From MLM Library

The Flag

Many are called but few are chosen. We are not the only ones. We are all subjected to the storm; the wind blows away the leaves, but the seeds remain. In 1927, a great storm led to the birth of the Communist Party of Peru (PCP). The Party has entered a great storm; everything will be set ablaze. For a long time, we have sought to become a polar center. Now is the time. The path we are undertaking is correct, and all the problems we face will be resolved.

Today is the day of pledging to the flag, but ours is the Red Flag, a distinct one, with the hammer and sickle. Our flag is absolutely red; all those who rebel have red flags.

The Ninth Symphony is long and beautiful, it is the expression of the bourgeois victory, the song of the triumphant bourgeoisie. Its author loved liberty, he struggled for it. He wrote the Third symphony for Napoleon, but when his idol trampled upon freedom, he stated that it was no longer for him, but for liberty.

The Ninth Symphony has one characteristic, a slight rumbling sound which rises into a crescendo until bursting into a musical explosion. In the human voice, the voices of the choir, is the earth that is converted into music. Above the background of the choir, four individuals sing; the masses generate those voices that sing higher, but there is one voice that reaches even higher still. Never before was anyone able to sing it. Never before was this pitch reached, but in this century, after many efforts, what was nearly impossible to attain was finally achieved. There is nothing that man cannot accomplish!

They were the flags of the bourgeoisie in their highest epoch, which has passed away. Now comes the new humanity, the humanity of joy, the proletariat, the only blaze that will never be extinguished! We are one of its sparks. We are a small part of this immense bonfire, it is our turn to set them on fire. The sparks are fanned by storm winds. Let everyone fulfill their journey and allow the proletariat to carry out its historical tasks. The working class will define its path itself, nothing will prevail against it, it will destroy all obstacles and a world full of light will inevitably come. Who will be able to contain us? What are we? Sparks! What can we fear? Can muffles silence the fury of the cannons? Can a spark arise against the bonfire? Can the old foam survive in the storm? Much scum will rot in the stagnant sea.

How can silence calm the thunder? The sparks cannot contain the flames, the upheavals are born in the vortex of fire and nothing can detain them. The hammer is brandished by the working classes, the anvil is the struggle; everyone will fulfill their tasks. It is foolish to try to destroy the matter.

Silence can occur to people but not for the class. The class gives birth to the Party and the Party rises and begins to walk, it is the child of the revolution. The Party can never be crushed or destroyed. The Party will inevitably triumph. This Party forged itself, Mariategui is its founder. It is done. How can history be repeated? The Reconstitution came and the deed was done, it cannot be turned back. Our eyes turn towards other dawns, other things arise, why look back? A fact is a fact, it cannot be redone. Are we going to repeal time, our acts that are sealed in matter? Our struggle should be taken towards other paths since we are already concluding our summit.

There is an old song:

"Who is that who has her sights like the sunrises, beautiful as the moon, illuminating as the sun, imposing like the armies of waving flags?"

Why look backwards when the decision has already been taken; we need to look forward to see the dawn and what arises out of the fire of the revolution. We will carry out the armed struggle and that is what we must do. We repeat: that is what we must do, and we must do it! It will be carried out because it is necessary and nothing can detain us, absolutely nothing can detain us. How can the grain detain the wheels of the mill? It would be converted into dust.

Another chapter in history should begin, our vision should be turned towards it. We must begin to climb slopes of another mountain in order to scale more brilliant summits, this is how it shall be. Far from me, away from all pessimism, let us develop optimism in its place. If we have some pessimism it is the result of the injustice of this world.

Behind everything I say is our flag. A flag that is the source of hope, a red flag unfurled to the wind. For a long time some wanted to strike our political line on two flanks but we stated that we would pass through the middle. We accomplished this with our heads held high, beating drums and our vision dreaming of a distant future. The deeds go on hammering you and your mind opens, generating the idea. We are not abandoning banners like some foolish person would think because our hands were not made for dropping the flag but for unfurling it.

For a long time our flag has fluttered over the summit. We need to leap into the unknown but not for self-destruction. We have commenced the leap, the flag is firmly planted in the highest summit. A fog interposes but our armed hands will rise up with the masses.

The flag has already been placed on another higher summit, once again it has been unfurled, the drums begin to beat and the wind is agitated. The red flag is a beautiful cry, it calls all of us. We shall heed the message. The red flag flutters much higher and towards a new summit, there is where we must go and when we arrive we must raise the flag to an even higher peak; we can do no more. The revolution cannot be detained, that is a law, our destiny. Why our silence? They are fragile drops, particles, muffled voices in opposition and somber sparks that want to negate the bonfire. Why are the sparks going to reveal themselves against the bonfire? Because some have little faith, hope and charity while our spirits should be great. We have taken three theological virtues in order to interpret them. Paul stated: man of faith, hope, and charity. One is worth nothing, the masses are worth everything. If we desire to be part of something it should be part of the masses. What's the use of talking about individual glories? Our love, faith and hopes are collective and achievable, all three in one flag.

