Document
Overcome the Bend in the Road by Developing the
People's War
The following
is a report adopted by the Central Committee of the Communist Party
of Peru (PCP) in October 1995 and made public in early 1997. It
continues to play a major role in guiding the Party̓s work
today. – AWTW
OVERCOME THE BEND IN THE ROAD BY DEVELOPING THE PEOPLE̓S
WAR!
(Outline)
• QUOTES
• NEW PLAN: Part of the VI Great Military Plan.
• POLITICAL STRATEGY: SEIZE POLITICAL POWER
• MILITARY STRATEGY: PEOPLE̓S WAR. “TAKE GUERRILLA
WARFARE AS FUNDAMENTAL, BUT LOSE NO OPPORTUNITY TO CARRY OUT MOBILE
WARFARE WHEN THE CONDITIONS ARE FAVOURABLE.” PREPARE INSURRECTION
IN THE CITIES.
• STRATEGY FOR BUILDING: BUILD THE SEIZURE OF POWER IN THE
MIDST OF PEOPLE̓S WAR.
• IDEOLOGICAL AND POLITICAL FOUNDATION.
Take as the political foundation all that has been put forward
by CHAIRMAN GONZALO AND THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE, particularly in the
III PLENUM AND THE WORK SESSIONS OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE, as well
as the document, “AGAINST THE GENOCIDAL AND NATIONAL-SELLOUT
DICTATORSHIP, PERSIST IN PEOPLE̓S WAR!”
Analyze Fujimori̓s speech, which, in summary, calls for repeating
what he did in his first term, in the framework of the three tasks
of the reactionaries, and the plan of the imperialists, principally
the Yankees, and the Armed Forces.
• DOCUMENTS FOR STUDY.
• NOTES FOR SUMMATION OF GREAT FINAL PUSH.
• TAKE THE FOLLOWING CONDITIONS INTO ACCOUNT:
- PEOPLE̓S WAR.
- BUILDING.
- TWO-LINE STRUGGLE.
• OVERCOME THE BEND IN THE ROAD BY DEVELOPING THE PEOPLE̓S
WAR!
• OBJECTIVES:
1. Overcome the bend in the road.
2. Combat the plan of the reactionaries and imperialism
3. Smash the “pacification” hoax.
4.Smash the revisionist and capitulationist ROL.
5.Lay the bais for holding the IV PLENUM.
6.General Reorganization of the Party.
• Part One: OVERCOME THE BEND IN THE ROAD BY DEVELOPING THE
PEOPLE̓S WAR!
Timeline: .........................................
• Part Two: OVERCOME THE BEND IN THE ROAD BY DEVELOPING THE
PEOPLE̓S WAR!
Timeline: ....................................
[Before, during or after important dates occur, work to develop
offensives and counteroffensives in accordance with the national
situation and the specific conditions of each Committee. And in
the framework of our countercampaigns (campaigns).]
• CELEBRATIONS: (Before, during or after)
- October 7, 1995. DAY OF THE PARTY: “The Communist Party
of Peru, guided by Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, Gonzalo Thought, is
the heroic combatant that leads the revolution.”
- December 3, 1995. CHAIRMAN GONZALO̓S BIRTHDAY AND PEOPLE̓S
LIBERATION ARMY DAY: “What is People̓s War? People̓s
War until Communism.”
- December 26, 1995. CHAIRMAN MAO TSE-TUNG̓S BIRTHDAY: “Marxism-Leninism-Maoism
is a new, third and higher stage of Marxism.”
- May 1, 1996: LONG LIVE THE INTERNATIONAL PROLETARIAT!
- May 17, 1996: OVERCOME THE BEND IN THE ROAD BY DEVELOPING THE
PEOPLE̓S WAR!
• ATTITUDE: Nothing is impossible if you dare to scale the
heights!
Be superior to the reactionaries!
Nothing and nobody can stop us: not imperialism, not the reactionaries,
nor revisionism, nor even nature!
