REVOLUTIONARY MARXIST
PARTY FOUNDED IN CHILE
| By José Valdés
Santiago de Chile
The founding congress of a revolutionary Marxist party was held here on August 14-15. Various groups and parties with delegates from the most important provinces of the country attended. After a full democratic discussion they approved the following reports: International, Latin-American, National, Declaration of Principles and Program, Organization and Statutes. By majority vote the new united party was named "Movimiento de Izquierda Revolucionario" (MIR) LRevo-~lutionary Left Movement]. This new revolutionary Marxist party starts with regional committees and bases in the following provinces: Antofagasta, Coquimbo, Aconcagua, Valparafso, Santiago, O'Higgins, Talca, Concepcién, Temuco, Los Angeles, Osorno and Llanquihue, in addition to many sympathizers in the rest of the provinces of Chile (Linares, Aysen, Magallanes).
The MIR is the result of successive unifications that took place during the past year, the details of which are as follows: (1) Unification in February 1964 of the POR [Partido Obrero Revolucionario], which had a long Trotskyist tradition, with the MRC [Movimiento Revolucionario Comunista], a group of Communist. youth that came forward in the Sino-Soviet conflict. (2) Unification in May 1964 of the MRC with the OSI [Oposicidén Socialista de Izquierda], giving birth to the PSP [Partido Socialista Popular]. (3) Unification in May 1965 of the PSP with the MIDI [Movimiento de Independientes de Izquierda Allendista], a group composed of rank-and-file committees that supported the presidential candidacy of Allende. This formation retained the name of the PSP. (4) The PSP and Vanguardia Revolucionaria Marxista, together with groups that had left the Communist and Socialist parties, and revolutionary trade unionists like Clotario Blest called the Founding Congress that created the MIR.
This process of revolutionary regroupment in Chile is part and parcel of the unity process bringing together the Marxist groups that have appeared generally in Latin America since the Cuban Revolution.
In this way the most important Marxist-Leninist party yet to be formed in Chile has come into being. Its importance can be judged not only by its political positions and the quality of its leaders but by the number of active members, the majority of them young workers, peasants and students.
The congress elected a central committee of 21 members -- ll from Santiago and 10 from the provinces. The central committee is composed of youth in its great majority and experienced leaders like Enrique Septllveda, founder of the POR and Chilean Trotskyism, who was unanimously elected general secretary; Humberto Valenzuela, former _general secretary of the POR; Clotario Blest, president of the Central Unica de Trabajadores for nine years; Oscar Waiss, who was a member
of the central committee of the Socialist party for various terms until he broke with it because of its reformism; Santibanez, regional leader of the Communist party who just broke away from the CP because of its revisionism; the author of this articles: and other worker and student leaders,
The documents that were approved can be judged from the following extracts: Declaration of Principles and Program
I. “The aim of the MIR is to overthrow the capitalist system and replace it by a Workers and Peasants Government, led by the organs of proletarian power, whose task will be to construct socialism and gradually eliminate the state until a classless society is reached,"
II. "The MIR bases its revolutionary action on the historical fact of the class struggle. The MIR recognizes the proletariat as the vanguard class that must win to its cause the peasants, intellectuals and impoverished middle class."
TII. "The twentieth century is the century of the definitive death agony of the capitalist system. This system, in its highest stage, imperialism, is unable to offer humanity any other perspective except dictatorial regimes and war, in a final attempt to get out of its chronic structural crisis."
Iv. "The most outstanding feature of this century is the world character which the revolutionary process has acquired. All continents have been shaken by revolution and the relation of forces between the classes has altered to the disadvantage of imperialism. The triumph of the revolution in numerous backward countries has demonstrated that all nations have sufficient objective conditions to . carry out a socialist revolution and that there are no ‘mature and immature! proletariats. Struggles for national liberation and agrarian reform have been transformed through a process of permanent and uninterrupted revolution into social revolutions, thus demonstrating that without the defeat of the bourgeoisie there are no real possibilities for national liberation and radical agrarian reform -~ demo-— cratic tasks that combine with socialist measures. The revolutions in the colonial and semicolonial countries have not yet resolved the basic problems of socialism. Until revolution triumphs in the highly industrialized countries, the danger will always remain of a nuclear war and it will not be possible to reach a classless society. Imper-— ialism will not be defeated through mere economic competition between opposing social regimes in a world of formal peaceful coexistence, but through socialist revolution in the very bastions of imperialism,"
- V. "The objective conditions are more than ripe for the overthrow of the capitalist system. Despite this, reformism and revisionism continue to betray the interests of the proletariat. It follows © that the crisis of humanity is reduced to a crisis in the world leader-
ship of the proletariat, in face of which we reaffirm the principles of proletarian internationalism. Nevertheless, the revolutionary process in the last decades has produced a crisis in the traditional political parties of the left and has begun to give rise to new revolutionary movements which open the historic perspective of overcoming the crisis in leadership of the proletariat."
