Speech From the Cage
#PUBLICATION NOTE
This edition of Speech From the Cage 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 International Emergency Committee to Defend the Life of Dr. Abimael Guzman.
#INTRODUCTION NOTE
This is a speech delivered by Comrade Gonzalo in the headquarters of the Counter-Terrorism Directorate of the Peruvian National Police in Lima, Peru, on the 24th of September, 1992.
This speech was delivered 12 days following the arrest of Comrade Gonzalo and a number of other members of the Central Leadership of the Communist Party of Peru with the intention of raising the Party's morale and keeping the Red Flag flying in Peru, so as to obtain better conditions for a peace agreement, which had become necessary under the new conditions of lack of proletarian leadership to continue the People's War.
#Workers and oppressed people of the world, unite!
#SPEECH FROM THE CAGE
#SPEECH DELIVERED IN THE HEADQUARTERS OF THE COUNTER-TERRORISM DIRECTORATE OF THE PERUVIAN NATIONAL POLICE
#Gonzalo
#24th of September, 1992
#★
Comrades of the Communist Party of Peru!
Fighters of the People's Guerrilla Army!
People of Peru!
We are living through historic events, each one of us knows this to be the case. Let us not deceive ourselves. At this moment, we must ready all our forces in order to face the difficulties and to continue accomplishing our tasks! To win new victories and finally triumph! This must be done.
We are here as the children of the people and we are fighting in these trenches, which are also trenches in the struggle, and we do this because we are Communists! Because here we defend the interests of the people, the principles of the Party, and the People's War! That is what we have been doing, what we are doing, what we will continue to do!
We are here in these circumstances. Some think that this is a great defeat. They are dreaming! We say, let them dream on. This is merely a bend in the road. Nothing more! A bend along the road. The road is long and we will travel it to the end. We will reach our goal and we will win! You will see it! You will see it!
We must continue with the tasks laid down at the Third Plenary Session of the Central Committee, a glorious event! Let it be known, these resolutions are already being carried out. We will continue to apply the Fourth Strategic Plan to Develop the People's War for the Conquest of Political Power. We will continue to develop the Sixth Military Plan to Build the Conquest of Political Power. That will continue! That is our task! We will carry it out because of who we are! Because of our responsibility to the proletariat and the people!
We clearly state that today, the democratic road has begun to unfold as a road of liberation, as a people's road of liberation. These are the circumstances in which we are developing. We should examine this with a sense of history. Let us stop closing our eyes. Let us look at the truth. Let us look at the history of Peru. Let us look at the last three centuries in Peru. This is what we should examine, the 18th century, the 19th century, the 20th century, and understand their lessons! Whoever does not understand this history will remain blind. And this blindness cannot serve the country, cannot serve Peru!
We see that the 18th century offers a very clear lesson. Let's examine this. There was one dominator, it was Spain, and that domination sucked our lifeblood. Where did it lead us? To an extremely deep crisis. As a consequence, Peru was divided up. From this came the origins of today's Bolivia. This is not our invention, this is history.
Then, in the last century: British domination. Where did their contention with France lead us? To another great crisis, the 1870s. The result? War with Chile. Let us not forget this! What happened? We lost territory. Our country suffered a great split, in spite of the blood spilled by the heroes and the people. We must draw a lesson!
The 20th century. How are we faring? In this 20th century, there is an imperialism dominating us, mainly US imperialism. This is something real and everyone knows it. Where has this led us? Except for the 1920s, here and now is the worst crisis of the entire history of the Peruvian people. Taking a lesson from the past centuries, what are we to sum up? Once again the nation is in danger, once again the Republic is in danger, once again the territory is in danger, it could easily be lost to foreign interests. This is the situation. They have brought us to this point. But we have a new reality, a Peruvian revolution, a People's War, it continues and will continue to advance. How far have we advanced? To the strategic stalemate! This we must understand well. It is a strategic stalemate that is being consolidated in a very critical situation. What have the last 12 years demonstrated? They have clearly shown to the world, and especially to the Peruvian people, that the Peruvian State, the old Peruvian State, is a paper tiger. It is rotten to the core. This is what has been demonstrated!
This being the case, we should think about the danger that the nation, the country, may be divided. The nation is at risk, they want to tear it to pieces, they want to divide it up. Who wants to do this? Like always, imperialism, those who exploit, those who dominate. What should we do? What is correct today? It is time to take a leap in strengthening the People's Liberation Movement, and we must develop this while directing the People's War. Because the people, it has always been the people, who have defended the country, who have defended the nation.
The time to set up the People's Liberation Front has arrived. It is time to constitute and develop a People's Liberation Army, starting from the People's Guerrilla Army. This is what is correct today! We will do this! It is what we are doing now! It is what we are going to follow through on! You, your «excellencies», shall be witness.
Finally, listen to this. We see that worldwide Maoism is marching relentlessly forward in its task of leading the new wave of the proletarian world revolution. Listen well and understand. Those who have ears, use them. Those who have understanding, and we all have it, use it well. Enough nonsense! Enough confusion! Understand this! What is happening in the world? What do we need? We need Maoism to be a living force, and this is happening. We need Maoism to create new Communist Parties to direct this next great wave of proletarian world revolution that is upon us.
All that they told us, their empty and stubbornly ignorant chattering about the famous «new age of peace» — where has this ended up? What about Yugoslavia? What about other places? It all was politicized, it was a lie. Today, there is only one reality. The same contending powers behind the First and Second World Wars are now preparing the Third World War. This we should know, and we as the children of an oppressed country are part of the spoils. We cannot let this happen! Enough of this imperialist exploitation! We should finish them off! We are part of the Third World, and the Third World is the basis of the proletarian world revolution, with one condition: that the Communist Parties develop and direct it. This is what we must do!
Here is what we think: Next year will be Chairman Mao's 100th birthday. We must celebrate this centenary! And we are organizing this with the Communist Parties. We want a new kind of celebration, a celebration that recognizes the conscious understanding of the importance of Chairman Mao in the world revolution. We will start the celebration this year, and it will culminate next year. It will be a great programme of celebration.
I want to take this opportunity to salute the international proletariat, the oppressed nations of the world, and the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement.
#LONG LIVE THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF PERU!
#THE PEOPLE'S WAR WILL INEVITABLY BE VICTORIOUS!
#WE SALUTE THE FUTURE BIRTH OF THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF PERU!
We say:
#GLORY TO MARXISM-LENINISM-MAOISM!
Finally we say: