Communism in Peru

Communism as a political philosophy in Peru dates back to the 1920s, a period where new ideological currents entered the country.

Throughout the movement's history, a number of parties, movements and organisations in the country have referred to themselves by the name of "communist party". The oldest to do so is the Peruvian Communist Party (Partido Comunista Peruano, PCP), originally founded in 1928 as the Peruvian Socialist Party' (PSP) by Marxist philosopher and journalist José Carlos Mariátegui. The 1960s brought about the emergence of splinter groups up until the 21st century. One of these groups, commonly known as the Shining Path (PCP-SL), waged an insurgency against the Peruvian State that resulted in a 20-year period of violence that took place from 1980 to 2000, while its splinter groups have continued to operate from 2001 onwards.

History

The first Peruvian political party to adopt communism as an ideology was the Peruvian Communist Party (Partido Comunista Peruano, PCP). It was originally founded as the Peruvian Socialist Party (PSP) in 1928 by a group of nine socialist sympathisers (known as the "Group of Lima"), which included Marxist philosopher and journalist José Carlos Mariátegui, and formally changed its name in 1930, following Mariátegui's death and his succession by Eudocio Ravines as party leader.

Following a period of outright illegality, the group gradually incorporated itself into the legal political scene during the 1960s, which led to the disappointment with its so-called burocratic and collaborationist character, believing that guerrilla warfare was the only path to the establishment of a socialist state. In 1962, a faction split and formed the National Liberation Army (ELN) a year later, which led such a military campaign until its defeat by 1965.

In 1963, the ongoing Sino-Soviet split separated the PCP into two rival factions, one pro-Soviet and the other pro-Chinese. The latter subsequently split from the Peruvian Communist Party in January 1964 and adopted the name "Peruvian Communist Party – Red Flag" (PCP-BR). The party was originally led by Saturnino Paredes, José Sotomayor, and Abimael Guzmán. Due to internal disagreements among the party's three leaders, the party expelled several of its members in its early history. Two parties subsequently emerged from a 1969 split in the party: the Communist Party of Peru – Red Fatherland (PCP-PR) and the Communist Party of Peru – Shining Path (PCP-SL) led by Guzmán. Afterwards, Paredes became the party's sole leader and renamed the party "Peruvian Communist Party (Marxist–Leninist)". In response to the Sino-Albanian split, the party dropped its commitment to Maoism and aligned itself with the Party of Labour of Albania and Hoxhaism. In 1978, the "PCP-Mayoría" faction split from the PCP to form a more pro-Soviet branch, as it considered that the PCP had adopted Eurocommunism instead, operating until the 1980s.

The elections of 1980 formally ended the so-called Revolutionary Government of Francisco Morales Bermúdez, who had seized power from Juan Velasco Alvarado through a military coup in 1975. The previously banned socialist and communist parties participated in the elections, leading to the PCP attaining five seats in the constituent assembly, while left-wing groups as a whole achieved an important presence and united to form the United Left alliance, which formed one of the country's main political forces during the 1980s.

In contrast to the aforementioned legal route of the political left, Guzmán's PCP-SL began its war against the Peruvian government by burning ballots in Chuschi, a town in rural Ayacucho. Guzmán's faction considered the political left as revisionists, openly and actively opposing them through its period of insurgency. The Shining Path's leadership was captured and arrested by the Special Intelligence Group in 1992, and entered amnesty talks the following year. Rump factions of the group that opposed the peace talks have since continued a low-intensity insurgency that continues to this day, allying themselves with narcoterrorist groups in rural parts of the country, notably the Valle de los Ríos Apurímac, Ene y Mantaro (VRAEM).

Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the PCP and other communist parties in Peru have since participated at a much smaller level in the country's politics, mainly through broad left-wing political alliances.

List of parties

A number of political parties claim the name and legacy of the original party founded in 1928, some using the original name. These parties include:

Name	Abbr.	Established	Disestablished	Notes
Partido Comunista Peruano	PCP	1928	No	Known as the Peruvian Socialist Party until 1930.
Partido Obrero Revolucionario	POR	1944	1963	Known as the Marxist Workers Group until 1946.
APRA Rebelde	APRA	1959	1962	Split from APRA; later became the MIR.
Partido Comunista Peruano (Marxista–Leninista)	PCPML	1964	No	Known as the Peruvian Communist Party – Red Flag until 1969.
Vanguardia Revolucionaria	VR	1965	1984
Partido Comunista del Perú – Patria Roja	PCP-PR	1970	No	Expelled from PCPML in 1969.
Partido Comunista del Perú	PCP	1970	1992	Expelled from PCPML in 1969 and became an armed group in 1980.
Partido Obrero Marxista Revolucionario	POMR	1970	1982	A majority faction eventually joined the PST.
Partido Comunista – Estrella Roja	PCP-ER	1970s	1970s	Split from the PCP.
Partido Socialista de los Trabajadores	PST	1971	No	A member of LIT-CI; a pro-UIT-CI faction split in 1992.
Partido Comunista Revolucionario	PCR	1974	1990s	Split from the VR.
Partido Comunista Revolucionario - Trinchera Roja	PCR-TR	1977	1984	Split from the PCR and eventually joined the PUM.
Vanguardia Revolucionaria (Proletario Comunista)	VR-PC	1977	1980s	Dissolved and most of its members joined the Shining Path. A splinter group also existed.
Frente Obrero Campesino Estudiantil y Popular	FOCEP	1977	No
Partido Comunista del Perú - Puka Llacta	PCP-PLL	1978	?
Partido Comunista Peruano – Mayoría	PCP-Mayoría	1978	1980s	Split from the PCP under the leadership of Ventura Zegarra.
Partido Socialista Revolucionario (Marxista-Leninista)	PSR(M-L)	1978	?	Split from the PSR
Partido Revolucionario de los Trabajadores	PRT	1978	No
Partido Comunista Revolucionario-Clase Obrera	PCR-CO	1970s	?
Partido Unificado Mariateguista	PUM	1984	1996
Partido Proletario del Perú	PPP	1990	No	Headed by Illipa Tuta.
Militarizado Partido Comunista del Perú	MPCP	1992	No	Operates as a militant group.
Partido Político Nacional Perú Libre	PL	2008	No

Other

A number of electoral fronts and alliances have brought together the aforementioned groups on different occasions:

• The name "Socialist Vanguard Party" was used by the PCP in order to facilitate its legal registration in 1945.
• United Left (IU): a loose alliance that gained a strong political presence in the 1980s.
• Revolutionary Left Union (UNIR): formed part of the IU from 1980 to 1993. Consisted of the PCP-PR, the VR-PC, and the FLN.

See also

• Anarchism in Peru
• Gonzalo Thought
• Shining Path
• José Carlos Mariátegui

References

Sources

• Alexander, Robert J. (1999). International Maoism in the Developing World. Westport, Conn.: Praeger. ISBN 0275961494.
• Delury, George E. (1983). World Encyclopedia of Political Systems & Parties: Nepal-Zimbabwe, and smaller countries and microstates. New York, N.Y.: Facts on File. ISBN 0871967804.
• Fumerton, Mario (2003). From Victims to Heroes: Peasant Counter-rebellion and Civil War in Ayacucho, Peru, 1980–2000. Amsterdam: Rozenberg. ISBN 9051706588.
• Mauceri, Philip (1996). State Under Siege: Development And Policy Making In Peru. Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press. ISBN 0813336074.
• Nohlen, Dieter (2005). Elections in the Americas: A data handbook. Vol. 2. New York. ISBN 978-0-19-928358-3.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)