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On the Rectification Campaign Based on the Study of the Document
Elections, No! People's War, Yes!
By
Comrade Gonzalo, Chairman of the Communist Party of Peru (PCP)
Following is a speech
given by PCP Chairman Gonzalo at an August 1991 meeting held in
Peru in conjunction with the PCP's rectification campaign. - AWTW
I.
How to Study. Pay Attention to Analysis and Synthesis.
Pay attention to analysis and to synthesis. They make up the two
aspects of a contradiction, and of the two, synthesis is the principal
aspect. Analysis allows us to separate things into their component
elements in order to understand them better, but this is only one
aspect, and the process of knowledge can never be reduced to analysis
alone; it requires the other aspect, synthesis. Synthesis is what
allows us to grasp the essence of knowledge. Without synthesis there
can be no leap. Synthesis is principal; it is the aspect of a contradiction
that leads to its resolution and allows us to grasp the objective
law it embodies.
This is an ideological question, part and parcel of the application
of dialectical materialism, the Marxist theory of knowledge. In
contrast, bourgeois idealist ideology isolates analysis from synthesis.
According to the proletariat's ideology, Marxism-Leninism-Maoism,
these are two aspects of a single entity and synthesis is principal
because it gives rise to a higher level of knowledge, a qualitative
change, a leap.
There are two classic examples of this. One is the example of a
clock. In order to understand how it works you have to dismantle
it. That allows you to understand its components and their functions.
But if you cannot put it together again all you have is a pile of
parts. Even if these parts were classified into groups you still
would not have a clock.
The other example is the development of natural science since the
fifteenth century, which demonstrates in historical terms where
the lack of synthesis leads. The tremendous development of sciences
such as mathematics, astronomy, physics, etc, brought about an increased
understanding of various aspects of nature, but this process also
brought about the fracturing of science analytically, its division
into different fields, and led to metaphysical theories. Even the
eighteenth century, with its great scientific, materialist advances,
produced metaphysical knowledge. Nevertheless, this process of fracturing
and dividing knowledge into different fields laid the basis for
a leap. It laid the foundation first for Hegel's idealist dialectics
and later Marx's materialist dialectics. All this breaking apart
of things meant there had to be a synthesis, a great condensation,
and it prepared fertile ground for the development of dialectical
materialism by Marx and Engels, principally Marx. The achievement
of this historic milestone, the proletariat's world outlook, Marxist
philosophy, dialectical materialism, was the result of a powerful
process of synthesis. The same is true of the achievement represented
by the recognition of contradiction as the essence of the proletariat's
outlook, a leap of inexhaustible historical importance.
Both examples show the need for synthesis, for a leap. So pay special
attention to analysis and synthesis, principally synthesis.
A problem has manifested itself in the course of the various contributions
to the discussion. Taking things apart leads to a lot of talk about
"quotations", and in the discussion people talked about "quotations
from the document" or "reading quotations from Marx" or "grasping
the quotations from the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution".
People fall into enumerating isolated quotations instead of applying
them to current problems. Thus the failure to grasp the question
of synthesis leads to another problem, a failure to grasp the proletariat's
ideology as an integral whole, as Marxism-Leninism-Maoism. Even
the way some people express themselves reveals this problem. One
of the speeches only made two mentions of "Marxism-Leninism-Maoism,
principally Maoism", whereas the document refers to Marxism-Leninism-Maoism
again and again, from beginning to end. Another mentions "humanity's
only science", which is true, but this science has a name - Marxism-Leninism-Maoism,
principally Maoism, and its creative application here, in this country,
is Gonzalo Thought.
We have to get beyond merely grasping the facts. When a problem
arises we have to find out what causes it. This is an ideological
question. In the contradiction between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie
as it presents itself in the ideological sphere, there is resistance,
expressed as the predominance of bourgeois ideology over proletarian
ideology at a particular moment in time. This phenomenon is part
and parcel of the struggle between the two ideologies, a struggle
which arises even more with new people who are still being trained.
Hence bourgeois ideology must be destroyed in order to construct
proletarian ideology. There can be no construction without destruction.
The dead weight of tradition, old ideas and ideological deviations
is heavy; these things do not die out peacefully. Therefore transforming
oneself requires enormous efforts. Human beings are practical, not
contemplative, especially when they are striving to transform reality
in the service of the proletariat and the people. This is why they
can overcome that old, outworn ideology and take up the ideology
of the proletariat, the only ideology that can enable them to understand
and change the world in the interests of the class and the oppressed
peoples.
In study, the point is that there is a contradiction between analysis
and synthesis, which gives rise to a leap in terms of knowledge.
If this contradiction is not handled correctly it will lead to problems
in the overall handling of proletarian ideology. This is the root
cause, in this sphere, of the failure to take the stand of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism,
principally Maoism, as the universal truth and outlook that unites
the world's communists, and Gonzalo Thought as specifically principal
for communists here, for the Peruvian revolution in particular.
The stand that seeks to use isolated quotations to analyse the international
situation, the political situation in the country, the Party and
its three magic weapons, or mass work, etc, is based on a failure
to understand Marxism as an integral whole. In study, the failure
to go beyond analysis and apply synthesis as the principal thing,
the failure to make a leap, is a manifestation of bourgeois ideology.
Our stand is that Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, principally Maoism, is
the guide and centre, the axis around which everything revolves;
it is what allows us to understand things, deduce the laws that
govern them and thus transform nature, society and ideas.
The conclusion to be drawn is that remaining at the level of analysis
leads to metaphysics. Synthesis leads to materialist dialectics;
in the study of the document it brings us to Marxism, Marxism brings
us to Leninism and Leninism to Maoism. Of these three one is principal:
Maoism. Moreover, Maoism leads us to Gonzalo Thought which is the
universal truth specifically applied to the concrete reality of
Peruvian society and the concrete conditions of today's class struggle.
Synthesis allows us to understand the document and its Marxist character,
to understand how the Party evaluates Marxism today on the basis
of the Marxist-Leninist-Maoist, Gonzalo Thought thesis that Maoism
is a new, third and higher stage.
All of us, communists, fighters and masses, must train ourselves
in the ideology of the proletariat, Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, Gonzalo
Thought.
II.
The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution.
The Celebration of its 25th Anniversary.
