NetNews Usenet Archive 1993 #3/NN_1993_3.iso/spool/misc/activism/progress/10417

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From: Hank Roth <[e-mail]>
Subject: MARXISM in PERU
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/* Written  5:10 pm  Jan 27, 1993 by [e-mail] in igc:p.news */
/* ---------- "MARXISM in PERU" ---------- */
<<< via P_news/p.news >>>
{From BULLETIN IN DEFENSE OF MARXISM (BIDOM), Vol 10, #10,
December 1992}
THE REVOLUTIONARY MARXIST MOVEMENT IN PERU
        BY David Trujillo

[This presentation was given to the final national conference of
the Fourth Internationalist Tendency in September 1992]

In 1977 Peru was experiencing a military dictatorship. The
workers movement put forward an economic-political initiative
which forced the dictatorship to call for elections to a
Constituent Assembly, which as we all know is a demand contained
in the ortiginal text of the Transitional Program, applicable to
countries where the struggle for democracy has a revolutionary
dynamic.

At that time those who called themselves Trotskyists in Peru were
a mere handful, no more than a few dozen militants. Even those
forces were scattered among Healyites, Lambertists, Posadistas,
and Morenistas, as well as the nucleus of comrades of the PRT who
belonged to the United Secretariat of the Fourth International.

This division reflected the state of other left currents in Peru,
which were ridiculously divided into about fifty parties. At that
time we had an excellent opportunity to demonstrate the validity
of our program. Along with Morenista and some Maoist currents, we
put together a broad based, class struggle electoral front --- an
action bloc --- known as the FOCEP. This alliance was greatly
boosted by the historic popularity enjoyed by our comrad Hugo
Blanco. It offered the left and the Peruvian proletariat the
historic opportunity to beocme a real political force, capable of
struggling for state power against the bourgeoisie. In the 1979
elections the FOCEP won 32 percent of the national vote.

As a result it was possible to exert an important degree of
pressure from within the Constituent Assembly, despite the
predominance of bourgeois forces. This fact was reflected in the
Assembly's ratification of the right of the people to organize an
insurrection against all forms of dictatorship and recognition of
the idea that wealth must be the product of one's own labor.

Following the Constituent Assembly, a new national election
campaign began, which represented a new test for our forces. The
left was divided into two blocs, between those willing to
challenge the ruling class parties on their own terrain and those
who rejected any possibility of electoral participation. This
second position was adopted by the most sectarian Maoists
currents from which Shining Path emerged.

Among those who favored participation there were a number of key
differences. The reformist currents simply wished to adapt to the
rules of the game set down by the bourgeois state. There were
also revolutionaries, who came out of a broad spectrum of left
currents. They shared a desire to search for the unity needed to
seriously dispute state power.

Among the Trotskyist forces a debate emerged over whether we
should simply unite ourselves, to defend the ideological purity
of our own church, or seriously take up the challenge facing the
revolutionary left as a whole.

Our sectarianism carried the day and at a key conjuncture, when
revolutionaries had a serious opportunity to take power, FOCEP
fragmented. We ran separately in the elections with disastrous
consequences and lost credibility before the masses.

The end result was the emergence of Shining Parth and its
terrorist war which has contributed to the death of 25,000
people, including many honest left militants and leaders of the
mass movement, over the last 12 years.

As a result, we of the PRT (Peruvian section of the Fourth
International) which had until then seen its ranks grow, with
thousands coming to our headquarters seeking direction ---
quickly became a small handful of demoralized militants.

In the following years we found ourselves between the rock of the
Shining Path (which among other actions killed one of our key
trade-union party leaders Roberto Charra) and the hard place of
state repression. We took up a discussion seven years ago over
whether to go into the PUM (United Mariateguist Party) or to
remain a separate group. Theis discussion led to a split. A very
small grouping around Hugo Blanco joined the PUM while another
small nucleus contined to work as the PRT.

Our comrades inside the PUM continue to consider themselves
Trotskyists and have managed to modestly boost their influence
inside the PUM. Those who remained outside continue to exist as a
small, ineffectual group.

In these last seven years the mass movement has experienced
setbacks and a deep ebb. The failure of the left to offer a
viable united alternative at a decisive moment, as well as the
collapse of the Soviet Union have contributed to a situation
today in which many have developed illusions in bourgeois
"liberalism" and the government of Alberto Fujimori.

As we can see, the Peruvian "debacle" dates back to 1980 when a
sectarian conception of defending Trotkyist programmatic clarity
led us to miss the opportunity to achieve the unity of the
revolutionary left, losing an historic opportunity that would not
repeat itself and at the same time losing many comrades even to
the ranks of the Shining Path and the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary
Movement (MRTA).

As a result of this mistake our later participation in the PUM
lacked any major significance; the same could be said of the work
of the comrades who remained outside.

The lesson we must draw is that when the masses begin to rebel it
is necessary to work to achieve revolutionary left unity as part
of the fight for power, for socialist democracy. We must avoid
the trap, fueled by Stalinism, of the idea of the single,
perfect, totalitarian party.

It is my hope and I am confident that the experience undertaken
by the FIT in joining Solidarity will contribute to the struggle
of the working class for socialism. [Both organizations (FIT and
SOLIDARITY just recently merged under the banner of Solidarity
and BULLETIN IN DEFENSE OF MARXISM, the publication which was
formerly the official journal of FIT became an independent
socialist publication....SEE subsequent posting entitled:
"REUNIFICATION"].

LONG LIVE THE FOURTH INTERNATIONAL!

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