Brussels, 30 January 1995

A RESPONSE TO THE 'INVESTIGATORS' OF THE REVOLUTIONARY INTERNATIONALIST MOVEMENT (RIM)

IN DEFENSE OF THE PERUVIAN REVOLUTION

by: Luis Arce Borja

The Committee of the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement (RIM) is currently circulating two political documents that refer to the purported negotiation of the People's War in Peru. One of these documents is dated June 1994, nine months after Fujimori published the first 'peace letter' (1 October 1993). The other document is more recent, dated 10 November last year. According to their authors, these documents reflect 'a very important process of investigation and study' in relation to the current situation in Peru. Despite the chronological difference between the first and second documents, the contents of both are nearly the same, with only small variations.

Both documents pretend to be serious and claim to be based on a Marxist-Leninist-Maoist analysis. These documents pretend to adopt an objective stand: They give equal importance to the political position of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Peru and the position of the capitulators and police agents propagating the 'peace agreements'. The authors of these documents pore over the history of peace negotiations conducted by communists, revolutionaries and reformers. The examples of Brest-Litovsk in the rising Soviet Union of 1918, the negotiations undertaken by Chairman Mao during the Chinese revolution, the negotiations in Nicaragua and El Salvador, etc. The ideological framework of both documents is restricted to general theoretical formulations. For the sake of the unity of the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement, they ask for patience and calm in dealing with the problems generated by the 'peace letters'. Hesitantly, merely trying to keep up with events, they make a mild criticism of one text of the bogus 'peace agreement'.

The leadership of RIM points out that the distribution of these documents should be restricted. That they 'should not be revealed in any public or semi-public fashion'. According to them this is 'to prevent the enemy from taking advantage of these polemics'. They propose a clandestine debate on these facts. What should be done? We cannot remain silent. When there are questions of principle involved, the right attitude is not to remain silent. That would mean conciliating with incorrect ideas; ideological differences should not be covered up. On the contrary, historical experience shows that their wide and open debate is healthy for the revolution. In his time Lenin advised: "The duty of communists is not to cover-up the shortcoming of their movement, but to criticise them openly and to rid themselves from these in the most radical and prompt fashion'. (1)

Chairman Gonzalo points out: "But if the leadership is not just and correct, if the leaders follow an erroneous line ..... then those with the correct line must struggle to make it prevail". (2)

The leaders of RIM are seriously mistaken. Their analysis of the Communist Party of Peru and the struggle against the fraud of 'peace agreements' contributes nothing to the revolutionary process directed by the CPP. We believe that the opinions advanced in those documents seriously damage proletarian internationalism. That they run counter to the ideological and political principles relating to the unity of the international communist movement. Hence the necessity of responding and clarifying the erroneous ideas advanced by the leadership of RIM. Our criticism essentially centres upon the following aspects:

First Aspect:	The RIM Committee asserts that 'since October 1993 a very important struggle is taking place within the CPP'. They affirm that this is a problem of a 'two-line struggle'.

Second Aspect: They resort to a quotation of Chairman Mao Tse-tung and call for 'treating the sickness to save the patient'.

Third Aspect: They paraphrase Chairman Mao and point out that he who makes no investigation has no right to speak and that one should seek truth from facts.

Fourth Aspect: They hold that the elements promoting the 'peace agreements' are people who historically played a leading role in the Communist Party of Peru. That they are mainly to be found in the jails, but that they also have support outside the prisons.

Fifth Aspect:	They ask that the debate around the 'peace agreement' should not undermine the task of defending the life of Chairman Gonzalo and exhort for continued support for the International Emergency Committee (IEC).

TWO-LINE STRUGGLE OR COUNTER-REVOLUTIONARY FRAUD?

First Aspect: 'Since October 1993 a very important struggle has been taking place within the CPP, principally around the peace negotiations'. 'Evidently a struggle in two different directions has arisen within the ranks of the Communist Party of Peru'. '... This is a two-line struggle within the largest organisation of our Movement.....' (Documents of RIM).

It is a mistake to hold that the 'peace letters' belong in essence to a process of two-line struggle within the CPP. This question is erroneously formulated. The analysis of the leading Committee of RIM is trundling in the wrong direction. The assertion that the 'peace letters' are a product of the 'two-line struggle' within the CPP falls into the following deviations and dangers:

1.	If one considers the 'peace letters' as an external manifestation of contradictions within the CPP, one is denying that these are in reality but a montage set-up by the Peruvian regime and US Imperialism. Thus, this fraud is given the category of an inner Party contradiction. If one is to adopt this position, it then becomes logical to draw the conclusion that it is not right to treat this as a police plot. That one should demand, as the leaders of RIM do, to be 'cautious and restrained' in dealing with this problem. In this fashion, one would not only be overlooking Fujimori's fraud, but also the counter-revolutionary and criminal aims of the 'peace agreement'. To hold that the 'peace agreement' is part of a process of internal conflict within the CPP, portrays it as an organisation corroded by an scandalous division, an organisation divided and undermined and on the very verge of destruction. This point of view is similar to that of the die-hard enemies of the revolution. Merely as an example we are going to quote a 'senderologist' and visceral enemy of the CPP:

"Internal documents of the terrorist organisation reveal that the factional struggle between those who support the Peace Agreement and those who support Feliciano is ending with a clear victor: Abimael Guzmán". (3)

Now, consciously or unconsciously, the leaders of RIM are sliding into the bog of conciliation with the enemies of the People's War in Peru. This conciliation is evident, not only in the content of the documents we have mentioned, but also in their attitude of keeping at arms length from the struggle against the so called 'Peace Agreement' fraud. Here lies the explanation for the protracted silence that the leaders of RIM have been keeping for over a year.

2.	The leaders of RIM are confusing a police plot with a two-line struggle. In history we can find many cases of revolutionaries having to face frauds concocted by experts in anti-insurgency struggle. The most elementary manual of counter-insurgency procedures shows the two main methods for destroying a communist organisation or a revolutionary process. The first method is to use violence and outright repression. This method makes use of the military superiority and the ample resources of the state. The second method uses the system of psychological warfare. It makes use of the enormous publicity machine in the hands of the reactionary state. This method aims at weakening and undermining the ideological and organisational capacity of the party leading the revolution. Its objectives are: Dividing, disorganising and slandering the revolutionary organisation, isolating it from the masses while generating capitulationism. Usually, psychological warfare makes use of infiltrated agents within the party, or renegades and turncoats that have gone over to the ranks of the enemy. Both methods are generally used in combination within a single counter-insurgency strategy.

It is an ideological and political error not to differentiate between a police plot and a two-line struggle. What is the gist of the 'peace letters'? Where and how were these concocted?. The 'peace letters' were fabricated in the offices of the Intelligence Service of the Peruvian state (SIN). These letters did not originate in any Party organism, nor are these the product of any internal process of debate within the Communist Party of Peru. It is an error to hold, as the leaders of RIM do, that this is 'a two-line struggle within the ranks of the Communist Party of Peru'. The authors of these letters are functionaries of SIN, police agents, high ranking army officers, and specialists from the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). A police plot is not the same thing as an inner party struggle. The fact that some capitulators have participated in the elaboration and distribution of this montage, does not make this a two-line struggle within the CPP.

