(The following resolution was approved by a conference of five Peruvian Trotskyist groups! held in Lima October 8. It appeared in the first issue-dated October 23—of Combate Socialista, the new organ of the Partido Revolucionario de los Trabajadores (PRT-Revolutionary Workers Party). Combate Socialista replaces Revolución, which the five groups had been publishing jointly. The translation is by Anne Teesdale.]
The organizations and tendencies participating in the first conference of the organ. izing commission for the unified party consider that:
1. Our country is in the midst of a deep social and political crisis. Broad sectors of the masses have engaged in revolutionary struggles, as shown by three national general strikes. This was only partially reflected in the election results. This struggle has brought to the fore the urgent need to equip the masses with a revolutionary party capable of organizing and leading the way to the socialist revolution.
2. Conscious of their responsibility in this situation, organizations adhering to the Fourth International have joined in a unification effort to form one single party.
3. More than two years of discussion and coordination in the Trotskyist Coordinating Commission, and later in the Unification Commission, demonstrated that basic agreement exists. This made unification not only possible but urgent. Therefore, the Organizing Commission for the Unified Party was formed on August 24. The commission resolved to carry through the fusion.
4. The same agreements that led to the formation of the Organizing Commission make up the basic principles of unification. These agreements can be summarized as follows:
• Common allegiance to the program, principles, statutes, and revolutionary traditions of the Fourth International.
• Common desire to construct a Leninist combat party, based on the principles of democratic centralism; that is, the widest and the Tendencia Pro-
Unificación (Pro-Unification Tendency) of the Partido Socialista de los Trabajadores (PST- Socialist Workers Party).-IP/I
freedom of internal discussion and ironclad unity in external action.
• Firm conviction as to the socialist character of our revolution, which can triumph only through the conquest of power by the workers. A workers and peasants government is the only government capable of meeting the democratic, anti-imperialist, and anticapitalist demands of our people.
• Common membership in the FOCEP. We are struggling to make it a pole for socialist regroupment and for the unity of the exploited masses in a single front of working-class independence.
• We reject class-collaborationist politics and popular frontism, which seek to hold the masses back through reformist illusions.
• We reject all illusions in bourgeoisdemocratic and parliamentary institutions as roads to power. At the same time, as revolutionists, we must utilize bourgeoisdemocratic openings to promote direct action by the masses and convince them that socialism is the only road for the revolution.
• We call for the independent organization of the masses to fight for their demands, in bodies such as the Fronts for the Defense of the People and the People's Assemblies.*
• The deepening political crisis in our country and the lack of a revolutionary leadership make our unification of the utmost urgency, as a decisive step forward in the building of a revolutionary party. In this sense, the organizational barriers that exist between Trotskyists have become obstacles to unification. A common organizational framework will not only improve conditions for carrying out practical tasks but will also allow an orderly and syste matic discussion of the positions we are to adopt.
6. Even though all the political discussions have not been carried out, the first steps in the unification should be taken and the fusion should be completed in the shortest possible time.
Therefore we resolve:
1. To dissolve our organizations in order to build only one group, the Partido Revolucionario de los Trabajadores [PRT-
Revolutionary Workers Party].
2. To proceed with the fusion of party cells and all other organizational structures at all levels.
3. To convene a new conference within fifteen days that will resolve:
• programmatic positions;
• political line;
• resolutions from working commissions;
• organizational norms.
4. To convene the First National Congress of the party within ninety days. The congress will approve:
• a program;
• a political resolution;
• statutes.
5. To elect a Central Committee, including representatives of all the organizations and tendencies participating in the unification. The Central Committee will be the highest leadership body of the party until the First Congress.
6. To publish Combate Socialista as the organ of the new party.
7. To call on the PST to join in the unification as rapidly as possible.
8. To request recognition from the Fourth International as the Peruvian Section of the Fourth International.
Long Live the Partido Revolucionario de los Trabajadores!
Long live the Fourth International!
Long live the world socialist revolution!
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Notes
1. The five groups are the Frente de la Izquierda Revolucionaria (FIR-Front of the Revolutionary Left), the FIR-IV (FIR-Fourth International), the Grupo Combate Socialista (Socialist Struggle Group), the Circulos Natalia Sedova (Natalia Sedova Circles),
2. Frente Obrero, Campesino, Estudiantil, y Popular (Workers, Peasants, Students, and People's Front).-IP/1
3. Independent organs that have arisen from time to time in the course of the past year's general strikes and struggles in Peru.—IP/I
4. Partido Socialista de los Trabajadores (Socialist Workers Party), another sympathizing organization of the Fourth International in Peru. The PST was involved in the unification discussions but the majority of the organization has chosen not to participate in the fusion at the present time.-IP/I