We had one small storm butt and Marxism swept it away. There are eyes that don't see, deaf ears and closed hearts, that you yourselves close. What do you want to preserve? Silence? Aging scum? Here there is only one thing to uphold, the flag of the Party that has been placed on another summit. If we are part of the Left, we have to be consumed with passion because that fervor will bring about the destruction of the forces so much talked about. The bonfire is ablaze. We should burn our old idols, burn everything we adored and extol what we degraded. What else can we do? Do we want to become arrogant bubbles, telling the cosmos "I will develop?" Imagine its roar of laughter!

They say that this part of the cosmos structured itself as Earth over 15 billion years, billions of years in order to develop Communism. How long does one man last, much less the simple twinkling of a dream? We are nothing more than a pale shadow which pretends to rise up against all this process of matter. We will be its dream at its conclusion. Arrogant bubbles, is this what we want to be? An infinitesimal part that wants to rise up against 15 billion years. What arrogance, what rot! Old, aging seas, rotten by time, feudal, bourgeois and imperialist periods, sewage in decomposition. What else is it? Ridiculous stench. Let us be materialists! Communists! Let us demonstrate it, it is necessary and no one can oppose necessity.

Marx understood the new road to traverse; Lenin assumed responsibility for starting the bonfire. Mao is Mao because he soared like no other, he had a historical vision, he foresaw the centuries, he showed us thousands of years in brief pages and he completed his mission and role. He stated: I have made the revolution by overthrowing Chiang Kai-shek and creating the Great Cultural Revolution, I have served nothing else and our advancement is small in comparison to where it should be. I wanted to reach a more definitive summit but I failed. He tells Chiang Ching: you can do it, if you fail you will be hurled off the heights, and if you fall then the guerrilla war must begin.

As Communists in formation, what path do we want to follow? Who are we? We are nothing except Communists.

It is necessary to define the problem today. We face the same problems faced by the Right Opportunist Line, but we are the Left. Here the right is subsidiary, our problem is not with them, if they want to fulfill their role, let them adopt self-criticism. The problem is with us, the left, because it is the Party, the salt of the earth, the living tree; the others are parasites. The Left should burn the futile, it should wash itself, cleanse itself, remaining clean. It should clean its stable and shed the old crust in a frank, truthful and honest way. Each of us responds to what happens to the other, we are children of the same cause. It is easy for us because we are the Left. Let everyone demonstrate his/her condition as a Communist. We made the Party and that is what we are. The masses are ready, they are awaiting us. They want light not shadows, swords not butter, fire not ice. The Left should fulfill its role. The problem is simple, even for those with a hard spirit. The problem is to open your hearts with resolution, it is easy to do. The revolution demands it. Enough of the sewage of individualism.

In this new epoch we must wash our souls and wash them well. Think of the revolution and the Party which implies the people and the class, necessity demands it. Let us go to the root of our problems but without involving our egos. Let us go to the root of our positions in order to nail our spirits definitively to the flag of the Party.

Some see only themselves, they live in a house of mirrors; you are Communists, raise your fists, strike out and once again the blood will boil to tear down the wall. That is what must be done.

The problem is having two flags in the soul, one black and the other red. We are leftists, let us make a holocaust with the black flag, it is easy for everyone to do so. If not the rest will do it.

The Red Flag will prevail, the black flag will be uprooted. Let everyone demonstrate his or her condition as Communist. The flag flutters on a higher summit, many already recognize this, other winds are blowing in our country and everyone analyzes their problems within their line and muddies their worn flags. Something helps us: our Flag is much higher. How can we not fulfill our role! I hope we can complete it. I hope.

(IX PLENARY SESSION OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE, June 7, 1979)





CONCERNING THREE CHAPTERS OF OUR HISTORY

We have been saying for a few days that we wanted to talk on certain issues. There are moments when men resort to talking in symbols, metaphors or in less intellectual forms. But we would prefer that our group of Communists speak for us in a direct and broad manner.

We want to briefly talk about how the history of today will be seen decades from now. We place ourselves in a plan of revolutionary imagination and look backwards from the future, this is useful and also serves to fortify the spirit. We have clear minds, resolute wills and inextinguishable passions, a revolutionary imagination will increase them even more. Let us think about it and allow our imagination to speak to us from the future. Let us place ourselves decades ahead in the future, in the second part of the coming century.