The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution was Chairman Mao's greatest
achievement and represents an enormous contribution to the world
proletarian revolution. It resolved what had been a pending question
regarding socialism: the continuation of the revolution under the
dictatorship of the proletariat in its unstoppable march towards
communism. The question has been definitively settled and now we
communists have the answer: we shall continue the revolution under
the conditions of socialist society by means of proletarian cultural
revolutions. The essence of the problem, seen in perspective, is
to change people's souls, to transform their ideology, so that they
personify Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, principally Maoism. Only in this
way can we prevent the restoration of capitalism and march forward
to communism.
The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution is a basic issue for Maoism.
If we don't thoroughly grasp that Maoism is a new, third and higher
stage we won't understand anything - it's that simple - because
as we know very well, today to be a Marxist means being a Marxist-Leninist-Maoist,
principally Maoist. The theory of the Cultural Revolution is rooted
in Marx himself, since it was he who pointed out that the transition
from capitalism to communism would require permanent revolution
throughout a period of proletarian dictatorship. He conceived of
this indispensable and necessary revolution as a series of successive
great leaps. It is also rooted in Lenin, who envisaged and encouraged
a cultural revolution. But it was Chairman Mao who answered this
great unresolved question of how to continue the revolution and
carried it out in practice, who led it and developed it as the greatest
political event humanity has ever seen. The problem was unresolved,
though many great struggles took place, until 1966 when the Chinese
proletariat and people found the way, under the personal leadership
of Chairman Mao at the head of the glorious Communist Party of China.
This was an earth-shaking event.
For us this is even more vitally important today, since the so-called
"defeat of socialism" that has been so loudly proclaimed is linked
to the question of how socialism develops and how the dictatorship
of the proletariat is defended. What has failed is revisionism,
not socialism. Revisionism continued along the evil road of capitalist
restoration until it sank so deep into the rot that it finally went
under. From Khrushchev to the infamous Gorbachev in the USSR, and
in China from the rise of Deng Xiao-ping in 1976 until today, the
revisionists usurped the dictatorship of the proletariat, restored
capitalism and destroyed socialism. Revisionism refers to the political
leadership of capitalist restoration, to the negative aspect of
the process of restoration and counter-restoration which the class
must go through until it seizes power once and for all.
The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution represents the most encouraging
and highest point in this world-wide process of struggle between
revolution and counter-revolution, between restoration and counter-restoration,
in the development of socialism. The fact that it lasted only until
1976 when Deng Xiao-ping's counter-revolutionary revisionist coup
d'etat restored capitalism in no way negates the Cultural Revolution
nor its necessity. In fact, this restoration confirms what Chairman
Mao himself said, that in the struggle between capitalism and socialism,
in the life-and-death struggle between restoration and counter-restoration,
the question of who will win out has not yet been decided, and that
the class struggle will continue until final victory, until communism.
Between 1966 and 1976 the Cultural Revolution was a practical, concrete
reality. That is incontestable. The whole world saw it. So now proletarian
cultural revolution is a settled question. In 1848 Marx said that
political power must be seized by means of violence. Though he did
not live to see it happen nor did he carry it out in practice, he
gave us the solution: the proletariat had to seize power through
revolutionary violence and exercise the dictatorship of the proletariat.
In the same way Chairman Mao provided the solution to continuing
the socialist revolution under the dictatorship of the proletariat
- and furthermore, he did carry it out in practice. Because we have
had this experience we know what to do.
Without underestimating the importance of the Paris Commune in 1871
as the first milestone in the process of the seizure of political
power by the proletariat, we should recall that Marx himself foresaw
that it was doomed to failure because there was no Communist Party
to lead it. Nevertheless, he said it was impermissible to allow
the morale of the proletariat to be undermined, no matter how many
leaders might fall, and he supported and defended the Commune. Despite
its importance as the first milestone, the Paris Commune cannot
be compared to the carrying out of the Cultural Revolution, which
is a milestone of a far higher quality. Furthermore, while the former
lasted only about two months the latter spanned more than ten years,
and under the leadership of Chairman Mao and the Communist Party
of China it brought hundreds of millions of people into motion.
Between these two milestones there is the October Revolution led
by Lenin, the creator of the first dictatorship of the proletariat
and the world's first socialist country, and the Chinese Democratic
Revolution, also led by Chairman Mao, which achieved victory in
1949. Of these four great and glorious milestones in the seizure
of political power and the building of socialism, in the establishment
and defence of the dictatorship of the proletariat, under the class
leadership of the international proletariat, the highest and most
developed milestone to date is the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution.
The general political line of our Party, the Communist Party of
Peru, holds that in its march to communism the Peruvian revolution
must pass through three revolutions - the democratic revolution,
the socialist revolution and not one but several cultural revolutions
- and that all of these, from the first, constitute one single,
uninterrupted march towards communism. We must thoroughly grasp
this point exactly because today, 25 years after the Cultural Revolution,
we can see in it our future, and even more so because it was in
the course of the Cultural Revolution that Maoism lit up the world
and became a new, third and higher stage of Marxism: Marxism-Leninism-Maoism.
Let us celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Great Proletarian Cultural
Revolution!
The document Elections, No! People's War, Yes! examines the principles
laid down by Chairman Mao for that glorious revolution, and thus
places before us the central issues in celebrating the 25th anniversary
of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution.
The opinions that have been expressed here have referred to the
Cultural Revolution and its essence - to transform people's souls
- but we should understand it in terms of what's been laid out here.
We should get in the habit of studying in order to apply, in order
to draw practical conclusions regarding current political problems.
This leads us to our third subject.
III.
The Political Situation
The political practice of the proletariat is to take documents,
political line and Party directives and apply them to the current
political situation. We study with an eye to applying it, to resolving
burning problems. Otherwise we would fall into bookishness and parroting
- a bourgeois, idealist and metaphysical method.
Thus we should analyse the current class struggle in light of the
four sections of this document. We should take a look from every
angle at the ideas that are before us now and that the Central Committee
must settle.
In the first part, "Crucial Elections for the Reactionaries", what
is the document getting at? It lays out the international and national
context. Regarding the international class struggle, we hold that
today we are witnessing a counter-revolutionary general offensive.
Looking back at the Party's positions, in 1985, when Gorbachev initiated
his Perestroika, we put forward that there was "a new counter-revolutionary
offensive headed principally by Gorbachev and Deng Xiao-ping". Later,
in May 1990, in the document we are presently studying, we referred
to "an offensive against Marxism which has been intensifying and
converging with the offensive unleashed by the imperialists who
are once again trumpeting the supposed obsolescence of Marxism'.
Thus there is both contention and collusion - and in this case principally
collusion - in a sinister onslaught against Marxism-Leninism-Maoism."