To illustrate this point we shall refer to certain instances in history where police plots have been notoriously used. Between 1901 and 1904, the people's revolutionary movement in Russia was in full swing. Then the Czarist police organised within the proletariat's ranks several bogus workers' organisations. The brains behind this scheme was police Colonel Zubatov. Although these organisms claimed to be working class they were in fact led by police agents. Their aim was to arrest the growing influence of the revolutionary social democrats upon the workers and oppressed masses. Later, also in Russia, this time in 1917, another plot was hatched: Lenin arrived in Petrograd in the German sealed train. Then, all the enemies of the Bolsheviks, the Mensheviks and the provisional government itself took the opportunity for a furious campaign to depict Lenin as 'a German imperialist agent'. Four months later, in July, the Kerensky government issued an order to arrest Lenin and charged him with 'treason'. The objective of this plot was to undermine the prestige of the Bolsheviks and to assassinate the great leader of the October revolution.

In Peru, police frauds can be counted by the dozen. Since 1980, different Peruvian regimes have included within their counter-insurgency policies the fabrication of lies against the CPP and the People's War. Among the most widespread fabrications we shall mention three in particular: The first is the lie that links the CPP to the international drug dealing gangs. The second is the portrayal of the Maoists as brutal and bloodthirsty murderers of the people: They accuse the CPP of being a fanatic sect led by lunatics. The third lie refers to the so-called 'internal weaknesses of Shining Path', specifically its ideological weakness. All kinds of fabrications are put in motion purporting to show that the CPP is an organisation on the verge of collapse due to 'intense internal struggle'. All this slander is based on sheer lies while promoting different personalities who contribute to lend credibility to these farcical charges. Here, propaganda is used as the principal means in attempting to destabilise the Party. The strategic aim is the same as that of the military actions directed against the revolution.

3.	The leaders of RIM hold that the 'peace agreement' is a two-line struggle. By doing this, they cast aside the analysis and position of the CPP's Central Committee in relation to this issue. The CPP, by means of various documents, characterised and denounced the 'peace letters' as vile slander fabricated by the Fujimori regime and by US imperialism. There is nothing that can justify contradicting the Party that is leading the People's War, especially if we consider that their analysis was carried out in the very field of operations, at the very centre of the fray. One of these CPP documents, dated February 1994, clearly states the following:

"The purported letters presented by Fujimori, the bogus international telephone call, and all other subsequent concoctions are counter-revolutionary plots. These are fabricated by US imperialism and the mass-murderers quisling dictatorship in combination with the sinister actions of the black gang of turncoats. This plot is aimed at winning elections, to impede the celebration of the Centenary of Chairman Mao in December and to cover-up the Cantuta scandal. These are its immediate aims. Its essential objectives are the defeat of the People's War. In this context, they are continuing their plans to assassinate Chairman Gonzalo. We must denounce, condemn and smash the black gang who are promoting revisionism and capitulation. We must point out that they are a group of infiltrated agents, turncoats, capitulators and rotten old revisionists. This handful of traitors are a group directly linked to the reactionary camp'. (4)

Since the presentation of the first letter (October 1993), the Central Committee of the CPP has decidedly fought against the 'peace agreement' plot. This struggle took place at both national and international level. In Peru, the emphasis was on strengthening the development of the People's War and on unmasking the individuals who from inside the prisons were appealing for capitulation. Abroad, precise directives were issued: To oppose those individuals members of the black gang working in Sweden, Paris, Germany and Mexico. To stop them peddling the 'peace letters' and the purported telephone instructions by Chairman Gonzalo. Why are the 'investigators' of RIM ignoring these facts?.

To understand the 'peace agreement' and its political and repressive implications, any person or political group must consider the position of the Central Committee of the CPP. It is not possible to overlook the solid reasons of the organisation carrying out the armed struggle in practice, the principal protagonist in this conflict. Those who, while proclaiming themselves of the Left, fail to take on board the position of the CPP, inevitably slide into opportunism. It is worth noting what Lenin said about the manner in which opportunism approaches problems:

'The opportunist, because of his very nature, always avoids approaching problems definitely and precisely. He seeks the aggregate result. He wriggles like a snake between mutually exclusive points of view. He makes efforts 'to agree' with both sides of every argument, while reducing his differences to small amendments, doubts, innocent good wishes, etc., etc.'. (5)

4.	To promote at international level the view that the 'peace agreement' is a 'two-line struggle' within the CPP, leads directly into the camp of the enemies of the Peruvian revolution. The foreign media, at the service of the imperialist powers, permanently make propaganda about a purported 'division of Shining Path into two factions'. According to them, 'one is led by Feliciano and is a diehard ultra-Left line' and the other is headed by the 'peace loving Gonzalo'. This propaganda is aimed at slandering the CPP and at isolating it internationally. To isolate the Party in the face of all the imperialists powers of the world. In Peru, the armed struggle is the centre and the highest expression of the class struggle, leaving no room for doubt about the revolution's continuation. Thanks to the scope of the revolution, in Peru it was not difficult to smash this plot very rapidly.

The international movement of support and solidarity with the People's War abroad, however, is characterised by an uneven level of development. This movement is composed by communists and non-communists, by friends and sympathizers, Maoists and non-Maoists, and even by the advanced masses of the Third World. Its development has a wave character and its prospects depend directly upon the strength of the revolutionary process in Peru. Experience confirms that there is a close link between cause and effect, between the people's war and the international tasks of support. In this field, proletarian internationalist action is still in its beginnings. It is easy to fall into idleness and to become demoralised. Any setback of the revolution, and even the imperialist propaganda itself generates doubts and suspicions. Basing ourselves upon this reality, the way of dealing with the 'peace letters' should be unequivocal. Those who speak of 'two-line struggle' only impede the struggle against the capitulators. Thus the erroneous position of the leaders of RIM confuses and spreads doubt among the less advanced sections of the people at the international level.

5.	Reducing the affair of the 'peace letters' to a two-line struggle within the CPP amounts to opting out, avoiding to take up a position and evading the struggle against Fujimori's fraud. Basing oneself upon this false premise, one ends up conciliating with all those in Peru and abroad who are promoting the 'peace agreement'. The tactics of keeping silent is a conciliators' charter, its ideological and political roots are to be found in opportunism and revisionism. In this fashion, those individuals in Europe and America who are distributing the documents about the 'peace agreement' are allowed to cause maximum damage. If we consider the 'peace letters' as a problem of 'two-line struggle' we cannot but conclude that this is a purely internal affair of the Communist Party of Peru. We must conclude that this is a case in which it is better not to meddle. A problem in which, as the leaders of RIM assert, we should not interfere 'irresponsibly'.

What conclusion can we draw from the idea floated by the RIM investigators of 'not acting irresponsibly' and that we should merely take up investigation?. Following their example, there would be no reason to struggle against the 'peace agreement'. We should wait for the outcome of their investigations. Meanwhile, it would not have been correct to launch attacks against the gang that is distributing the 'peace letters' abroad. It would have been even less correct to brand them as Fujimori agents and capitulators. We should not have defended the Peruvian revolution. We should have remained silent while the media was portraying Chairman Gonzalo as a vulgar politician trading off the People's War. According to the point of view of the leaders of RIM, it is a bad and negative factor that many organisations and political parties abroad have taken position and are struggling against Fujimori's plot. These comrades should have been labelled 'irresponsible people' and held to account for 'talking without investigating'!.

