Sentados en el famoso “Rincón Rojo” en el Casa Museo José Carlos Mariátegui ubicado en el distrito Jesús María en Lima, Perú, Jonce Palmer de ¡Lucha y Resiste! tuvo el placer de estar al lado del Dr. Ricardo Felipe Portocarrero Grados, director del Museo desde 2011 hasta 2014 y asesor del Archivo José Carlos Mariátegui. En esta entrevista, platicamos sobre la vida y obra de Mariátegui, su impacto en la historia del Perú, y su legado hoy en día para la izquierda revolucionaria peruana e internacional.

¡Lucha y Resiste!: ¿Quién fue Mariátegui y cómo se puso importante en la historia del Perú?

Ricardo Portocarrero: José Carlos Mariátegui fue un político e intelectual peruano que es considerado, según una frase que se hizo muy conocida de Antonio Melis, “el primer marxista de América [Latina]”. Se ha denominado así no porque antes hubieran personas que se declaran marxistas, sino porque se considera la obra de Mariátegui como una obra original del marxismo latinoamericano, prácticamente fundante de un marxismo que sí bien nace en Europa, pero lo que busca es interpretar para transformar la realidad peruana.

El alcance de la obra de Mariátegui se debe fundamentalmente a la revista Amauta. Fue a través de la revista Amauta que Mariátegui tomó contacto no solo con intelectuales y dirigentes obreros o campesinos de casi todo el Perú, sino también con personalidades de casi toda América Latina: de Argentina, Chile, Cuba, Costa Rica, y México. En Europa, también tenía contactos aunque la presencia de Amauta fue menor.

Y es esta amplia red de intercambios políticos e intelectuales que se articuló alrededor de la revista Amauta que produjo este reconocimiento—aún en vida de Mariátegui—tan amplio a nivel nacional e internacional. Fue también a través de la revista Amauta que se conocieron Siete ensayos de interpretación de la realidad peruana.

Una parte de los Siete ensayos fue publicado en Amauta, también Defensa del marxismo, y eso permitió que a su muerte, muchos ya lo conocieran por sus escritos. Entonces el impacto que produjo su muerte redundó ampliamente en todo el continente.

¡Lucha y Resiste!: ¿Puede explicar más sobre la obra política y teórica en que se involucró Mariátegui?

Ricardo Portocarrero: Como todo pensador marxista, su obra es amplia y diversa. Quizás lo primero que hay que señalar es que Mariátegui fue, como fue Marx, Gramsci, Lenin, y Trotsky en algún momento, periodista. Era parte de su actividad política. Comenzó como un joven periodista, desde el taller hasta la redacción, y esta fue una tarea que realizó a lo largo de toda su vida. ‘

Por ello, encontramos el primer momento que se ha denominado “edad de piedra” anterior a su formación marxista, una obra predominantemente literaria: había cuentos, poemas, teatro, crónicas de la ciudad de Lima, escritos hípicos de una obra muy diversa que eran propios de un joven periodista en formación en una Lima todavía aristocrática y muy conservador.

Es a partir de su viaje a Europa, y particularmente a su regreso al Perú, que Mariátegui orienta esta producción periodística con fines de organizar en el Perú una central sindical de medios de prensa que se entará en las bases de lo que él llamó el socialismo peruano. Los libros que él publicó en vida—y otros que dejó en proyecto—son resultados de una revisión de sus propios escritos que por si tenían cierta organicidad temática de ciertos problemas de interés, por ejemplo, la construcción del socialismo en la Unión Soviética, la crisis de la socialdemocracia europea, la emergencia y las nuevas corrientes artísticas, literarias, intelectuales, etc.

Esa articulación le permitió dar forma a estos libros que publicó en vida, que son La escena contemporánea (1925), Siete ensayos de interpretación de la realidad peruana (1928), Defensa del marxismo, que fue publicado íntegro en 1955 después de la muerte del autor y durante su vida en Amauta, y El alma matinal que quedó inconcluso.

Eso es bien importante para entender porque es una obra multifacética, escrita al ritmo de la situación cotidiana. Sin perder las perspectivas de largo plazo, tenía que ser escrito al ritmo de los acontecimientos. Que le daba una profundidad mayor a una obra escrita especialmente que tiene que abarcar muy amplia que muchas veces lo más cercano, cotidiano, preciso, se pierda. Ese estilo periodístico es lo que ha convertido en atractivo por poder estar leído con cierta facilidad, con un estilo muy literario, muy reconocido, prácticamente a lo largo de su obra.

¡Lucha y Resiste!: ¿Cuáles fueron algunos de los problemas del pueblo peruano durante este tiempo? ¿Aún existen los mismos problemas hoy en día? ¿Han aparecido problemas nuevos?

Ricardo Portocarrero: Esa es una pregunta recurrente que la izquierda peruana en general, y sobre todo, aquellos que se han declarado sus herederos—no sus seguidores, sus herederos, que dicen que representan Mariátegui en el día de hoy con sus partidos—se han planteado ese tema en diferentes momentos. Por ejemplo, a fin de los años 70, a instancia de la editorial Minerva, se publicó un conjunto de libros dedicados a estudiar los Siete ensayos en comparación con el Perú de ese momento.

En ese momento había profundas transformaciones, productos de las reformas de un gobierno militar y nacionalista. Esas reformas, la más importante siendo la reforma agraria, había abolido el latifundio. La persistencia colonial en el campo desapareció. Entonces, obviamente el Perú de Mariátegui ya no existía.

Más adelante, a finales de los años 80, se formó un grupo de intelectuales izquierdistas y marxistas que realizó unos seminarios justamente con la intención de elaborar un libro que se titulara Los nuevos siete ensayos. Desgraciadamente, no se llegó a concretar el libro como tal. En ese entonces el Perú atravesaba una guerra interna cruenta que también estaba transformando las relaciones de poder y la estructura de clases.

