The Peruvian revolution liquidates the reformist left
Pedro Castillo, former president of Peru
La Marx International 2/23/23
The revolution that the Peruvian people have been leading since 2018 has caused the fall of 4 capitalist governments. For the last 5 years, the people of Peru have rejected all the political parties that defend capitalism, which has caused capitalist governments to last an average of just one year, giving rise to a whole series of very weak capitalist regimes and governments.
In just 5 years, Peru already had 5 capitalist governments, that of Pedro Kuczynski who fell in 2018, that of Martín Vizcarra, and Manuel Merino who fell in 2020, that of Pedro Castillo who fell in 2022, and now that of Dina Boluarte . The " permanent revolution" in Peru is liquidating the parties that support the capitalist political regime: it made the old APRA disappear, it hits Fujimorismo, which barely obtains 15% of the votes, and it is liquidating Peru Libre, the formation that led to the presidency to Pedro Castillo. The "permanent revolution" of Peru is twinned with the process experienced by Ecuador, Chile, Panama, Bolivia, Colombia, and the Andean nations that face the Pacific Ocean, which experienced a certain " capitalist boom"While China's economy grew at high rates, but in the midst of the global recession of capitalism, and China's plunge into depression, the "Andean miracle" faded.
Peru Libre presents itself as a "left" party but it is a bosses' party with a program of defense of Peruvian capitalism. The entire program of Peru Libre is profoundly reactionary, it denies the most basic rights of women, it is against legal abortion, it is deeply macho and linked to the Church, it denies the rights of the LGTBQ community, it denies and curtails the fundamental rights of oppressed, in addition to publicly vindicating some of the most monstrous political regimes that exist in the world with Putin's, Maduro's, Ortega's, China's, or Iran's.
The lie of the "coup" against Pedro Castillo
The Progressive International has launched a campaign that in Peru there was a coup against the government of Pedro Castillo, which is totally false. In reality, if someone tried to suppress the bourgeois democratic regime, it was President Pedro Castillo himself, who announced the dissolution of Congress, and decreed a state of exception, something like a state of siege, on December 7, 2022 throughout the country.
Castillo hoped that the Peruvian people would come out to support his decisions, but reality showed that it was a government hated and rejected by the people, with which his announcements were isolated, without popular support, after which he ended up dismissed and imprisoned. Castillo's fall was a heavy defeat for the Progressive International (PI) led by Bernie Sanders, senator of the imperialist Democratic Party of the United States, and Yanis Varoufaquis, leader of the Syriza coalition of Greece, who first supported the candidacy, and then the government. of Castillo.
The Progressive International and its organ, Jacobin Magazine, launched the "coup " campaign in Peru
IP and its magazine called Jacobin are the ones that give the line that is carried out by 99% of the world left. With the Castillo government, IP sought to develop a social democratic left in line with the business of the imperialist transnationals, such as the government of Lula in Brazil, Boric in Chile, and Petro in Colombia, all leaders who are part of IP. But this organization, which receives funding and support from the United States Department of State, failed with its plans in Peru.
The "pocket rebellion" of the rondera bourgeoisie
After the fall of Castillo, the ronda bourgeoisie of the interior of Peru, which controls the Central Única de Rondas Campesinas del Perú (CUNARC-P), launched a series of mobilizations from the interior of Peru to Lima. The peasant rounds are communal organizations from the interior that by Law of the capitalist government of Alejandro Toledo from 2003 began to have the power to control regions, communities, and celebrate agreements with multinational companies that exploit the country's rich mines in key areas. from Puno, Cajamarca, Ayacucho, etc. They also implement agricultural, commercial companies, etc.
CUNARC-P basically has its fort in the south on the border with Bolivia where the rich mines of what was formerly Upper Peru reside in the Viceroyalty under Spanish rule. To the extent that the Rondas Campesinas developed, a sector of bourgeois and capitalists of indigenous origin emerged who exploited their indigenous counterparts in the mining and agricultural work of the Rondas. This emerging rondera bourgeoisie is similar to the one that emerged with Evo Morales in Bolivia, the cooperative members who exploit indigenous labor in the mega-projects of the imperialist multinationals in Bolivia, who have made significant fortunes, and are grouped in the Bolivian MAS
This ronda bourgeoisie found its place in the Perú Libre capitalist coalition, which brought Pedro Castillo to power. Pedro Castillo considered himself a "rondero" and announced that he was going to place a CUNARC-P office next to his president's office. CUNARC-P is led by the Communist Party of Peru, a Stalinist party that also controls the CGTP, the country's Central Union of Workers.