Looking at it from this angle, the conduct of El Diario Internacional can be deemed as worse than 'irresponsible'. We have dedicated several editions to the unmasking of Fujimori's fraud. In this context, and since October 1993, some organisms closely linked with the leadership of RIM have initiated an underhand struggle against El Diario. In some cases, they have even prevented its distribution. El Diario Internacional is a publication translated into several languages and well known nearly all over the world. It is, and will indeed continue to be a serious obstacle for the enemies of the Peruvian revolution. It is because of this that the Peruvian regime and imperialism are attempting to boycott and obliterate it.

This explains why an important base of RIM in the USA in charge of translating El Diario into English stopped doing this work. Moreover, they also suspended their sales of El Diario. How do the leaders of RIM explain this fact? How do they justify that a founding organisations of RIM in Colombia has undertaken to distribute the publication of the bogus 'Sol-Peru' Committee based in France?. This publication is edited by the capitulators. Its exclusive aim is to promote the 'peace agreement' while furiously attacking the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Peru (CPP). The editors of 'Contradiction' magazine, from Bogotá, Colombia, have denounced this in the following terms:

"We want to make clear our opinion on the contents of the bogus 'directive' and the 'secret document attributed to Chairman Gonzalo". .... "Some people have remained silent and thus contributed to the disinformation and slanderous campaign undertaken by the reactionaries". .... "However, the problem goes beyond this issue: The comrades from the Communist Organisation of Colombia, Marxist-Leninist-Maoist (OCCmlm) and the Revolutionary Communist Group (GCR), have distributed the publication SOL PERU (France) without clarifying anything. Moreover, they have kept silent". (6)

6.	The leaders of RIM chose to ignore this problem: If it were true that there is a very important struggle within the CPP, why do they then not point out the character of this contradiction and the interests served by both lines? Why do they avoid taking up a position in relation to this problem, even though more than a year has elapsed since it first arose?. Suopposing that the 'peace agreement' were indeed a problem of two-line struggle within the CPP, what is there to prevent RIM, a political organisation organically linked to the CPP and claiming to be a defender of the Peruvian revolution, from condemning the incorrect line?. Here there is no room for intermediate or eclectic positions. The counter-revolutionary content and aims of the 'peace agreement' are absolutely clear and cannot be denied. In any event, whether police plot or two-line struggle, this position must be fought vigorously. No one claiming to belong to the camp of revolution can stay aloof from this struggle. To what political principle are the RIM leaders adhering in demanding that the revolutionary organisations and forces supporting the People's War remain aloof from this problem?. Chairman Mao has said:

"Whoever takes the side of the revolutionary people only in words, but not in deeds, is but a revolutionary in words. Whoever takes the side of the revolutionary people not merely in words but also in deeds, is a real revolutionary". (7)

There is no precedent, ancient or modern, to back up the behaviour of the 'investigators' of the RIM leadership. The struggle against all kinds of bourgeois deviations within the ranks of the proletariat has always had both a national and international character. This is true from the time of the Communist League led by Marx and Engels. The International Communist Movement has never undertaken specific tasks or struggles in isolation from their struggles and tasks at international level. The unbreakable link between communist parties and revolutionary organisations is a historic law relating to the current stage of human development. It corresponds with the objective conditions generated by the world wide capitalist system and is principally linked to the process of the world proletarian revolution. The history of the three Communist Internationals confirm the international links of the class struggle. The First was led by Marx and Engels (1864), the Second by Engels (1889) and the Third by Lenin (1919). The history of these Internationals fully prove this unity in the struggle against revisionism, opportunism and class conciliation.

The complete failure of the 'peace agreement' and their promoters abroad, proves that those who, from the very moment of the first 'peace letter' fought against the enemies of the Peruvian revolution, had the correct line in dealing with this problem. That those who are still 'waiting for Godot' are profoundly in error. The leaders of RIM say that the struggle against the police plot serves the interests of the enemies of the people. This is utterly false. On the contrary, what objectively benefits Fujimori's regime and its imperialist masters is to give a free hand to the defenders of the 'peace agreement'. What really serves international reaction is the adoption of a conciliating and opportunist position with regard to this issue.

How should we understand what makes up a two-line struggle within a revolutionary organisation or Party? How does this differ from a police plot?

In theory and practice, the two-line struggle is the confrontation between the proletarian and the non-proletarian line within the Party. By means of the two-line struggle the internal contradictions of a political-ideological character within a revolutionary party are resolved. Essentially, the two-line struggle serves for fighting against and eradicating opportunism, revisionism, rightism and capitulation, and all anti-party phenomena harming the revolution. The process of unity and struggle of opposites within a Party is related to the law of the universality of contradiction within things, in nature and social phenomena. Unlike revisionism and opportunism that denies the two-line struggle, Marxism promotes it as the motive force for the party's development. Chairman Mao Tse-tung points out:

"The opposition and struggle between different ideas occurs constantly within the Party. This is the consequence of contradictions between classes within the Party and between the new and the old within society. If there were no contradictions or ideological struggles to resolve these, the life of the Party would end. There is nothing that does not contain contradiction. If there was no contradiction the world would not exist". (8)

Assuming that the phenomena of unity and struggle of opposites is inherent to the Party's development, it then becomes important to establish the nature of each contradiction. To establish with exactitude if this contradiction is or is not antagonistic. The character of the contradiction depends on the historical conditions the Party is undergoing. In a party like the CPP, involved in a civil war, contradictions sharpen and their struggle also tends to become more acute. In our specific case, the different contradictions are centred on the armed struggle and the road to the conquest of political power. Within the same phenomena of the struggle of opposites, a non-antagonistic contradiction will turn into an antagonistic one. Chairman Mao notes that some contradictions do not initially manifest themselves as antagonistic, but that in the course of the class struggle these contradictions become antagonistic. Moreover, Mao also teaches the importance of correctly establishing the character of these contradictions. He teaches us to use Marxist analysis and to adopt the specific methods of struggle needed to resolve them. There are no contradictions nor two-line struggles of an abstract character. If one fails to establish the character of a contradiction, and moreover, fails to point out the interests served by the opposite lines, one goes against dialectics.

The limit of contradiction

The limit of non-antagonistic contradiction relates to the issue of whether its development goes against the ideological and programmatic principles of the Party. Whatever the particularity of this contradiction may be, it must remain consistent with the interests of the proletariat and the revolution. In other words, the opposite line would remain non-antagonistic while it does not develop as a complete negation of the Party and the revolution. A non-antagonistic contradiction is resolved by means of criticism and self-criticism. This method of struggle is related to the task of persuading those comrades expressing damaging and erroneous ideas to return to the correct line. With the two-line struggle, the Party strengthens itself and advances, consolidating its class line. The principal contradictions are resolved by means of unity and struggle. Chairman Mao points out that the application of this method is based upon the necessity of finding the unity of opposites.

"Currently the contradiction between the correct and the incorrect ideas within our Party does not manifest itself as antagonistic. If the comrades that have committed errors can correct them, it will then not turn into an antagonistic one". (9)

On his part, Lenin says: "The struggle of different tendencies is inevitable and necessary within the Party if it does not lead to anarchy and splits and if it is carried out within the framework commonly accepted by all comrades and members of the Party". (10)

Under the impulse of class struggle and internal and external factors the contradiction within a Party may turn antagonistic - thus expressing irreconcilable interests. Then the solution of such a contradiction can only come about by frontal class struggle. Class antagonism, a manifestation of the struggle of opposites, by its own nature, cannot remain and develop indefinitely within the confines of a organisation or revolutionary Party. Its permanence, by its very nature, is the negation of the fundamental principles of the Party, principally democratic centralism and the basis for Party unity. If the movement of such an antagonistic contradiction is not detained, it will lead to the ideological and organisational destruction of the working class organization.