Más recientemente, ese es un tema pendiente para la izquierda peruana. Yo creo que fundamentalmente, hay dos aspectos que están vigentes todavía, pero en otras formas, como problemas en el presente. El problema de la dependencia, del imperialismo en el Perú y América Latina. El caso del Perú es clarísimo por la situación actual que vivimos bajo un modelo neoliberal brutal y represivo que, de otra manera, pone justamente al debate: ¿Quiénes son los sujetos que estarían interesados en luchar en contra de esas presencias? Obviamente las clases dominantes—el capital extranjero, los grupos de poder económico—están interesados en mantener esta situación.

Para aquellos que se opongan a esa dominación imperialista, es nuevamente una cuestión de discusión. Obviamente la estructura social no es la misma; no tenemos ni siquiera la misma clase obrera que existió en el Perú a principios del siglo XX. Pero también, es claro que las relaciones capitalistas, la contradicción entre capital y salario, la penetración del capital en el campo, en los circuitos de distribución, son cada vez más fuertes.

El otro tema fundamental tiene que ver en cierta manera con el poder político: El problema de cómo crear una nueva sociedad en Perú. Mariátegui planteó dos elementos que tenían que ser tomados en cuenta en este proceso de transformación. Uno de ellos era el problema agrario, que se prestaba en ese entonces por esos latifundios—propiedades de los llamados gamonales. Hoy no existen. Existen grandes empresas nacionales extranjeras que han convertido la lucha de la tierra en un tema muy importante en Perú. Ya no es solamente para la producción agroexportadora—anteriormente exportamos azúcar, algodón; ahora exportamos espárragos, café—sino también tiene que ver con el hecho de que la minería y el petrolero requiere justamente expropiar y expulsar a la población de los pueblos en las Andes de sus territorios para poder realizar los grandes proyectos mineros que solamente dejan contaminación, enfermedad, y muerte.

El otro aspecto del problema agrario es el papel de la producción agraria familiar en los campos con una manera de impulsar un mercado interno que resuelve el problema de la mayoría de la población que vive en diversas regiones. O sea, el problema del centralismo político. El poder se ejerce fundamentalmente desde Lima. Entonces, el problema agrario, de esta penetración del capital en el campo, y las luchas de las agriculturas familiares campesinas son aspectos del problema ya había planteado hace casi cien años. Son algunas ideas que tienen que ser repensadas.

Desgraciadamente, dentro los sectores intelectuales, pero también en algunos partidos políticos, se está pensando más en términos de políticas públicas que este estado se debe esforzar para mejorar la situación cuando la cosa es clara. Esto no tiene solución en este modelo económico y bajo este estado. Entonces, en ese sentido, la izquierda más revolucionaria, radical o, más consecuentemente, marxista, prácticamente es inexistente. Hay un fuerte movimiento social, pero no hay ninguna fuerza política de izquierda radical que realmente pueda dirigir este movimiento con fines de transformar la situación.

¡Lucha y Resiste!: ¿Cómo ha impactado la obra de Mariátegui en el movimiento marxista en Perú hoy en día? ¿Y dónde vemos esta influencia?

Ricardo Portocarrero: Yo creo que la influencia de la obra de Mariátegui es tal que prácticamente no hay partido político que se declare de izquierda (aunque no lo sean) que no le bendigan a Mariátegui. Es prácticamente parte de la identidad política de la izquierda peruana, inclusive aquella que no sea marxista. Generalmente la izquierda marxista lo reclama como un emblema revolucionario, una forma de decir “nosotros somos revolucionarios porque seguimos a Mariátegui.”

Hay otra izquierda más progresista, moderada, reformista que identifican a Mariátegui como un ejemplo de persona de político e intelectual preocupado por los grandes problemas nacionales. Pero que le quitan buena parte del aspecto político y programático de la obra de Mariátegui. Resaltan Amauta, sus libros, los Siete ensayos, pero no hablan del Partido Socialista ni de los sindicatos que fundó y apoyó respectivamente. Lo ven como intelectual, abstracto y aislado.

En el caso de la derecha, los conservadores y reaccionarios en este país, Mariátegui recibe su prestigio, pero prácticamente lo reducen a silencio. O sea, simplemente no hablan de él. Al menos, no públicamente. No hay una fuerte campaña desde el estado de hoy o las fuerzas políticas conservadoras contra Mariátegui. Su obra se queda sin algo de reprochar. Es una obra impecable. Por ejemplo, en los cuartos últimos años, hemos tenido las conmemoraciones de las últimas Guerras de Independencia en 2021-2024. Mariátegui casi no fue mencionado, y cuando sí ha sido mencionado, ha sido muy superficialmente.

También hay jóvenes que están interesados en investigar a Mariátegui. Hace poco aquí mismo en esta sala regalamos los premios de un concurso de ensayos sobre la obra de Mariátegui teniendo como referencia sus conferencias en la Universidad Popular [Gonzales Prada]. Entonces si hay jóvenes en sus años 30 que están escribiendo e investigando sobre la obra de Mariátegui. Esperamos con tiempo lograr llevar esos nuevos trabajos, no solo más amplios en Perú, sino en el exterior.

¡Lucha y Resiste!: ¿Por qué leer a Mariátegui? ¿Por qué tiene importancia leer su obra hace casi un siglo? O mejor, ¿porque leer su obra no siendo peruano ni latino, simplemente siendo interesado, activista, u organizador?

