We Begin to Demolish the Walls and to Break a New Dawn

#PUBLICATION NOTE

This edition of We Begin to Demolish the Walls and to Break a New Dawn 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 Second Plenary Session of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Peru in Lima, Peru, on the 28th of March, 1980. 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!

#WE BEGIN TO DEMOLISH THE WALLS AND TO BREAK A NEW DAWN

#SPEECH DELIVERED AT THE SECOND PLENARY SESSION OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF PERU

#Gonzalo

#28th of March, 1980

#★

There has never been a war in history that was an uninterrupted victorious advance from beginning to end — at any rate, such wars are very rare exceptions. This applies to ordinary wars, but what about wars which decide the fate of a whole class, which decide the issue of socialism or capitalism? Are there reasonable grounds for assuming that a nation which is attempting to solve this problem for the first time can immediately find the only correct and infallible method? What grounds are there for assuming that? None whatsoever! Experience teaches the very opposite. Of the problems we tackled, not one was solved at the first attempt; every one of them had to be taken up a second time. After suffering defeat, we tried again, we did everything all over again; if we could not find an absolutely correct solution to a problem, we tried to find one that was at least satisfactory. That is how we acted in the past, and that is how we must continue to act in the future. If, in view of the prospects before us, there were no unanimity in our ranks, it would be a very sad sign that an extremely dangerous spirit of despondency had lodged itself in the Party. If, however, we are not afraid to speak the sad and bitter truth straight out, we shall learn, we shall unfailingly and certainly learn to overcome all our difficulties.¹

#1. THE MASSES CLAMOUR FOR THE ORGANIZATION OF THEIR REBELLION

Since ancient times, the masses have been subject 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 to fight, the masses have clamoured for the organization of their rebellion, for their armament, for the uprising, for leadership. It has always been this way, and it will continue to be so. Even afterward, in the new world, there will still be struggle, but in different forms.

Poverty exists side by side with fabulous riches. Even the utopians knew that the two are linked: enormous wealth is tied to abominable and flagrant poverty. It is like this, because exploitation exists. Exploitation is tied with oppression, and oppression exists too, killing the masses, consuming them with hunger, shackling and imprisoning them. But the masses are not sheep. They are people grouped into classes that organize themselves, that develop their political parties, and the latter of which develop their leaders.

The leadership should listen to the smallest whisper by the masses, listen to their movement, try to see the future from a distance, and have both feet firmly planted on the ground in order to record the faintest rumour among the masses. A leader who does not do this is not a leader.

We are Communists. Marx taught us that, as revolutionaries, we have the professional obligation to organize the poor in order to demolish the old order. Our obligation is to carry this organization out scientifically in accordance with the laws of the class struggle and with awareness of the objective toward which our class and the people march. That is our obligation, and we have come here in order to organize the clamour 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 a new order, thus undermining and boisterously demolishing even the strongest walls.

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

There can be no Communists, much less leaders, who dare to lose confidence in the masses; that would be to lose confidence in the only historical force. The «reasons» for doing so could be very elaborate, but they would be hollow, an unacceptable emptiness. The Party cannot continue to allow members and leaders who negate 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 create. It makes no sense and cannot be permitted for Communists to negate 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 the reactionaries? From those comrades who act that way, what can we expect tomorrow? They are dark and sinister opportunists who traffic with the masses. Never again shall we allow such a thing to occur, least of all 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 shakes. The reactionaries worry in a thousand ways when the masses rebel, but only through blood and fire have they been made to placate the masses. The reactionaries are helped by the cunning opportunists, who mislead and obstruct the struggle; but they can only appease the masses, never contain them.

Engels taught us that there are only two powers in the world, the armed power of reaction and the disorganized power of the masses. If we organize the powerful force of the masses, their potential develops into actions, what was a possibility becomes a reality, and what is a law and a necessity becomes forceful deeds, which sweep away all that is thought 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 social 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 begins 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 Communist Party has leaders who are deaf to the masses, its days are numbered! If it occurs, our duty is to crush and destroy that bureaucratic machine, because it is a Communist Party no longer, but a monster that must be dismantled. What did Chairman Mao tell us on this matter? He said, we atheists have only one God, the masses; we invoke those gods in order for them to hear us, so that, when that happens, exploitation will be eliminated. We must temper our members in this view, today more than ever, and even more so tomorrow.