DEVELOPMENT
OVERCOME THE BEND IN THE ROAD BY DEVELOPING THE PEOPLE̓S WAR!
• QUOTES:
1.“The correctness or otherwise of the ideological and political
line decides everything. When the Party̓s line is correct,
then everything will come its way. If it has no followers, then
it will have followers; if it has no guns, then it will have guns;
if it has no political power, then it will have political power.
If its line is not correct, even what it has it may lose.”
2.“The seizure of power by armed force, the settlement of
the issue by war, is the central task and the highest form of revolution.
This Marxist-Leninist principle of revolution holds good universally,
for China and for all other countries.”
Selected Works of Mao Tse-Tung, Vol. II, p. 219
3.“In China war is the main form of struggle and the army
is the main form of organization. Other forms such as mass organization
and mass struggle are also extremely important and indeed indispensable
and in no circumstances to be overlooked, but their purpose is to
serve the war. Before the outbreak of a war all organization and
struggle are in preparation for the war, as in the period from the
May 4th Movement of 1919 to the May 30th Movement of 1925. After
war breaks out, all organization and struggle are coordinated with
the war either directly or indirectly.”
SW, Vol. II, p. 221
4.“Without armed struggle the proletariat and the Communist
Party would have no standing at all in China, and it would be impossible
to accomplish any revolutionary task.”
SW, Vol. II, p. 222
5.“[We have learned that] without armed struggle neither
the proletariat, nor the people, nor the Communist Party would have
any standing at all in China and that it would be impossible for
the revolution to triumph. In these years the develpment, consolidation
and the bolshevization of our Party have proceeded in the midst
of revolutionary wars; without armed struggle the Communist Party
would assuredly not be what it is today. Comrades throughout the
Party must never forget this experience for which we have paid in
blood.”
SW, Vol. II, p. 292
6.“According to the Marxist theory of the state, the army
is the chief component of state power. Whoever wants to seize and
retain state power must have a strong army. Some people ridicule
us as advocates of the ʻomnipotence of war̓. Yes, we are
advocates of the omnipotence of revolutionary war; that is good,
not bad, it is Marxist. The guns of the Russian Communist Party
created socialism. We shall create a democratic republic. Experience
in the class struggle in the era of imperialism teaches us that
it is only by the power of the gun that the working class and the
labouring masses can defeat the armed bourgeoisie and the landlords;
in this sense we may say that only with guns can the whole world
be transformed.”
SW, Vol. II, p. 225
7.“The Red Army̓s operations take the form of counter-campaigns
against ʻencirclement and suppression̓. For us victory
means chiefly victory in combating ʻencirclement and suppression̓,
that is, strategic victory and victories in campaigns. The fight
against each ʻencirclement and suppression̓ campaign constitutes
a counter-campaign, which usually comprises several or even scores
of battles, big and small. Until an ʻencirclement and suppression̓
campaign has been basically smashed, one cannot speak of strategic
victory or of victory in the counter-campaign as a whole, even though
many battles may have been won. The history of the Red Army̓s
decade of war is a history of counter-campaigns against ʻencirclement
and suppression̓.”
8.“In the enemy̓s ʻencirclement and suppression̓
campaigns and the Red Army̓s counter-campaigns against them,
the two forms of fighting, offensive and defensive, are both employed,
and here there is no difference from any other war, ancient or modern,
in China or elsewhere. The special characteristic of China̓s
civil war, however, is the repeated alternation of the two forms
over a long period of time. In each ʻencirclement and suppression̓
campaign, the enemy employs the offensive against the Red Army̓s
defensive, and the Red Army employs the defensive against his offensive;
this is the first stage of a counter-campaign against ʻencirclement
and suppression̓. Then the enemy employs the defensive against
the Red Army̓s offensive, and the Red Army employs the offensive
against his defensive; this is the second stage of the counter-campaign.
Every ʻencirclement and suppression̓ campaign has these
two stages, and they alternate over a long period.