Ricardo Portocarrero: Me preguntas porque leerlo, pero quiero poner el elemento como leerlo. Lo vemos en casi toda la obra de Marx, Engels, y los más importantes marxistas conocidos: amina mucho una lectura ahistórica, descontextualizada, que en cierta manera, buscan un método abstracto, una herramienta teórica separada de la historia para poder comprender al mundo presente. Pero se olvida que todas las obras—Marx, Engels, Gramsci, Lenin, Mariátegui—vivieron en una época específica y que analizaron esa realidad específica. Desde allí llegan a su conclusión. Por ejemplo, hoy en día, es muy manida el concepto de hegemonía de Gramsci. La han sacado abstractamente separada de los debates de la izquierda europea del siglo XX.

En este caso, leer a Mariátegui, o la forma en que hay que leerlo, es efectivamente encontrar un método—el método marxista—en uso, en acción. O sea, el método no es un recital. El método tiene su función, su papel, al momento de ser aplicado en el mundo concreto.

¡Lucha y Resiste!: O sea, leerlo a través de la praxis—no solamente la teoría sino también la práctica.

Ricardo Portocarrero: Así es. Y para eso tiene que conocer la época, su vida, y todo lo demás. Todo de lo cual actuó como referencia: lo que leyó y comprendió. Aquí el papel de la más influencia es muy relevante pero mal trabajado. El método consiste no en algo abstracto sino un método en acción.

El otro aspecto fundamental de Mariátegui: es una obra contemporánea en el sentido de una época en que todavía estamos viviendo. Algunos dicen que no, con la caída del Muro de Berlín, la desaparición de la Unión Soviética, la realidad ha cambiado. Lo que ha cambiado son las relaciones de poder a nivel mundial, pero el capitalismo como sistema, como ejecutor de la economía mundial, y restablecedor de las relaciones de poder entre países imperialistas y dependientes, no ha cambiado. Ha cambiado el periodo histórico, pero no la época. Todavía estamos viviendo durante la época del imperialismo.

En ese sentido, es una obra que aún interesa a la gente, porque hasta estas contradicciones de esta época, Mariátegui puede ser leído en esos términos, de cuestionar no solo el Perú, sino un mundo que todavía está vigente.

¿Y por qué tiene que ser leído por los no peruanos ni latinoamericanos? Es una pregunta que muchos se hacen porque desconocen que la mayor parte de sus artículos están dedicados a temas no peruanos. Hay mucho porcentaje de su obra que tiene que ver con los problemas de Europa. Realizó investigaciones sobre la India, China, y países del oriente.

Pero no los analizan como países aislados, sino países articulados mundialmente a las relaciones de poder que se producen. Cuando habla de la China o la India, no solo habla de los movimientos de liberación anticoloniales, sino también el papel que tienen los países imperialistas en él. Cuando habla de Europa, habla de ese papel que cumplen en otros países. Está analizando el mundo. Eso permite que personas que no hayan nacido en América Latina puedan entender y aprender de la obra de Mariátegui de manera global.

Otro aspecto que contribuiría mucho a su lectura es algo que Marx ya había planteado. Por ejemplo, en el caso de Irlanda e Inglaterra, había ese problema colonial. Él decía que la solución del problema irlandés iba a ser una cuestión muy importante para fortalecer el movimiento obrero británico. Así mismo, por ejemplo en los Estados Unidos, tiene el problema de la nacionalidad negra, los indígenas, y más. A los Estados Unidos vinieron de África y fueron de Islam. Hay un colonialismo interno; no es un colonialismo fuera del país, sino dentro del país. El caso de los chicanos es otro ejemplo.

Yo creo que la obra de Mariátegui, leída desde esa perspectiva conjuntamente con otros escritores marxistas de América del norte y del Caribe, les ayuda también a comprender. Sería muy importante para el movimiento de obreros en América del norte comprender que su propia liberación no es solamente una liberación nacional sino de todo el proletariado mundial. Creo que en ese sentido contribuiría en cierta manera deja de ser un pensamiento que se vea desde los Estados Unidos sino una mirada mucho más integral y articulada que justamente fomenta lazos de solidaridad y apoyo que por ejemplo se está viendo en la mirada mundial con el caso de Palestina. Porque tiene que entender que los gobiernos de los Estados Unidos y la Unión Europea están empeorando el problema. Imagínate si ellos no metieran armas a Ucrania, no metieran armas a Israel.  En cierta manera, contribuiría a integrar los movimientos internacionales en pro de la liberación no nacional, sino internacional.

Jonce Palmer es miembro general de la Organización Socialista Camino a la Libertad y co-fundador del Comité de Acción Comunitaria de Denver y Aurora, viviendo en Denver, Colorado. Su traducción de Siete ensayos de interpretación de la realidad peruana por José Carlos Mariátegui, la primera traducción a inglés en más de 50 años, publicará Foreign Languages Press.

#International #Peru #Mariategui #Interview

In the famous “Red Corner” in the Casa Museo José Carlos Mariátegui in the Jesús María in Lima, Peru, Jonce Palmer of Fight Back! had the pleasure of sitting beside Dr. Ricardo Felipe Portocarrero Grados, director of the museum from 2011 to 2014 and co-director of the José Carlos Mariátegui Archive.

In this interview, we discuss the life and work of José Carlos Mariátegui (1894-1930), his impact on Peruvian history, and his current-day legacy for the Peruvian and international revolutionary left.

Fight Back!: Who was Mariátegui and how did he become an important figure in Peruvian history?

Ricardo Portocarrero: José Carlos Mariátegui was a Peruvian politician and intellectual who is considered, according to a phrase that became well known by Antonio Melis, “the first Marxist of [Latin] America”. He has been called this not because there weren’t people who declared themselves Marxists before, but because Mariátegui's work is considered an original work of Latin American Marxism, practically founding a Marxism that was born in Europe, but seeks to interpret Peruvian reality in order to transform it.