To summarize, a convergent offensive by imperialism and revisionism,
in collusion and contention. Events since then have confirmed that
this analysis was and continues to be correct. But wouldn't it be
relevant to conclude that we are witnessing a counter-revolutionary
general offensive? Why do we say this? Because everyone is attacking
revolution, democratic revolution and socialist revolution, attacking
revolutionary violence, people's war, attacking the Communist Party,
attacking socialism and the dictatorship of the proletariat, attacking
the goal, communism. They claim that facts have demonstrated that
socialism is no longer valid, that it no longer exists, that it
has failed. But we must remind them that in the 1950s there was
a socialist camp, that the victory of the Chinese revolution brought
about a shift in the correlation of forces in the world, and that
never has any system been able to bring about such a rapid and profound
transformation of a rotten capitalist and feudalist base as happened
in the USSR and China.
Socialism unfolded
in the USSR under Lenin and Comrade Stalin until the revisionist
Khrushchev usurped political power; the situation was similar in
China, where socialism lasted until 1976 when Deng unleashed a counter-revolutionary
coup d'etat following the death of Chairman Mao. If we count from
1848, when the fundamentals of socialism were first laid out by
Marx and Engels (just two people) in the immortal Communist Manifesto,
or from 1917, when socialism was first realized in practice, we
can see that socialism is still young, it has only existed for a
short time. Today it continues to exist as an experience, it is
alive in the world's communists and revolutionaries. It exists as
an ideology, as a body of politics, as a theory and a practice,
and it also lives in us, the communists and revolutionaries of Peru.
Thus we are talking about a counter-revolutionary general offensive
aimed at thwarting revolution as the main historical and political
trend in today's world. Who is attacking revolution? Both the imperialists
and the revisionists. But of the two, Yankee imperialism is principal
- they are heading up this offensive, in an attempt to establish
themselves as the sole hegemonic superpower in their contention
with the other superpower, Russia, and the other imperialist powers.
This offensive is being unfolded principally by Yankee imperialism,
the principal hegemonistic power. It is a general offensive for
two reasons: because it is being unleashed everywhere by the world's
imperialists, revisionists and reactionaries, and because it is
occurring in every sphere: the ideological, political and economic
spheres, though it is centred on politics.
We must grapple with this very seriously, analyse it and grasp it
well, just as we should with every question. The point is to understand
reality in order to ascertain the laws that govern it, and to use
these laws to transform reality in the interests of the world's
proletariat and peoples.
Here we should note that this is not the final offensive. This is
an important distinction. It is a counter-revolutionary general
offensive. Generally speaking, a final offensive refers to the last
part of the strategic offensive of a revolution. Revolution goes
through three stages, in political and military terms, and of course
politics guide military matters and is the principal of the two.
These stages are the strategic defensive, strategic equilibrium
and the strategic offensive. We hold that we are witnessing the
strategic offensive of the world revolution - we do not say that
the final offensive is taking place today. Furthermore, we view
the strategic offensive of the world revolution as a protracted
process - not something brief - consisting of twists and turns and
even setbacks. What we are referring to here is not revolution but
counter-revolution, a counter-revolutionary general offensive aimed
at thwarting the development of the world proletarian revolution.
Another point that must be noted is that despite all their bombast,
their economic assaults, their unfounded mud-slinging and wild attacks,
they are doomed to defeat. Since we know that revolution can run
up against restoration and even be reversed, the fact that we are
facing a counter-revolutionary general offensive should not surprise
us. Instead we should analyse it so as to deal with it and defeat
it. Attacks on Marxism have always heralded its further development
and advance. Let us recall what we put forward in 1979: fifteen
billion years of matter in motion - the part of this process we
know about - have given rise to the irresistible march to communism.
This is the reality, so let us grasp this law and apply it. Our
goal of communism is not some idea unrelated to this material process;
it is a part of it. Communism arises from this process and constitutes
its future; it is part and parcel of the unfolding of this material
process and is an expression of matter's irrepressible motion. No
other class has a future like the proletariat. The bourgeoisie was
a revolutionary class once but it became historically obsolete.
It is lashing out wildly like any cornered beast, seeking to make
its own inevitable destruction more costly. It knows it is finished,
that it is an unburied corpse, but even at the foot of its open
grave it resists burial at the hands of the proletariat. The final
monster, imperialism, ill-begotten child of the bourgeoisie and
oppressor of the world's peoples, must be swept off the face of
the earth together with revisionism and world reaction. It falls
to us, the proletariat and the people, to bury it. From the historical
viewpoint, this task is necessary and it falls to us to carry it
out. We must be absolutely convinced that we shall smash the bourgeoisie
and bury imperialism along with all its partners and flunkies.
In the first part of the document, where it takes up the political
situation in Peru, it refers to the question of "legitimization".
In several meetings since the Congress we have analysed this concept
put forward by Yankee imperialism in the context of their thesis
of "low-intensity warfare". This is an important question for us
and we need to ask what they have achieved. The answer is they have
achieved nothing. Fujimori has not gained the slightest legitimacy
from the elections, not only because of the reactionary and comical
character of elections in Peru but also because he didn't get many
votes. Instead, these elections put his legitimacy into question,
since the number of people who abstained (27%) was greater than
the number who voted for him (24.6%) in the first round and far
below the 50% plus one required by the Constitution. In the second
round, even with the help of the APRA party, the United Left and
the Socialist Left, the best he could do was a plurality. His actions
have hurt this "legitimacy" even more. Everything he has done has
been directed against the people, which is natural since he is a
representative of the big bourgeoisie, principally the compradors,
and of the landlords as a whole, and is the most obsequiously pro-Yankee
imperialist president the country has ever seen and the most rabid
enemy of the people's war - in short, a genocidal national traitor.
He has been de-legitimized and thoroughly unmasked at a dizzying
pace. The people feel that there is no right nor reason for so much
evil, for so much oppression, and the people's war strengthens this
understanding. The systematic violations of the people's human rights,
Fujimori's genocidal policies following in the footsteps of Belaunde
and Garcia - the facts cannot be covered up because the people have
experienced them personally. The reappearance of mass graves; the
slaughter of the sons and daughters of the people; the cowardly
murder of the fighters and their families, with absolute impunity;
the take-no-prisoners policy in this war - these things cannot be
hidden from the people because it is the people who have endured
them. The monstrous crimes committed against the families and the
masses who marched on the Fifth Anniversary of the Day of Heroism
in the public plazas and the shantytowns of Lima, armed only with
banners and slogans - how can they cover up the massacre at San
Gabriel? Can they deny that Fujimori offered his congratulations
to the soldiers who committed it? The protests that occurred when
a university student and two poor youth were killed for carrying
knapsacks - can they be disregarded and the murderers once again
be shielded? The genocide committed against tribal communities,
the genocidal Armed Forces' use of peasants as cannonfodder, the
free hand given to the paramilitary ronderos to commit all sorts
of crimes - how can all this legitimize the Fujimori government?