By repeated alternation over a long period we mean the repetition
of this pattern of warfare and these forms of fighting. This is
a fact obvious to everybody. An ʻencirclement and suppression̓
campaign and a counter-campaign against it – such is the repeated
pattern of the war. In each campaign the alternation in the forms
of fighting consists of the first stage in which the enemy employs
the offensive against our defensive and we meet his offensive with
our defensive, and of the second stage in which the enemy employs
the defensive against our offensive and we meet his defensive with
our offensive.”
SW, Vol. I, pp. 200-201
9.“2. The subjective forces of the revolution have indeed
been greatly weakened since the defeat of the revolution in 1927.
The remaining forces are very small and those comrades who judge
by appearances alone naturally feel pessimistic. But if we can judge
by essentials, it is quite another story. Here we can apply the
old Chinese saying, ʻA single spark can start a prairie fire.̓
Inother words, our forces, although small at present, will grow
rapidly. In the conditions prevailing in China, their growth is
not only possible but indeed inevitable.”
SW, Vol. I, p. 119
10. “Except for a few chapters, all the
main writings of the history of the revolution of 1848 to 1849 contain
the epigraph: Defeat of the revolution! But what succumbed in these
defeats was not the revolution. It was the traditional prerevolutionary
appendices, the remnants of social relations that had not sharpened
up sufficiently to take the very clear form of class contradiction:
people, illusions, ideas, schemes, of which the revolutionary party
has not rid itself before the February revolution, and of which
the February victory was not able to rid it, which only a series
of defeats could rid it. In one word: revolutionary progress did
not forge its path through direct and tragicomic conquests, but
rather on the contrary, by engendering a fierce and powerful counterrevolution,
engendering an adversary, in the struggle against which the party
of subversion matured, becoming a truly revolutionary party.”
Karl Marx, cited in Elecciones, No! Guerra Popular, Si!,
p. 70
11.“... but at the same time the major prerequisites for
helping the struggle in the cities and hastening the rise of the
revolutionary tide are specifically the development of the struggle
in the countryside, the establishment of Red political power in
small areas, and the creation and expansion of the Red Army.”
SW, Vol. I, pp. 122-123
12. “... only concentration will enable
us to wipe out comparatively large enemy units and occupy towns.
Only after we have wiped out comparatively large enemy units and
occupied towns can we arouse the masses on a broad scale and set
up political power extending over a number of adjoining counties.
Only thus can we make a widespread impact (what we call ʻextending
our political influence̓), and contribute effectively to speeding
the day of the revolutionary high tide.”
SW, Vol. I, pp. 123-124
13. “As to dividing our forces over a wide radius, it is
possible only on the two conditions that circumstances are comparatively
favourable and the leading bodies fairly strong.”
SW, Vol. I, p. 125
14. “The more adverse the circumstances, the greater the
need for concentrating our forces and for the leaders to be resolute
in struggle, because only thus can we have internal unity against
the enemy. Only in favourable circumstances is it advisable to divide
our forces for guerrilla operations, and it is only then that the
leaders need not stay with the ranks all the time, as they must
in adverse circumstances.”
SW, Vol. I, p. 123
15. “To extend stable base areas, employ
the policy of advancing in waves; when pursued by a powerful enemy,
employ the policy of circling around.”
SW, Vol. I, p. 124
16. “... revisionism is an agent of the
bourgeoisie in the ranks of the proletariat, and so it provokes
splits. It divides the communist movement and Communist Parties,
it divides the trade union movement, and it breaks up and divides
the people̓s movement.”
“Revisionism obviously is a cancer, a cancer that has to
be ruthlessly eliminated. Otherwise we won̓t be able to advance
the revolution. Remembering what Lenin said, in a concise way, we
must forge ahead on two questions, the question of revolutionary
violence, and the relentless struggle against opportunism, against
revisionism.”
