Gonzalo Thought (PCP-Sendero Luminoso)

[Gorilla]

What is Gonzalo Thought?

What are its characteristic ideas? How does it differ from other schools of Marxism, Leninism and Maoism?

Is it good?

http://www.newperu.org/Conf_Madrid.jpg
Is the defense of Chairman Gonzalo and Gonzalo Thought really the principal question for the people's war and the world revolution?

[black magick hustla]

murdering peasants, small merchants and trade unionists and having aspergers

[Os Cangaceiros]

Not really that much different from your standard boilerplate Maoism. Peoples war, self-criticism sessions, etc. etc. Not much of anything in the way of supporting struggle in urban zones...the urban zones like Lima were used for recruiting people for the countryside cadres. Guzman basically thought that the new agrarian reforms had created a situation in the countryside that was ripe for an insurgency.

I read some stuff about them fairly recently...I'll try and remember more.

(And man, you wanna talk about intellectual circle jerk-ism...I don't know what else to call making your cadre read Macbeth and Julius Shakespeare in order to prove political points.)

[Spartacus.]

murdering peasants, small merchants and trade unionists and having aspergers


The idea that PCP had a program of murdering peasants is utterly false and erronous. You are just repeating common propaganda about the movement. In reality, "peasants" that were "murdered" by PCP were mostly members of Rondas Campesinas, that is counter-revolutionary bands of reactionaries trained and equipped by the Peruvian military to fight PCP. The infamous Lucanamarca massacre, for instance, was carried out against Rondas in retaliation for killing the local PCP commander, although it admittedly got out of control. The standard military tactic was to gather corpses of the killed Rondas, stripp them of their weapons and then present them as "innocent" peasants killed by PCP. The similar tactics is today used by the Colombian army, though in somewhat changed form, the so called "false positives". If you want to see a somewhat unbiased report about a situation in Peru, this documentary would suit that purpose:

http://marxistleninist.wordpress.com/2008/09/22/documentary-the-people-of-the-shining-path/

As well as this article debunking some common myths about PCP:

http://redantliberationarmy.wordpress.com/2010/08/01/the-shining-path-revealed-behind-the-lies-propaganda/

It is true that PCP made some serious excesses during revolutionary struggle which contributed to alienation of the part of its initial support base (which was huge and included peasants, workers, students and professors, as it is explained in Simon Strong's "Shining Path" book on the PCP), but that doesn't mean we have to support reactionaries or abandon revolutionary movements because of their mistakes. French Revolution saw much more violence and bloodhed than Peruvian, yet it was a positive event in the history of humankind. Your perspective on the PCP is thorougly anti-Marxist. Besides, the new PCP has significantly changed its conduct towards civilians after having learned from their previous mistakes, which explains why they are again gaining strength and increasing their numbers, as evidenced by American embassy reports from Wikileaks. That would hardly be possible for a murderous thugs that go around killing innocent peasants and that have no popular support. :)

As to the question of Gonzalo Thought, it offers no new insights into Marxism. It is just another silly "ideology" named after a leader of a Communist movement that couldn't resist temptation to have its own "theory", which contributes nothing to expanding our understanding of class struggle, but it flatters to leaders's ego. It is similar to the Prachanda Path, Chavez XXI century "socialism" and Bob Avakian Thought. What we need is a correct application of existing theory, not another sectarian bullshit that claims that it has reinvented Marxism. :rolleyes:

[Savage]

Whenever I see this guy's name, I always think of this guy:
http://www.foxnomad.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/gonzo.jpg
Also, why is he called 'Chairman Gonzalo' if he has never held state power?
http://http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_QC55WlmpM0U/S4v5KkkgXDI/AAAAAAAAClY/K_cTzXl9QHY/s320/the-great-gonzo.jpg

[Spartacus.]

Also, why is he called 'Chairman Gonzalo' if he has never held state power?


Because it is ego-flattering... Unfortunately, many Communist leaders can't resist temptation to build their own personality cults, instead of workers movements. Consequences of this can be seen in the fact that PCP simply broke apart when Gonzalo was captured, making significant setback for Revolution in that country. For comparision, despite the fact that he led his revolutionary movement for almost half a century, FARC managed to overcome the death of its founder and longtime leader Manuel Marulanda, as well as other significant leaders in recent times. Now, that is the type of leadership I prefer. :)

[red cat]

What is Gonzalo Thought?

What are its characteristic ideas? How does it differ from other schools of Marxism, Leninism and Maoism?

Is it good?

http://www.newperu.org/Conf_Madrid.jpg
Is the defense of Chairman Gonzalo and Gonzalo Thought really the principal question for the people's war and the world revolution?

