(The following article appeared in the October 23 issue of Combate Socialista. The translation is by Anne Teesdale.]
Che Guevara, the Latin American who said, "Either socialist revolution or a caricature of revolution," fell on October 8, 1967.
On October 8, 1978, the Partido Revolucionario de los Trabajadores was founded. But it didn't begin from scratch. The PRT is the fruit of more than two years of unification efforts by several revolutionary Trotskyist groups.
Of course, not everyone agreed to a unification.
There were those who remained behind, because it was difficult for them to abandon their sectarianism. But they will come around.
The groups that have unified are the FIR, the FIR-IV, the Combate Socialista Group, the Natalia Sedova Circles, and part of the PST. Now we are a party.
We are the Partido Revolucionario de los Trabajadores, fighting for:
• A government of the workers of the city and the countryside.
• Factories into the hands of the workers, not the capitalists.
We do not believe any section of the capitalists will fight together with us against imperialism. The workers must maintain their class independence.
We believe that workers throughout the world should join with us in the struggle against capitalism. This is why we are part of the Fourth International.
At first we thought we had to fully discuss our tactical differences in order to achieve unity. We wasted a lot of time and made very little progress this way. Then we changed our method. While continuing to discuss our differences, we carried out joint activity in those areas where there was agreement. This helped us progress faster and cut through many misunderstandings.
We are still not finished discussing. But the differences are not so great, and they can be worked out within the unified party. The discussion is now much more fraternal in the atmosphere of joint activity.
Our congress will take place in three months, after we have fully discussed the most important political issues. If differences still exist, they will be discussed and voted on at the congress, and the party will carry out the line approved by the majority. This is called democratic centralism; we discuss all positions democratically, then carry out the line adopted by the majority.
We are optimistic about this unification. It has turned out well, and we have learned a great deal. We hope this experience will help us to extend the unification. We call first of all on the comrades of the PST who did not want to unify, as well
.* to join as on the comrades of the POMR, us in forming one big Trotskyist party in Peru. We also call upon the other, smaller groups that want to join in this effort.
For now, we will work together with the PST and the POMR to strengthen the FOCEP and to make it an even stronger organization fighting for a workers government and socialism, with no alliances with any sectors of the bourgeoisie.
*Partido Obrero Marxista Revolucionario (Revolutionary Marxist Workers Party), Peruvian affiliate of the Organizing Committee for the Reconstruction of the Fourth International.—IP/I
And what about the rest of the left?
When these compañeros understand that the workers cannot join with sectors of the bosses; when they understand that the bosses are united against us: when they understand that the only way to free ourselves from imperialism is to sweep away capitalism-when that day comes, we will form a single party of all the workers against all the exploiters.
As long as the companeros of the other left parties don't understand this, we cannot form one single party. But we will still work with them in all activities that advance the workers struggles, in favor of democracy within the mass movement, with a spirit of unity and without sectarianism. Our slogan shall always be, "The left united will never be defeated."
Compañero: If you are for a workers government, if you are against capitalism and for socialism, if you are for unity of the left, join the Partido Revolucionario de los Trabajadores!