The masses clamour for the organization of their rebellion. Therefore, the Party, its directors, cadres, and militants, have an urgent obligation and destiny — to organize the disorganized power of the masses — and this will only be accomplished gun in hand. The masses must be armed gradually, part by part, until the armament of the entire people, and when this comes about, there shall be no more exploitation on Earth.

#2. LET OUR ACTIONS SPEAK

The Second Plenary Session of the Central Committee already has a germ of glory, a germ that characterizes 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: initiation of the armed struggle. We are all witnesses to the tough ideological struggle to conclude the development of our line: initiation of the armed struggle.

We have taken firm and decisive steps inasmuch 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 has a very broad perspective.

Two standpoints have been in clear contention. Those of us who, since the Sixth Plenary Session, have inculcated the idea of converting words into actions, today convert the word into armed action. That is a decisive materialization and a transcendental development. What we have decided is to develop military actions, which echo in our minds, beat in our hearts, clamour in our heads, and agitate our wills when we talk about action.

Some of us have fought for a decision to pass over to the language of military actions, and others have obstinately opposed this with sophisticated manoeuvres and even slyness. But this decision has been imposed, and we are determined, because our country demands determination, because our people demand actions. Our people clamour, and we respond to that cry, to their demand, we feel what they feel and want what they want, and they want their hands to speak the precise and convincing language of armed actions. Indeed! Actions must always be developed through the deeds of the masses, of the people: when the trenches are dug, it is the deed that speaks; when the anvil is forged, it is the deed that speaks; when people conduct research and derive laws, it is the deed that speaks; and when armed fists 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 deeds 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 on barren soul, the seeds fell in good soil and have begun to sprout. The voices we are launching are very powerful and lead to growing echoes that will thunder throughout our country. Those whom 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 day by day, we will continue to advance and do more than the day before. Either we fulfil our promises or we will turn into laughing stocks and unfaithful traitors. And surely we are not like that.

Once we have planted, preached, and organized and all this bears fruit, then our obligation will be to lead, because our 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 be spilt alone, let it mix with our own, or else we are not what we say we are.

In an almost insensible way, we became Communists. It is like a long trail, like hiking. To move one foot ahead demands that you move the other, and if you get tired, the point is not to straggle, but to take a smooth and calm rest, and then to continue climbing. Tomorrow, matter will take us in with its belligerent peace, and 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 fulfil their responsibilities, in order to assemble others, organize them, and raise them up; for this reason, our class created us.

What have we seen here? Some comrades and leaders have opposed the most decisive step in the Party's history, namely, the «initiation of the armed struggle». On what grounds? Because of a supposed «lack of conditions»? And what speaks through their trembling voices? The black gullets of oppression and exploitation, the black gullets filled with bile and blood. Don't forget that the reactionaries need to shed torrents of blood in order to pacify and subdue the people, it is their dream of fire and steel, but that evil dream is the most obvious proof that they are in decay.

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-thin «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 who dare to stand up should crush and destroy them like they deserve. Today, this is much more urgent, this is even less permissible now, because it means to undermine and destroy the hopes of the masses, five years' worth of work, and precisely when the masses begin to express themselves concretely in reality. In such times, these pacifists are shameful.

Many lessons are learned for all of us from these meetings, and for some there should be deafening warnings and forceful calls to our attention. Never again. We have a clear and definite orientation: let our actions speak. Develop the militarization of the Party through actions. To convert this orientation into reality is an urgent task. It is a call to order, our 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 planned; let us carry them out. We have no right to do otherwise. This is the order of the day: let our actions speak.

#3. WE BEGIN TO DEMOLISH THE WALLS

We have already decided on the development of the militarization of the Party through actions. What shall we do next? We should begin to demolish 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 but cowardice and betrayal. Like 2'500 years ago, Communists in the 20th century, in a Communist Party that strives for the initiation of armed struggle, who were debating its development through armed actions, heard leaders who praised, supported, nourished, and protected betrayal. Will this political behaviour be of any use to us? No. Let us root out the poisonous weeds. It is pure poison, a cancer which corrodes us, 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 bears the mark of fire. We must begin to root out that poison. We must temper ourselves in a different way and with a different spirit. Let us root out and burn the leeches, otherwise the poison will be generalized. If we don't destroy it, the vigour 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 behaviour should be the first ones to leave. It will be a sign of our advancement. In order to demolish the walls, we must sweep away the debris and eliminate all poisons. In order to begin the demolition of the walls, we need to consolidate ourselves, and this consolidation means to sweep away the rot of Right-wing opportunism 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 wing, and those with difficulties will advance. That will be the sign of our actions, our commitment.