Reading this should help :

http://www.blythe.org/peru-pcp/pcp_faq.htm

Gonzalo thought is mainly MLM adapted to the situation in Peru, although Gonzalo came to some interesting conclusions such as Maoism being a qualitative development over Marxism-Leninism and people's war being the only way towards revolution in every country.

[red cat]

Because it is ego-flattering... Unfortunately, many Communist leaders can't resist temptation to build their own personality cults, instead of workers movements. Consequences of this can be seen in the fact that PCP simply broke apart when Gonzalo was captured, making significant setback for Revolution in that country. For comparision, despite the fact that he led his revolutionary movement for almost half a century, FARC managed to overcome the death of its founder and longtime leader Manuel Marulanda, as well as other significant leaders in recent times. Now, that is the type of leadership I prefer. :)

Gonzalo was the chairman of the CC of the PCP.

[Spartacus.]

Gonzalo was the chairman of the CC of the PCP.


The original spanish title for Gonzalo was Presidente, which is closer to president than chairman. Savage was rightly asking why was he carrying such a title considering the fact that he was not yet a leader of the country. Besides, it is accepted fact (even among the Communists) that PCP had a personality cult around Gonzalo, which didn't really help organization once he was captured by the Fujimori's government. :)

[red cat]

The original spanish title for Gonzalo was Presidente, which is closer to president than chairman. Savage was rightly asking why was he carrying such a title considering the fact that he was not yet a leader of the country. Besides, it is accepted fact (even among the Communists) that PCP had a personality cult around Gonzalo, which didn't really help organization once he was captured by the Fujimori's government. :)

I agree that there was a cult around Gonzalo, but it had nothing to do with him being referred to as presidente or chairman Gonzalo. That was Gonzalo's post inside the party. It is a common practice among Maoists to mention one's post before his name.

[mosfeld]

Gonzalo Thought was never a rupture from MLM, but MLM concretely applied to the material conditions of Peru.

"(...) revolutions give rise to a thought that guides them, which is 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 reach victory and to conquer political power and, moreover, to continue the revolution and to maintain the course always towards the only, great goal: Communism; a guiding thought that, arriving at a qualitative leap of decisive importance for the revolutionary process which 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 President Gonzalo's guiding thought, and later, as Gonzalo Thought; because it is the President 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 which is guarantee of victory."

PCP - Fundamental Documents "Concerning Gonzalo Thought"

As for the specific characteristics of Gonzalo Thought, these include the Armed Strike. Here's a recent post where I wrote about the Armed Strike:


In Peru, the tactic and development of the armed strike proved to be the most useful, and several armed strikes, led by Maoist workers in Lima, were launched at the height of the PPW as a preparation for the takeover of power.

An example of an armed strike would be during the 17th and 18th of May, 1994, which completely "paralyzed the city (...) hundreds of guerrilla actions, paintings on walls, propaganda, burning of buses, car bombs and attacks on police and military targets as well as economic targets (banks)" This act apparently shocked the dictator Fujimori, since he had officially announced that he had "decapitated the PCP" with the capture of Chairman Gonzalo, but he "did not appear on TV during the two days," as he regularly did.
(The New Flag, Vol. 1, No. 2, (http://www.blythe.org/peru-pcp/newflag/nf0102.pdf)"Successful Armed Strike in Lima" (http://www.blythe.org/peru-pcp/newflag/nf0102.pdf) p. 5 (http://www.blythe.org/peru-pcp/newflag/nf0102.pdf))

These armed strikes often happened spontaneously, too, for example during 29th and 30th of April, 1991, when workers at the Central Highway industry went on an armed strike as a reply to the murder of a company worker. The strike was still mildly criticized by the PCP Central Committee, since they did not "communicate forthwith on this incident to his Party cell," and therefore "did not empower additional means to strengthen the struggle". However, they noted that they could not "criticize him [the leader of the strike] for not counterpoising the Party to Front, because as a communist, he leads the struggle and promotes the response of the masses." It did not bother them that much either, since "the strike was successful and mobilized the masses."
(PCP - May Directives for Metropolitan Lima "On the Armed Strike at the Central Highway Industries" (http://www.blythe.org/peru-pcp/docs_en/dire.htm))

[Roach]

The original spanish title for Gonzalo was Presidente, which is closer to president than chairman. Savage was rightly asking why was he carrying such a title considering the fact that he was not yet a leader of the country. Besides, it is accepted fact (even among the Communists) that PCP had a personality cult around Gonzalo, which didn't really help organization once he was captured by the Fujimori's government. :)
There is no equivalent to chairman in spanish besides presidente.

[Spartacus.]

There is no equivalent to chairman in spanish besides presidente.


Thanks. I didn't know that. :)