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Reprints
from the PCP
Reports
from the Battlefield!
Raucana
The Party, firmly carrying
out the approach devel oped by Chairman Gonzalo, proposed a further
development of work in the neighbourhoods and shantytowns, mobilizing
the masses and organizing them for armed actions, faithfully following
Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, Gonzalo Thought. After a very detailed
study of the area, the leadership called for land seizures in accordance
with the Party's political line. The place, in Vitarte, was for
sale and was to be developed as a tourist zone. It was a medium-sized
land parcel, belonging to an Italian named Isola. The masses were
mobilized " nearly 1,200 came from El Agustino, Granja Azul, San
Gregorio, Vitarte, Nueva Esperanza, Andahuaylas, Vista Alegre, and
Yerbateros. The leadership firmly united the People's Guerrilla
Army around the Party programme and quotes from Chairman Mao. The
specifics of the situation called for organizing the masses into
groups, each one having its leading person; thus the Barrio Workers'
Movement was organized, and sharp political agitation was carried
out among the mass membership, strengthening their commitment to
revolutionary violence, proletarian discipline and adherence to
the leadership of the Party.
The land takeover process
was begun, then active defence was organized. Because the Party
had warned us about this and had proposed that we should be prepared
for any contingency, the masses were armed with the most rudimentary
weapons: tyres, slingshots, rocks, clubs, ground chili pepper to
throw in the eyes, and acid. There were three clashes. In the first,
the masses beat back the reactionaries' police force, ten of them
from the Santa Clara station. This occurred at 5:30 a.m. on 28 July
1990. Our joy was indescribable, and the Party led everything.
The second clash took
place the same day at 6:30 a.m. There were 30 to 40 murdering thugs
who opened fire with birdshot, bullets, and teargas. The masses
put up fierce resistance. Slogans rang out powerfully: Murdering
cops, the people will smash you! This is where compañero Felix Jorge
Raucana was killed. There was but one watchword: to recover the
body of the murdered compañero, and rescue the wounded who were
children, old people, and mothers. Morale was at its highest pitch,
and the chants rang out: Nobody surrenders here! Compañero Felix
Raucana has been murdered! The masses, fighting on the periphery
of the confiscated lands as well as in the shantytowns of San Antonio,
Amauta, Monterrey, San Gregorio, and Vitarte, put up fiery resistance,
forcing the reactionaries to withdraw, unable to arrest anyone,
to capture the wounded, or take the body of the murdered comrade.
The third clash took
place at
8 a.m. on the same day. Reactionary police forces from several stations
returned - from Santa Clara, Vitarte, the PIP [Peruvian
Investigation Police], and the DOES from Barbadillo - and were unable
to enter. They only got to the Esperanza/Estrella entrance, because
the masses stopped them and made them back off. They didn't return.
After these battles,
the number of masses decreased to about 600. The next day the people
returned, and more joined them. The land seizure was a success.
This was a triumph of Chairman Gonzalo and of the Party. The land
was divided up into sectors. Once these were established, the workers
from the central highway factory district were invited to join.
There were speak bitterness sessions, and the press was called,
in order to expose the vicious and cowardly aggression against the
people. Some intense agitation and propaganda was carried out. The
call went out to harvest crops in Hiachipa to contribute to the
people's communal kitchen. The Party leadership gave instructions
to develop collective work, and in order to carry this out, land
was parceled out with the help of architect compañeros, assigning
some lots for the cultivation of grain and vegetables by the masses
in order to meet their own food needs. This involved new social
relations which involved new politics, a new economy, new culture.
Steps were taken so that each sector would have its dining room,
its livestock area for raising guinea pigs, various kinds of fowl,
and rabbits. Recreation for the masses was organized on Sundays.
As part of political work with the masses, meetings were held in
which the Party's position was explained. Children played games
related to the People's War. Also people's justice was carried out;
the masses no longer went to the government to deal with things
like robbery, adultery or drug addiction, but instead followed the
leadership of the Party.
In terms of active
defence, walls for defence and barricades were erected, and a strict
four-corner security perimeter was set up 24 hours a day. Nobody
was allowed into the main entrance without knowing the password.
The masses were armed with whatever was at hand, and military training
was carried out. Party holidays were celebrated with profound joy.
The school of a new type reflected the things that the Party has
justly and correctly been developing throughout the People's War.
