Act of Constitution of the Peruvian Socialist Party

José Carlos Mariátegui

October 7, 1928


Source: José Carlos Mariátegui, “The Organization of the Proletariat,” Political Commission of the Central Committee of the Peruvian Communist Party (eds.). Lima: Red Flag [Bandera Roja] Editions, 1967.

The following declares that a Committee has been formed that proposes to work among the masses of workers and peasants according to the following concepts:

  1. The organization of the workers and peasants with a purely class character constitutes the object of our efforts and our propaganda, and the basis of the struggle against foreign imperialism and the national bourgeoisie.

  2. For the defense of the interests of the workers of the city and the countryside, the Committee shall actively promote the formation of factory unions, farm unions, etc.; the federation of these into industrial unions and their confederation into a national center.

  3. The political struggle demands the creation of a class party, in whose formation and orientation it will strive tenaciously to make its revolutionary class views prevail. In accordance with the present concrete conditions of Peru, the Committee shall concur in the constitution of a Socialist Party, based on the organized masses of workers and peasants.

  4. To guard against repression and demoralizing persecutions, the workers’ and peasants’ unions shall seek recognition by the Labor Section. In its Statute, its declaration of principles will be limited to the affirmation of its class character and its duty to contribute to the foundation and maintenance of a general confederation of labor.

  5. The trade union organization and the Socialist party, for whose formation we shall work, shall contingently accept a tactic of united front or alliance with organizations or groups of the petty bourgeoisie, provided that these effectively represent a mass movement and with concretely determined objectives and demands.

  6. The Committee shall proceed to the formation of committees throughout the Republic and of cells in all work centers, with strictly disciplined relations.