The brutal wage cuts, the total neglect of the people's education
and health care by the "cholera government", the systematic denial
of the people's rights and the gains won by the proletariat and
people, the continuous and growing repression against the masses,
the introduction of land-mortgages and usury and the current concentration
of land ownership principally through expropriating the poor peasants,
the starvation of millions of people cast into the starkest poverty,
the profound economic recession that has reduced the income of the
Peruvian masses to levels unseen for decades, the destruction of
national resources and the wholesale auctioning off of the country
to imperialism, etc, etc - can all this legitimize the Fujimori
government? On the contrary, the Fujimori government has become
utterly exposed in less than a year.
In summation, in studying the first part of this document we should
consider: 1) The vicious counter-revolutionary general offensive.
2) The growing de-legitimization of the Fujimori government and
the rotten Peruvian state.
In the second part, "The Political Crisis Deepens and the Contradictions
Escalate", we should focus on the process of bureaucrat capitalism.
Our Party's thesis of bureaucrat capitalism is that it is the mode,
the form, that capitalism assumes in backward semi-feudal and semi-colonial
countries such as ours. This process is linked to the country's
historical development. In eighteenth-century Peru capitalism developed
only in the most embryonic way. This process picked up speed in
the mid-nineteenth century, when the country was subjugated by British
imperialism and suffered the consequences of the war with Chile.
After 1895 bureaucrat capitalism underwent three periods: 1) From
1895 to 1945, centred in the 1920s. This is the period of the development
of bureaucrat capitalism. 2) From 1945 to 1980, centred in the 1960s
and 1970s (following the 1968 corporatist, fascist coup by Velasco).
This is the period of the deepening of bureaucrat capitalism. The
Party put forward that the fascist coup was meant to fulfill three
objectives: First, deepen bureaucrat capitalism; second, restructure
Peruvian society; and third, prevent a revolution in Peru. Obviously
they were not able to completely succeed in any of their objectives,
although they laid a certain basis. The most devastating proof of
their failure was the initiation of the armed struggle in 1980.
Thus began the third period, the destruction of bureaucrat capital,
which continues today.
Bureaucrat capitalism was critically ill from birth. Today it has
entered a general crisis and is approaching its doom. But if one
examines the development of bureaucrat capitalism one can see that
within the various periods there are subperiods. For example, within
the first period there was a prologue, a preparatory phase. Then
in the 1920s there was another phase, which laid the foundations
for bureaucrat capitalism's development, only to be followed by
a collapse. When the level of development that had been sought could
not be achieved, that drove the country into crisis and led to a
greater decline. Historical facts show this to be the case. During
the second period, the period of the deepening of bureaucrat capitalism,
once again there was a preparatory phase or prologue, a phase of
building up the basis for development, and finally another crisis
leading to an even worse collapse.
In the third period, the destruction of bureaucrat capitalism, which
began in 1980, yet again there has been a prologue, a long and muddled
phase of preparing conditions, extending into the nineties. Today
they are laying the foundations for carrying out neo-liberal policies,
and blabber about how they are carrying out a "revolution", but
just as in bureaucrat capitalism's two previous periods, this phase
of building up foundations during the third period will inevitably
lead to another crisis, which will in turn give rise to an even
more disastrous collapse. In order to differentiate between the
second and third periods, we should emphasize that the state served
as the main economic lever during the second period, while today
they seek to have non-state enterprises play this role. History
shows that this building up of a foundation does bring some results,
but that it also leads to deeper crisis. All this demonstrates that
today, in its third period, bureaucrat capitalism is in the midst
of a general crisis in the ideological, political and economic spheres.
This situation has been becoming increasingly critical since 1974,
and there is no way they can overcome it. The state is falling apart
politically: the president governs by decree, abusing the powers
granted by Article 211, Paragraph 20, of their Constitution. The
parliament cannot fulfill its assigned function as a legislative
body, and the judiciary, ridiculed even by Fujimori and cut off
from all funding, is increasingly at the mercy of the president's
beck and call. Furthermore, the laws themselves, such as the recent
new penal code, are becoming increasingly fascistic. Every day is
witness to new signs of fascism and fascistic positions. In the
ideological sphere, they - like their imperialist masters - are
staggering under the burden of an increasingly rotten and future-less
ideology. Their only remaining option is to raise the banner of
the eighteenth and early nineteenth century, liberalism. That banner
was already a tattered rag by the time of the First World War and
today is long outmoded. These people are stubborn, but they have
no future, while socialism has already proved that it has a brilliant
future. Capitalism is a corpse and like many corpses it needs burying.
Thus, ideologically, politically and economically they are sinking
into a deeper and deeper general crisis and are being demolished
by people's war day by day.
The government faces an increasingly difficult situation, the most
complicated and difficult situation Peru has ever known. They cannot
handle it. Whatever measures they may adopt will lead to only the
most fleeting improvement and complete bankruptcy. The main instrument
of their destruction is the people's war based on the class struggle
of the masses of people.
It is important to indicate bureaucrat capitalism's three periods
and the specific character of each, especially the last period.
This is what permits us to understand that they can never succeed
in carrying out the three tasks faced by the Peruvian reactionaries
and their imperialist masters, principally Yankee imperialism: to
kick-start bureaucrat capitalism, restructure the state and wipe
out the people's war. These tasks are historically and politically
impossible. Even the reactionaries in Peru are saying that the Fujimori
government is accomplishing nothing, that it is simply stumbling
from failure to failure. This is only a part of the truth, because
the problems that it increasingly faces are inevitable - they are
the concrete reality of the bureaucrat road of the exploiters, the
big bourgeoisie and big landowners and imperialism. They are the
embodiment of a law, the law that the development of bureaucrat
capitalism ripens the conditions for revolution, and the revolution,
with the development of people's war, accelerates and grows more
powerful, bringing the country-wide seizure of political power closer.
This second part of the document also takes up the special local
elections. There has already been a lot of the usual prattle about
them, as the kept hens of the press start their predictable clucking,
but they cannot hide reality: today the Armed Forces not only vote,
they directly appoint local officials. As their Cangallo document
says, they will continue to do so. The truth is coming out. They
used to brag about what they called the triumph of democracy but
today they have to admit that there are over 400 districts where
there are no local officials whatsoever. So much for their democracy.