We are in the final part of the XX Century, very soon we will see the years going by and they will pass even faster as we advance towards the transformation of our society in the third millennium of humanity. The end of the 1990's means the end of one millennium and the beginning of another in which Communism will be definitively stamped on history and humanity will take a leap from the realm of necessity into the realm of liberty.

We should think of the second half of the next Century. History will be written by us and those who will follow are us, the future Communists, because we are an inexhaustible force. When children begin to read and men begin to remember, they will have a history to read and it will recount:

I. How Darkness Prevailed.

In this society, there was a time in which darkness prevailed. It does not imply that everything was dark, but it means that darkness prevailed. In our country, in our America, there is an old and long tradition and a slow history which should be known. We need to search for the profound roots of who we are, not because we are nationalists, but because we have historical particularities and nobody can make revolution if they do not have historical roots. We are an old society.

Some twenty thousand years ago, man arrived in these lands in a very primitive state; ten thousand years passed. In about four to six thousand years they began to develop agriculture and basic shelter to protect themselves from extreme weather conditions and they also started sewing covers to protect their bodies. Two thousand years later we already had very productive agriculture and became a great agrarian system. The community develops and the Ayllu starts to be forged: a specific agrarian communal expression of our people. Thereafter, a surplus was generated along with the creation of class differences, property and the State.

Approximately 700 hundred years ago the State began to develop and expand, and as the State grew, exploitation came into existence generating oppression. Thus, the people were divided between the oppressors and the oppressed. Also, these lands were divided into small regions, big confederations and kingdoms: Huari is an example. Time passed and the Incan empire was formed. Then came Inca Pachacutec who brought more imperial order and reorganized the State, making it stronger. This shows that in ancient Peru there were nations that exploited others. The existence of classes was evident, there were the exploited and exploiters. However, such a petrified kingdom did not last long. Strange men came and destroyed the existing agrarian order. But it is not true that the people of the Americas fell on their knees. People resisted and defended the system of exploitation that they had created, but it was a rotten system based on exploitation, and it collapsed when confronted with a superior order.

Thus, in our country the system collapsed and a long and vicious process of feudal exploitation began. Our people were taken to the mines, their blood was transformed into gold and silver for Europe. We view the development of European capitalism as the product of the flesh and blood of our ancestors.

Centuries passed and a system of mestizaje develops. There were rebellions, especially the mobilization and uprisings of the peasants in the XVIII Century, which rocked the system to its foundations. The worldwide actions of capitalism prosper along with the spirit of emancipation of the masses; and since classes are not eliminated and the problems of land and sovereignty are unresolved, these two old problems continue to persist.

The XIX Century involved the transformation of the feudal order to a semi-feudal order, and from a colonial order to a semi-colonial one. We changed masters from one group of Europeans to another, from Spanish hands into English ones. The new exploiters were enthroned and they were more cruel and sinister than the previous ones, but the people always rose up to fight without truce in an arduous class struggle although with periods of greater upsurges in which the system was shaken up.

In the latter part of the last Century a new imperialist order surged, the United States of America. It arrived early in these lands, and in the 1920's its domination was consolidated. Hence, at that stage of our history, darkness prevailed in our lands. At the same time, a new class emerged, the proletariat, and a new chapter begins.

II. How the Light Emerged and the Steel Was Forged.

The working class emerged, a new class was born. It was the working class and the international proletariat that was also expressed as the proletariat in our country. That is who we are. The proletariat begins to illuminate the darkness, it is the class that is represented here. This light was transformed into steel.

From 1885 to 1919 there were nearly 30 years of intense class struggle in which the Peruvian proletariat begins to develop and their presence showed a definitive change in our country. The class struggle, international actions, and the struggles of the proletariat and peasants allowed the forging of Marxism and Jos้ Carlos Mariแtegui, who fought like few others in these lands of the Americas. Our people are not frivolous, as some ignorant people say, we have produced many great people. Mariแtegui is one of the few men in these lands who applied Marxism-Leninism to the special conditions and our people begin to find a new untraveled road. A new and more pure light emerges, a shining light. That light we carry in our hearts and souls. That light was founded with the land and that soil became steel. From light, soil, and steel springs the founding of the Party in 1928. The steel was forged, that is what we are. That is the problem of how the light emerged and the steel forged.

In 1928 we were founded and we have never fallen into the criterion of forming another Party. We have come to an agreement that here the class and mass struggle gave birth to a Jos้ Carlos Mariแtegui who founded the Party, he gave us light and steel and led us on our own way. Since then there has been light and steel in our country. No matter what they say we can never go back.