The Party leadership
correctly called for developing an intense campaign of agitation
and propaganda, speaking bitterness, and uniting the masses firmly,
and strict adherence to the plan to defend what had been won. There
were mass mobilizations to denounce the eviction order, visits to
the trade union offices, and to the various shantytowns. The national
and foreign press were called, and speaking bitterness was promoted
among the masses, sharply exposing the sinister plan of the reactionaries
and the old state against our people. It was necessary to expose
the whole sinister campaign of the media mouthpieces of the old
state, who were claiming that "the Sendero Central Committee was
in Raucana".
In response to this
situation, a mobilization was organized involving 800 people, marching
to the Vitarte city hall to demand intervention to annul the eviction
order. The eviction was planned for 9 August; the Party united the
people behind its politics, Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, Gonzalo Thought,
the programme, and the point about fighting in defence of land,
which was raised as a slogan. Then a dress rehearsal of the battle
to combat and resist the intended eviction was held. The entire
Central Highway between Huachipa and Vitarte was blockaded, tyres
were slashed on all the buses on the highway. Before doing this,
people boarded the buses, explained what they were doing and why,
and passed out leaflets. Tyres were burned and barricades were set
up. At the entrance to Raucana, ditches were dug to prevent the
reactionaries' vehicles from entering, and dump-truck loads of rocks
were emptied at key points. The masses were completely down for
the fight, and their resistance was heroic. The reactionaries were
forced to retreat even though the masses had only rudimentary weapons
like slingshots, Molotov cocktails, and home-made tear gas. They
couldn't enter Raucana.
That evening and the
next day, August 7th, representatives of different shantytowns such
as San Antonio, Monterrey, Amauta, etc., arrived, bringing written
messages of support for the struggle from the masses, and a joint
determination to continue fighting. Food and fruit were brought,
as well as money in support of the people's struggle. Also representatives
of the trade unions came, such as SEDAPAL and the CTP, who participated
in a very good way, helping to appropriate electricity from the
power lines. On August 9th at dawn, everybody was at their combat
posts. Nobody came. Then at 9 a.m., two "firemen" from Cambio 90
[Fujimori's political party], sent by the mayor to throw water on
the struggle, came as intermediaries, supposedly offering to suspend
the eviction order if the people agreed to negotiate. A mass meeting
was held, where people decided to continue the struggle. It was
stated that Isola had a blood debt with the people, and there would
be no compromise. Then an agreement was reached between Isola and
the masses to postpone the eviction. There was a group vote of confidence
in the collective leadership. On top of that, more masses continued
to come from other shantytowns such as Marca Parado, Micaela, and
Niño Jesús.
All the masses in Vitarte
were on alert that night, the 9th of August. Fighters of the PGA
placed a car bomb in the Isola factory to pressure Isola to withdraw
the eviction order.
On August 27th the
SIN [National Intelligence Service] sent three of their henchmen
to photograph the masses and the security checkpoints. They were
captured and held by the masses, and when asked who they were, they
said they were newspapermen and wouldn't identify themselves. They
were searched and found to have documents related to the SIN,
and they were armed. In their car was a map, obviously of Raucana,
on which was written "Sendero Central Committee and a weapons arsenal".
After being held prisoner for three days, they were presented to
the national and foreign press, where their identities were exposed
and their belongings returned.
On September
5th, the genocidal armed forces, numbering 1,500, under the guise
of civic action, took over Raucana and set up a base; but the masses
reaffirmed their faith in the Party leadership and carried out all
their tasks. There was leafletting and speaking bitterness. The
call went up that the armed forces must go - these troops who represented
the degeneration of the old society, genocidal troops who threatened
the masses with death. In September the Party called for firm unity
of the Party, the PGA and masses because a battle was necessary
in order to expel the armed forces. A long stretch of the Central
Highway was blocked with tyres and rocks, and there was definite
support from people of other shantytowns who participated actively,
complementing Raucana's internal defence plan. The fight was unequal
but what shone forth was the heroism and fierce resistance of the
masses. Four people died as well as two soldiers, there were a number
of wounded, and the heroic struggle continues.
Election
Boycott
The district
of Chuschi is located in the department of Ayacucho, province of
Cangallo, seven hours away. It is in a hollow and is a poor area,
where 90% of the people are poor peasants.
Political objective:
To boycott the general elections of 1980.
Military objective:
To burn the ballot boxes and the ballots.
The Party had established
justly and correctly the Beginning of the Armed Struggle, ILA (Iniciar
la Lucha Armada), for May 17th, 1980. It was the eve of the general
elections. Applying the boycott to the elections and with the slogans,
Long Live the Armed Struggle! Workers and Peasants Government!,
Down With the New Government!, the new was being born in our homeland.