“Revisionismhas already lost out, it̓s only a matter
of time. The problem is already defined, the rubbish has begun to
be swept away, burned away; as I said, it̓s only a matter of
time. The process of their demise began years ago. And if we go
back further, to the beginnings, the ʻball game̓ was lost
when they became revisionists, when they abandoned their principles....”
Interview with Chairman Gonzalo, pp. 8, 9, 10
17.“Make trouble, fail, make trouble again, fail again...
till their doom; that is the logic of the imperialists and all reactionaries
the world over in dealing with the people̓s cause, and they
will never go against this logic. This is a Marxist law. When we
say ʻimperialism is ferocious̓, we mean that its nature
will never change, that the imperialists will never lay down their
butcher knives, that they will never become Buddhas, till their
doom.”
“Fight, fail, fight again, fail again, fight again ... till
their victory; that is the logic of the people, and they too will
never go against this logic. This is another Marxist law. The Russian
people̓s revolution followed this law, and so has the Chinese
people̓s revolution.”
Cast Away Illusions, Prepare for Struggle
(August, 1949) SW, Vol. IV, p. 428
18.“The existence of serious weaknesses in the War of Resistance
may lead to many setbacks, retreats, internal splits, betrayals,
temporary and partial compromises and other such reverses. Therefore
it should be realized that the war will be an arduous and protracted
war. But we are confident that, through the efforts of our party
and the whole people, the resistance already started will sweep
aside all obstacles and continue to advance and develop.”
SW, Vol. II, p. 121
19.“We are here in circumstances which some think to be
a great defeat. They are dreaming. Today we say to them this is
only a bend in the road. Nothing more! A bend in the road. And though
the road is long, we shall travel it to the end. We will reach our
goal and we will win! You will see it.”
Chairman Gonzalo̓s Speech, 14 September 1992
20.“... one does not play at insurrection, one does not
play at revolution. But when one raises the banner of insurrection,
when one takes up arms, there̓s no taking down the banner,
it must be held high and never lowered until victory. This is what
he taught us, no matter how high the cost! Marx has armed us then,
as Lenin has, and, principally Chairman Mao Tsetung taught us about
the price we have to pay – what it means to annihilate in
order to preserve, what it means to hold high the banner, come what
may.”
Interview with Chairman Gonzalo, p. 44
21.“Have we gone through difficult times? Yes. But what
has reality shown us? That if we persist, keep politics in command,
follow our political strategy, follow our military strategy, if
we have a clear and defined plan, then we will advance, and we are
capable of facing any bloodbath.”
Interview with Chairman Gonzalo, pp. 44-45
22.“THE PEOPLE̓S WAR WILL INEVITABLY TRIUMPH!”
NEW PLAN: Part of the VI Great Military Plan.
POLITICAL STRATEGY: SEIZE POWER.
MILITARY STRATEGY: PEOPLE̓S WAR. TAKE GUERRILLA WARFARE
AS FUNDAMENTAL, BUT LOSE NO OPPORTUNITY TO CARRY OUT MOBILE WARFARE
WHEN THE CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE. PREPARE INSURRECTION IN THE CITIES.
STRATEGY FOR BUILDING: BUILD THE SEIZURE OF POWER IN THE
MIDST OF PEOPLE̓S WAR.
IDEOLOGICAL AND POLITICAL FOUNDATIONS.
Take as the political foundation all that has been put forward
by CHAIRMAN GONZALO AND THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE, particularly in the
III PLENUM AND THE WORK SESSIONS OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE, as well
as the document, “AGAINST THE GENOCIDAL AND NATIONAL-SELLOUT
DICTATORSHIP, PERSIST IN PEOPLE̓S WAR!”
Analyze Fujimori̓s speech, which, in summary, calls for repeating
what he did in his first term, in the framework of the three tasks
of the reactionaries, and the plan of the imperialists, principally
the Yankees, and the Armed Forces.
DOCUMENTS FOR STUDY.
