tasks. So the cadres remain stuck, their self-respect and tranquility remain diminished, because to try to preserve cadres by hiding their mistakes is a false and mistaken way of doing things. Thus they are not forged, they are ruined since they get more swamped. That is a poor method. I believe that these things are very necessary to address for the Committee to respond to the problems it has...
QUOTATION: "There are various non-proletarian ideas in the Communis Party organization in the Fourth Red Army which greatly hinder the application of the Party's correct line. Unless these ideas are thoroughly corrected, the Fourth Army cannot possibly shoulder the tasks assigned to it in China's great revolutionary struggle." Mao Tsetung, Dec. 1929
PRESIDENT GONZALO. The above quote is very good and fits like a glove our own reality which is distinct. Our own experience must be seen with clarity if we don't want to commit errors in our work. There is the material base: the great majority are of peasant origins and others come from the petty bourgeoisie; it is very interesting. That's our social base too. Then this is a good document starting from the first question, that enumerates the errors, and then sets forth the solutions, pay attention to that quotation.
In the the Chinesse case, for example: the Red Army was composed in its great majority of the peasantry and other elements of the petty bourgeoisie; the peasantry is also petty bourgeois. Of course, you already know that, that is according to Marxism-Leninism. We can't forget the historical importance of the peasantry, it has been considered as a class for good reason, but it is also petty bourgeois; that must never be forgotten because both are based on small property, on small production. For that reason, I reiterate that the peasantry has importance because of their immense political weight. Because the great majority of them are poor, then they become an ally; and together with the proletarian class they make up the Worker-Peasant Alliance. Watch out! We must know how to specify things well, the alliance is not proletariat-peasants-petty bourgeoisie; it is the Worker-Peasant Alliance: this shows how that part of the petty bourgeoisie has been set aside by the importance it has and because of the poverty it suffers, and that it takes up the banner of destroying private ownership of land by the landowners, the great property. Of course that is the reason; we must know how to place things well; I think if one sees that, one already understands.
"What is the use if we analyze the problems of the Committee X from a purely military viewpoint?"...There are comrades who consider the military problems and the political problems as having opposed interests. You see? For them it is not a problem when one says up there are military problems, and down here are political problems. It's not that way at all, but things get presented by counterposing the political to the military. They refuse to recognize the fact that the military constitutes just one of the means. They think that the Red Army like the white army has only one task: to fight. What happened with the main force of Committee X? Aren't they degenerating in these criteria? Here it is then, a fault crystalizing in facts due to the focus on a single task. See Volume I page 111, "Purely military viewpoint." [Spanish version -- trans.]
With regard to the organizational: They subordinate the organization of the Red Army charged with the political work to those in charge of the military work. Why doesn't the army's political department work in this Committee? Why doesn't it function as in other committees? This is the first thing that must function, otherwise how can we establish that the Party be in control of the People's Army; how can its absolute political leadership be exerted? Apparently one may think that is not the way it is, but appearance is one thing; this problem must be resolved.
SECTIONALISM. Those in Committee X worry about the body of the Army. But, they do not understand the whole thing, because there is heavy sectionalism, this is an intense form of "small- group" mentality. Clearly some comrades pay little attention to the directives. Some do not understand the objective conditions, and others do not understand the subjective conditions; that is, there are many poisonous weeds, so we must tear them out. That has its social base and root, the ideological dynamics which we have been speaking about from the beginning.
They say they suffer from a lack of perspective; yes they do. That's what is going on here; why don't they carry out detailed work to conduct the ambushes? Why haven't the actions been carried out? Why don't these comrades accomplish their duties? Why don't they see the need for observing details and doing hard work? why? Because they have no political understanding of the actions; they don't understand what it's for: it is to push forward the development of the Support Bases. They don't understand that it is for conquering Power. Any armed action we do must be planned; if we don't see the importance, we won't plan, we won't act with attention to details; that is the reason then.
ULTRA DEMOCRACY. What can we say about the comrades in Committee X? Is authority being recognized there? No, it is not. Then there are individuals, not authorities. We have discussed this with the Committee. The concepts in the documents they submitted are alien to the principle of organization of the Party. For example, when an ambush is agreed upon, it is not put into practice with sincerity, that's what is happening. That has to do with violating the principles of organization.
The document of Committee X also criticizes that neither principles nor standards are being applied. Criticism, instead of being a weapon of combat is becoming a weapon in personal struggles, a manifestation of individualism; we must study. Many comrades do not do self- criticism within the organization of the Party but outside of it. They are practicing gossip. How the hell are we going to put an end to that? In all apparatuses where that exists, we have to end it. It helps the enemy, the old system. The struggle must be raised within the organization . We must apply the standards, to end, to cut out all the gossip that serves the enemy, that serves reaction.
In synthesis: We need to correct erroneous ideas, applying chapter 24 of Vol. 1 of Chairman Mao's works. That is an important chapter in which various quotations are condensed. Study well page 258 [Spanish version -- trans.] Here liberalism and other problems are gone into. These problems exist in Committee X as in other committees of the Party. Letting these things to go on and not maintaining a principled position when facing these situations, who does that serve?
To give an example: they disobey orders, others focus on personal attacks and seek revenge, others listen to incorrect ideas and say nothing. They speak in the Party meetings without investigating first, without asking questions. They must read and study all this. For example, to work without discipline and without a plan, isn't that what's happening? Clearly so! This text is very important; this is all the same document, which must be considered for the rectification of erroneous ideas in the Party, complementing the quotations in Chapter 24. It is urgent that you must study it as part of the Rectification Campaign specific to this Committee. They are not counterpoised to the general line of the Party.
You should start to identify, weed out and sweep away as much as possible the ideas alien to the Party, alien to M-L-M, Gonzalo Thought. That is what is in unity.
We must apply the quotations about People's War; there you find how to make the People's War according to the position of the Party, according to the positions of the Proletariat; and making People's War is our main task as communists in this country. Who prevents the war from expressing its power with alien ideas, with mistaken ideas that must be eradicated by the rectification campaign? Sweep away the alien ideas with the document "On Correcting Mistaken Ideas in the Party." So apply the rectification Campaign with the two documents that are part of one whole. It's not a matter of study, one does not study what is wrong, the issue is to embody what is in conformity, so we can give power the People's War, to arm the head in order to arm our hands; when one arms the mind, that is arming the hands to fight better.
Central Committee, Communist Party of Peru, 1992.