The scope of Mariátegui's work is fundamentally due to the Amauta magazine. It was through Amauta that Mariátegui made contact not only with intellectuals and workers' or peasants' leaders from almost all of Peru, but also with personalities from almost all of Latin America: Argentina, Chile, Cuba, Costa Rica and Mexico. He also had contacts in Europe, although the circulation of Amauta was smaller.

And it is this wide network of political and intellectual exchanges articulated through Amauta that produced this broad recognition – during Mariátegui's lifetime – at the national and international level. It was also through Amauta magazine that Seven Interpretive Essays on Peruvian Reality became known.

Part of Seven Interpretive Essays was published in Amauta, along with Defense of Marxism, so that upon his death, many already knew him for his writings. The impact of his death reverberated widely throughout the continent.

Fight Back!: Can you explain more about the political and theoretical work in which Mariátegui was involved?

Ricardo Portocarrero: Like all Marxist thinkers, his work is broad and diverse. Perhaps the first thing to point out is that Mariátegui was, as was Marx, Gramsci, Lenin, and Trotsky at some point, a journalist. It was part of his political activity. He began as a young journalist, from the workshop to the newsroom, and this was a task he carried out throughout his life.

Therefore, we find the first moment that has been called his “stone age” prior to his Marxist training, a predominantly literary work: there were short stories, poems, plays, chronicles of the city of Lima, equestrian writings of a very diverse sort that were typical of a young journalist in training in a still aristocratic and very conservative Lima.

It was after his trip to Europe, and particularly upon his return to Peru, that Mariátegui oriented his journalistic production towards the organization in Peru of a press union that would become the basis of what he called Peruvian socialism. The books he published during his lifetime – and others he left in progress – are the result of a revision of his own writings, which in themselves had a certain thematic organicity of certain problems of interest, for example, the construction of socialism in the Soviet Union, the crisis of European social democracy, the emergence of new artistic, literary, intellectual currents, etc.

That articulation allowed him to shape these books he published during his lifetime, which are The Contemporary Scene (1925), Seven Interpretive Essays on Peruvian Reality (1928), Defense of Marxism, which was published in its entirety in 1955 after the author's death and during his lifetime in Amauta, and El alma matinal, which remained unfinished. [Note: only Seven Interpretive Essays on Peruvian Reality has been fully translated into English.]

It is very important to understand that Mariategui’s body of work is multifaceted, written in response to the daily situation. Without losing sight of the long term, it had to be written at the rhythm of current events. That gave all the more depth to his analysis of events that would otherwise run the risk of losing its closest, daily, precise qualities. That journalistic style is what has made his work attractive because it can be read with a certain ease, a very literary style recognizable throughout his work.

Fight Back!: What were some of the problems of the Peruvian people during this time? Do the same problems still exist today? Have new problems appeared?

Ricardo Portocarrero: That is a recurring question that the Peruvian left in general, and above all, those who have declared themselves his heirs – not his followers, his heirs, who say they represent Mariátegui today with their political parties – have raised that issue at different times. For example, at the end of the 1970s, at the request of the Minerva publishing house, a set of books was published dedicated to studying the Seven Interpretive Essays in comparison with the Peru of that time.

At that time there were profound transformations, products of the reforms of a military and nationalist government. These reforms, the most important being the agrarian reform, had abolished the latifundia. The colonial presence in the countryside disappeared. So, obviously, Mariátegui's Peru no longer existed.

Later, at the end of the 1980s, a group of leftist and Marxist intellectuals was formed and held seminars with the intention of preparing a book entitled The New Seven Essays. Unfortunately, the book did not materialize as such. At that time Peru was going through a bloody civil war that was also transforming the relations of power and class structure.

More recently, this is a pending issue for the Peruvian left. I believe that fundamentally, there are two aspects still at play as problems in the present, but they have taken on new forms. First there is the problem of dependence, of imperialism in Peru and Latin America. The case of Peru is very clear because of the current situation. We are living under a brutal and repressive neo-liberal model which in itself poses a question for us: Who are the subjects that would be interested in fighting against these relations? Obviously the ruling classes – foreign capital, the groups in power – are interested in maintaining this situation.

For those who oppose imperialist domination, this is a matter of discussion once again. Obviously the social structure is not the same; we do not even have the same working class that existed in Peru at the beginning of the 20th century. But it is also clear that capitalist relations, the contradiction between capital and wages, the penetration of capital in the countryside, in the circuits of distribution, are ever stronger.

The other fundamental issue has to do in a certain way with political power: the problem of how to create a new society in Peru. Mariátegui raised two elements that had to be taken into account in this process of transformation. One of them was the agrarian problem, which lent itself at that time to those latifundios – properties of the so-called gamonales. Today they do not exist. There are large foreign national companies that have turned the land struggle into a very important issue in Peru. It is no longer only for agro-export production; formerly we exported sugar and cotton, now we export asparagus and coffee; but also has to do with the fact that mining and oil requires expropriating and expelling the population of the villages in the Andes from their territories in order to carry out large mining projects that only leave pollution, disease and death.

The other aspect of the agrarian problem is the role of familial agrarian production in the countryside with a way of promoting an internal market that meets the needs of the majority of the population living in different regions. In other words, the problem of political centralism. Political power rests in Lima. So, the agrarian problem, of this penetration of capital in the countryside and the struggles of peasant family farms, are aspects of the problem that had already been raised almost 100 years ago. These are some ideas that need to be reexamined.

Unfortunately, within the intellectual sectors, but also in some political parties, people are thinking more in terms of public policies that the state should make an effort to improve the situation when the situation is clear. This has no solution in this economic model and under this state. So, in that sense, the more revolutionary, radical or, more consequently, Marxist left is practically non-existent. There is a strong social movement, but there is no radical left political force that can really lead this movement in order to transform the situation.

Fight Back!: How has Mariátegui's work impacted the Marxist movement in Peru today? And where do we see this influence?