The history of the International Communist Movement is rich in examples of how a non-antagonistic contradiction can turn into an antagonistic one. Lenin led a protracted struggle against opportunism and other anti-Marxist tendencies within the SDLP of Russia. The contradictions between Bolsheviks and Mensheviks were at first non-antagonistic, later turning into antagonistic ones. Another example is the struggle within the II International. For instance, the struggle between Lenin and the Right wing opportunists led by Kautsky, Plekhanov, Axelrod and others who openly went over to the side of the class enemy. The struggle of comrade Stalin against the trends of Bukharin, Trotsky, Rykov, Tomski, Kamenev, and others, was non-antagonistic at its onset. This struggle also became antagonistic when these 'old Bolsheviks' turned criminal and sided with international counter-revolution. In China, the Communist Party fought against and smashed several antagonistic trends headed by revisionists, opportunists and adventurers. One of these struggles took place in 1927. Then Chairman Mao had to fight for the eradication of the opportunist line responsible for a serious defeat of the Chinese Communists and the people's movement.

In Peru, Chairman Gonzalo, as leader of the red fraction, fought since 1962 against opportunists, liquidators and all kinds of opposite lines within the CPP. In the midst of an acute two-line struggle he reconstituted the CPP and initiated the armed struggle in 1980. The protracted road of the two-line struggle within the CPP, personally led by Chairman Gonzalo, is proof of three concrete facts: First, that a two-line struggle carried out under the guidance of Marxist-Leninist-Maoist principles, serves for the consolidation of the Party, strengthens its ideological and political foundations and promotes the revolutionary process. Second, when the contradiction within the Party reaches its antagonistic level, it turns into the main problem that the communists must resolve. That this contradiction is resolved is the fundamental condition for the attainment of the strategic objectives of the Party in relation to the seizure of power. Third, to sweep away 'the colossal mountain of garbage' because the tools for resolution of non-antagonistic contradictions within the Party, criticism and self-criticism, are no longer effective. In such cases, it is obligatory to take radical measures of struggle, such as purges, and a rigorous screening of cadres and militants.

"It is by means of persistent, determined and wise two-line struggle in defense of the proletarian line and defeating the opposite lines, that Gonzalo Thought was generated and established". (11)

If we consider that both kinds of contradictions, antagonistic and non-antagonistic, have their origins within the party, the latter develops as a permanent phenomena implicit in matter and thought. It exists as a reflection of the class struggle and it experiences changes and mutations during its process of development. However, an antagonistic contradiction, because of its very character, dissolves the relative unity of opposites and thus excludes itself from the Party. By clashing openly with the Party's nature, it loses any identity with its opposites within the organisation. In this respect it is worth quoting what Chairman Mao states in relation to the exact character of the antagonistic phenomena:

"Before a bomb explodes, it is a single whole within which the opposites co-exist due to the presence of certain conditions. The explosion only occurs when a new condition presents itself: ignition". (12)

Where is the bomb that has exploded within the CPP?

We should ask ourselves where the bomb is that has exploded within the Communist Party of Peru?. It is true that the 'peace agreement' was set-up as a kind of sinister bomb by the secret services of the Peruvian state and of US imperialism. However, this explosion - in reality more like a big noise - took place outside and not inside the Party. This is a fact, despite the claims of the low-intensity warfare strategists of reaction.

The fact that some traitors and capitulators participated in priming and igniting this bomb (the 'peace fraud") does not mean that this is an internal conflict within the CPP. Even less can we speak of this as a 'two-line struggle within the CPP'. In El Diario Internacional of September 24, 1994, we have explained in detail how the fraud of 'peace agreement' was planned and carried out. In that article we proved that this fraud was concocted at the behest of the National Intelligence Service of the Peruvian state (SIN, with the US secret services. We also showed that its counter-revolutionary objectives aim at destroying the CPP, arresting the People's War, assassinating Chairman Gonzalo and liquidating Gonzalo Thought.

WHAT KIND OF PATIENTS ARE THESE WE SHOULD AIM TO SAVE?

Second Aspect: The leaders of RIM say: "Treat the sickness to save the patient".

This is an incorrect assessment with no validity for the case at hand. Let us see why. The phrase bandied about by the leaders of RIM is taken from Chairman Mao Tse-tung' speech: 'On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Within the Ranks of the People'. This is a clear text that deals with the two kinds of contradictions existing then in Chinese society (1957). Concretely, it deals with the contradictions that the Communist Party had to resolve to lead the Chinese People's Republic along the road of socialist construction.

The two kinds of contradictions referred to by Chairman Mao are: Those that exist within the people's own ranks and those that develop between the people and its enemies. Chairman Mao expressly shows that we must first establish with precision who belongs to the ranks of the people and who to the enemies of the people. Only then can we distinguish correctly between these two different kinds of contradiction. Chairman Mao says that we should consider as the people 'all those classes, social strata and groups supporting and participating in the cause of socialist construction'. On the other hand, Mao characterises as enemies of the people 'all forces and social groups resisting the socialist revolution, hostile to socialist construction or undermining it'. Chairman Mao stresses that the contradictions occurring within the people's own ranks are not antagonistic and that their resolution is by the democratic method (criticism and self-criticism). In this respect it is perfectly proper to apply the Maoist policy of 'curing the sickness to save the patient'. Chairman Mao said: 'The application of this method requires to start from the desire for unity'. On the other hand, the contradictions between the people and its enemies are antagonistic. Their resolution requires confrontation, and open struggle against the saboteurs.

Let us dialectically apply the theoretical formulations of Chairman Mao to the concrete case of Peru. The ranks of the people in Peru are made up of the working class, the peasantry, the petty bourgeoisie and the middle or national bourgeoisie. That is, all classes and forces that in various degrees support the People's War led by the CPP. Within this camp there are and will continue to be contradictions for a long time. These contradictions will be gradually resolved by the Party and the working class in the course of the democratic revolution, the socialist revolution and in the transition to communism. Who are the enemies of the Peruvian people?: The imperialists, principally the USA. Also, the two factions of the big bourgeoisie (comprador and bureaucratic), the landowners, Fujimori's puppet regime and its army and police forces backbone of their state. In other words, the enemies of the Peruvian people are those classes, social groups and political institutions sustaining the oppressor's state and fighting against the revolution. Those openly fighting against the armed struggle initiated in 1980. Here, according to the concrete stage of the revolutionary process, antagonistic contradictions between oppressed masses on the one hand, and imperialism, bureaucratic-capitalism and semi-feudality on the other, are resolved by the method of armed struggle.

Who can claim that the 'peace letters' and their authors are to be found within the people's camp and even within the CPP?. No one can be confused about this, unless it is intentionally. The 'peace agreement' is an antagonistic contradiction, an irreconcilable contradiction pitting the revolution against counter-revolution. It is a contradiction between the Peruvian people and its enemies, between their liberation war and the anti-insurgency war of the reactionaries. There is no room here to 'treat the sickness to save the patient' as the leaders of RIM are seeking to do. To transplant this Maoist policy mechanically, without consideration for the concrete situation in Peru, is a theoretical aberration that only serves to generate confusion on the question of the origins and objectives of the fraud of 'peace agreement'. The stand of the leaders of RIM contains two elements in direct opposition to the CPP and the People's War in Peru:

First: If this 'sickness'- the 'peace agreement' plot - is deemed to be a 'passing flu' within the ranks of the people, one has to believe that the 'peace agreement' is a non-antagonistic conflict. One has to believe that the opposite lines still have convergent grounds for unity. That this is not a 'contagious sickness' and that one should not worry too much about it. If we were to accept this view we would have to advocate that the 'remedy' - the solution of this contradiction - is not in acute class struggle but a mere question of criticism and self-criticism. One would have to believe that we should deal with this issue as a problem among revolutionary comrades. In other words, this problem, this 'sickness', could be dealt with by patient persuasion towards the errant militants. It is in this simple way that the leaders of RIM want to deal with this 'sickness'. They propose conciliating with such 'sick people' - that is, they want to negotiate with turncoats and police agents!.

