The following article appeared in the January 10 issue of Palabra Socialista, a revolutionary-socialist newspaper published in Peru. The translation is by Intercontinental Press.]
The peasant struggles at the end of the 1950s and the beginning of the 1960s brought about major changes in the Convención and Lares valleys, and had a powerful impact in the rest of the department of Cuzco.
In La Convención and Lares the system of haciendas was virtually abolished and replaced by small and medium-sized land holdings. The repressive forces that caused a retreat on other gains did not dare touch the fundamental one.
In the rest of the department it was different. Repression by the bourgeois governments caused a backsliding, notably on such gains of the peasants as the recovery of communal lands and the marked reduction of power of the big landowners.
The current regime's agrarian reform, designed to promote capitalist development of the nation and to diminish tensions in the countryside, in great measure achieved its objectives. For all practical purposes, the big haciendas in the department were liquidated. This is a major capitalist advance that we must take note of if we want to act logically in the countryside.
But watch out! This does not mean that the local bosses have stopped being power ful men nor that the peasantry has stopped being the poorest and most exploited sector. It means only that the big landowners exploit the people in another way—as owners of factories, big merchants, or functionaries-and that the peasants experience exploitation by the capitalists and their state. The cooperatives, SAIS, and now the Social Property enterprises are nothing but poorly disguised forms for exploiting the peasantry. The commercial cooperatives of La Convención and Lares stopped being such vehicles thanks to the consciousness and experience of the peasantry of that zone.
Peasant Organizations
The repression and the subsequent reformist course followed by the government were the main causes of the weakening of the Peasant Federations of La Convención and Lares and of the department of Cuzco.
The bourgeois government—with the help of old fighters like Vladimiro Valer, Justo Huallpa, Saturnino Willca, among others, and a lot of demagogy-presented Sinamos," the agrarian leagues, and FARTAC as conquests of the big peasant struggles against the local bosses and the government.
So, for objective and subjective reasons these bodies financed by the bourgeois government were strengthened
The weakening of the traditionally antigovernment Departmental Federation of Cuzco and Provincial Federation of La Convención eased their conversion into new battlegrounds for the ultraleft university sects, which, out of ignorance and lack of interest in the daily problems of the peasantry, favored still more the weakening of the class-struggle federations. That is, the dominance of these sects in the leadership of the two federations is both cause and effect of the decline of the federations.
In La Convención and Lares, when the issue was a struggle for land, it generally took place through the unions and the federation. Now the main struggle is over the marketing of what they produce, and as a result it takes place through the commerthose who attacked it harshly thirteen years ago, when he was also a student.
Our Position on the CCP
We consider the CCP to be a peasant organization independent of the bourgeois state. We believe it is the only organization of such a character that encompasses broad sectors of the masses.
These two considerations are sufficient for us to support and defend the CCP and fight to make it stronger.
Patria Roja and other sectors make serious accusations of bureaucratism against the leadership of the CCP. Even if against the leadership of the CCP. Even if all these accusations are correct, we will fight with all our might to end such methods and to correct whatever political deviation that might exist. But we will do all this while defending the CCP, and from inside it.
Let us recall our policy toward the CGTP:-defense of the organization and a fight to strengthen it. We carry this out precisely by fighting against the bureaucratic, sellout leadership from inside the organization.
This is the policy that Marx and Lenin followed, and it has nothing to do with the divisive, ill-fated sectarianism of the selfstyled "Marxist-Leninist" ultraleft.
Moreover, there is an essential difference between the leaderships of the CGTP and the CCP. The leadership of the CGTP. which is in the hands of the CP."Unidad," supports the bourgeois government and practices class collaborationism. The CCP leadership, with its VR" majority, points to the government as one of the main enemies of the peasantry and in general has a classstruggle policy.
Our initial attitude toward the comrades of the VR, PCR, and MIRº who have done peasant work is to congratulate them for their work. Starting from such a position we will begin a discussion on the analyses made, the line to follow, and the functioning of our peasant organizations.
For now, let us only point out our fundamental point of difference. For us the revolution it is our job to make is the socialist revolution. This is even more true given the reforms made by this bourgeois government-including the agrarian reform. Our task is an anticapitalist and thus a socialist one. On this matter we disagree with all branches of Stalinism-from the CP."Unidad" to "Bandera Roja," the VR, and the PCR.
7. Confederación General de Trabajadores del Perú (General Confederation of Peruvian Workers).
8. Vanguardia Revolucionaria (Revolutionary Vanguard).
9. Partido Comunista Revolucionario (Revolutionary Communist party, a split from VR); Movimiento de Izquierda Revolucionaria (Movement of the Revolutionary Left).
Organizationally the main difference is that we believe the CCP should fight inside the CGTP against the sellout leadership of this federation.
members of the CCP than separates us. We think that in general our differences will be overcome through common work.
It is with this spirit that we go to work in the CCP and for this reason that I have agreed to become a member of the National Executive Committee of our peasant federation.
Notes
1. Sociedades Agricolas de Interés Social (Cooperative Agricultural Societies).
2. Sistema Nacional de Apoyo a la Movilización Social (National Network for Supporting Social Mobilization).
3. Federación Agraria Revolucionaria "Túpac Amaru II" del Cuzco (Tupac Amaru Il Revolutionary Agrarian Federation of Cuzco).