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Gonzalo Thought
Gonzalo Thought,[a] also known as Gonzaloism (particularly with its non-Peruvian adherents), is a tendency derived from Maoism which was formulated by Abimael Guzmán (a.k.a. "Chairman Gonzalo") of the Shining Path. Gonzalo Thought incorporates a militant cult of personality into its theory via the concept of "Great Leadership"[b] surrounding its version of the "classics of Marxism" while encouraging a "protracted people's war" against the government. Gonzalo Thought is heavily sectarian, denouncing virtually all other socialist tendencies as "revisionist", including other Maoists, whom they regard as being "rightist."
Gonzalo Thought, despite being claimed by the Shining Path to be exclusive to Peru,[1] has been adopted globally by various Maoist sects, the most notable of which is the International Communist League. Gonzaloists outside of Peru commonly refer to their ideology as Marxism–Leninism–Maoism, principally Maoism (MLMpM), and additionally specify that they adhere to the contributions of universal validity of Chairman Gonzalo (CUVCG). Guzmán himself stated that only "principally Maoists" can be genuine communists.[2]
Aspects
Permanent cultural revolution
Gonzalo Thought believes in a constant cultural revolution, inspired from the Chinese Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. Guzmán stated that there must be successive cultural revolutions to achieve communism and harden the proletarian state.[3]
Universal people's war
Gonzaloists believe that protracted people's war, a military strategy developed in 1930s and 1940s China, hold universal applicability and is the sole military theory of the modern proletariat.
Great leadership
Great leadership, or Jefatura, holds that with every revolution and communist party, there will be a set of "great leaders" who emerge to lead it, or in other words, a "vanguard of the vanguard." These "great leaders" will develop a "guiding thought" (application of Maoism to their country).[4]
Guiding thought
Gonzalo Thought's theory of the "guiding thought" holds that in every country and national circumstance, a "thought" will be formulated by the "great leader" which applies Marxism–Leninism–Maoism to local conditions. Gonzalo Thought argues that in China, this was Mao Zedong Thought, In Peru, Gonzalo Thought, etc.[1]
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Central Committee of the Communist Party of Peru (1988). "Concerning Gonzalo Thought".
- ↑ Central Committee of the Communist Party of Peru (1988). "Interview with Chairman Gonzalo".
"We think that to be Marxists today, to be Communists, necessarily demands that we be Marxist-Leninist-Maoists and mainly Maoists. Otherwise, we couldn’t be genuine Communists."
- ↑ Ibid.
"We think that there is a third kind of revolution. By studying Chairman Mao Tsetung and the resolutions of the CPC, we are increasingly understanding the importance of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution as the continuation of the revolution under the dictatorship of the proletariat. It is indispensable—without it the revolution cannot continue its march towards communism. We believe there will be successive cultural revolutions, but we think that those cultural revolutions will have to be forged in practice."
- ↑ Ibid.
"Here we must remember how Lenin saw the relationship between the masses, classes, the Party and leaders. We believe that the revolution, the Party, our class, generate leaders, a group of leaders. It has been like this in every revolution. If we think, for instance, about the October Revolution, we have Lenin, Stalin, Sverdlov and a few others, a small group. Similarly, in the Chinese revolution there's also a small group of leaders: Chairman Mao Tsetung, and his comrades Kang Sheng, Chiang Ching [Jiang Qing], Chang Chun-chiao, among others. All revolutions are that way, including our own. We could not be an exception. Here it's not true that there is an exception to every rule because what we're talking about here is the operation of certain laws. All such processes have leaders, but they also have a leader who stands out above the rest or who leads the rest, in accordance with the conditions. Not all leaders can be viewed in exactly the same way. Marx is Marx, Lenin is Lenin, Chairman Mao is Chairman Mao. Each is unique, and no one is going to be just like them.
In our Party, revolution, and people's war, the proletariat, by a combination of necessity and historical chance, has brought forth a group of leaders. In Engels' view, it is necessity that generates leaders, and a top leader, but just who that is is determined by chance, by a set of specific conditions that come together at a particular place and time. In this way, in our case too, a Great Leadership has been generated. This was first acknowledged in the Party at the Expanded National Conference of 1979. But this question involves another basic question that can't be overlooked and needs to be emphasized: there is no Great Leadership that does not base itself on a body of thought, no matter what its level of development may be. The reason that a certain person has come to speak as the Leader of the Party and the revolution, as the resolutions state, has to do with necessity and historical chance and, obviously, with Gonzalo Thought. None of us knows what the revolution and the Party will call on us to do, and when a specific task arises the only thing to do is assume the responsibility."