On 150 Years of the Proletarian World Revolution
#PUBLICATION NOTE
This edition of On 150 Years of the Proletarian World Revolution has been translated, 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 German Branch of the Peru People's Movement on pagina-libre.org.
#INTRODUCTION NOTE
This is an article written by Comrade Gonzalo in the Military Prison of the Callao Naval Base in Callao, Peru around the 26th of December, 1992. It was first published on pagina-libre.org.
#Workers and oppressed people of the world, unite!
#ON 150 YEARS OF THE PROLETARIAN WORLD REVOLUTION
#IN COMMEMORATION OF CHAIRMAN MAO ZEDONG'S 100TH BIRTHDAY
#Gonzalo
#Around the 26th of December, 1992
#★
We reaffirm undefeated and unfading Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, mainly Maoism. We are in the right because we base ourselves on a deep and conscious conviction and an unshakable reaffirmation that the whole process of history and humanity, the highest form of matter, is marching unstoppably toward communism.
The fact that today the process of the international communist movement is experiencing the end of the first glorious stage of the proletarian world revolution, and that today we have entered and develop within the general political retreat of the proletarian world revolution, is nothing but a repetition and expression of the law that governs the rise of a new class in history: it conquers power, loses it, reconquers it, loses it again, and reconquers it again, until it finally consolidates it and begins the great process of development of the new society of the future once and for all. In this way, our class will realize communism, the new society in which true and genuine communion and freedom will be realized.
What we are seeing today and will continue to see is nothing but the great and shaking convulsions and collapse of the new in the face of the old, which is nothing but a temporary defeat that in the end will lead to the victory of communism.
The disturbances created by the old order to cover the new with rubble are only temporary victories. In these triumphs lie failures, in these apparent victories lie defeats. The old order will continue to cause new disturbances until its complete, utter, and final ruin. Such is the expression of the law governing the collapse of an old class and the rise and struggle of a new class, the concretization of the law of restoration and counter-restoration. On this basis, on the basis of a profound understanding of dialectical materialism, we obtain the unshakable firmness, resolve, and determination necessary to strive and to continue to strive for the unstoppable march toward communism. We see this as one step, as a failure that leads to victory, as just one more step that must be taken before final victory is reached. Failure implies the end of one stage; that is to say, it implies that less time is left until we reach communism.
Remember the process of the bourgeoisie: it lasted 300 years. For us, it will take 200 years to sweep imperialism off the face of the Earth and to launch the development of the new order so that communism will be achieved throughout the world.
We have an unshakable, conscious, and scientific conviction; meditating on this conviction will allow us to strengthen our will to fight for communism.
The law of progress, the law of the new, will guide the efforts of thousands and millions of people until communism is achieved.
We should meditate on this basis for our profound class feelings and unshakable will and continue to fight until our objective is reached.
A few decades from now, in the 2030s to '50s, there will be more and more masses on Earth: there will be 13'000'000'000 people who will express their law. The great masses must be remoulded and led in accordance with this law so that its historical logic and direction may be expressed — that the masses are the makers of history and that they will develop people's war under the leadership of the Communist Parties. This is necessary because the old class will resist. Guided by the ideology of the proletariat, the masses will develop people's war, which is undefeated and unfaded, and enter communism.
Communism will only be realized through revolution. Without revolution there is no qualitative change. This revolution will not be bloody like today, but it will be the conclusion of a long series of bloody revolutionary wars. Then there will be no more private property, the withering away of classes, States, and wars; then true human history will begin with a qualitatively higher level of freedom and harmony, without oppression and exploitation. Revolution is thus what characterizes the process of history, and our unstoppable march will consist of revolutions. The entry into communism cannot be bloody because it will be characterized by the withering away of private property, States, weapons, and known systems of government — it will be a different form of revolution but it must be a revolution. As Engels said, communism will seal the coffin of prehistory and open up real history, the realm of true freedom.
In this complex period in the world revolution and the Peruvian revolution, in this transcendental period in the proletarian world revolution, the Peruvian revolution, and the People's War in Peru — in this crucial period we are obliged to sum up the proletarian world revolution, and this is up to the Central Leadership. This is our obligation and responsibility as members of the New Red Faction that has launched the fourth period in the Party's history in order to enter and develop in the third millennium, the millennium in which communism will be realized. The year 1848 opened up the road to communism, and the Manifesto was published; in 1998, this will be 150 years ago, which is enough time to be able to analyse and get a deep understanding of the history of the proletarian world revolution; this should not only be the work of the Communists of Peru but of the Communists of the whole world.
Today they can try to negate us by saying that we are not Marxists; the cornerstones are not visible today, but they exist.
The work of revolution transcends and crosses distances; there will always be people who await the Communists like thirsty trees in the desert looking for a drop of water. Such people are fertile ground for good seeds. We must think of the long road and the years to come.
In persisting as Communists we must always start by upholding Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, Gonzalo's Thought, our ideological, strategic, particular, and principal weapon, which is necessary to solve new problems and to develop the Party as the axis and hinge of the proletarian world revolution and its new wave.
We must have a Party spirit, a class position, and the determination to serve the people. The people — as well as the enemy — recognize whose interests we defend, that we are examples of militant revolutionaries who serve our class with absolute selflessness.
We look back at the road traveled: the People's War, the implications of the arrest of Chairman Gonzalo and the Central Leadership, the work for the new period in the Party's history, and the new work of negotiating a peace agreement. We are in a complex, difficult, and risky period. We are breaking new ground in terms of our Marxist-Leninist-Maoist, Gonzalo's Thought commitment and class position, and in this way serving the proletarian world revolution and its new wave.