We did not have a People's Guerrilla Army or weapons. We started
empty-handed, but we had the main thing: the ideology, Marxism-Leninism-Maoism,
Gonzalo Thought, our all-powerful and invincible weapon. The Party
was gathered. The comrades of the Party apparatus of the Area Committee
of Cangallo-Fajardo, under the leadership of Comrade Norah - our
great heroine, example of giving your life for the Party and the
revolution - embraced with solemn commitment the communist decision
of ILA and [swore] to make come true the first action of the People's
War in the country, putting our life on the line. Thus firmly unified,
we prepared to carry it through. At that time... the activists,
most of them peasant youth, the youngest 11 years old, committed
themselves to ILA with raised fists.
In that way the action
of the election boycott was prepared and carried out, burning the
ballots and all the election materials, after a previous reconnaissance
of the site where the ballot boxes were kept, and the plan was established
and the action prepared. A total of 12 compañeros participated.
Two would approach the place posing as policemen and would subdue
the guard. Ten more would wait outside, camouflaged as villagers.
Five of them were to go in, take out all the material and carry
it to the plaza. The others would be in charge of containment. One
of them would have the gasoline, 3 liters, and with it they would
burn all the stuff. When the action was finished, they were to withdraw
to a previously established place. As far as weapons, we had knives.
The action was slated for 10 am on May 17th. The Peruvian Army brought
the election materials in three trucks with 36 soldiers during the
morning of the 17th. They left two trucks and four soldiers. The
other truck left for Cangallo and they did not leave any soldiers
in the town. The action was carried out as planned.
Anecdote: When the
two comrades approach the place, they are dressed as policemen,
who because of the cold temperatures of the area wore ponchos and
kepis. When the guard opened the door, he greeted them but was surprised
to see that they didn't have their kepis and asked, "Where is your
kepi, chief?" In seconds, he was being subdued and could not utter
anything else.
When the soldiers of
the Peruvian Army got wind of the action, they tried to come back
to town, but coincidentally their two trucks were not running. They
had broken down and they had to wait for reinforcements until the
following day.
Thus was successfully
brought forth the boycott action, the armed detachments without
arms, the new was born.
1986
Land Invasion
"In the northern region,
land invasions under the slogan "Seize the land!" mobilized
170,000 peasants and led to the confiscation of 320,000 hectares
of land, mainly pasture land, and 12,000 head of cattle, mostly
first class, which were redistributed to the peasants." ("Develop
People's War to Serve the World Revolution." [AWTW 1987/8]
"The land question
is key, and the Party policy is applied to this question, spurring
armed land invasions and seizures, and then defending them. The
question is to defend and conquer the land with People's War, and
similarly, to defend and conquer the necessary conditions for a
production development that serves the people."
The land seizures in
the north took place in 1986, in two provinces of the department
of La Libertad -- mainly the province of Antiago de Chuco and the
province of Sánchez Carrión.
The Communist Party
of Peru led with arms the seizure and the invasion of lands of cooperatives
and SAIS (Agricultural Societies of Social Interest [Sociedades
Agrícolas de Interés Social]), covering 320,000 hectares, mainly
grazing and agricultural lands. The PCP, leading the People's Guerrilla
Army (PGA), planned the total destruction of the cooperatives' management
compounds, in order to completely and thoroughly destroy the agricultural
cooperatives.
One of the main agricultural
cooperatives of the area, which had received a lot of attention
from the reactionaries because it was one of the largest and most
productive due to its fertile lands and its grazing fields, was
called San José de Porcón. The targets for annihilation were determined.
Four leaders of the coop, who were the most hated by the peasant
masses, were selected. These "cabezas negras" lived in the coop
(in the management compound), which housed the accounting and management
offices, the warehouses, as well as tractors, machinery, fertilizers,
etc. The planned guerrilla action had one objective: to destroy
the great associative property, pick up the crops, sabotage, carry
out armed propaganda and agitation, and proceed to redistribute
the land and animals. The action was carried out very successfully
by the main force and the local force, and base forces, mobilizing
the peasant masses of the area. A large number of them came from
a village called Hospital.
Our forces were divided
into attack forces, support forces and security forces. The attack
group was deployed to capture the diehards, who were killed in their
own houses while trying to run away. Then the offices were seized.
The whole place was dynamited and burned. Then they went on to confiscate
the possessions of the cooperative in order to distribute these
among the peasants after a political rally that called on them to
join the People's War led by Chairman Gonzalo, by the Communist
Party of Peru, and to Seize the Land! and defend it by force of
arms. A movement of poor peasants and a Distribution Committee were
formed. Two tractors were dynamited.