It is impossible to turn back while there are still classes. That light will not go out while there are still classes; the steel will not melt while there are still classes. But we had a possibility which came apart when the life of our founder was cut short. Although it was negated, distorted and concealed, the unaccomplished task of Mariategui remained as our Program and Plan, the class embodied it, it continued beating in the class, the combative people and the Communists. We cannot deny that the actions of the class and Communists who fought tirelessly has allowed us to reach this stage.

Time passed. The Second World War came, the most extensive one in history, which marked us and created a more profound bureaucratic capitalist system and a more intense class struggle. The working class kept advancing but never in peace, always in the midst of torments and storms; it was forged with more light, more steel, more strength and invincibility.

Our people were illuminated by a more intense light, Marxism-Leninism Mao Tse-tung Thought. We were at first dazzled by the eruption of this unending light, light and nothing else; but little by little our retinas began to comprehend this light, we saw our country, Mariแtegui and our reality and we found our perspective: the Reconstitution of the Party. Thus, the chapter on how the light emerged and the steel was forged begins to end.

III. How the Walls Collapsed and the Dawn Unfolded.

Today begins a new chapter: how the walls collapse and a new dawn unfolds. It will be said that our Party, forged with the strongest light and purest steel had a decisive moment. This moment generates the Plan of National Construction, and the Party which was a piece of the flag unfurled to the wind, spreads out in order to illuminate our country. The Communists from all parts of the country were called and a national system was set in motion. Communists rose up and the land reverberated. With the rumbling of the land, the Communists advanced. For this purpose, a landmark conference was held, political bases were established and a course to follow was set.

A flag was planted, a very high flag for a new epoch and with a new objective: Initiate the Armed Struggle. Men struggled hard and the few Communists that existed were gathered from various points and in the end they committed themselves by making a decision: to forge with deeds the First Company of the First Division of the People's Army. In this manner, they began to clear out the darkness in a definitive form. The walls shook and were breached and with clenched fists, the dawn broke out. The key was the First National Conference, a milestone marking the beginning of a new chapter. The spirits were joyful and our eyes glistened with light. One chapter will say: we carried a heavy burden, we gave our quota, and in difficult moments we buried our dead, we dried our tears, but continued fighting. This is how it happened, and the People's Republic was proclaimed, a national holiday. Once again the work was recovered bringing joy among us. The countryside became more productive and freedom began to palpitate in our people, with the red banner guiding us forever. Our America will shine. It is already a free world which has extended itself to other parts of the Earth. Today old empires sink. They are dirty waters and poisoned ashes which are being swept away. Work is redeemed and the fields flourish in the Red Republic.

They will ask, what are we going to do today? Today we will advance, conspiring so that the shadows will not return and the working class never loses power. This is what history will say. We head towards the inevitable arrival of Communism in order to reach full and absolute light. The blood of our fallen comrades cries out: "light! light! We will reach Communism!" That will be written someday, it will be history.

Today we have made a historical decision. We have expressed with our clenched fist held high to give our lives. Rising to our feet with our fists in the air we have offered our lives. In this moment the crumbling of the walls and the breaking of the new dawn begins.

As you have all pledged, I too pledge: before the banner of Marxism-Leninism, Mao Tse-tung Thought, before the effigy of our founder, before the line of our Party and the unconquered banners of our Party: I too am committed to fight and struggle to topple the walls of the old order, I too am a combatant of the First Company of the First Division of the People's Army. I only have one aspiration, like all of you: to serve my people, base myself in the masses who are our support and to struggle for proletarian internationalism. In the International Communist Movement we have only one flag: Marx unfurled it, then Lenin and Mao raised it higher; it is the light that will never be extinguished. We have stood up, and I will fulfill what I must. What matters to me is to complete my journey well. We Communists expect nothing, only to serve Communism. My decision is the same as yours. I too will be a simple combatant of the First Company, I will do what must be done, I will do what is right, expecting nothing except to serve the cause of Communism. This is also my pledge: my decision is yours your decision is mine, because we are united. The toppling of the walls and the unfolding of a new dawn begins.

(From the General National Conference, December 3, 1979)

"History has shown us that a just military and political line does not emerge nor develop in a spontaneous and gentle form, but in the struggle against the opportunism of the 'Left' on the one hand, and against the opportunism of the 'Right' on the other. Without combating and transforming these pernicious deviations that undermine the revolution and the revolutionary war, it will be impossible to elaborate a just line and achieve victory in the revolutionary war."

MAO TSE-TUNG.