The Stalinists oriented the struggle of a united employer-indigenous-worker front faithful to their popular-front proposal of unity of the working class with the "progressive national bourgeoisie" , a Stalinist proposal also shared by Vladimir Cerrón and the leaders of Peru Libre. After Castillo's fall, the ronda bourgeoisie mounted a "pocket rebellion" of their own organizations, in a bureaucratic way, in defense of Castillo's capitalist government that they consider "his government."
The brutal repression of the government of the Dina Boluarte government
When the Castillo government fell, the ronda bourgeoisie mobilized its bases in defense of the government with 3 slogans: That Pedro Castillo recover his freedom, that Congress be dissolved, and that new elections be called for the Plurinational Constituent Assembly. He made this call with the methods of the bosses, and the privileged petty bourgeoisie, taking to the streets their bases, which in reality are made up of their own humble employees of the cooperatives and companies that they manage, hauling them from the interior to Lima, with which mounted a "pocket rebellion" of their own organizations, in a bureaucratic way, without betting on unity with the mass movement in Peru, which led the mobilization to a true disaster.
The "pocket rebellion" of the rondera bourgeoisie carried out since December was easily defeated by the government of Dina Boluarte. This was produced by the bosses' and bureaucratic method of the Stalinist currents, bureaucratic towards its bases, with the poor people brought in, isolated from the rest of the mass movement in Peru, carried out from above in order to be controlled by the rondero leaders, who at all costs sought to prevent a true mass insurrection from taking place that would lead to slogans that questioned capitalist Peru, and imposed a program superior to the timid program of the rondera bourgeoisie.
The bosses' and bureaucratic method of the Stalinist currents made it easier for the repressive forces to carry out a massacre with more than 77 deaths, and dozens of arrests and prosecutions. The government of Dina Boluarte is a very weak government, massively hated by the population. It does not have the strength or support of the masses to carry out a repression of this type, it was the program and the method of the Stalinist leaderships that led to the isolation of the struggle with a program that does not contemplate the interests of the Peruvian masses, but rather only their sectoral interests of the indigenous-bourgeoisie, and vindicates a government hated by the people, which made it easier for Boluarte to impose repression.
The Progressive International describes Boluarte as a coup and fascist government, which is false. The Boluarte government is a bourgeois democratic government like that of Lula, Fernandez in Argentina, López Obrador in Mexico, Macron in France, or Modi in India, it defends private property and capitalism. All capitalist governments repress, and seek to defeat the mobilizations in the streets, they send troops and repress whatever their political color. The description of Boluarte as "fascist" is to hide the political disaster in which they incurred, and all the groups of the world left that called to support Castillo.
Boluarte is the vice president put in that position by Castillo himself, it does not arise from any "coup" but from the very succession of bourgeois democratic governments. The IP calls "fascist"to Boluarte to hide that it was Castillo himself, and Peru Libre, who put Dina Boluarte there. The IP, and all the leftist groups that called Castillo to vote, betraying Marxist principles, are responsible for the fact that Peru is now governed by Boluarte. The Stalinists, Maoists, ex-guerrillas, nationalists, and groups that call themselves Trotskyists, but are reformists like Alan Woods, Mandelism, the LIT-CI, UIT, LIS, are treasonous groups. Betraying principles is not just an ideological transgression, but one that has profound implications because it can lead valuable activists, and innocent people, to their deaths.
The bourgeois ronderos and Lima only seek capitalist profits
The ronderos bourgeois seek a "Plurinational" Constitution to demand their place in the distribution of capitalist profits in Peru. None of the Stalinist organizations or ronderas question capitalism, rather they question "Lima centralism." They seek, with the "Plurinational Constituent Assembly" , to enjoy autonomy in the regions to negotiate with the imperialist multinationals from Canada, the US, and Europe that seek to finance projects to extract the immense wealth that the country has.
Castillo joined Peru Libre on September 21, 2020, and after winning the elections and being elected president on September 21, 2021, he had already met in Washington with Kristalina Gueorgieva of the IMF, and with the president of the World Bank David Malpass . After that, he began the design of business plans between the government of Peru and imperialism. All these movements are proof of the corrupt and decomposed character of these bosses' sectors, which call themselves "left", but are only interested in profits and business, as in the case of Evo Morales in Bolivia.
Between June 8 and 10, 2022, Pedro Castillo met with representatives of various imperialist multinational companies in Washington, including Google, after which he considered that he could start establishing businesses on his own. In this way, Castillo began to tempt various legislators and social organizations to distance themselves from Peru Libre, and start a new political front around it. Vladimir Cerrón, the head of Peru Libre ordered him to withdraw from Peru Libre, which led Castillo to resign from Peru Libre on June 29, 2022.