VI. "Chile has been converted into a semicolonial country, of backward, unequal and combined capitalist development. The course of the ruling classes since the declaration of our independence in the past century has demonstrated the incapacity of the native bourgeoisie and its parties to resolve the bourgeois-democratic tasks. We consequently reject the 'theory of stages! which mistakenly holds that it is first necessary to wait for a bourgeois-democratic stage, led by the industrial bourgeoisie, before the proletariat takes power. We will combat this conception which fosters illusions in the 'progressive. bourgeoisie! and practices class collaboration. We emphatically maintain that the only class capable of carrying out ‘democratic! tasks in combination with socialist tasks is the proletariat at the head of the peasantry and the impoverished middle class."
VII. "The MIR rejects the theory of a 'peaceful' and 'parliamentary road! because it disarms the proletariat politically and is inapplicable since the bourgeoisie itself will resist, including by means of totalitarian dictatorship and civil war instead of peace-~ fully handing over power. We reaffirm the Marxist-Leninist principle that the only way to demolish the capitalist system is through popular armed insurrection,"
VIII. “fhe MIR defines itself as a Marxist-Leninist organization that is governed by the principles of democratic centralism,"
Program
Internationally:
"The present world is divided into nations of the capitalist system and countries with a socialist structure. Within the capitalist system there are oppressor countries and oppressed countries. The MIR proclaims its support to the socialist camp and categorically rejects the idea of any possible neutrality. Peaceful coexistence, active or passive, represents a provisional agreement between the bureaucracies and imperialism aimed at slowing down or blocking the world revolution. The MIR is for the defense of the socialist countries in case of aggression. In the socialist countries, we support the revolutionary people and not its bureaucratic leaderships who have deformed the process of constructing socialism and have betrayed revolutionary Marxism,
"The MIR is in favor of the colonial revolution and every antiimperialist struggle; it supports the revolutionary wars of liberation which the oppressed peoples are advancing, just. as it stands in favor
of self-determination for the peoples.
"The MIR proclaims its support for the Cuban Revolution, pointing out that its methods of insurrectional struggle, liquidation of the national bourgeoisie and imperialism, its forms of constructing socialism, including its proposals not to permit either sectarianism or bureaucratism, constitute an example for the guidance of the revo-= lutionists of the continent.
"The MIR will struggle for the United Socialist Republics of Latin America, a unity which we conceive not as a single country but as a united federation of the Latin-American nations, in a socialist system, as a step toward complete unity.
"The MIR, on the basis of the principles of proletarian internationalism, will maintain, without any sectarianism, fraternal Yrelations with the revolutionary parties of the whole world, maintaining independence to resolve its own national politics. In our continent, the MIR will seek to form a united movement of revolutionary groups and parties of Latin America with the aim of coordinating and accelerating the revolutionary process."
Nationally:
"Our semicolonial country must undertake to carry out two basic tasks: the liquidation of imperialism and the agrarian revolution.
"The expulsion of imperialism means: (a) Nationalization, without indemnification, of the copper, nitrates, iron, electric and telephone companies, the big commercial houses and the foreign banks. (bd) Breaking the pacts tying us to imperialism (military pact with the USA, OAS, International Monetary Fund). (c) Repudiation of the foreign debt contracted by the bourgeois governments with imperialism, (d) Commercial and diplomatic relations with all the countries in the world, including the socialist states. . | "fhe agrarian revolution means (a) expropriation, without payment, of. the land held by the latifundistas and turning it over to the peasants who till it. This will be on a family or collective basis in accordance with the specific conditions in each zone, and will be accompanied by technical aid, machines, and other measures designed to raise the level of productivity of agriculture,
"These two tasks of democratic nature must be intimately linked in an uninterrupted way to the objectives of socialist nature which are as follows: (a) Socialization of the key sectors of the country like the banks and credit, insurance, transport, medicine and social security, urban revolution, etc. (b) Expropriation, without payment, of the plants and enterprises of the national bourgeoisie and their management through the unions and workers councils. (c) State control of foreign and domestic trade. (d) Planning and management of the
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economy by a socialist government with the leadership of the unions, revolutionary committees and councils of the workers, peasants and employees. .