WE BEGIN TO TOPPLE THE WALLS AND UNFOLD A NEW DAWN

I. The Masses Clamor to Organize the Rebellion.

Since ancient times, the masses have been subjected to exploitation and oppression. They have always rebelled, it is a long and inexhaustible history. The class struggle is constant. It cannot be suppressed. For ages, since they began struggling, the masses have clamored to organize the rebellion, to be armed, to rise up, to be led. It has always been this way and will continue to be. Even afterwards, in the new world, there will be struggle but in different forms.

Misery exists together with fabulous riches. Even the utopians knew that both are linked: enormous wealth tied to condemnable and flagrant poverty. It is like this because exploitation exists. Exploitation is tied to oppression and this too exists, killing the masses, consuming them with hunger, shackling and garrotting them. But the masses are not sheep. They are people grouped into classes who organize themselves, develop their parties and the latter its leaders.

The leadership should listen to the most minor murmur of the masses, listen to their movement, try to scan the future from a distance and stand firmly on the ground in order to record the faintest tremor of the masses. A leader that does not do this is not a leader.

We are Communists, Marx taught us that as revolutionaries we have the professional obligation to organize misery in order to topple the old order. Our obligation is to carry it out scientifically in accordance with the laws of class struggle and with awareness of the goal towards which the class and people march. That is our obligation, we have come here in order to organize the clamor of the masses, to organize and arm them. In this way the disorganized power of the masses expresses its strength, its invincible power, and the masses become the creators of new orders, thereby undermining and boisterously toppling the strongest walls.

We can not call ourselves Communists if we do not act in such a manner. There can be no leaders who are deaf to the clamor of the masses, blind to their strength, harsh or indifferent. This is unacceptable. Nevertheless, what have we seen? Blind, harsh, indifferent and deaf leaders; are they losing their status as Communists? The souls of Communists should tremble like the souls of the masses tremble, should become happy with what brings them joy, be hurt by what hurts them, become impassioned by what impassions them, uplifted by what uplifts the masses. If not, the militant's character becomes a mere formality, an insignia, a rubber stamp, a kind of etiquette.

There can be no Communists, much less leaders, that dare to lose confidence in the masses; that is to lose confidence in the only force of history. The "reasons" could be very elaborate ones but they would be hollow, an unacceptable emptiness. The Party cannot continue to allow those militants, and the leaders who deny the role of the masses. We cannot permit that. While the bourgeoisie sees the waves of strikes and the reawakening of the peasants, the Communists deny what their eyes see, and what their hands make. It makes no sense and cannot be permitted for the Communist to deny the masses.

More and more we must be advisors, we should see things in perspective, have sensitive ears to hear what the masses have to say, a penetrating insight, a sharp and piercing talent to discover the transformation of the masses. Without this, we cannot accomplish our mission. Should we follow the road of the old opportunism? Do we have the callous hearts of reaction? From those comrades who act that way what can we expect tomorrow? They are dark and sinister opportunists who traffick with the masses. Never again shall we allow such a thing to occur, much less with our leaders.

There is a powerful reality in this country of ours, it is the masses. They have a magnificent history that is often ignored; but each time the masses speak up the land trembles, and each time the peasant masses rise-up the foundations of the old system rocks, Reactionaries worry in a thousand ways when they rebel but only with blood and fire have they placated the masses. Reaction is helped by its cunning opportunists who misdirect and obstruct the struggle; but they can only appease the masses, never contain them.

Engels taught us that there are two forces in the world, the armed force of reaction and the disorganized masses. If we organize the powerful force of the masses, their potential develops into actions, what was a possibility becomes a reality. What is a law and a necessity becomes forceful deeds which sweep away all that is believed to be firm. Nothing is permanent. Everything is a house of cards, if it is not sustained by the masses. And when the masses speak up everything shudders, the order begins to tremble, the high summits stoop and the stars change their course, because the masses are capable of anything.

If this conviction begins to falter within us, the Communist spirit commences to fall apart. We must be vigilant and what we have lived through in this Plenary Session should be a warning to us: it must never happen again. If a Party has leaders who are deaf to the masses, its days are numbered! If it occurs, our duty is to crush and destroy such a bureaucratic machine since it is not a Party any longer, but a monster that must be dismantled. What did Chairman Mao tell us on this matter? He said, we atheists have only one divinity, the masses; we invoke those Gods in order for them to hear us so when that happens exploitation will be eliminated. We must forge our militants with this view today more than ever, and even more so tomorrow.

The masses clamor to organize the rebellion. Therefore, the Party, its leaders, cadres and militants have an urgent obligation and destiny: to organize the disorganized force of the masses and this will only be accomplished with arms in hands. The masses must be armed gradually, part by part, until the arming of the entire people and when this comes about there will be no more exploitation on Earth.

II. Let the Actions Speak.

The II Plenary Session of the Central Committee has already a timbre of glory, a timbre that characterized it with the decision to develop the militarization of the Party through actions.

