II. Concerning Gonzalo Thought

Every revolution, in its process of development, through the struggle of the proletariat as the leading class and, above all, of the Communist Party that upholds its unrenounceable class interests, generates a group of leaders and principally one who represents and leads it, a leader of acknowledged authority and influence. In our reality this has taken shape, through historic necessity and chance, in Chairman Gonzalo, leader of the Party and of the revolution.

Moreover, and this is the foundation of every leadership, revolutions generate a thought that guides them, the result of the application of the universal truth of the ideology of the international proletariat to the concrete conditions of each revolution; a guiding thought indispensable to attain victory and conquer Power and, moreover, to continue the revolution and always maintain the course toward the sole grandiose goal, communism; a guiding thought that, having reached a qualitative leap of decisive importance for the revolutionary process it leads, identifies itself with the name of the one who shaped it theoretically and practically. In our situation, this phenomenon specified itself first as guiding thought, then as guiding thought of Chairman Gonzalo, and subsequently as Gonzalo Thought; because it is the Chairman who, creatively applying Marxism-Leninism-Maoism to the concrete conditions of Peruvian reality, has generated it, thus endowing the Party and the revolution with an indispensable weapon that is a guarantee of triumph.

Gonzalo Thought has been forged throughout years of intense, tenacious, and incessant struggle to uphold, defend, and apply Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, to retake Mariátegui’s road and develop it, for the reconstitution of the Party and, principally, to initiate, maintain, and develop people’s war in Peru, serving the world revolution and serving to make Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, principally Maoism, its sole command and guide in theory and practice.

It is a substantive Party necessity to study Gonzalo Thought for a more just and correct understanding of the general political line and principally of the military line, aiming at deepening the particularities of the Peruvian revolution, what is specific and particular that Chairman Gonzalo has masterfully emphasized. Thus we will serve the “great plan of developing bases,” the development of the people’s war, and the perspective of conquering Power throughout the country.

We must study Gonzalo Thought, starting from the historical context that generated it; see the ideological base that sustains it; specify its content, more substantially expressed in the general political line and the military line that is its center; aim at what is fundamental in it, the problem of Power, of conquering Power here, in Peru, inextricably linked to the conquest of Power by the proletariat throughout the world; and pay utmost attention to its forging in the two-line struggle.

In synthesis, these fundamental issues can be dealt with by applying the following scheme:

I. HISTORICAL CONTEXT.

International. As for the facts: 1) the development from the Second World War onward; 2) the powerful national liberation movement and, within it, the process and triumph of the Chinese revolution; 3) the Cuban revolution and its repercussion on Latin America; 4) the great struggle between Marxism and revisionism; 5) the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. But the key is to see how, in that grandiose class struggle at the world level, Gonzalo Thought considers that a third stage of the ideology of the proletariat arises: first as Marxism-Leninism, Mao Tsetung Thought; then Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought; and, subsequently, to define it as Maoism, understanding its universal validity; and in that way to arrive at Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, principally Maoism, as the present expression of Marxism.

National: 1) postwar Peruvian society and, within it, the political struggle, the so-called National Democratic Front, Aprista action, Odría’s coup d’état and the struggle against the Eight-Year Rule, the contention between Apristas and Communists; and particularly, the development of bureaucrat-capitalism during the 1960s and part of the 1970s and the sharp class struggle that accompanied it; “Velasquism” and its so-called revolution, the collusion and contention between the comprador bourgeoisie and the bureaucrat-bourgeoisie (factions of the big bourgeoisie), and opportunism and principally revisionism as supporters; 2) the class struggle in the peasant movement; 3) the process of the working class movement; 4) the intellectual movement; 5) the armed struggle in the country, especially by the MIR² and the NLA³ in 1965, as well as their antecedents in Blanco, Vallejos, and Heraud;⁴ and 6) the problem of the Party: how a Party founded on clear Marxist-Leninist bases degenerated into a revisionist party, the need to retake Mariátegui’s road, developing it, and reconstitute the Party, the Communist Party of Peru that Mariátegui himself founded in 1928, and how through this reconstitution a Marxist-Leninist-Maoist Party was built. Here it is basic how Gonzalo Thought profoundly understands Peruvian society, centering on the crucial problem of bureaucrat-capitalism, and sees the need to reconstitute the Party and to conquer Power and defend it with people’s war.