"This program can be carried out through the Liquidation of the bourgeois state apparatus and its replacement by direct proletarian democracy and armed militia of the workers and peasants.
"The struggle for these revolutionary objectives does not exclude mobilizing the masses for immediate demands like: a sliding scale of wages and salaries, sliding and equalitarian family incomes, collective bargaining and union recognition, sliding scale of hours; workers control of production, progressive income tax on the capitalists, reduction of the indirect taxes on the workers, forty-hour week, the right to organize for government workers, extension of the right to vote to illiterates and those who have reached the age of eighteen, as well as to noncommissioned officers and the troops.
"Let us mobilize the workers, applying the methods of the class struggle, such as strikes, occupation of the land, factories and. fields, fighting and self-defense groups, The struggle for immediate demands must not be converted into a final end, as is done by the reformists, but must serve to lift the revolutionary political level of the masses that are mobilized for such concrete objectives, The program as a whole can be realized only by overturning the bourgeoisie. and installing a workers and peasants: government,"
International Theses
The congress of the MIR analyzed the relation of forces between the classes on a world scale as developing unfavorably for imperialism. It was held that the Soviet bureaucracy is making desperate efforts to concretize its policy of peaceful coexistence. On the Sino-Soviet conflict, the congress of the MIR decided to give criti« cal support to the positions of the Chinese Communist party with regard to its policy against peaceful coexistence and against the parliamentary and peaceful road supported by the Soviet bureaucracy. But along with the support for the Chinese position of furthering the colonial revolution, the congress indicated the errors committed by the Chinese Communist party (Indonesia, recognition of the Boumedienne coup d'état in Algeria, mistaken characterization of Yugoslavia and also the USSR, etc.).
The fact was pointed out that since the Chinese Revolution, all the revolutionary processes have escaped the control of the Communist parties, the revolutions have been led by revolutionary move~ ments and parties of a new kind (Cuba, Algeria, the Congo, Angola).
latin America: The latter thesis was stated in a document approved by the congress of the MIR, maintaining that all the revolutionary movements of Latin America have escaped the control of the Communist parties, forming new revolutionary Marxist parties. Since
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the Cuban Revolution, the following revolutionary parties have been formed, constituting an active and:ireal vanguard: Movimiento 14 de Junio in the Dominican Republic, the MIR [Movimiento de Izquierda Revolucionaria] of Venezuela, the MOEC [Movimiento de Obreros, Estudiantes y Campesinos| of Colombia, the Movimiento 13 de Noviembre of Guatemala, the MIR LMovimiento de Izquierda Revolucionaria] and FIR [Frente de Izquierda Revolucionaria] of Peru, the Juventud Revolucionaria Ecuatoriana, the POR [Partido Obrero Revolucionario] of Bolivia, the PRT [Partido Revolucionario de los Trabajadores] of Argentina, etc. The development of these revolutionary movements of a new kind is a positive base for overcoming the crisis in the leadership of .the proletariat in. Latin America. ho
The congress of the MIR agreed to call for a Latin-American conference of these revolutionary groups and: parties with the aim of coordinating the revolutionary struggle and centralizing the anti~ ; imperialist action. :
The invasion of the North American marines in Santo Domingo opens a new stage in the tactics of imperialism. The United States is on the point of cancelling its policy of an “Alliance for Progress" and is ready to intervene with sword and fire in any country where a government exists which it does not like, trampling on the right of the peoples to self-determination. The protests and opposition of governments like those of Frei, Belatinde and Leoni. against the Yankee occupation of Santo Domingo constitute a warning to the USA not to abandon the policy of the "Alliance for Progress" in which these bourgeois governments placed such high hopes. In face of the imperialist threat, the congress of the MIR appealed for formation of an Anti-imperialist Resistance Command headed by the socialist Cuba of Fidel and including all the anti-imperialist movements of Latin America and the union federations of every country.
Report on National Politics
The congress of the MIR pointed out that three fundamental features characterize the present stage: (a) the relative stabilization of bourgeois rule, which, through the demagogic program of the Christian Democracy, succeeded in gaining the support of broad layers of the people; (b) the crisis of the Communist and Socialist parties; (c) the tendency toward unity among the revolutionary Marxist forces.