The Communists have paid dearly through their violent struggle to establish a new flag: initiate the armed struggle. We are all witnesses to the tough ideological struggle to conclude the development of our line: Initiate the Armed Struggle (ILA).

We have taken firm and decisive steps in as much as we are sure of what we want and where we go. Let us remember Lenin: we will triumph because we know what we want.

It is good to pause for a few minutes and ask ourselves. How have we arrived at this great determination to develop the militarization of the Party through actions? It has been in the midst of an intense struggle, perhaps it has not been as strident as others, but it is deeper, more turbulent and it has a very wide perspective.

Two positions have been in clear contention. Those of us who since the VI Plenum have inculcated the idea of converting words into actions, today convert the verb into armed actions. That is a decisive materialization and transcendental development. What we have agreed upon is to develop military actions, which ring in our minds, palpitate in our hearts, clamor in our heads and agitates our wills when we speak about action.

Some of us have struggled for agreement on passing over to the language of military actions and others have obstinately opposed this with sophisticated maneuvers and even slyness. But this decision has been imposed on us and determined because our country demands determination, because our people demand actions. Our people clamor and we respond to that cry, to their demand, we feel what they feel and want what they want, they want their hands to speak the precise and convincing language of armed deeds. Yes! Developing actions are always the deeds of the masses, of the people: when the trench is dug it is the action that speaks, when the anvil is forged it is the action that speaks, when men investigate they derive laws, it is the action that speaks and when armed hands are raised it is the people who fight. First comes the deed and then the idea, and that idea will carry you to higher levels of action each time. We are sure and just reflections of our reality. We have preached extensively, called to arms for the armed struggle. Our voices have not fallen in the desert, the seed fell in a good furrow and has begun to sprout. The voices we launch are very powerful and with growing echoes that will thunder throughout our land. Those who we called upon to stand up, to rise up in arms, to sow with their wills, respond: we are here ready, lead us, organize us, let us act together! And each day we will continue to progress and do more. Either we fulfill our promises or we will become the laughing stock and unfaithful traitors. And surely we are not these.

If we have planted, preached and organized and all this bears fruit, then our obligation is to lead, because the march has begun. Let the armed actions confirm our words. May our blood be joined with the blood of those who must shed it, we don't have the right to let that blood shiver alone, let its frigidity mix with the warmth of our own, or else we are not what we are.

In an almost insensible form we became Communists. It is like a long trail, like walking. Moving with one foot demands you step with the other, and if you get tired, it is not to straggle but to take a smooth and calm rest, and then continue climbing. Tomorrow matter will take us in with its belligerent peace, there we can rest definitively.

That is why we have been formed as Communists, for this reason Marx, Lenin and Mao came forward to teach the rest, to teach them to fulfill their responsibilities, in order to assemble others, organize them, and raise them up; for this reason the class generated us.

What have we seen here? Some comrades and leaders have opposed the Party's most decisive step of its history "to initiate the armed struggle." On what grounds? Because of the supposed "lack of conditions?" And in their trembling voices who speaks? It was the black gullet of oppression and exploitation, the black gullets filled with bile and blood. Don't forget, that reaction needs to shed torrents of blood in order to pacify and subdue the people, it is their dream of fire and steel, but that sinister dream is the most obvious proof that it is in decomposition.

And when comrades and leaders want to steal our souls and minds, should we permit it? No. Their "arguments" went up in smoke, their threadbare "considerations" and their paper "steadfastness" are rotting in the sun.

Never again in our Party should we have to listen to those sinister voices among Communists and even less so among leaders. And all those daring to stand up, crush and destroy them like they deserve. Today this is much more urgent, this is less permissible now because it is undermining and destroying the hopes of the masses, the labor of five years, and precisely when the masses begin to express themselves concretely in reality. In these times these pacifists are shameful.

Many lessons are obtained for all of us from these meetings, for some there should be deafening warnings and forceful calls to our attention. Never again. We have a clear and definite orientation: let actions speak. To Develop the Militarization of the Party through actions. To convert this into reality is an urgent task. It is a call to order, the class, history and the people demand it. We cannot work in any other way. It is a necessity. What we have accomplished in the past has brought us here. The road is defined and the actions are established: let us carry them out. We have no other right. This is the order of the day: let actions speak.

III. We Begin the Toppling of the Walls.

We have already agreed to the Development of the Militarization of the Party through actions. What shall we do next? We should commence to topple the walls. Now is the time, at once.