• On Protracted War, Vol. II, Chairman Mao, pp. 113-136,
points 1 to 34
• Six Military Writings, Chairman Mao, pp. 205-248 [in Spanish]
• Great Strategic Concept
• The Foolish Old Man Who Removed the Mountain, Vol. III,
Chairman Mao, pp. 271-273
•“The three rules of discipline and the eight points
for attention”, Quotations from Chairman Mao, p. 217
• Five Articles by Chairman Mao
• Our Position
• Problems of Strategy in China̓s Revolutionary War,
Vol.1, Chairman Mao, pp. 200-254, Chapter IV to the end.
• Problems of Strategy in Guerrilla War Against Japan, Vol.
II, Chairman Mao, pp. 101-106, Chapters VIII and pp. 79-88 [in Spanish]
• Quotations from Chairman Mao, Chapters 12, 13, 9, 10 and
16
• Unity, dynamism, seriousness and liveliness
• Four relationships
• Problems of War and Strategy,Vol. II, pp. 219-235
• New Tasks, New Forces, Lenin
• Document: Against the Genocidal and National-Sellout Dictatorship,
Persist in People̓s War!
NOTES FOR SUMMATION OF THE GREAT FINAL PUSH
People̓s War develops against wind and storm. In July the
first part of the Great Plan of Building the Seizure of Power was
brought to a conclusion. Defend the Headquarters, Oppose the Genocidal
Dictatorship! Laying the basis for developing the second part, which
will be guided by the slogan: OVERCOME THE BEND IN THE ROAD BY DEVELOPING
THE PEOPLE̓S WAR!
Once more the country was rocked by the blazing flames of people̓s
war, from the Principal Region to the capital itself, the zone of
operations of the Metropolitan Committee. In this way, in the Ayacucho
zone committee, we defeated the sinister “encirclement and
suppression” campaigns of the genocidal and national-sellout
armed forces. We carried out operations throughout base number seven
and base fourteen, agitating and mobilizing the masses. Seizure
of cars on the Ayacucho-San Francisco highway was organized; paramilitary
groups were wiped out in Ccano; in Yanamonte a tractor belonging
to the old state was sabotaged; in base 33 (Ene River) enemy forces
were wiped out and cattle were taken to feed the “Red Bastion”
Revolutionary Base Area and the forces of the People̓s Liberation
Army, and as a complement to this, there were ambushes, laying siege
to and wiping out the enemy bases. Similarly, the Cangallo-Fajardo
zone committee carried out a magnificent incursion in La Mar, Vilcashuaman
and Cangallo, right under the nose of the countersubversive base,
resulting in confiscation of more than 30 boxes of dynamite and
a radio transmitter. Meanwhile, the Huancavelica zone committee
carried out the stunning Supaymayo-Lachoc ambush, wiping out nine
police (including a major), and confiscated nine HK rifles. In addition,
magnificent ambushes were carried out in the Huallaga Regional Committee,
wiping out more than 50 special forces (commandos), confiscating
one MAG machine gun, an RPG rocket launcher and more than 30 FAL,
M-16 and AKM rifles and a radio transmitter. And in Lima, the Metropolitan
Committee and People̓s Aid placed powerful car bombs at the
Maria Angola tourist hotel, and the home of the lackey congressman
Joy Way. These are just a few of the most notable of all the actions
carried out during the offensives of the month of July; there were
also actions in the north, the south and the centre, such as the
ambush at Pichanaki.
For all the above reasons we say that our plan as been successfully
brought to a close. In this way we also have celebrated the 15th
anniversary of the invincible People̓s War, smashing the dried-up
cackling of the genocidal and national-sellouts General Hermoza
Rios and Fujimori, who said repeatedly that “By July ̓95
Sendero Luminoso will be wiped out”. Once more they have suffered
a defeat, and they have had to swallow their own reactionary vomit.
The same with the revisionists and capitulations of the right opportunist
line, who made the gloomy prediction in ̓93 that people̓s
war could not be maintained because “the conditions don̓t
exist”.