Ricardo Portocarrero: I believe that the influence of Mariátegui's work is such that there is practically no political party that declares itself to be leftist (although they are not) that does not bless Mariátegui. It is practically part of the political identity of the Peruvian left, even that which is not Marxist. Generally, the Marxist left claims him as a revolutionary emblem, a way of saying “we are revolutionaries because we follow Mariátegui.”

There is another more progressive, moderate, reformist left that identifies Mariátegui as an example of a politician and intellectual concerned with the great national problems. But they take away a good part of the political and programmatic aspect of Mariátegui's work. They highlight Amauta, his books, the Seven Interpretive Essays, but do not talk about the Peruvian Socialist Party or the unions he founded and supported respectively. They see him as an abstract and isolated intellectual.

​​In the case of the right wing, the conservatives and reactionaries in this country, Mariátegui receives his prestige, but they practically reduce him to silence. That is, they simply do not speak of him. At least, not publicly. That said, there is no strong campaign from today's state or conservative political forces against Mariátegui. His work remains beyond reproach. It is an impeccable work. For example, in the last four years, we have had the commemorations of the last Wars of Independence in 2021-2024. Mariátegui was hardly mentioned, and when he was mentioned, it was quite superficial.

There are also young people who are interested in researching Mariátegui. Not long ago here in this room we gave away the prizes of an essay contest on the work of Mariátegui with reference to his lectures at the Universidad Popular [Gonzales Prada]. So there are young people in their 30s who are writing and researching on the work of Mariátegui. We hope in time to be able to bring these new works, not only more widely in Peru, but also abroad.

Fight Back!: Why read Mariátegui? Why is it important to read his work from almost a century ago? Or perhaps a better question would be, why read his work not being Peruvian or Latino, but simply being interested, an activist, or an organizer?

Ricardo Portocarrero: You ask me “why read him”, but I want to propose the idea of how to read him. We see it in almost all the work of Marx, Engels, and the most important known Marxists: their work is often subjected to an ahistorical, decontextualized reading. In a certain way, many look for an abstract method, a theoretical tool separated from history to be able to understand the present world. But it is often forgotten that all these thinkers – Marx, Engels, Gramsci, Lenin, Mariátegui – lived in a specific epoch and that they analyzed that specific reality. From there they reach their conclusion. For example, today, Gramsci's concept of hegemony has become hackneyed. It has been abstracted out of the debates of the European left in the 20th century.

In this case, to read Mariátegui, or the way in which to read him, is effectively to put a method – the Marxist method – in use, in action. That is, the method is not a mere exercise. The method has its function, its role, at the moment of being applied in the concrete world.

Fight Back!: That is, to read it through the lens of praxis, not just theory but also practice.

Ricardo Portocarrero: That's right, and for that you have to know the epoch, what it was like to live during that time, and everything else. Everything from which he acted as a reference: what he read and understood. Here the role of the most influence is very relevant but poorly thought out. The method consists not in something abstract but a method in action.

The other fundamental aspect of Mariátegui: it is a contemporary work in the sense of an epoch in which we are still living. Some say no, with the fall of the Berlin Wall, the dissolution of the Soviet Union, reality has changed. What has changed are the relations of power at the global level, but capitalism as a system, as commander of the world economy, and restorer of power relations between imperialist and dependent countries, has not changed. The historical period has changed, but not the epoch. We are still living during the age of imperialism.

In that sense, it is a work that still interests people, because even these contradictions of this era, Mariátegui can be read in those terms, analyzing not only Peru, but a world that is still in motion.

And why does he have to be read by non-Peruvians and non-Latin Americans? It is a question that many ask because they do not know that most of his articles are dedicated to non-Peruvian topics. There is a large percentage of his work that has to do with the problems of Europe. He also did research on India, China and Eastern countries.

But he does not analyze them as isolated countries, but rather as countries articulated globally to shifting relations of power. When he talks about China or India, he not only talks about the anti-colonial liberation movements, but also the role of imperialist countries in it. When he talks about Europe, he talks about the role they play in other countries. He is analyzing the world. That allows people who were not born in Latin America to understand and learn from Mariátegui's work in a global way.

Another aspect that would contribute a lot to his reading is something that Marx had already raised. For example, the relation between Ireland and England bears a colonial character. He said that the solution of the Irish problem was going to be a very important issue to strengthen the British workers' movement. Likewise, for example in the United States, you have the problem of the African American nationality, the indigenous, and so on. They came to the United States from Africa and were spurred from Islam. There is an internal colonialism; it is not a colonialism outside the country, but inside the country. The case of the Chicanos is another example.

I believe that Mariátegui’s work, read alongside other Marxist writers of North America and the Caribbean, would also help make it clear. It would be very important for the workers' movement in North America to understand that their own liberation is not only a national liberation but that of the proletariat around the world. I think that in that sense it would contribute in a certain way to stop being a thought that is seen from the United States but a much more comprehensive and articulated look that promotes ties of solidarity and support that is being witnessed in the world with the case of Palestine, for example. Because you have to understand that the governments of the United States and the European Union are making the problem worse. Imagine if they didn't bring weapons into Ukraine, they didn't bring weapons into Israel. In a way, reading Mariátegui would help to integrate international movements for liberation, not nationally, but internationally.

Jonce Palmer is a general member of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization and cofounder of Denver-Aurora Community Action Committee, living in Denver, Colorado. Their translation of “Seven Interpretive Essays on Peruvian Reality by José Carlos Mariátegui”, the first English translation in over 50 years, is forthcoming from Foreign Languages Press.