Second: Who are these 'sick people'? There is no doubt that they are those in Peru and abroad who are promoting the 'peace letters'. In other words, these 'sick people' include agents of SIN like Vladimiro Montesinos, the tyrant Fujimori, army and police generals, agents of the CIA, and the capitulators. The very traitors and snitches who, using the resources of the Peruvian state and imperialism, are attempting to undermine the unity of the CPP and to destroy the revolutionary process. The leaders of RIM are proposing that we shall cure these 'sick people' of their various levels of 'infection' by applying 'patience and common sense'. They claim that once they are cured, they will then return to the correct line.

Revolutionary practice, however, shows that these people are capitulators, turncoats and snitches (a black gang) with whom there cannot be any unity or convergence. They, by their own free have opted out from the CPP and turned their back to the revolution. They have gone over to the camp of the Peruvian people's enemies. The fact that these individuals once had an organic link with the Party, that they may represent two, or even a dozen individuals, does not alter the nature of this problem. The history of social struggles does not show precedents of a revolutionary Party having to seek within itself grounds for unity with traitors, police agents and counter-revolutionary elements. Experience shows that revolutions or parties that had to face capitulation or treason were compelled to use all their forces to smash such danger. In this respect, Chairman Mao Tse-tung says:

"... in the present political situation capitulation has become the main danger... It is absolutely inadmissible that a group of individuals undermines or betrays the war against imperialism. No matter how much success they may achieve, or how jubilant they may feel while imagining that no one can harm them, they will not escape the people's punishment". (13)

On the same theme, Chairman Gonzalo says: "To fight against capitulation is important. It is a part of the struggle of the Party and the people in their striving to follow Marxism, fight against revisionism, and persist in the revolutionary line. ... Inevitably, capitulators always appear within the revolutionary camp. There are old capitulators and also modern ones. They practice class capitulation within the country and national capitulation abroad. This is all class capitulation. They submit to the bourgeoisie and to imperialism". (14)

In synthesis, no Marxist-Leninist-Maoist can demand what the leaders of RIM do: That capitulators be dealt with by the methods used to resolve contradictions within the ranks of the people. Even less can they demand, as they also do, that these elements should be considered as people undergoing an 'illness', as people with whom we should not deal with 'in hasty or irresponsible fashion'. Chairman Gonzalo says that we must deal with capitulation by branding it with searing fire:

"Capitulation expresses itself in two aspects: Capitulation in the face of native reaction and capitulation in the face of world reaction. It is always like this. Its aim is to sell out the revolution. Therefore, it is something rotten. It must be eliminated by searing fire". (15)

"WITHOUT INVESTIGATION NO RIGHT TO SPEAK"

Third Aspect: The leaders of RIM say that: "Without investigation there is no right to speak, and that one should seek truth from facts. That way one shall not act irresponsibly nor jump to conclusions before having grasped the problem as a whole".

One cannot deny that every problem should be studied in depth, especially when it affects the most important revolutionary process in the Americas. From the inception of Marxism, in the 1840s, the working class and the revolutionary forces have found a scientific instrument that serves them to understand and transform the world. Dialectical and historical materialism are the basis of Marxist philosophy. Of these two, dialectical materialism makes up the Marxist theory of knowledge. That is, the scientific method that guides itself by the principle of studying the phenomena and process of nature and society as permanently inter-related. But Marxism teaches and proves that any theoretical study must be linked with revolutionary practice. Marxism is profoundly linked to historical reality. This principle differentiates a Marxist study from an anti-dialectical, inane and philistine study. Chairman Gonzalo points out:

"We always undertake study with a view to its application and to resolve actual problems. Otherwise we would fall into bookish studies, into mere parroting, and that is a bourgeois, idealist and metaphysical method". (16)

Here, we must, like Karl Marx, point out that words divorced from reality have no meaning, they are dead letters: "It is in practice where man has to prove the truth, the power and reality, the this-sidedness of his thinking. The debate about the reality or unreality of an idea in isolation from practice, is a purely scholastic problem". (17)

Any serious attempt at investigating the counter-revolutionary political content of the 'peace plot' must evaluate the complete set of elements that make up the political scene in Peru. The 'peace agreement' and its repressive aims cannot be correctly explained if one does not at least take the following aspects into account: 1) The vanguard role of the People's War in the development of the world proletarian revolution. 2) Its links with the liberation process in Latin America and other parts of the world. 3) The struggle of the Communist Party of Peru (CPP) for the validity and application of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism as the third and superior stage of Marxism. 4) The fundamental role of Gonzalo Thought for the continuation of the revolution and the seizure of power in Peru. 5) The bankruptcy of bureaucratic capitalism in Peru and its consequences reflected in the decomposition of the old Peruvian state. 6) The struggle of the CPP against revisionism, opportunism and other counter-revolutionary trends within the working class and the oppressed masses. 7) The development of 14 years of armed struggle and the strengthening of the three instruments of the revolution (Party-Army-United Front). 8) The consolidation of the strategic equilibrium (Second stage of the protracted People's War). 9) The generation and multiplication of the People's Committees as the expression of People's Power in Peru. 10) The military, political and psycho-social plans of imperialism aimed at liquidating the revolution, destroying the Communist Party of Peru and eliminating Chairman Gonzalo.

If the 'peace letters' are viewed in isolation from the sum of these elements, one is sure to go astray. One is sure to fail to arrive at a correct analysis or synthesis. One arrives anywhere except at the truth. Is it true that the leaders of RIM have seriously investigated this problem?. We believe that they have not advanced very much in their investigations. Let us, for argument's sake, assume that it is true that they have investigated. After more than a year of studies, one question begs to be answered: How do they explain that their conclusions do not go beyond claiming that the 'peace letters' are an issue of 'two-line struggle within the CPP?. How is it possible that they fail to say anything about the fraud? How can they not have found a method to face this fraud from a revolutionary perspective?

The leaders of RIM did not undertake a serious investigation. This becomes evident from their claim that 'it is very important to know exactly what Chairman Gonzalo really thinks'. Moreover, they prattle: 'It is as yet impossible to be sure about Chairman Gonzalo's point of view'.