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

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

Thus, by applying the development of the militarization of the Party through actions, the walls will be profoundly undermined and their demolition will begin. The key link in this is the armed detachments, the armed detachments without arms. May your unarmed hands snatch away the arms of those who own them in creative ways, then utilize them shrewdly and with clear ideas.

Let us expand the detachments, let us carry out boycotts, harvests, land seizures, sabotage, liquidations, and, mainly, guerrilla actions. This is our desire and destiny. We have all pledged to let the violence flourish, as elaborated in the Plan for the Initiation of the Armed Struggle, we will carry it forward with armed detachments, beginning with unarmed detachments, and from those ardent seeds will sprout forth ardent sunflowers. We have a sun that will continue to illuminate us, Marxism-Leninism-Mao Zedong's Thought, and we have a fertile soil that will consolidate us: the sharpening of the class struggle of the masses.

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

The key to our success: the detachments; of vital importance: our decision; our basis: the masses.

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

#4. WE UNFURL OUR OPTIMISM AND OVERFLOW WITH ENTHUSIASM

We are Communists of a different temperament and made of special stuff, we are Communists who are ready for anything, and we know what needs to be fought. We have already fought it and will continue to fight it 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, just as we temper ourselves today. We will temper our souls in the revolution, this is the only flame capable of tempering 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 Zedong's Thought. We live the life of our class. We participate in its heroic deeds. The blood of our people flows and burns within us.

We are like a powerful and beating heart. Let us take the unbendable iron and steel, our class, and mix it together with the unwithering light of Marxism-Leninism-Mao Zedong's Thought. Enthusiasm means to participate in the power of the gods; therefore, we are full of enthusiasm. We participate in the power of the gods of the real world: the masses, our 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? Communists and leaders without optimism. Dead spirits and deciduous wills with fleeting passions. This is unacceptable. We know their roots well: Their pillar is not Marxism, our class, nor the masses, but rather it is corrosive individualism, the reactionary rot that makes them fearful, the moldy sewage of the old order, the expression of the dying world, the lethal miasma of reaction. This is why their spirits are broken, their hearts tremble, their thoughts forsake them, their nerves are destroyed, and their actions are disturbed.

This has to be uprooted, it cannot be allowed to nest among us. It is unacceptable, inadmissible, let us burn it and blast it. This cannot be allowed to exist in the Party, much less to prevail. What have we seen in this moment? Leaders with these standpoints and attitudes. It is despicable. Never again should this happen. And precisely today, when we need to unfurl our 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 than in the past.

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

We need to unfurl our 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 our optimism and overflow with enthusiasm! May it be shared with others, with our cadres and branches not present at 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 standpoints. We have recorded it 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 wing. Who cries about its defeat? The Right wing. They should understand that their cry is useless. They must burn their old idols, burn the old and decrepit, and adjust themselves to the spirit of the times.

The spirit of the times belongs to the Left wing. It is consistent with the needs of our country; our people clamour for revolution. We cannot fail. If our blood and lives are claimed, our response is: We carry our lives on our fingertips, so that we may give them, we put them at the service of the greatest and most just cause in the world.

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 fighters. 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. Heighten 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 both light and shadow, a contradiction. We should make a summary and draw lessons from it. This meeting is a great lesson. We will not forget it. We have an obligation to preserve the Left wing, so that the Party can meet its objective. With the actions we are undertaking and with this excellent meeting, we begin to demolish the walls and break a new dawn.

We can sum this up in four titles, in order:

• The masses clamour for the organization of their rebellion.
• Let our actions speak.
• We begin to demolish the walls.
• We unfurl our optimism and overflow with enthusiasm.

This Central Committee is strong and will become even 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 for some comrades to lose optimism and retreat from enthusiasm. I believe we have reached the moment of overcoming the old defects of the past 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 affirm this. It is feasible, indispensable, and necessary. We can and must do it. And we will, because we know what we want.

This meeting has been very good; it has united and knit us together even more. We have unanimously decided 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 decided.