II. IDEOLOGICAL BASIS

Without Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, Gonzalo Thought cannot be conceived, because the latter is the creative application of the former to our reality. The key question of this point lies in understanding the historical process of the development of the ideology of the proletariat, of its three stages concretized in Marxism-Leninism-Maoism and of Maoism as principal; and what is essential, principally, is its application of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism as a universal truth to the concrete conditions of the Peruvian revolution; hence Gonzalo Thought is specifically principal for the Communist Party of Peru and the revolution it leads.

The guiding thought, having reached a qualitative leap of decisive importance for the Party and the revolution, has become Gonzalo Thought, thus marking a milestone in Party life.

III. CONTENT

a. Theory. How it understands and applies the three integral parts of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, principally Maoism; highlight the importance it gives to Marxist philosophy, the necessity of forming ourselves in it, and especially its application of the law of contradiction to the study of every problem, always aiming at defining the principal aspect and the process of things; in political economy, the concern for the relations of exploitation, and very especially for bureaucrat-capitalism, orienting itself toward the maturation of the revolution and the repercussion of people’s war on the base, as well as its attention to the economic relations of imperialism, seeking their political consequences; in scientific socialism, how it centers on people’s war and its concretization in the country, how it always keeps the problem of Power in mind and, particularly, its concretization and development as a New State.

b. On content. The most substantive and most developed part of Gonzalo Thought is found in the Party’s general political line; this thought, then, directly sustains the line and its five elements, the point of departure of this sustenance being how it understands and firmly maintains the course of the Program.

c. In Gonzalo Thought we must highlight the remarkable fulfillment of the demands stated by Chairman Mao: theoretical solidity, understanding of history, and a good practical handling of politics.

IV. WHAT IS FUNDAMENTAL

What is fundamental in Gonzalo Thought is the problem of Power; concretely, the conquest of Power in Peru, wholly and completely throughout the country, as a consequent application of the universal truth of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism to our revolution. But, being a communist thought, it understands the conquest of Power in Peru as part of the conquest of Power for the proletariat at the world level; and that the conquest of Power in the country, today being concretized in the People’s Committees, base areas, and People’s Republic of New Democracy in formation, within the perspective of establishing the People’s Republic of Peru, serves to establish the dictatorship of the proletariat in our country, because without it one cannot march toward communism. And all this is in service of firmly and decisively serving the establishment of people’s republics and principally the dictatorship of the proletariat throughout the whole world, under the leadership of Communist Parties, with revolutionary armies of a new type, through people’s war and the development of cultural revolutions, so that communism may illuminate the whole Earth.

V. FORGING IN THE TWO-LINE STRUGGLE

It is through a persistent, firm, and sagacious two-line struggle, defending the proletarian line and defeating opposing lines, that Gonzalo Thought has been forged. Among the most outstanding struggles deserving emphasis are those waged against contemporary revisionism, especially represented here by Del Prado and his henchmen; against the right liquidationism of Paredes and his gang; against left liquidationism headed by the one who was Sergio and his self-proclaimed “Bolsheviks”; and against the right opportunist line opposed to the initiation of the armed struggle. Without struggle, Gonzalo Thought could not have developed; and his remarkable handling of the two-line struggle in the Party is a fundamental question that we must study and learn.

Studying and principally applying Gonzalo Thought is decisive in order to serve more and better the Party, the development of the people’s war, and the world proletarian revolution; as well as learning from Chairman Gonzalo is decisive in order to serve the people wholeheartedly.