The Frei government was characterized as representing the general interests of the bourgeoisie and the plans of imperialism expressed by means of the "Alliance for Progress." Nevertheless, it would be quite mechanical to consider it to be a puppet. government of the oligarchy and imperialism. Frei represents the interests of a bourgeoisie in a semicolonial country that is incapable of freeing itself from the foreign monopolists, but which wishes to play an active role as the junior partner, seeking better prices for raw materials, permanent markets, full credit and investments, aspiring to negotiate the national income with imperialism under the best pos-
oatome
sible conditions, The popular support won by Frei is a triumph for the political demagogy of the Christian Democracy, to which the opportunist, vacillating and reformist line of the FRAP* contributed. But the popular support carries its own contradiction which will come to the fore in coming months when the masses demand fulfillment of the program, This will sharpen the contradiction between the militant rank and file of the Christian Democracy, which is of popular composition, and the bourgeois leadership. In the next period we will witness the failure of the so-called "Revolucién en libertad" (free revolution) and frustration once again of this variant of the bourgeois-democratic revolution,
As for the character of the present stage, it was held that the September 4, 1964, electoral victory of the Christian Democracy signified a defeat for the working class. But this setback is of transitory character. The prognosis on economic perspectives is that the Frei government will not be able to prevent a crisis. The projected increase in production of copper does not depend on the "good intentions" of the government but on demand in the world market and on the price of copper which will continue to be controlled by imperialism.,. Agricultural and industrial production, with the exception perhaps of the export industries, will remain stagnant, because the process of inflation at a higher rate than the twenty-five per cent envisioned by the government, will reduce the buying power of the masses, thus narrowing the domestic market. The crisis will mean a worsening of the standard of living of the’ workers, which will create conditions favorable for initiation of a workers counteroffensive, In addition, the masses that voted for Frei did so because of the program of promised changes. Wide sectors of the people made a mis-~ take in placing confidence in bourgeois reformism but they don't feel defeated; they will demand that the program be carried out. The key to the situation is to accelerate the experiences of the popular sectors with the Frei government.
In view of this analysis and the perspectives, the congress of the MIR held that the situation is favorable for initiation of a proletarian counteroffensive with the following program of action:
(a) An anti-imperialist struggle: Against the government projects of associating with imperialism with regard to copper, a struggle must be waged for the expropriation, without indemnification, of the big Minerfa del Cobre. The Central Unica de Trabajadores must support the resolution of the Confederacién de Trabajadores del Cobre to go forward: to a general strike in defense of our national wealth. The MIR appealed for organization of a big campaign for nationalization of the copper industry, the telephone company and the electric company.
(b) Agrarian revolution: To meet the present agrarian reform
*Frente Revolucionario de Accién Popular through which the Communist and Socialist parties opposed Frei and supported Allende.
project of the government, it is necessary to foster occupation of . the land, a slogan that has begun to catch on in some peasant sectors (Canete, Melipilla, El Monte, etc.). The slogan of occupation must be linked with the line of defending the occupied land through militia and peasant committees. The situation is favorable for initiation of a big campaign to unionize the peasants which would permit a massive struggle in this field and the consolidation of worker-peasant unity.
The congress likewise approved a-plan of struggle for wage and salary increases, workers control, homes, holding that one of the basic tasks of the present period is to defend trade-union unity and the Central Unica de Trabajadores, threatened by the project of the Christian=Democratic government to divide the trade-union movement as in other countries where the Christian Democrats rule,
Insurrectional Thesis
The congress of the MIR approved a thesis on insurrectional struggle, the most complete work on this subject yet presented at a congress of Chilean revolutionists, The document makes a comparative analysis. of all the revolutions, studying the theses on the art of insurrection advanced by Engels, Lenin, Trotsky, Mao Tse-tung, Che Guevara, etc. The different stages of the Latin-American insurrectional movement are then analyzed, particularly guerrilla warfare in Latin America since the Cuban Revolution. It is held that every insurrectional project must take into account three basic aspects: (a) the characterization :.of the country, whether it is predominantly agrarian or industrial-mining; (b) the national tradition of struggle among the proletariat and peasantry; and (c) the character of the present stage, whether it is one of retreat or advance.
The insurrectional thesis approved by the congress of the MIR closes the door on putschism and adventurism but contains a firm decision to prepare, seriously and responsibly, for the insurrectional struggle in intimate connection with the workers and peasant movement. It reaffirms the role of the revolutionary party and does not over= estimate the military and agitational apparatus, which remains subordinated to the central committee of the party. Statutes
Some of the basic provisions of the statutes approved by the delegates include: (a) recognition of the right to form ideological and political tendencies; (b) the obligation of each member to work within the masses; (c) a national congress of the party to be held each year; (d) the general secretary cannot be reelected for more:: than two consecutive terms; (e) cach congress must renew at least one-third of the central committee each year.
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THE SENTENCES AGAINST THE