There are those who have opposed, resisted, and even someone who fled in cowardice, deserting for a second time, and who has been defended. Will it be useful for our Party to defend cowardice and betrayal? Think of those who have committed such acts. Remember "Prometheus", the Oceanids and Hermes: we ask for everything except cowardice and betrayal. Like 2,500 years ago, Communists in the XX Century in a Communist Party that strives for the launching of armed struggle, debating its development through armed actions, we heard leaders who praised, supported, nourished, and protected betrayal. Will this political behavior be of any use to us? No. Let us root out the poisonous weeds. It is pure poison, a cancer which corrodes and we must not permit this. It is a sinister and decaying pus that we must never allow within our ranks, much less now. Let us remove these sinister, harmful vipers. We can permit neither cowardice nor betrayal; they are asps. It is impossible to tolerate this. It manifests itself within us and in our leaders. This is unacceptable, condemnable and marked for fire. We must begin to root out that poison. We must forge ourselves in another temperament and with another spirit. Let us root out and burn the leeches, otherwise the poison will be general. If we don't destroy it, the vigor of the Party's healthy body will dissipate.

It is urgent and pressing to finish with this. We must not leave a trace, a purge should serve this purpose, clarified with facts. Those who have exhibited that behavior should be the first ones to leave. It will be a sign of our advancement. In order to topple the walls, we should sweep away the debris and eliminate poisons. In order to begin the toppling of the walls, we need to fortify ourselves and this fortification is to sweep away the rot of rightism in general. Let us take this challenge very seriously so that we can accomplish our tasks with the highest vigilance. We must preserve the Left, and those with difficulties will advance. That will be the sign of our actions, our commitment.

We will go to our bases. We will transmit to them our message to raise actions. Having unleashed the struggle against a beheaded Right is a great and magnificent step forward. We along with those with problems will exemplify our determination and assurance as part of the Left and be ever vigilant. It is essential to do this in order to advance, and fortify ourselves and become powerful.

There is no need to call those with problems powerless. Power will come from actions. Action is the toppling of the walls. Let us carry out military actions. We will be tempered by them. From the novices we are we will become experienced combatants.

Thus, by applying the development of the militarization of the Party through actions, the walls will be profoundly undermined and their toppling will begin. The keys to this are the armed groups, the armed groups without arms. May your unarmed hands snatch away the arms of those who own them with creativity, then utilize them shrewdly and with clear ideas.

Let us expand the groups, let us act in boycotts, harvests, land seizures, sabotage, terrorism and principally with guerilla actions. This is our desire and destiny. We have all pledged: let the violence flourish as elaborated in the initiation of the armed struggle (ILA), we will carry it forward with armed groups, beginning with unarmed groups, and from those ardent seeds will sprout forth ardent sunflowers. We have a sun that will illuminate us, Marxism-Leninism Mao Tse-tung Thought, we have a fertile land that will fortify us: the increase of the class struggle of the masses.

What do we lack? The sprouting and flourishing of armed groups without arms! From those humble seeds and blossoms, monuments of the class capable of toppling the walls will grow. That's the way the dawn will appear in our country.

The key to our success: the groups; of vital importance: our decision; the base: the masses.

May the armed groups without arms flourish! That is the order of the day.

IV. Unfurl Optimism and Overflow with Enthusiasm.

We are Communists of a distinct temperament and special material, we are Communists ready for everything and we know what needs to be fought. We have already fought it and will fight it again tomorrow.

What will be confronted tomorrow will be the child of the present, it will be harder but by then we will be tempered by the past and as we forge ourselves today. We will temper our souls in the revolution, this is the only flame capable of forging us.

We need a great deal of optimism and there is a reason for it. We are the makers of tomorrow, we are guides, the garrison of the invincible triumph of the class. This is why we are optimists.

We are enthusiastic by nature. We are nurtured by the ideology of our class: Marxism-Leninism Mao Tse-tung Thought. We live the life of the class. We participate in its heroic deeds. The blood of our people flow and burns within us.

We are like a powerful and palpitating blood. Let us take the unbendable iron and steel, the class, and mix it together with the unwithering light of Marxism-Leninism Mao Tse-tung Thought. Enthusiasm means to participate in the force of the Gods, therefore, we are full of enthusiasm. We participate in the divinities of the real world: The masses, the class, Marxism and the revolution. That is why we have inexhaustible enthusiasm. That is why we have strength, optimism, and a vigorous spirit overflowing with enthusiasm.

And what have we seen here? Militants and leaders without optimism. Dead spirits and deciduous wills with fleeting passions. This is unacceptable. We know well their roots: Their support is not Marxism, the class, nor the masses, rather it is the corrosive individualism, the reactionary rot that makes them fearful, the sewage mold of the old order, the expression of the dying world, the lethal swamp gasses of reaction. This is why their spirits are broken, their hearts tremble, their thoughts forsake them, their nerves are destroyed, and their actions disturbed.