Furthermore, even though they cannot provide protection for candidates
standing for local office they refuse to allow these candidates
to withdraw. This is what happened with the United Left candidates
in Ayacucho. In Junin, they have put forward the ringleaders of
their paramilitary forces as candidates.
Therefore, for this rotten system elections are no more than a means
to continue exploiting and oppressing the people. That is why the
Party's tactic of boycotting elections is good. It develops the
tendency of the people to turn against elections and serves the
people's war.
The third part of the document, "The Boycott Develops the People's
Tendency to Turn against Elections and Serves the Development of
the People's War", centres on the advances that refute the slanders
hurled against us in 1989, and emphasizes the evaluation made by
the Second Plenum of the Central Committee: that in 1989 the People's
War won a big victory with the establishment of Open People's Committees,
and in 1990 it achieved strategic equilibrium. All it took was a
simple phrase - Hail the strategic equilibrium! - and the reactionaries
and revisionists began to tremble and gnash their teeth. Almost
all of them have shouted themselves hoarse trying to deny it. They
have even unleashed bloody and pointless military operations against
us, venting their fury on the masses, as always, trying to "prove"
that there is no strategic equilibrium. Why are they in such a mortal
panic? Because the old order is about to die and be buried. The
Party has always made good on its word. We have always done what
we said we would. We said we were going to initiate the armed struggle
and we did in 1980. Today we are embarking on the seizure of power
country-wide; we have proclaimed strategic equilibrium and defined
it concretely, and given it greater emphasis than ever before: "Strategic
equilibrium and the preparation of the counter-offensive means,
for the enemy, striving to recapture their lost positions in order
to save their system; for us it means preparing for the strategic
offensive by organizing the seizure of state power." We have to
grasp this well in order to deal with it increasingly well in practice.
We have to thoroughly examine the question of strategic equilibrium,
not only in terms of Chairman Mao's teachings but also in terms
of the specific form it will take here in our country.
Furthermore, we should see how the Third Campaign to Advance in
the Development of Base Areas, a part of the overall Great Plan
for Developing Base Areas to Seize Political Power, is a product
of the whole process of eleven years of people's war. The importance
of the Third Campaign is that it successfully concludes the Plan
to Advance and is therefore the link to a new plan. In short, the
completion of this Third Campaign in May, June and July has been
magnificent. Never before has the People's War, principally in the
countryside and complementarily in the cities, penetrated so deeply
nor risen to such heights. All of us, at all levels, should feel
a great joy at having served whole-heartedly in such a far-reaching
task. A few bricks and then a few more bricks all joined together
make a solid wall. Let traitors try and negate it; if they do so,
it is because of their class interests and in order to fill their
own pockets, no matter how badly the Peruvian reactionaries and
the imperialists pay them. We are very well acquainted with the
reality we have personally experienced and created. So we in the
Party, the People's Guerrilla Army, the New Political Power and
the masses understand the great achievements of this heroic People's
War.
Is the people's war having an impact? There is clear evidence that
it is. For example, for the first time now there is debate in the
U.S. Senate about the people's war in Peru. The reverberations of
the people's war are reaching into the very lair of world reaction.
This is not the main sign, but it is an important one. Meanwhile,
in Peru, some people are building ultra-modern castles in the air.
They include the genocidal national traitor Fujimori; the butchers
General Malca, Minister of the Interior, and General Torres Aciego,
Minister of Defence; dyed-in-the-wool pro-Yankee elements like Minister
of Economics Boloņa; groveling social climbers such as Bernales,
Tapia, Gonzales, etc. These people, all obsequious flunkies for
imperialism and the exploiting classes, are begging for imperialist
"aid" - mainly from the U.S. - and imagine that it will lead to
the defeat of the people's war. They try and use the very advances
of the people's war as an argument for why the imperialists should
"re-admit Peru into the world financial community" and defend the
ultra-reactionary Peruvian state.
In the U.S., the opening moves for next year's elections are taking
place, and Bush is going all-out to be re-elected. In the Middle
East he won some raggedy success, a victory that was good enough
though everyone knows that he did not fulfill his goals. We put
it this way because committing a cowardly and bullying assault against
a people cannot be considered much of an achievement, especially
today when every struggle of the peoples of the world for their
liberation is a component part of the world revolution (we are fully
conscious of Saddam Hussein's class limitations). Still, this was
Yankee imperialism's "victory". Moreover, they embarked on the war
in the Gulf in order to give their economy a boost, but it did not
turn out as they expected and they are continuing to suffer serious
economic difficulties in relation to the other imperialist powers.
This does not, however, mean that they are no longer an imperialist
superpower. Further, Bush declared a war on drugs, and here, again,
he is running up against the people, because just as his attempts
to deal with their economic problems by raising taxes and reducing
spending on social programmes have given rise to resistance by the
people of the U.S., so also his war against drugs is bringing him
up against the poorest and most exploited masses, especially the
oppressed minorities, and again he has had little success. This
war on drugs is closely linked to the fight against the people's
war in Peru and the class struggle in the Andean region, and this
has its repercussions in U.S. political affairs. Thus we must conclude
that this matter will not be over in September, when in order for
U.S. aid to be "unfrozen" the Peruvian government must comply with
an "anti-drug" treaty stipulating, among other things, its respect
for human rights - which this government systematically violates.
The people's war in Peru has become an electoral issue, and we find
it very interesting that its repercussions are being felt in their
Congress. In addition, this is a contributing factor to the struggle
being waged by our comrades of the Revolutionary Communist Party,
USA and the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement and unites us
further, as does the carrying out of a common campaign against imperialism,
principally Yankee imperialism, under the slogan Yankee Go Home!
This is another example of the achievements and impact of the Third
Campaign.
The fourth part of the document, "Elections, No! People's War, Yes!"
is the main one. Here we lay out our criteria for how to evaluate
Marxism today. We examine the basic theses of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism,
principally Maoism, in four fields, and reaffirm our principles.
There is even an exposition of how we understand it as an integral
whole, taking up, in ascending order and proportionally, the contributions
made by Marx, the greater contributions made by Lenin, and the much
greater contributions made by Chairman Mao, which also shows the
development of Maoism as a new, third and higher stage.
A first and most timely conclusion to be drawn: In order to develop
the world proletarian revolution, demolish imperialism and international
reaction, and smash revisionism, it is decisive to uphold, defend
and apply Marxism-Leninism-Maoism. This is the heart of the matter.