#International #Peru #JoseCarlosMariategui #Interview

Tucson, AZ – On December 7, a month of people’s protests was kicked off when democratically-elected President Pedro Castillo, a former union educator and strike leader, was arrested by Peruvian armed forces in a coup by the oligarchy-dominated Congress. Peruvians, from indigenous groups to trade unions, immediately responded with waves of protests, marches and roadblocks. Following the orders of the coup plotters, the military and police cracked down violently on the protests, including firing on protesters from helicopters with bullets and teargas. A loosely agreed-upon truce before the holidays stopped the brutal repression, with the death toll having reached over two dozen with hundreds wounded.

With no resolution, many social movements gathered in the city of Arequipa in southern Perú to hold a people’s congress to establish demands and plans to reignite the protests in a national strike that started on January 4. Once again, the armed forces brutalized the people as they attacked protesters who took over an airport. In Juliaca, a city in the region of Puno, police forces killed 17 and injured dozens. The governor of Puno declared three days of mourning to honor the martyrs. There are reports from doctors who are concerned that the police are using exploding rounds as the victims’ bodies do not have typical entrance and exit wounds. There are small explosive damages inside the bodies that signify a brutal mindset by the police.

While the narrative of the right-wing press and government claim protesters are committing acts of vandalism, according to trade unionist Cristiano Mayta, “it is in fact the police who are causing damage to stores and buildings in an attempt to blame it on the people.”

The four demands of the social movements are that Dina Boluarte step down as president; shut down the Congress; create a popular assembly to rewrite the constitution, and the immediate release of illegally arrested President Pedro Castillo.

#TucsonAZ #Americas #Peru

Fight Back! interviewed Cristiano Mayta, a trade unionist in Peru on January 3 to learn more about the situation in Perú after the overthrow of democratically-elected President Pedro Castillo by an oligarchy-dominated Congress. There is a national strike called for January 4 amid violent repression. Fight Back!: What is your organization?

Cristiano Mayta: I am the international secretary of the union SINATREL at a Coca-Cola bottling plant. I am also a member of an organization called Socialist Left of Peru (Izquierda Socialista Perú).

Fight Back!: From your perspective, what happened with President Castillo? Was it a pure overthrow or something more complicated?

Mayta: It was an overthrow of President Castillo by the Congress after he tried to dissolve the Congress who were going to vote for a third time for his removal. Castillo had consulted with the Ministers of Defense and Interior and was told the armed forces supported his constitutional right to dissolve a Congress that was clearly not acting in the best interests of the people. But the armed forces abandoned him, sold him out, and lied to him. No more than 20 minutes after President Castillo addressed the nation of his decision, the armed forces publicly stated they did not support the president’s decision. Then they moved to arrest him. So, despite what the media is saying about Castillo, it was clearly the Congress overthrowing the President.

Fight Back!: What has been the level of resistance since the overthrow? And who are the main groups involved?

Mayta: Since December 7, the people have risen up and there has been continued mobilizations all over the country but more highly concentrated in the south of the country. After violent repression from the military and police – some called it a massacre – that resulted in over two dozen dead and hundreds injured, something of a truce was called for the holidays. But not all agreed to this truce; in Puno, on the southern border with Bolivia, they remained firm with their protests, they continued blocking streets and the bridge for the international border.

Fight Back!: What are the demands of the groups involved in the national strike?

Mayta: On December 28, in our city of Arequipa, various social sectors and groups from ten or eleven regions nearby gathered to meet and agreed to retake the streets and continue mobilizations on January 4. This is something of our own congress of peoples gathered to agree to our demands and initiate an indefinite national strike. Here in the south of Perú, we are more active and militant because we don’t believe what is being said in the media, and in Lima.

Our demands are: first, renounce the usurper, Dina Boluarte from the presidency. Second, shut down the Congress and call for immediate elections as soon as possible. Third, a popular referendum to create a constitutional assembly, to elect a new popular assembly that will create a new constitution. Four, immediate release of President Castillo who was unjustly arrested and this is a grave abuse. We renounce the false accusations and usurpations of the constitution.

#Peru #Interviews #Coup

Cristiano Mayta: Tengo el cargo de secretario de exteriores del sindicato SINATREL (Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores de Embotelladora Arca Continental Lindley), también soy militante de la organización política Izquierda Socialista Perú.

¡Lucha y Resiste!: ¿Cuándo se va a comenzar la huelga?

Cristiano Mayta: el 20 de octubre a las 7am hora peruana, del presente año recién empezamos

¡Lucha y Resiste!: ¿Por qué se van a hacer la huelga?

Cristiano Mayta: Por que la empresa no quiere dar solución a nuestro pliego de reclamos 2021-2022, llevamos en reuniones ya casi como 7 meses, pero sin resultados, la empresa aduce q no puede atender el pliego de forma integral por que fue afectado por la pandemia, esto no es tan cierto, porque durante toda la pandemia trabajamos normal, fruto de ello genero utilidades en el año 2020.

¡Lucha y Resiste!:¿En cuantas ciudades o plantas embotelladoras entraran la huelga?

Cristiano Mayta: La empresa donde laboramos se llama Arca Continental Lindley que se dedica a embotellar Coca Cola, Inka Cola, Sprite, Fanta y otros. tiene 5 plantas embotelladoras en el Perú, los trabajadores de estas 5 plantas entramos en huelga indefinida.

¡Lucha y Resiste!: ¿Que significa una huelga nacional infinida?

Cristiano Mayta: Significa que dejamos de trabajar por tiempo indefinido (hasta que solucione el pliego de reclamos)

¡Lucha y Resiste!: ¿Como podemos apoyar su lucha, la Huelga?

Cristiano Mayta: Desde hace dos meses estamos haciendo protestas virtuales y ahora presenciales, pedimos su apoyo difundiendo en las redes sociales, estas protestas las pueden encontrar en el Facebook de GLORIOSO SINATREL, con este mismo nombre en Twitter.