This has to be uprooted, it can not nest among us. It is unacceptable, inadmissible, let us burn it and blast it. This cannot be allowed in the Party, much less prevail. What have we seen in this moment? Leaders with these positions and attitudes. It is despicable. Never again should this happen. And precisely today, when we need to unfurl optimism and enthusiasm, now? That is unacceptable. It is corrosion, pure gangrene, and it should never have taken place, today it is much more unacceptable.

If the comrades don't uproot these weaknesses what type of cadres are they going to form? What kind of militants are they going to form? Apply the following: a company always reflects its leadership. To lead a company without optimism results in a company without optimism. A pusillanimous leadership makes a pusillanimous company. It will be defeated and broken before it engages in battle.

We need to unfurl optimism and overflow enthusiasm. Our powerful ideology, incisive line and Communist will must be manifested above all in the leaders.

The order of the day is: Unfurl optimism and overflow enthusiasm! May it be shared with others, with our cadres and bases not present in this meeting. May this enthusiasm manifest itself in action and motivate us in order to eliminate the crust that impedes our advance and serve to others as an example to uproot these weaknesses. May the optimism shine, and manifest in us a powerful enthusiasm. It is practical and necessary in as much as we carry it out.

No one can deny that this is a struggle between positions. We have recorded right here and the summary will be the expression of what we have seen. But in the first place, what was important in our Party? What is important now? What will be important tomorrow? It is the Left. Who cries about its defeat? The Right. They should understand that its cry is useless. They must burn their old idols, burn the old and decrepit, and place their spirits up to the these times.

The spirit of the times is owned by the Left. It is consistent with the needs of our country, our people clamor for revolution. We cannot fail. If our blood and lives are claimed, our response is: we carry our lives in our hands to give them up, we put them at the service of the greatest and most just cause.

Our death for the good cause should be the seal of our revolutionary action. The constant and firm actions for our cause will be the hallmark of our lives as Communist combatants. This is what we have understood the best. That is why the positive weighs so much more in us.

We have advanced, but some think that their weaknesses have been overcome. That is a loss of vigilance, there could be a thousand "reasons", but it is only sewage. Elevate your vigilance and sweep away the errors with determination, destroy the old and decrepit through armed actions which will be the real and effective seal.

Perhaps some people think that we should only speak about the positive, but there exists light and shadow, a contradiction. We should summarize and learn lessons. This meeting is a great lesson. We will not forget it. We have an obligation to preserve the Left so that the Party can meet its objective. With the actions we are undertaking and with this excellent meeting, we begin to topple the walls and unfurl a new dawn.

We can summarize this in four voices, in order:

1. The masses clamor to organize the rebellion.

2. Let the actions speak.

3. We begin the toppling of the walls.

4. Unfurl optimism and display enthusiasm.

This Central Committee is strong and will become more stronger if we all carry out our responsibilities, mainly the "Development of the Militarization of the Party through actions."

Let the comrades speak and express their optimism and enthusiasm. It will be a sign of their determination. Do not let my words become a pretext to some comrades for losing optimism and a retreating of enthusiasm. I believe we have reached the moment of overcoming the old defects of 50 years.

Another world is opening up for us. We have begun to define it ourselves, this meeting is one of definition. Let every thought, word, action, feeling, and will of ours affirms this. It is feasible, indispensable and necessary. We can and must do it. And we will, because we know what we want.

This meeting is very good, it has united and bonded us even more. We have unanimously agreed to uphold the military line and its realization: "Develop the Militarization of the Party through actions." From now on, let everything express our taught willingness to carry out what we have agreed upon.

[From the II Plenary Session of the Central Committee, March 28, 1980]

"In the history of the world there have been no wars that began and ended with a continuous victorious offensive. If there were, they were an exception. That is true even in common wars. But when the fate of a class is at stake, when the alternative is capitalism or socialism, is there a basis or logic to suppose that a nation which confronts this problem for the first time can immediately discover the correct method, free of errors? What reasons are there to suppose this? None! Experience teach us the contrary. None of the problems we faced could be resolved at once, but only after repeated attempts. To suffer a defeat, commence anew, redoing everything. To discover the method for the approximate solution--a definitive solution or at least a satisfactory one--that is how we have been working and should continue to do so. Given the challenges that are presented to us, if there were no unanimity in our ranks, it would be a sad indicator of a weak and very dangerous spirit that had penetrated the Party. On the contrary, if we do not fear speaking the truth, no matter how hard and bitter it is, we will learn. And it is entirely certain that we will learn to overcome each and every difficulty."