In the 1960s Maoism was called our most powerful weapon, our atomic
bomb, an unbeatable weapon. Today we should be even more aware of
Maoism's historic importance, its invincibility, that Marxism is
all-powerful because it is true. This is the decisive factor, on
which everything else depends and from which everything else flows.
If we were to stray from Maoism the revolution would suffer, but
they would never be able to stop the revolution because Marxism-Leninism-Maoism
would assert itself anew to take the lead. What we need principally
is Maoism and we need to raise its banner very high, higher and
higher; this means that we have to defend it and not just uphold
it - we raise banners to defend them - but the principal thing is
to apply it.
Why should we uphold, defend and apply Marxism-Leninism-Maoism,
principally Maoism? In order to advance the world proletarian revolution.
Revolution is the main trend in the world today. There is no future
for humanity without the complete and total victory of the revolution,
in other words, communism. Therefore the question is how to advance
the world revolution, and that means carrying it out, making revolution.
As has been pointed out, the question is not how many of us there
are but how determined we are to do it. In 1848 there was just Marx
and Engels. Today, 143 years later, there are millions of us around
the world. Then we had nothing; today we have two glorious and tremendously
rich historical experiences, experiences that live on in the proletariat
and peoples, in us, and once again we must emphasize that the restoration
of capitalism does not negate the fact that revolution is the main
trend. The reactionaries may dream of refuting this fact, but in
vain, because the world proletarian revolution is advancing and
we are part of that advance. It is true that this advance comes
at a price that must be paid in blood, but what does not? Without
the blood shed by communists and revolutionaries around the world
we would not be here.
We need Maoism to demolish imperialism and international reaction
and sweep them off the face of the earth. No matter how much rubbish
they throw at us, in the end we will bury them and all their debris
along with them. There is no way to stop this great historical housecleaning.
We also need Maoism to smash revisionism. Imperialism and revisionism
will go down the drain together but you can't fight imperialism
without fighting revisionism.
We reaffirm Maoism's decisive importance. We are absolutely convinced,
untroubled by the slightest doubt, much less paralyzed. We - the
communists, the class, the revolutionaries - are optimists, and
nothing can stop us.
All this brings us to the slogan Beat Back the Counter-revolutionary
General Offensive!. This must be our watchword.
We should also draw a second conclusion: We must concretize a task
we have already agreed upon: Create public opinion and unleash deep-going
ideological work among the masses. Let's carry out this task resolutely
and immediately. Marxism teaches the importance of agitation and
propaganda. Marx's words have flowered all over the world, in almost
every language. Lenin taught that no matter how much time may pass
between the sowing and reaping, propaganda always bears magnificent
fruit. Chairman Mao said that both sides, the reaction and the revolution,
need to create public opinion: they need to create public opinion
against revolution in order to perpetuate exploitation, while we
need to create public opinion in order to use revolutionary violence
to seize and defend political power. Without winning public opinion
for the revolution we cannot seize power.
We have a glorious ideology, Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, principally
Maoism, the most powerful weapon in the world today. We have its
creative application, Gonzalo Thought. So let's arm minds - arm
more and more minds and do it more and more thoroughly. Win over
people's minds and their hands will be armed. It is not for nothing
that our Party has always had a reputation for being strong on politics,
because politics is nothing but the concrete application of ideology
in the struggle to seize political power. Today our ideology is
under attack from all sides and in every sphere, and these attacks
will mount. But they are afraid to confront us directly - in a straight-on
ideological debate with Marxism they could only lose. The bourgeoisie's
critique does not go beyond wild assertions and baseless epithets.
What do they have to counterpose to Marxism-Leninism-Maoism? The
new bourgeois ideologues are ephemeral. For example, Fukuyama, whose
star seemed to shine so brightly for a little while and then flickered
and went out like a match. He denied that there is any development
in history and proclaimed the death of ideology. Actually, he especially
proclaimed the death of the ideology of the proletariat and excluded
the ideology of the bourgeoisie from this fate because imperialism
had supposedly prevailed as an economic and political system. But
history and ideology continue to do battle, driven by the class
struggle; his ravings have smashed up against history and the battles
have continued between the ideologies of different classes, whether
it be Arab fundamentalists, with their religion; neo-liberals, neo-positivists
and fascists, with their various forms of bourgeois ideology; or
us, the communists, including in the people's war led by the Communist
Party of Peru, with our scientific ideology, Marxism-Leninism-Maoism.
Thus once again the bourgeoisie's ranting and pseudo-theories blow
away like smoke in the wind.
Lately they have been going back to Joseph de Maistre, which is
truly ludicrous. Even Uslar Pietri, whose work was awarded a prize
by the King of Spain, says de Maistre was the enemy of everything
progressive, which of course he was since he was a die-hard Papist
fanatic. By wrapping itself in the cloak of its most backward "theoreticians"
all the bourgeoisie is doing is reinfecting itself with its own
pustulance. Lacking any fresh blood with which to reinvigorate their
rotten corpse, the bourgeoisie and reaction in general can only
fill their veins with more and more poisonous pus.
How should we respond to their ideological attacks? We must thoroughly
expose them, rip off their fraudulent and stinking cover, and confront
them with Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, principally Maoism, applied to
concrete reality. Marxism is the only scientifically true ideology.
It can move mountains, change the world and set it right-side up.
Idealism can only stand reality on its head. Marx said that philosophy
had been enchained, snatched away from the masses, entangled in
words and cobwebs to hide it from the masses. We should liberate
philosophy and give it back to the masses. We have to wield our
philosophy by mobilizing the masses. Creating public opinion is
a matter of mobilizing the masses - let them be agitators and propagandists.
Let's launch a mass movement to educate the masses in Marxism-Leninism-Maoism,
principally Maoism, and in Gonzalo Thought. The necessity for this
has been a basic Marxist teaching since the beginning, and the Great
Proletarian Cultural Revolution was a living and glorious example
of mobilizing the masses with Marxist-Leninist-Maoist ideology in
order to continue building socialism under the dictatorship of the
proletariat, to persist in revolution and not allow its fruits to
be snatched away, to defend the revolution. Mobilize the masses
in an immense and profound theoretical, ideological movement, with
the ideas of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, Gonzalo Thought. Liberate
them from this feudal, bourgeois, pro-imperialist muck that makes
them see the world upside-down. Let philosophy out of the desk drawer,
liberate it from the hands of book worshippers and phoney academic
institutions and take it to the masses, to the day-to-day class
struggle, to the people. They have been robbed of their soul - reclaim
it and give it back to them so that they no longer let themselves
be fooled. Philosophy and science do not belong to the erudite but
to the masses. Today the masses are becoming increasingly dialectical
but this must be made conscious, so that they consciously employ
the laws of dialectics and apply the law of contradiction with a
full understanding of what it means and apply it to nature, society
and ideas. The masses are capable of this achievement because they
are the makers of history and the creators of everything. Furthermore,
all knowledge arises from practice - above all, human beings change
things, in their daily social practice, and it is through this process
of changing things that they learn and understand. This understanding
acquired in practice is again returned to practice, giving rise
to further changes, to development, advance and transformations,
but since everything bears the stamp of one class or another, this
practice, this knowledge, these transformations will also have a
class character - for or against the proletariat and the people.
