For the New Flag

#PUBLICATION NOTE

This edition of For the New Flag has been prepared and revised for digital publication by the Institute of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism under the Central Committee of the Communist Party in Switzerland on the basis of the edition published by the Maoist Documentation Project on maoism.org.

#INTRODUCTION NOTE

This is a speech delivered by Comrade Gonzalo at the Ninth Plenary Session of the Sixth Provisional Central Committee of the Communist Party of Peru in Lima, Peru on the 7th of June, 1979. It was first published in the pamphlet For the New Flag, Red Flag Publishing House, Lima, 1980.

#Workers and oppressed people of the world, unite!

#FOR THE NEW FLAG

#SPEECH DELIVERED AT THE NINTH PLENARY SESSION OF THE SIXTH PROVISIONAL CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF PERU

#Gonzalo

#7th of June, 1979

#★

Many are called upon, but few are chosen. We are not the only ones. We are all subject 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. The Party has entered a great storm; everything will be set ablaze. For a long time, we have sought to become a centre of gravity. Now is the time. The road on which we are embarking is correct, and all the problems we face will be resolved.

Today is the day of swearing allegiance 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.

Beethoven's Ninth Symphony is long and beautiful, it is the expression of victory of the bourgeoisie, the song of the triumphant bourgeoisie. Its author loved liberty, he fought for it. He wrote the Third Symphony for Napoleon, but when his idol trampled upon freedom, he said that it was no longer dedicated to him, but to 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, the Earth 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 humanity cannot accomplish!

Those were the flags of the bourgeoisie in its 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, and it is our turn to immolate ourselves. The sparks are fanned by stormy winds. Let everyone undertake their journey and allow the proletariat to carry out its historical tasks. The working class will define its own path, nothing will prevail against it, it will destroy all obstacles, and a world full of light will inevitably come. Who will be able to stop us? What are we? Sparks! What can we fear? Can muffles silence the fury of the cannons? Can a spark rise up against the bonfire? Can old foam survive in the storm? Much foam will rot in the stagnant sea. How can silence calm the thunder? The sparks cannot stop the flames, the upheavals are born in the vortex of fire, and nothing can stop them. The hammer is brandished by the working classes, the anvil is the struggle; everyone will fulfil their tasks. It is foolish to try to destroy matter.

People can be silenced, but not our class. Our class gives birth to the Party, and the Party rises up and begins to walk; it is the child of the revolution. The Party can never be crushed or destroyed. The Party will inevitably win. This Party tempered itself, Mariategui is its founder. It is done. How could history be turned back? The reconstitution came and the deed was done, it cannot be turned back. Our eyes turn toward other dawns, other things arise, why look back? A fact is a fact, it cannot be undone. Are we going to repeal time, our deeds that are sealed in matter? Our struggle should be taken toward other paths, because we are already scaling our first summit.

There is an old song: «Who is that who has eyes like the sunrise, who is beautiful as the Moon, who is illuminating as the Sun, who is imposing like armies of waving flags?»

Why look backward 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 stop us, absolutely nothing can stop us. How could the grain stop the wheels of the mill? It would be converted into dust.

Another chapter in history will begin, our vision should be turned toward it. We must begin to climb the slopes of another mountain in order to scale more brilliant summits; this is how it shall be. Let us do away from all pessimism, and 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, stands our flag. It is a flag that is the source of hope, a Red Flag unfurled in the wind. For a long time, some people wanted to strike against our political line on two fronts, but we stated that we would pass through the middle. We accomplished this with our heads held high, with our drums beating and our vision dreaming of a distant future. The deeds go on hammering you, and your mind opens, creating the idea. We are not abandoning our banners, like some foolish people, would think, because our hands were not made for dropping the flag, but for unfurling it.

For a long time, our flag has waved 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 on 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 upon all of us. We shall heed the message. The Red Flag waves much higher and toward a new summit; that is where we must go, and when we arrive, we must raise the flag to an even higher peak; we can do nothing else. The revolution cannot be stopped, 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 do the sparks throw themselves against the bonfire? Because some people have little faith, hope, and love, while our spirits should be great. We have taken three theological virtues in order to interpret them. Paul talked about a person of faith, hope, and love. One person 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 glory? Our love, faith, and hopes are collective and achievable, all three in one flag.

We had one small storm cloud, and Marxism swept it away. There are blind eyes, deaf ears, and closed hearts, that you yourselves close. What do you want to preserve? Silence? Aging foam? Here, there is only one thing to uphold, the flag of the Party that has been placed on a new summit. If we are part of the Left wing, we have to be consumed with passion, because that fervour 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 the Earth in the course of 15'000'000'000 years, billions of years in order to get to communism. How long does one person last, much less the simple twinkling of a dream? We are nothing more than a pale shadow which pretends to rise up against this whole process of matter. We will be its dream at its conclusion. Arrogant bubbles, is this what we want to be? An infinitely small fraction that wants to rise up against 15'000'000'000 years. What arrogance, what rot! Old, aging seas, rotten by time, feudal, bourgeois, and imperialist periods, sewage in decay. What else is it? A 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 take; Lenin took responsibility for starting the bonfire; Mao is Mao, because he soared like no other, he had a historical vision, he predicted 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 Jiang Jieshi 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 Jiang Qing: You can do it, but if you fail, you will be hurled off the heights, and if you fall, then the guerrilla war must begin anew.

As Communists in a process of formation, what road do we want to take? Who are we? We are nothing but Communists.

It is necessary to define what the problem is today. We face the same problems as the Right-opportunist line, but we are the Left wing. Here, the Right wing is secondary, the problem does not lie with them; if they want to fulfil their role, then let them make self-criticism. The problem lies with us, the Left wing, because it is the Party, the salt of the Earth, the tree of life; the others are parasites. The Left wing should burn the futile, it should wash itself, purge itself, remain clean. It should clean its stables and shed the old crust in a frank, truthful, and honest way. Every one of us responds to what happens to the others, we are children of the same cause. It is easy for us, because we are the Left wing. Let everyone demonstrate their capacity as a Communist. We made the Party, and that is what we are. The masses are ready, they are awaiting us. They want light and not shadows, swords and not butter, fire and not ice. The Left wing should fulfil its role. The problem is simple, even for those with a hard spirit. The point 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 our 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 standpoints 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 demolish the walls. That is what must be done.

The problem is that everyone has two flags in the soul, one black and the other red. We are Left-wingers; let us annihilate the Black Flag, it is easy for everyone to do so. If not, then the rest of us will do it.

The Red Flag will prevail, the Black Flag will be uprooted. Let everyone demonstrate their capacity as a Communist. The flag waves on a higher summit, many already recognize this, other winds are blowing in our country, and everyone analyses their problems within the context of their line and muddies their worn flags. Something helps us: our flag is much higher. How can we not fulfil our role?! I hope we can complete it. I hope.