No one mildly acquainted with the theoretical contributions of Chairman Gonzalo can possibly have any doubts about the great Peruvian revolutionary's thoughts about the 'peace letters'. One cannot overlook the fact that since 1962, for more than 32 years, Dr Abimael Guzmán has led the most solid and coherent revolutionary process in Latin America. Any one of his authentic documents amply proves his character as a communist. It places him above any suspicion of being the vulgar capitulator that the bourgeois media is attempting to portray. Who, within the camp of the people, can imagine Chairman Gonzalo as the author of those despicable tracts advocating the 'peace agreement'? Expressing doubts about the position of Chairman Gonzalo vis a vis Fujimori's negotiations plot only serves the Peruvian regime and US imperialism. One of the strategic aims of this plot of 'peace agreement' is to liquidate and vulgarise Gonzalo Thought. With this objective in sight, the leader of the Peruvian revolution is counterpoised to his own political thought. As the Peruvian 'senderologists' have claimed: 'The struggle of Gonzalo against Gonzalo is the key to the destruction of Shining Path'. Let us see an example:

"Carlos Reyna, from DESCO NGO, affirmed that two years of incarceration have transformed so-called Gonzalo Thought. The new Maoist bible of Shining Path has been turned into a new pragmatic, long term perspective based upon the acknowledgement of his virtual military defeat". (18)

Clearly the investigation carried out by the leaders of RIM is merely descriptive, lacking objectivity and scientific scope. Not in a million years could this investigation be considered as a true Marxist analysis. They overlook most of the elements implicit in Fujimori's plot, both political and repressive. That is why their preliminary conclusions sound rather like a bad joke. Especially, since the investigators of RIM reduce this issue to studying and reading four documents emanating from Peru: 1) The Speech of Chairman Gonzalo of September 24, 1992. 2) 'Struggle for a New Great Decision' (document elaborated by the capitulators and the Peruvian secret police). 3) Statement of the CPP of October 7, 1993. 4) Statement of the Committee of Relatives of Political Prisoners and Prisoners of War of December 3, 1993. Besides these documents the leaders of RIM suggest the study of certain theses of Chairman Mao Tse-tung and some RIM documents.

It is true that the documents listed are relevant to this problem, but these are not the only ones that exist. Various valuable documents of the CPP dealing specifically with the 'peace agreement' and clearly characterising this plot as a reactionary police scheme are not included. These documents are very important to understand this problem, for example: The International Directive of the CPP from November 1, 1993. The Statement of the Women War Prisoners in Chorrillos Jail, also from November 1993. The Statement of CPP "Long Live Chairman Gonzalo and His All Powerful Thought", issued in February 1994. The Report from the Central Committee also from February 1994. All these documents have been published abroad in various languages. They analyse in depth and reject the plot of Fujimori and US imperialism. Apart from these texts, there is ample information on the development of the People's War. To be able to understand fully and objectively the 'peace fraud' one must seriously study the specific characteristics of the People's War'.

Of all these documents, we must particularly emphasise the Report of the Central Committee of February 1994. This document clearly resolves the questions about the origin and aims of the 'peace letters'. In that document the CPP denounces the purported 'peace agreement' as a sinister plot of the security services of the Peruvian state. The role of the turncoats and capitulators is fully revealed. It says: "Let us condemn and smash the black gang". "..... they are infiltrated agents, traitors, capitulators and callous revisionists. Their fabrications are a complete negation of the First Congress of the Party, a Marxist-Leninist-Maoist, Gonzalo Thought Congress. These fabrications are a negation of the Basis of Party Unity, of the Leadership, of the Party and the People's War. Therefore, the authors of these fabrications have excluded themselves from the Party by their own free will". Why have the leaders of RIM not recommended the study of this Report from the CC of the CPP? What was there to stop them translating it into English as they did with a document from the capitulators?

The investigators from RIM have ignored all this valuable information. Therefore, we want to put on record the following facts: The capitulators have issued more than a dozen documents and statements promoting the 'peace agreement', including four letters and a declaration 'signed by Chairman Gonzalo and comrade Miriam'. These documents were concocted in the central offices of the National Intelligence Service (SIN). They have been widely circulated by the Peruvian reactionary press, especially by the media that directly supports the government. Peruvian television has turned the chieftains of the turncoats into film stars. They have on various occasions appeared on TV, smirking and boasting of their 'victories'. They even appear in TV presenting gifts to the dictator Fujimori. From the different prisons, they acclaim the 'peace agreement' and issue hysterical attacks against the Central Committee of the CPP. Socorro Popular (The People's Assistance), one of the most important organisms generated by the CPP denounces these events in the following way:

"This gang of gutless traitors ..... they openly snitch on the leaders of the Party and issue calls for their 'immediate delivery into the hands of the secret police'. In this way they show their concentrated hatred towards Chairman Gonzalo, the Communist Party of Peru, the People's war and the people". (19)

According to the government's own sources, nearly 200 capitulators have bought their freedom by giving information to the police and the armed forces. Some of these individuals have now been sent abroad 'to work in favour of the peace agreement'. Others have been doing the same inside Peru. Various media sources admit that those prisoners of war opposed to the 'peace agreement' are grassed on by the capitulators and that, these prisoners are subsequently brutally repressed and punished by reaction. Recently, a group of capitulators were released from prison. They are now busy distributing a bogus edition of El Diario supporting the 'struggle for a peace agreement' with the support of the government.

But the arbitrary investigations of the RIM leaders are not just limited with regard to documentation and concrete facts relating to the revolutionary process in Peru. They also overlook the fact that from the moment that the first 'peace letter' appeared (October 1993), a great wave of direct struggle arose at international level, a struggle against this fraud and its promoters. It is also a fact that the leaders of RIM excluded themselves voluntarily from this struggle under the pretext of 'studying the problem'. Many political organisations, friends and supporters of the Peruvian revolution have contributed to the unmasking and rejection of the 'peace letters' by various means. These organisations and friends have developed important activities in defense of the People's War and the life of Chairman Gonzalo. For example: The leaders of RIM do not say a word about the three JOINT CONFERENCES that took place in Europe during 1994. Representatives of the Peru People's Movement (MPPs), the Sol Peru Committees and political organisations of various continents took part. These joint conferences rallied under the slogan of "Long Live Maoism! Defend the Life of Chairman Gonzalo!. The theme of these events was to reaffirm the support for the armed struggle in Peru and to struggle against the capitulators and turncoats promoting the purported 'peace agreement'. The leaders of RIM cannot possibly claim to be ignorant about these conferences. We ourselves witnessed how a representative of the magazine 'A World To Win' (organ of RIM) attended the three conferences while remaining totally silent.

To complete this point, we want to ask the following question: What would have been the result at international level if all those who struggled against the 'peace agreement' from the very beginning had instead followed the example of the leaders of RIM?. Then all would have adopted the 'tactics of silence' and remained firmly hidden inside their bolt-holes awaiting better times. In political terms, and from the fundamental principles of Marxism and class struggle, this would have meant open conciliation with the enemies of the people's liberation war in Peru.

ON THE 'HISTORICAL LEADERS' OF CAPITULATION

Fourth Aspect: The leaders of RIM claim that there is "A group of people who have historically played a leading role within the CPP. That these are people strongly and decidedly promoting a line concerning the peace conversations .... This group appears to be concentrated inside the prisons. However, they also have support among CPP members and supporters outside the prisons, both in Peru and abroad.....".

Here we can point out at least three errors. This evaluation is drenched in subjectivism and reflects mainly the influence of the psycho-social campaign of the peruvian government. Let us analyse these points in detail:

1) Is it true that the individuals promoting the 'peace agreement' belong to 'A group ... that have historically played a leading role within the CPP? How do the leaders of RIM come to this conclusion? Where do we find this historical role of the capitulators? This is what the Committee of Families of Political Prisoners, Prisoners of War and the Disappeared in Peru, an organism generated by the CPP have to say on this issue in their statement of December 3, 1993:

".....the sinister activities of this handful of proven and known capitulators, snitches and cowards ...... servants of US imperialism and the mass murderers' dictatorship ..... they are the same group of people who for a long time attempted to take advantage of the revolution, seeking to obtain important positions. They dreamt about seizing power without messing up their fine coiffeurs. They dreamt of dividing up the cake of power among themselves. Meanwhile, they were carping about the development of the strategic equilibrium and the achievement of the aims of the Party". "......their 'historical contingent' (is) made up of renegades who have taken upon themselves the frontal task of assassinating Chairman Gonzalo and destroying the Party". "They are the same old puny bourgeois politicians" ..... "usurping the name of the Party.....".