The source of all knowledge is practice, the transforming historical
action of the masses, of humanity. At any given time in history
it is through social practice that the masses arm their minds with
the ideas corresponding to that time and therefore arm their hands
to realize the tasks assigned by history. Study is an indispensable
complement to this process. People enter into action within a particular
class context and in the interests of a particular class, and this
gives rise to ideas, to ideology. Their organized action leads to
social transformation, an advance for the majority of people. Engels
teaches us to hammer home ideas with actions. We in the Party have
been applying this approach since the 1970s, and we should persist
in it.
How, then, can we arm the masses with the ideology and practice
of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, Gonzalo Thought? The masses become ideologically
armed by dealing with the concrete problems they face in the ideological,
political and economic spheres, on the basis of our work of raising
their level and of popularization. As part of evaluating the experience
of the rectification campaign launched by the First Plenum of the
Central Committee, we should take up the question of raising standards
and popularization. In this we should distinguish between leadership
and cadre on the one hand and basic Party members on the other,
and among different levels of Party organization, that is, the Party's
membership, the People's Guerrilla Army and the mass organizations
generated by the Party, as well as among the different mass organizations
fighting alongside us.
Among the advantages at its disposal the reaction has many means
of information. Its highly developed mass media system includes
newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations, etc. We don't
have all that but we can count on an unbeatable resource - the fact
that the masses are the makers of history. Knowledge arises from
practice and practice is what the masses do. We've said that the
masses must be trained as agitators and propagandists; it is they
who fight and resist, they know how to do all that because they
have always done it and therefore they can do this as well. What
should be our method? The spoken word. The oral method is readily
at hand and it allows us to go lower and deeper among the masses.
It allows a more flexible approach since it can be adapted to the
particular audience - peasants, workers, students, intellectuals,
soldiers, shopkeepers, etc. It is more flexible and tactical, within,
of course, the context of an overall strategy. We should also employ
the printed word, using clear and simple language, and fight with
the pen as well as with the sword. We should use graphics, which
are especially good, for example, for illiterate peasants. We should
use all the modern methods we can get our hands on, without forgetting
that the spoken word is the principal method because it is the most
accessible to the masses of people.
To reiterate, since we serve the masses and wield the spoken word
- which doesn't cost a penny, we have all the tactical means we
need. For example, we should encourage people to express their grievances.
All you need is that a group of people recount their experiences
with increasing oppression and exploitation. If just one person
starts another will follow and soon they will all feel the explosive
strength of their anger. This spurs people on and moves them to
take action against the causes of exploitation and against the oppressors.
We should encourage different groups of people in many different
places to express their grievances so that their words join together
like a raging hurricane. One person alone is weak but many people
joined together make up a mighty force. Another form of written
mass propaganda is dazibaos. Chairman Mao taught that these wall
writings are very effective for democracy. The masses don't even
need paper - they can write on the walls with chalk, coal or paint
if they have any, using big letters to write simple phrases to say
what their demands are, what forms of struggle to use, which experiences
are positive and which are negative, how they evaluate their leaders.
This is an expression of mass democracy. It is the complete opposite
of phoney bourgeois democracy, which is so highly touted but democratic
only for the rulers and exploiters and not for the people. When
the masses think and act they have an inexhaustible strength and
can make contributions in every field: politics, military affairs,
economics, the arts and sciences. Let's keep developing people's
democracy; let the masses discuss plans and evaluate their implementation
as the soldiers do in the People's Guerrilla Army - this will lead
to a better understanding, greater unity and more powerful action.
Let the masses show their abilities as agitators and propagandists
in the midst of democracy.
A great mass ideological movement needs the leadership of the Party,
because the Party is the most conscious element, as long as it grasps,
wields and applies Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, Gonzalo Thought, the
laws that govern revolution and politics, in other words the laws
of the class struggle for political power, of people's war as the
principal form of struggle. Without the Party the masses couldn't
even be equipped with a plan, and it is indispensable that the Party
lead them with a good plan. We know that a plan is an ideological
form, and the Party's plan is an expression of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism,
Gonzalo Thought. Once the plan is formulated the Party has to set
the various organizations into motion, because a political line
cannot become a material force without organizational forms to put
it into concrete practice. These forms can be Party organizations,
the army, the organizations generated by the Party, organs of political
power or organizations created by the lowest and deepest layers
of the masses. Let the masses carry out this great ideological mobilization
to uphold, defend and apply Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, principally
Maoism (as the universal truth) and Gonzalo Thought (as specifically
principal for us as its creative application to our conditions),
and let armed actions drive these ideas home.
Thus only the Communist Party can lead this great process of mass
agitation and propaganda. As Chairman Mao taught, "As long as there
are masses and a Party all sorts of miracles can be accomplished."
IV.
The Rectification Campaign
At this meeting today we are implementing the decision of the Second
Plenum of the Central Committee. Our duty was to carry forward the
rectification campaign, and the duty of the lower organizations,
Party members, fighters, activists and masses was to carry it out.
Right now we are bringing this campaign to its culmination. We have
studied "Elections, No! People's War, Yes!", individually and collectively,
debated it and applied it.
From what has been said so far certain observations can be made
regarding these discussions. The main problem is how to apply the
study of this document to the current political situation. We communists
learn to do study in order to apply it; otherwise we would be worshipping
books instead of using Marxism to solve burning problems. Abstract
study is metaphysical, idealist and bourgeois. We aren't pragmatists,
either; we don't study for narrowly utilitarian reasons like the
imperialists and vulgar materialists. We study theory in order to
apply it in practice and transform reality, to change the world
in the interests of the class and the people. So the question is
how to apply it, on three levels:
1) To the world proletarian revolution. Here there is only one issue.