It is important that we recognize and give a heartfelt salute
to the extraordinary heroism and great firmness on the part of the
Base Areas in withstanding suffering and sacrifice. These masses
are an example to all the Peruvian people and they deserve our great
respect and admiration; together with the People̓s Liberation
Army and the Communist Party of Peru, they struggle shoulder to
shoulder to maintain the New Power, whatever the cost, developing
a new economy, new politics, the new culture.
Also we salute the heroic militants and fighters of the Communist
Party of Peru and the People̓s Liberation Army, who by putting
politics in command and always guided by Marxism-Leninism-Maoism,
Gonzalo Thought, win victory after victory, overcoming all difficulties,
always holding high the banners of the People̓s War, always
fighting against imperialism, reaction and revisionism.
TAKE THE FOLLOWING CONDITIONS INTO ACCOUNT
• PEOPLE̓S WAR: This must be developed, taking the Military
Line as the basis, along with more than 15 years of victories and
reversals, especially in the countryside; pay great attention to
the handling of campaigns (enemy campaigns carried out in the framework
of the so-called “low-intensity warfare” strategy –
they are its main form; the complementary forms are population control,
civil control and “intelligence” work, including psychological
operations) and countercampaigns, the main form of the Civil War.
We must carry out our offensives and counteroffensives within this
context and not outside it; always taking into account the national
political situation and the specific situation of each committee,
without underestimating or overestimating the enemy (see Problems
of Strategy in Guerrilla War Against Japan, chaps. VII and IV).
Applying the Great Strategic Concept.
In terms of the cities, we uphold the criterion of one single
people̓s war, but with the specific feature in this period
of developing a gradual advance, seeking to fuse people̓s war
with the class struggle of the proletariat and the masses of people
in the neighbourhoods and shantytowns, handling the two hills at
all times, and lay the basis for insurrection.
• BUILDING: While smashing revisionism, develop a General
Reorganization of the Party.
In the countryside for some time now a corporatist militarization
has been developing, with the aim of shackling the peasant masses;
therefore only through armed conflict and political mobilization
can we incorporate the peasantry into the People̓s War, eliminating
step by step the control and pressures exercised over them by the
forces of repression and the paramilitary groups (Resettlement Without
Repressive Forces! Resettlement without Paramilitary Groups! Civil
Defence is Defence of Criminals!)
In the cities this government has set up an almost fascist police
presence, under the control of the Armed Forces; this must be exposed
and defeated. Because of this we must pay a great deal of attention
to the relation between open and secret work, aiming at developing
secret work. In all we do, we must be superior to the reactionaries!
• TWO-LINE STRUGGLE: Develop two-line struggle against the
revisionist and capitulationist right opportunist line (ROL).
Study these documents: The Struggle Against Revisionism;
Lenin and the Proletarian Revolution; Khrushchevevisionism.
OVERCOME THE BEND IN THE ROAD, DEVELOPING PEOPLE̓S WAR!
• OBJECTIVES:
1. Overcome
the bend in the road.
2.Combat the plan of the reactionaries and imperialism.
3.Smash the “pacification” hoax.
4.Smash the revisionist and capitulationist ROL.
5.Lay the basis for holding the IV PLENUM.
6.General Reorganization of the Party.
• First part: OVERCOME THE BEND IN THE ROAD BY DEVELOPING
THE PEOPLE̓S WAR!
Timeline:...........................................
• Second Part: OVERCOME THE BEND IN THE ROAD BY DEVELOPING
THE PEOPLE̓S WAR!
Timeline: ...........................................
• Celebrations:.................................
OUR ATTITUDE:
Nothing is impossible if you dare to scale the heights!
Be superior to the reactionaries!
Nobody and nothing can stop us, not imperialism, nor the reactionaries,
nor revisionism, nor nature!
Peru, September 1995
Central CommitteeCommunist Party of Peru
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