It should be noted that this statement never accepts that the promoters of the 'peace agreement' are high leaders of the CPP. Even less does it imply that they are people with an historical role. In reading this statement, it becomes evident that these people are but old renegades. It is true that the Peruvian government, as part of their psycho-social warfare, portrays these capitulators as historical leaders of the Party. This lie is but a component of the 'peace agreement' plot. It is true that, within the prisons they control, the National Intelligence Service (SIN) has elected a 'Central Committee of the CPP'. This Committee is under the control of the police and headed by the 'historical' Osman Morote Barrionuevo who has been promoted by the Peruvian government as 'Shining Path's Nº2 man'. In the November 1994 issue of El Diario Internacional, we already dealt with the case of Morote. In that issue we reported on a conversation between the author of this document and Chairman Gonzalo. What transpired in that meeting of July 1988 is very valuable in clarifying this situation:

- Journalist: Chairman Gonzalo, what is the concrete situation of Osman Morote?. Is it true that he is the Nº 2 in the CPP? Is it true what the media says about him?

- Chairman Gonzalo: "These are fantasies invented by our enemies. Morote has nothing at all to do with the leadership of the Party. Even less could he be the 'Nº2'. We are not people who number themselves from 1 to 100. On the question of wether or not there is a line opposing the leadership: It is important to note that the Party's First Congress has consolidated us, both organically and at ideological- political level. On the other hand, there could be some truth in that Morote may have some problems with the leadership. That is very worrying".

If Morote was not a leader and if we also remember that he has been in gaol since 1988, how does he then magically turn up as a 'top leader of Shining Path', and leading the 'peace agreement' at that!? Who appointed him as a member of the Central Committee?. We understand that the CPP resolves its organic problems at its various Party levels such as the Party Congress, the Plenums of the central Committee, The Enlarged Plenums, Party Conferences, etc. These events take place periodically but not within the prisons and even less with the support of the police. In synthesis, Morote and the high position he is supposed to occupy within the CPP is a mere invention of the government. This whole charade is a key element of "Operation Capitulation". (20)

2) The leaders of RIM say that this group is concentrated inside the prisons but that they also enjoy support among militants outside the prisons, in Peru and abroad. This opinion is completely lacking in analytical seriousness. It does not tally with concrete facts. Even the reactionary Peruvian media supporting Fujimori recognises the fundamental fact that: The weakness of the 'peace agreement', and therefore its failing, lies in the fact that its chieftains and supporters are exclusively within the prisons. Some 'senderologists' and the Peruvian media also admit the following fact: The government, in its counter-insurgency strategy, is setting some capitulators free and giving them the concrete task of promoting the 'peace agreement' and snitching on the Maoists fighters. Here we quote the opinion of a commentator who is familiar with the internal affairs of the army and the police:

"Therefore, cadres and leaders of Shining Path who favour the Peace Agreement are being selectively released from prison. They are then given the task of contesting the rank and file away from Feliciano's group and to win them over to Guzman's position....". (21)

On the other hand, the Peruvian state's propaganda has made strenuous efforts to back-up the assertions of the capitulators. They have tried to back-up their claim to have the support of the majority of political prisoners and prisoners of war. This is also false. It is true that this black gang, supported by the National Intelligence Services (SIN), has toured all the maximum security prisons. It is true that they have tried to convince the prisoners and sell them the charms of the 'peace agreement' - in reality, to pressurise, threaten and blackmail them. It is well known that this campaign resulted in total failure and in several gaols the 'official delegation' headed by Morote was loudly disowned. To prove this, it is sufficient to refer ourselves to the official information of the Peruvian state who controls every step of this plot of 'peace agreement'.

Considering their grossly distorted figures - lumping together prisoners of war and hundreds of other people rounded up en masse and falsely accussed of belonging to the CPP - here is a summary of the statistics concocted by the Intelligence Services of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. This report claims that the prisoners 'in favour' and those 'against' the 'peace agreement' are: In Castro Castro Jail (Cantogrande) 820 in favour and 469 against. In Chorrillos (women's prison) 168 in favour and 168 against. In Pcsi 50 in favour and 65 against. In Chiclayo 6 in favour and 43 against.

Commenting on this issue of the police evaluation of these figures, it is worth quoting the newspaper La República: "The figures crudely reveal that Abimael Guzman's 'Great Decision and New Definition' did not gain credibility among real Shining Path prisoners ....." (23)

3) On the question of the purported support that capitulation enjoys abroad: Here the leaders of RIM are chewing on a half truth. On the one hand, it is true that the leaders of the old Peru People's Movement (MPP) took the lead of the international campaign to promote the 'peace agreement'. In their dirty task, they circulated the 'peace letters' and even invented a telephone conversation with Chairman Gonzalo. Thus, they claimed to have received his orders to capitulate and sell out the People's War. But it is also true that these individuals, in turning coat and going over to the camp of the enemies of the Peruvian people, ended up excluded from any links with the CPP and its work abroad. In November 1993, the true Central Committee of the CPP - not the one led by the National Intelligence Service (SIN) - issued an International Directive unmasking these elements. In this Directive the CPP gave precise instructions for the reorganisation of the MPPs around those supporters that had kept their distance from the capitulators.

It is also true that the leaders of RIM did not take up a position regarding the capitulators of the old MPPs and that they are still persevering in this course of action, despite the time that has now elapsed since the beginning of this struggle (more than one year). On the contrary, they have kept links with them as if nothing unbecoming had been going on. To justify this behaviour, they use their stock in trade excuse of 'conducting investigations'. From this position, they have even refused to circulate the documents from CPP and any information against the 'peace letters'. This obviously pleased the capitulators who are denying the authority and the validity of the Central Committee of the CPP. In essence, the political behaviour of the leaders of RIM in this problem, is open conciliation with elements that the CPP has expelled from its generated organisms abroad.

DEFEND THE LIFE OF CHAIRMAN GONZALO IN DEEDS AND NOT MERELY IN WORDS

Fifth Aspect. The leaders of RIM say: "It is also imperative that the present debate does not affect the importance of continuing with the task of Defending the Life of Chairman Gonzalo and supporting the People's War in Peru. We must continue supporting and helping the International Emergency Committee to Defend the Life of Abimael Guzman...." .

How should we distinguish with precision a real campaign to defend the life of Chairman Gonzalo from an erroneous and unrealistic one? On several occasions when we held talks with the functionaries of the International Emergency Committee (IEC) we gave them our points of view on this issue. A brief synthesis of these opinions is as follows: Before October 1993 (date of the appearance of the first 'peace letter') the international campaign to defend the life of Chairman Gonzalo was in the main correct. This campaign could be carried out within a wide democratic framework. It could base itself on collecting signatures, statements on questions of human rights, sending delegations to Peru, faxing campaigns, etc. This method of conducting the campaign is now obsolete and does not correspond to the new situation arising from the 'peace agreement'. If the essential elements of this campaign are not changed in form and content, it will certainly fail. It will die a natural death. Why?