Quiero pedirles su apoyo incondicional con esta medida de lucha que vamos a empezar el día 20 de octubre 2021. Pueden apoyarnos de diferentes formas como: difundiendo por las redes sociales nuestras protestas que serán publicadas, enviando un pronunciamiento escrito o tal vez un pequeño video de 60 segundos en respaldo y solidaridad a nuestra institución SINATREL PERU en entra en esta huelga nacional indefinida que empezaremos.

Saludos sindicales a todos y todas.

Que viva la clase trabajadora del mundo.

#Peru #Americas #PeoplesStruggles #CocaCola

Cristiano Mayta: I am the International Secretary of the union SINATREL at a Coca-Cola bottling plant. I am also a member of an organization called Socialist Left of Peru (Izquierda Socialista Perú).

Fight Back!: When is the strike set to begin?

Mayta: At 7 a.m. in the morning of October 20 this year.

Fight Back!: Why is your union going on strike?

Mayta: Because the company does want to offer a solution to our list of demands for 2021-22. We have been meeting for the past seven months with zero results. The company claims they cannot meet our demands because of the pandemic. We do not believe this, because all throughout the pandemic we worked like normal and still generated profits for them.

Fight Back!: At how many different plants will the strike take place?

Mayta: The company we work at is called Arca Continental Lindley and it bottles for Coca Cola, Inka Cola, Sprite, Fanta and others. It has five bottling plants in Perú and the workers at these five bottling plants will be on indefinite strike.

Fight Back!: What does an indefinite strike mean?

Mayta: It just means that we are stopping production, withholding our labor power for an undefined time until the company brings solutions to our demands.

Fight Back!: How can we support your struggle, your strike?

Mayta: It has been two straight months that we have put on virtual protests and others in person. We ask that you share on social media our protests and statements from Facebook and Twitter from the page called GLORIOSO SINATREL PERU.

I want to ask you for the unconditional support in the method of struggle for our strike that starts October 20. Aside from the social media shares, send us written statements of solidarity from your organization or union, and or a short video with a solidarity message for the workers and our union SINATREL PERU. A big working-class thank you.

Long Live The Workers of the World!

#Peru #Americas #PeoplesStruggles #CocaCola

Tucson, AZ – After a record six weeks of ballot counting and false claims of fraud by right-wing candidate Keiko Fujimori, Pedro Castillo was officially announced the newest president of Peru, on the evening of July 19. Castillo, from a poor peasant background and the candidate of the Peru Libre party, found support in the masses of poor and working Peruvians fed up with the lack of response to COVID-19 and the high rates of unemployment. Equally important is the defeat of “Fujimorismo” the far-right ideology of neoliberalism and chauvinism of former President Alberto Fujimori, Keiko’s criminal father.

In the days and weeks after the election, indigenous organizations, trade unions and popular organizations mobilized to defend the validity of the election and continued to call for a declaration from national authorities that Castillo won fair and square.

Castillo rose to national prominence in 2017 when he helped his union lead a teachers strike that won important demands. The Peru Libre party also recently won 37 seats in the 150-member national Congress, automatically giving him 13% of the legislature to work with if the lead holds.

Castillo will join a new wave of elected leftists in Latin America, such as President Luis Arce in Bolivia, from the socialist MAS, or Movement Towards Socialism, party that won outright in November with 55% of the vote. In December in Venezuela, the party of “Worker President” Nicolas Maduro won again, as the PSUV or United Socialist Party of Venezuela gained 69% of the parliamentary election vote. Like Nicaragua President Daniel Ortega and Mexico President Manuel Lopez Obrador, the U.S. corporate press and politicians often attack and vilify their policies.

#TucsonAZ #Americas #PeoplesStruggles #AlbertoFujimori #Peru #PedroCastillo #KeikoFujimori

Cristiano Mayta: I am the International Secretary of the union SINATREL at a Coca-Cola bottling plant. I am also a member of an organization called Socialist Left of Peru (Izquierda Socialista Perú).

Fight Back!: What were the conditions in Peru leading up the president elections?

Mayta: In 1990, Peru was transformed to a neoliberal model by the dictator Alberto Fujimori. We call this ideology “Fujimorismo” and we faced its consequences: lost labor stability and workers’ rights.

Since then there has been massively increased exploitation and underemployment. Basic rights in public services were converted into privatized services controlled by the so-called free market. Specifically, health and education were the most affected, because Fujimorismo also brought in high levels of corruption through lobbies that the businesses used to get contracts.

Fight Back!: Who is Pedro Castillo?

Mayta: He is the son of illiterate peasant parents. He stood out in his studies and rose to the level of a teacher with a Master’s in Educational Psychology. He worked in a small rural school long forgotten by the government. In 2017, he helped organize a national educators strike with his union. The strike was strong and prolonged until they won important victories that greatly benefitted students and families.

Fight Back!: Who is Keiko Fujimori?

Mayta: She is the daughter of the ex-dictator Alberto Fujimori. She was the first lady when he was in power. She went to university in the U.S., using Peruvian taxpayer money, to study business administration. She served in the National Congress from 2006 to 2011. In those five years, she was absent 500 times. She has run for president the last three elections, including this year’s, and has lost them all. She is in judicial proceedings for a variety of accusations, and the district attorney is seeking a 30-year prison sentence, and she is actually restricted in her travel for these reasons.

Fight Back!: Are there attempts to invalidate the election?

Mayta: Yes, there are attempts to not recognize and change the results by Keiko Fujimori. She is claiming there was fraud and sent a legal action to the National Elections Jury. She wanted to annul more than 800 voting certificates for locations that Pedro Castillo won. She wants to change the election results, fraudulently. Like the liar she is, a week ago, in front of the people, she signed documents promising to respect the outcome of the elections. It is clear that she is not accepting that she lost and is trying to use all the economic power and corruption to sabotage the results. With this, she is showing her real face to us, that she is part of the mafia that ruled our country for decades.

