This is an archive of the former website of the Maoist Internationalist Movement, which was run by the now defunct Maoist Internationalist Party - Amerika. The MIM now consists of many independent cells, many of which have their own indendendent organs both online and off. MIM(Prisons) serves these documents as a service to and reference for the anti-imperialist movement worldwide.
Maoist Internationalist Movement

This is an archive of the former website of the Maoist Internationalist Movement, which was run by the now defunct Maoist Internationalist Party - Amerika. The MIM now consists of many independent cells, many of which have their own indendendent organs both online and off. MIM(Prisons) serves these documents as a service to and reference for the anti-imperialist movement worldwide.

The fascists captured Comrade Gonzalo, but Marxism-Leninism-Maoism Gonzalo Thought is free!

On September 12, 1992, fascist Peruvian police captured the greatest revolutionary of our hemisphere, Comrade Gonzalo, the leader of the PCP (Communist Party of Peru). The alleged appearance of Comrade Gonzalo in a Peru courtroom November 5 2004 is a bittersweet reminder of the twists and turns of revolutionary struggle in Peru.

Beloved by the people of Peru, President Gonzalo was not perynally able to bring Peru a happy ending in its story of revolution. It remains up to the masses of Peru to bring the reality of revolution into being. The study of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism-Gonzalo Thought is essential for revolution in all of Latin America.

When the fascists arrested Gonzalo, conservative estimates put the percentage of Peru under PCP control at between 25 and 40 percent.(1) By that time, the PCP had coordinated far more armed struggle than Fidel Castro ever had. In a handful of small battles, Fidel Castro came to power in Cuba. The PCP showed how a thorough revolution could sweep Latin America under more difficult conditions.

Though the PCP did not overthrow the fascist regime before the capture of Gonzalo, the success it did have was still the greatest revolutionary success in the hemisphere since World War II. MIM has spoken with academics who cannot imagine what sustained revolution in Peru for 12 years. There is no theory for it in the academic world, but in Marxism-Leninism-Maoism-Gonzalo Thought we have an answer of how to make revolution in much of Latin America.

MIM never undertakes to answer a question without a thorough investigation. We can say we do not know about the man who appeared November 5 2004 in that Peru courtroom. It is the job of the Peruvian revolutionaries and masses to know who that was and what the struggle is concerning him in the details. It would be wrong for MIM to read what the Associated Press reporter has to say about it and take it literally and then draw MIM's own conclusion. That's why MIM describes itself as based in imperialist countries and their internal semi-colonies.

As MIM has explained before in its U.$. tactics for working "at arm's length," the enemy's strength and weakness is the individual approach. The enemy does police work on the individual, but we of the larger class, the exploited proletariat with allies in the exploited peasantry have a different approach.

So while MIM does not know what happened November 5 in Peru, what we do know is that the approach described in Comrade Gonzalo's books is correct. The writings of Comrade Gonzalo are based not just on valuable and bloody struggle in Peru but also the experience of China.

Comrade Gonzalo led 12 years of the most successful People's War in Latin America. Now it is also 12 years since the arrest of Gonzalo, but official unemployment in Peru is 10.1% according to the Miami Herald and expected to increase in the coming year.(2) According to BBC, a World Food Program "study found that up to 91% of children under age five in Puno were suffering from malnutrition. The area also has been struck by drought and floods.

"More than half of Peru's population live . . . below the poverty line and some 6.5 million people, 25% of the population, are classified as extremely poor, living on an income of less than $1 per day."(3)

The reactionaries in Peru strive to demoralize us by making us remember the capture of the individual Gonzalo. Yet, we will direct the people internationally to remember that Peru did not accomplish anything under capitalism and semi-feudalism these past 12 years.

The excuses are gone. It used to be the excuse that Peru was too social-democratic, so it found new u.$. lackey leaders. Then the excuse was that Comrade Gonzalo was nearly bringing down the regime. So they captured Gonzalo. Then the excuse became that the regime was corrupt and tied up with narco-trafficking. So they imprisoned Montesinos and exiled Fujimori.

What we must learn is that each time there is a different excuse, but the underlying problem is always the same. While capitalism may be a "success" for whites in the united $tates and some other imperialist countries, most countries in the world share Peru's fate. They are partners with Washington but make no progress in the supposedly successful capitalist system, which backs semi-feudalism in Peru. While Uncle $am wars on the people of Iraq for their resources and Amerikans get richer on oil and military contracts, the people of Peru and most countries in the world suffer relentless oppression and exploitation. The wealthy Amerikan "success" stories are only 294 million people, while the rest of the world is over 6 billion people opposing u.$. imperialism. It's been 12 years since the capture of Gonzalo and the people of Peru know that capitalism is still a failure for them, just as it is for most of the world's people.

Notes:
1. http://www.prisoncensorship.info/archive/etext/mn/mn.php?issue=070
2. http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/business/special_packages/business_monday/9949073.htm?1c
3. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3757150.stm