The news spread like
wildfire. In the different farms incorporated into the cooperative
(anexos), before the PGA arrived the peasants, on their own, following
the example of previous actions, had organized and agreed to distribute
among themselves crops and cattle. This created some problems in
the distribution - some got more, others didn't get anything. The
Party solved this problem by distributing the land.
Based on this huge
mobilization of masses, the Party began to organize the New Power,
the first People's Committees in the province of Santiago de Chuco,
in the areas of Hospital, Angasmarca, Cachicaden, Santa Cruz de
Mollebamba, Mollepata and surroundings, Three Rivers, etc., for
example.
In the Sánchez Carrión
province, the peasant masses were also mobilized to destroy a cooperative
that covered the districts of Curgos and Saña; local peasants were
mobilized, such as those of the hamlet of Poc-Poc and Huagil.
An anecdote: When the
comrades of the main force were going to a nearby farm incorporated
into the coop in order to mobilize the masses and to organize land
invasions and crop seizures, they met on the road with a group of
peasants who had already seized cattle. When the comrades asked
where they were coming from, the peasants answered: "Compañeros,
we heard that you were in the nearby village, seeing to the land
and crop seizures, so we decided to go ahead and distribute everything
among ourselves. We each got a cow." The comrades verified the distribution
and noticed that one pregnant woman (she was eight months) had received
two cows, and she told them: "They gave me two, one for me and one
for the soon- to-be born." Later they heard that she delivered without
complications and was feeding herself with the milk of the cow she
had gotten.
Seven cooperatives
were destroyed. One lesson of this huge mobilization of peasant
masses was that the People's Power was not organized immediately,
while the iron was hot.
Harvest
in Huaycán
The
action took place in Lima, district of Vitarte, in the slum of Huaycán,
along Central Highway Km. 17, between Huaycán and Horacio Zeballos.
This is an agricultural area, a large area of about 5 hectares,
owned by an Italian exploiter named Poppe. Crops like potatoes,
vegetables, corn, etc., are grown there. The work is done by masses
hired to toil for 1 sol [2 sol = 1 USD, 1995] and some crops; it
is pure misery, superexploitation.
In the harvest season,
after the day's work is over, the masses go at night to pick up
whatever is lying in the fields, looking for the few potatoes that
may have been left behind.
The Party organized
the seizure of the potato harvest, launching a raid in the middle
of the day, during the harvest, mobilizing the masses of Huaycán,
Horacio Zeballos and other places.
A Plan was developed.
Around 11 or 12 in the morning, when the sacks full of potatoes
were ready to be sent to Poppe, a contingent would take over the
tractor, the two trucks and the overseer's car (a man sent by Poppe).
People's Guerrilla Army fighters would seize control of the place.
The masses working there along with other masses, a total of 2,000
who were waiting in the surroundings, would come in and take the
sacks of potatoes for their own food. The arms of the PGA would
secure the harvesting until it was over. Then the People's Guerrilla
Army would withdraw to pre-established places, the arms would be
centralized and a PGA force would put them in a safe location.
That day they were
harvesting one or two hectares. There were two drivers and two trucks,
one tractor operator, four or five assistants and a car with two
foremen.
The PGA went in as
part of the labourers and in a surprise attack subdued those employees
of Poppe. Then they called to the masses in the vicinity and went
to the fields to harvest the crop. Agitation was done with Party
slogans, banners flying, and the masses expressed a profound happiness:
Long Live the Party! then they left with their produce. The news
spread and more masses came; even the cars driving by stopped and
people got out to join the harvest.
At the beginning of
the action, when Poppe's employees were being subdued, his stooge
representative was killed - a miserable human being. As the thug
he was, he resisted. His death was greeted by cheers from the masses.
Meanwhile, a PGA force
blocked the Carretera Central, at Km. 17. In Huaycán there was another
quick agitation and propaganda action, calling on people to go harvest.
That way more masses gathered and went to the place.
The police arrived
three hours later and, furious at not being able to do anything,
they shot the banner that was flying. Then they started their search
operations, looking for the PGA fighters, but they failed. The PGA
did not have any casualties. This harvesting action in Huaycán was
successfully achieved. There was broad mass participation in an
organized way under the leadership of the Party, through the PGA.
It was a just and correct action. And the masses joined the People's
War for the total Seizure of Power completely, forever, and to struggle
for communism.
This action occurred
during the month of February 1989.
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