The document lays out the burning questions of Marxism today: revolutionary
violence, the class struggle, socialism and the dictatorship of
the proletariat, and the struggle against revisionism. Of these
four, socialism and the dictatorship of the proletariat is principal.
Here the point is that Maoism is a new, third and higher stage,
Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, principally Maoism, because it is with
Maoism that we shall storm the heavens. In this lies the value of
the document - it reaffirms Marxism and holds that to be a Marxist
today means being Marxist-Leninist-Maoist, principally Maoist; it
grasps that Maoism is a new, third and higher stage, in force and
valid throughout the world, for the communists, for the proletariat
and peoples of the world. This is the decisive thing. Therefore,
our first stand flows from this, from Maoism, and it has been agreed
by our Congress: The principal element of Gonzalo Thought is that
it has defined Maoism as the new, third and higher stage.
2) The Peruvian revolution. Here the principal thing is that the
document serves the building of the new state through people's war.
This state is being built by the People's Guerrilla Army and under
the leadership of the Communist Party, based on the masses of people.
This document serves the country-wide seizure of power. It deals
with extremely important points that should be applied in the new
state today.
3) How should we apply the document on the individual level? It
is incumbent upon each of us to assimilate and embody the document
in order to better serve the revolution. In this regard, all those
here are directly concerned with being intellectuals and with artistic
questions, and the point is to always put politics in command. When
people study Marxism, it shakes them up and the contradiction between
the two world outlooks comes to the fore; Marxism deals blows to
the non-proletarian aspect and drives on the process of steeling
people ideologically. As in every task, there are three stages,
each with its own contradiction. At first the question is whether
or not to take up study, and once begun the task is half-way done.
Then, as things unfold, the question is whether to persevere or
quit. This is another struggle, which came up here in the form of
drawing out the process until it became burdensome. This was a bad
situation because it meant that the old and bourgeois would prevail.
We discussed the problem and agreed to carry out this task by giving
it priority and using shock tactics to make a breakthrough. This
is a very useful method, part of the Marxist-Leninist-Maoist, Gonzalo
Thought style of work. It means concentrating all our energies on
the task at hand and spending as much time as necessary until it
is completed. This is analogous to carrying out a forced march when
the enemy is after us so that we outmanoeuvre him instead of letting
ourselves be caught. In study, instead of letting proletarian ideology
be defeated by the bourgeois ideology contending with it in our
own minds, we take up this new ideology that we embody and use it
to defeat the bourgeois, idealist, alien class outlook. The old
ideas resist and we all have to consciously and voluntarily wage
a battle in our own minds until we finally break and defeat this
resistance arising within ourselves. The old calls out to us: How
can you leave behind the ways you know so well! How can you abandon
the ways that sustained you for so many years! The old paints everything
rotten in rosy colours in order to weaken our will. Shock tactics
are very effective against this resistance.
In the third stage, the conclusion, there arises a contradiction
between carrying the task through to the end or not, until you decide
that you are going to carry it through and actually do so. When
a particular course of study is completed, that represents a leap,
and shock tactics are a very helpful method to aid in making that
leap.
You have carried through this rectification campaign. This is simply
a form in which to unfold the struggle between two lines in order
to mould ourselves to the ideology of the proletariat.
How much advance have you achieved? Starting out from ignorance
of the document's content you have gone on to study and debate that
has allowed you to arm yourselves with the Marxist-Leninist-Maoist,
Gonzalo Thought outlook concerning four basic burning questions
facing Marxism today. From the opinions that have been expressed
here, it can be seen that you are applying it to current problems.
The accomplishment of this task has given rise to a leap and a transformation
in regard to these four basic problems of Marxism today.
In conclusion, we should emphasize that the document is a serious
contribution to the Marxist-Leninist-Maoist, Gonzalo Thought counteroffensive
against the converging counter-revolutionary offensive by revisionism
and imperialism, and to confronting the counter-revolutionary general
offensive. Therefore in arming ourselves with this document we are
serving the Peruvian revolution and the world proletarian revolution.
No question can ever be regarded as exhausted - all knowledge is
relative since it reflects matter only partially and must be further
developed; but this document conforms to Marxism-Leninism-Maoism,
principally Maoism, and therein lies its merit. Further, its way
of looking at things follows Gonzalo Thought. Therefore it is Marxist-Leninist-Maoist,
Gonzalo Thought.
V.
Conclusions
1) This has been a very good meeting. The work has advanced. Taking
up study in the midst of war helps us handle it better. Our study
has prepared the conditions for a bigger leap in practice.
2) In summing up the opinions expressed earlier, we have dealt with
the contradiction between analysis and synthesis in regard to study
and have said that the initial discussion tended to focus on analysis.
But now, afterwards, in the subsequent discussions, a synthesis
has been achieved, and the essence has been grasped: to take a stand
for Maoism.
A qualitative leap was being prepared, and now it has taken place.
The study suffered from the limitation of neglecting synthesis but
it prepared the conditions for a leap. If you grasp analysis and
synthesis, study becomes more powerful and the essence is grasped,
and a leap takes place.
3) Marxism has been grasped in regard to four basic burning questions.
4) We study
in order to apply it to today's class struggle, to win ourselves
some maneouvring room in our fighting by taking up burning problems.
We should look at what is ahead of us and not just at what is in
the document.
5) This meeting has been helpful in gaining an understanding of
problems that are being confronted throughout the Party. Thus our
experience here and what we have done will be very helpful for everyone.
For example, the whole Party will benefit from the method of giving
priority to this task and applying shock tactics to it, in order
to complete our study in the rectification campaign.
6) It is necessary, of course, to gain a better grasp of specific
political tasks in relation to the building of new political power
through people's war in order to seize power country-wide, but for
you concretely this means your work as intellectuals and artists.
Therefore your watchword should be "Serve the people and follow
the Party's leadership".
7) How much have you advanced? You have taken a leap through studying
systematically, intensely and with concrete problems in mind. There
is a better understanding of what Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, Gonzalo
Thought is, and why it must be upheld, defended and applied to thoroughly
transform Peruvian society and serve the world revolution.
8) If there's been a leap, how should we consolidate it? How should
this new leap be developed? How to consolidate it and how to develop
it are two questions to be taken up from the point of view of how
to increasingly and better serve the Party, the revolution in Peru
and the world proletarian revolution, to serve the emancipation
of all humanity and advance towards communism.
We propose continuing with the study of V.I. Lenin's essay "Karl
Marx" to strengthen our ideological training and the reports from
the Second Plenum of the Central Committee to strengthen our political
training.
This has been a worthwhile effort. We congratulate everyone.
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