1) The success that the international campaign to defend the life of Chairman Gonzalo achieved was the expression of the prestige of Dr Abimael Guzman as the leader and theoretician of one of the most solid armed struggle processes of our era. Here, the inter-relation between cause and effect can be concretely appreciated in the linkage between Chairman Gonzalo and the People's War. The prestige of Chairman Gonzalo and the prestige of the People's War are part of one and the same historical process. These two ideas cannot exist in isolation while also going their own separate ways. This fact is proven by the thousands of people not familiar with the theoretical work of the great Peruvian Maoist, who may even have difficulty in finding Peru on the map, but who gave firm support to the International Campaign led by the IEC. Those masses marching in the streets of Europe, America, Turkey, India, Nepal and countless other places in the world, were expressing solidarity and sympathy with the revolutionary leader opening the road for the final liberation of the Peruvian people. They admire the leader of the Communist party of Peru (CPP), the vanguard of the Peruvian working class. They support the man who courageously and heroically faces the most powerful enemy of humanity, US imperialism. The workers mobilised in defense of the prestigious war prisoner subjected to inhuman and brutal incarceration.

This situation underwent a sudden turn. This turn occured from October 1993 onwards. Then Fujimori appeared before the General Assembly of the UN to read the first 'peace letter' requesting negotiating away the revolution and purportedly signed by Chairman Gonzalo. The Peruvian regime and US imperialism portrayed Chairman Gonzalo as a vulgar capitulator. As a man for whom a rigorous imprisonment was sufficient reason for him to renege his ideology and to cravenly crawl before the tyrant Fujimori. From that moment, any campaign to defend the life of the leader of the People's War in Peru had to be based, primarily, in defending his prestige. Any such campaign had to defend his condition as a Maoist, as a communist and unflinching revolutionary. In other words, the campaign to defend the life of Chairman Gonzalo is, today more than ever, linked to supporting the People's War. Now this campaign can only be effective when linked to the unmasking of the 'peace agreement' and fighting against the capitulators and their agents.

By simple political logic, the revolutionary or democratic masses are not going to support a campaign to defend the life of a Chairman Gonzalo turned capitulator. They would not mobilise in defense of a person who according to the official propaganda holds daily negotiations with his jailers. A man equipped by the secret police with a private mobile phone. A man free to hold meetings with 'his central committee' and give lectures on the 'peace agreement' under the protection of the state. A man who writes and publishes essays about the economical, political and military successes of the puppet Fujimori. In synthesis, the masses, consciously or instinctively, would never struggle on behalf of anyone in cahoots with repressive and murderous governments such as the Peruvian regime.

The leaders of RIM and the IEC are closing their eyes to these facts. They do not want to see what even the blind can see. They call for defending the life of Chairman Gonzalo and supporting the International Emergency Committee (IEC). However, they do not take up a position vis a vis the 'peace agreement'. They contribute nothing to debunk the black propaganda woven by imperialism and the reactionaries around the fate of Dr Guzman. They do not lift a finger to unmask the capitulators. This attitude places them in an untenable position. They are falling into the most elementary subjectivism and leading the IEC to its final bankruptcy.

SOME FINAL NOTES

From the above analysis, and taking the perspectives and international significance of the People's war in Peru into consideration, we can put forward the following conclusions:

1) Revisionism continues to be the main danger within the International Communist Movement. The conciliating tendency of the leadership of RIM reflects this phenomena. It is imperative to fight against this deviation. This struggle must guide itself by the scientific ideology of the proletariat. Failure to undertake this task would contribute to undermine the international revolutionary process and would render succour to the imperialist powers. To remain aloof in this contest is tantamount to going over to the opportunist swamp.

2. We must put into practice the three guidelines advanced by Chairman Gonzalo in relation to the unity and development of the RIM: a) To unite around Marxism-Leninism-Maoism. b) To serve the world proletarian revolution. c) To fight uncompromisingly against revisionism. (24)

"Unite to overthrow imperialism, revisionism and world reaction. This battle cry remains fully in the order of the day". (25)

3. Consider the position of the CPP regarding the RIM. Chairman Gonzalo points out that currently we do not have a Communist International and that it is the duty of the revolutionaries to strive for its establishment. To this aim, the RIM is a step forward "which would be useful on that account if it bases itself upon a just and correct ideological line". (26)

4.	The support for the People's War in Peru and the defense of the life of Chairman Gonzalo is a revolutionary stance based on the principles of proletarian internationalism. In theory and practice this means struggle against capitulation. It means fighting against the police agents, against imperialism. It means smashing revisionism and opportunism. By following these Marxist principles we will accomplish the task of contributing to the revolutionary process in Peru and at international level.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

(1)	V.I. Lenin, Thesis on The Fundamental Tasks of the Second Congress of the Comintern,	Selected Works, page 135.

(2)	Chairman Gonzalo, Speech at Plenary Session of the Second Plenum of the Central	Committee, August 1990, page 9.

(3)	Carlos Tapia, 'Diario La República' August 18 1994.

(4)	Central Committee of the Communist Party of Peru, February 1994 Report.

(5)	V.I. Lenin, One Step Forward Two Steps Back, February-May 1904.

(6)	Revista Contradicción, Bogotá, Colombia, Nº15, November 1994.

(7)	Chairman Mao Tse-tung, Speech at II Session of the First National Committee of the	Chinese People's Consultative Assembly, June 1950.

8)	Chairman Mao Tse-tung, On Contradiction, SW, Vol 1, page 340

9)	Selected Works of Chairman Mao Tse-tung, 1976, On Contradiction, Vol 1, page 366

10)	V.I. Lenin, One Step Forward, Two Steps Back, SW, page 15.

11)	Fundamental Documents of the CPP, The Forge Amid The Two-Line Struggle, 1990	Edition.

12)	Chairman Mao Tse-tung, SW, Vol 1, 1976 Edition, page 366

13)	SW of Chairman Mao Tse-tung, Vol 2, Against Capitulation, page 260

14)	Chairman Gonzalo, Report to the Preparatory Session of the 2nd Plenum of the CC of	CPP, August 1990, pages 14-16.

15)	Chairman Gonzalo, SpeechReport at the Plenary Session of the 2nd Plenum of the CC of	CPP, August 1990, page 14.

16)	Chairman Gonzalo, On the Rectification Campaign - No to Elections Yes to the People's	War, Vol 2 of People's War in Peru, Gonzalo Thought.

17)	Karl Marx, Theses on Feuerbach, 1845, SW page 401

18)	Shining Path Enters Into its Third Age, by Abraham Lama, Interpress Service, December	15 1994. APC Electronic Network.

19)	Committee of Families of Political Prisoners, War Prisoners and Dissapeared in Peru,	December 3, 1993.

20)	El Diario Internacional Nº24, November 1994 - Item 'Operation Capitulation'.

21)	Carlos Tapia, La República, Lima Peru, July 1994.

22)	Source: Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, July 1994, as published	by the newspaper La República.

23)	Angel Páez, Diario La República, Investigations Unit, August 21 1994.

24)	Chairman Gonzalo, Speech at the II Plenary Session of the Central Committee of CPP,	October - November 1990.

25)	Chairman Gonzalo, Speech at the II Plenary Session of the Central Committee of CPP,	October - November 1990.

26)	Document of the Congress of the CPP, Bases for discussion, International Line, 1989,	page 323 of Vol 1, People's War in Peru by LAB.

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