To the extent that the global crisis of capitalism worsens, the profit pie shrinks for the bourgeois, capitalists, and privileged Peruvians, and with this, the dispute between the different bourgeois sectors becomes cruel and ruthless. The "Pacific Alliance" of Mexico's López Obrador, Colombia's Petro, Peru's Castillo, Chile's Boric, and Ecuador's Laso, which made so many promises of well-being, is irremediably sinking as China sinks into depression with growth below 2%.
Castillo's departure from Peru Libre in June 2022 was a serious crisis for the coalition that broke up less than a year after taking office. The rupture was not due to the debate on how to defend the interests of the working class and the people, nor because of issues related to Marxism, but because of the disputes over profits, and the juicy contracts, and bribes offered by the capitalist Corporations that take wealth, and destroy the environment of Peru.
The "Plurinational State" is for capitalists and multinationals
The slogan of the plurinational state, and of a Plurinational Constituent Assembly promoted by the IP, the rondera bourgeoisie, the Stalinists of the PC, of Patria Roja, of the union bureaucrats of the CGTP is a deception for the original peoples of Peru. Following the model imposed in the capitalist constitution of Bolivia by Evo Morales, the plurinational state, and the Plurinational Constituent Assembly seek to establish a capitalist state, and defend the private property of the means of production and exchange.
Like any capitalist state, the "Plurinational state" is a great lie and danger to the original peoples. The Bolivian Constitution establishes in its articles that private ownership of the means of production and exchange is unseizable. That is to say, if a multinational contaminates an entire region, abuses its employees, pays horrible salaries, and the native peoples want to seize it to compensate for the damages suffered, they cannot because the "Plurinational State" does not allow it .
The "Plurinational state" allows native peoples the freedom to make use of their customs, traditions and language; as long as they accept the capitalist Constitution of Bolivia, private ownership of the means of production and exchange, and the profits of the capitalists. In conclusion, if the capitalist state represents a "people's prison" for the native peoples, the "Plurinational State" is a "people's prison " but with a "progressive" touch .
We Marxists never advocate a capitalist state. If we go to a Constituent Assembly, we propose that it consecrate a socialist Constitution, even though we are a minority. A party that calls itself Marxist that votes for, or proposes a "Plurinational State" in a Constituent Assembly is because its leaders are a group of traitors to the working class, and to Marxism.
The Peruvian revolution liquidates reformism
Just like the Ukrainian Revolution, which is destroying the entire reformist left, and Stalinists in the world, because they support Putin, the Peruvian Revolution is destroying the Stalinists, and reformists of the Communist Party of Peru, Patria Roja, Bandera Roja , the union bureaucrats of the CGTP, and the bourgeois ronderos of the CUNARC-P. It will no longer be easy for these bureaucrats and corrupt leaders who call themselves "Marxists" or "Mariateguistas" to deceive the people with new "Plurinational" mobilizations. What would Jose Carlos Mariátegui, the Peruvian Marxist leader who died in 1930, think of these corrupt leaders who negotiate with multinationals?
The revolution, relentless, sweeps away all of them. Pedro Castillo is in jail, his collaborators too. Vladimir Cerrón, leader of Peru Libre, faces charges of 4 years in prison for being corrupt. The government of Dina Boluarte, heir to Castillo's, hangs by a thread, surrounded by massive rejection by the people. The parties and corrupt leaders of the Peruvian left are sinking into a deep crisis.
But the leaders of IP are also sinking, and of the world left that capitulated to Pedro Castillo. The liars who spoke of Pedro Castillo as the "pencil", the "communist", the "peasant", the "rondero", the representative of "deep Peru", the one who is "one like us", all the charlatans leading the world left who parroted the stupidities that IP says. The clowns who went to have their photos taken in Peru during the ronderos demonstrations. The charlatans who spend rivers of ink talking about a coup in Peru to justify their betrayals.and they sell lies to the militants and activists.
Like the Peruvian left, the Progressive International sank in Peru, and all its satellites and repeaters are sinking into a deep crisis because they reveal their social democratic, reformist character, moved solely by the interest of money. The world left is sinking into the corruption of money, which is why the only thing that interests it is to run for office and run businesses, such as cooperatives or others, they are just as corrupt as the Peruvian left, and that is why while they adapt to the Stalinism, and bourgeois democracy, make a fool of themselves in the face of world activism that is moving away from them, which sinks them minute by minute.
All the groups of the world left led by IP are going to the dustbin of history. The number one task of Marxists is to relentlessly denounce them, and at the same time build the tool to overcome their betrayals. We fight for a Socialist Peru within the framework of a Socialist Latin American Federation, against all capitalist governments, from La Marx Peru, and La Marx Internacional we work day by day with this objective.