On the other hand, the people know that the winner is the teacher, Pedro Castillo. He made a call for calm and not engage with any provocations from the opposition.

Fight Back!: What needs to happen in Peru to achieve important victories?

Mayta: The first thing is to secure the victory of Pedro Castillo. The next thing to help transform the country is to have a popular constituent assembly to create a new constitution. This would change the model of political structure and economy and re-found the country as we head toward our bicentennial anniversary.

#Peru #Americas #PeoplesStruggles #PedroCastillo

Tucson, AZ – In an historic election, former elementary school teacher and union leader Pedro Castillo is winning the Peruvian presidential race. As reported by the Peruvian National Office of Electoral Processes (ONPE) on the morning of June 9, Castillo is leading over right-wing candidate Keiko Fujimori.

Castillo, from a poor peasant background, is the presidential candidate of the Peru Libre party, has 50.2% of the vote. Keiko Fujimori, daughter of imprisoned former President Alberto Fujimori, has 49.7% of the vote, with 98.1% reporting. Fujimori’s father is in prison for the forced sterilization of thousands of indigenous and peasant women in the 1990s during his presidency. Fujimori’s administration was corrupt and violently suppressed peasant rebellions and waged dirty wars against guerrilla movements that were fighting for national liberation.

Castillo rose to national prominence in 2017 when he helped his union lead a teachers strike that won important demands. The Peru Libre party also recently won 37 seats in the 150-member national Congress, automatically giving him 13% of the legislature to work with if the lead holds.

While Keiko Fujimori is trying to sow seeds of doubt on the election which are clearly baseless, Castillo’s imminent victory is a major win for left and progressive forces in Latin America.

Castillo will join a new wave of elected leftists in Latin America, such as President Luis Arce in Bolivia, from the socialist MAS, or Movement Towards Socialism, party that won outright in November with 55% of the vote. In December in Venezuela, the party of “Worker President” Nicolas Maduro won again, as the PSUV or United Socialist Party of Venezuela gained 69% of the parliamentary election vote. Like Nicaragua’s President Daniel Ortega and Mexico’s President Manuel Lopez Obrador, the U.S. corporate press and politicians often attack and vilify their policies.

#TucsonAZ #Americas #PeoplesStruggles #Peru #PedroCastillo #PeruLibre

On behalf of the party, PCV Politburo member Carlos Aquino declared solidarity with the Brazilian former president and with the revolutionary and popular organizations of their neighboring country facing a right-wing onslaught.

“We should learn from this experience and reflect over what can happen in our country if the right-wing wins the [May presidential] election. Their organizations will begin an assault to dismantle the people’s achievements and persecute the social and political movements, like what is happening in Brazil and Argentina,” expressed Aquino.

However, the lesson is not unconditional support for the Venezuelan government, but rather “demonstrates that the Venezuelan popular movement must strengthen its capacity for combative mobilization so that the government resolves the grave economic and social problems hurting the working people.”

For the PCV, the only way to avoid the right retaking power in our country is the application of revolutionary means in order to leave behind the crisis of rentier-dependent capitalism.

Time of Popular Encounters in Perú

Aquino also spoke on the Latin American Gathering of Communist Parties, currently underway in Lima, which will enable the necessary articulation and coordination of the efforts of communist parties to confront the imperialist onslaught in the region.

Finally, the communist leader indicated that a PCV and Communist Youth delegation will participate in the discussions taking place this week at the Summit of the Americas, as a space for continental integration and anti-imperialist mobilization.

#CaracasVenezuela #Caracas #Venezuela #Brazil #CommunistPartyOfVenezuela #Peru #Americas

Por PCV

Caracas, Venezuela - El Partido Comunista de Venezuela (PCV) aseguró que los recientes conflictos políticos acaecidos en Brasil, en especial el encarcelamiento del expresidente Lula Da Silva, debe servir como alerta para el pueblo trabajador venezolano y el movimiento popular al quedar en evidencia lo que ocurre con las organizaciones democráticas y las conquistas populares cuando la derecha y la oligarquía retoman el poder político.

Carlos Aquino, miembro del Buró Político del PCV, manifestó en nombre de la organización la solidaridad con el expresidente brasileño y con las organizaciones populares y revolucionarias del vecino país ante esta nueva arremetida de la derecha.

“Debemos aprender de esta experiencia, y reflexionar sobre lo que puede ocurrir en nuestro país si la derecha gana las elecciones, cuyas organizaciones iniciarían una arremetida para desmantelar las conquistas populares y perseguir a los movimientos sociales y políticos, como está sucediendo en Brasil y Argentina”, expresó Aquino.

Sin embargo, lo anterior no implica un apoyo incondicional al gobierno venezolano, “por lo que esta lección implica que el movimiento popular venezolano debe fortalecer su capacidad de movilización combativa para que el gobierno resuelva los graves problemas económicos y sociales que está resintiendo el pueblo trabajador.”

Para el PCV, evitar que la derecha reconquiste el poder en nuestro país está asociado a la aplicación de medidas revolucionarias para salir de la crisis del capitalismo rentista y dependiente criollo.

Jornada de encuentro popular en Perú

Aquino también informó sobre el Encuentro Latinoamericano de Partidos Comunistas, actividad que se está desarrollando en la ciudad de Lima, lo cual permitirá la necesaria articulación y coordinación de los esfuerzos de las organizaciones comunistas para enfrentar la arremetida imperialista en la región.

Finalmente, el dirigente comunista indició que una delegación del PCV y la Juventud Comunista participará en las jornadas de discusión que se estarán realizando esta semana en la Cumbre de los Pueblos, como espacio de integración y movilización continental antiimperialista.

#Venezuela #PeoplesStruggles #PartidoComunistaDeVenezuela #Brasil #Peru #Americas