Gonzalo Thought (Spanish:Pensamiento Gonzalo), also known asMarxism–Leninism–Maoism–Gonzalo Thought andGonzaloism,[1] is an ideologicaldoctrine developed byPeruvian revolutionaryAbimael Guzmán (also known as Chairman Gonzalo) as an interpretation of Peruvian reality based onMarxism–Leninism–Maoism.
Although initially raised from the Peruvian reality through aMarxist analysis, Gonzalo Thought expanded to culture, society and language outside Peru and formed the ideological basis of revolutionary groups abroad.[5]
After the capture of Abimael Guzmán in 1992, various currents claimed to maintain Gonzalo Thought (among them Sendero Rojo or the MOVADEF[6][7]) while other Sendero leaders, such asComrade José (Víctor Quispe Palomino), renounced Gonzalo Thought altogether and adopted other ideological lines or simply turned todrug trafficking.[8]
Guzmán first began speaking of "Gonzalo Thought" as the party's guiding ideology in the late 1980s.[9]
Gonzalo Thought was first called "Guiding Thought of Comrade Gonzalo", then "Guiding Thought of President Gonzalo" and, after the celebration of the First Congress of the Shining Path (between 1988 and 1989), it would become "Gonzalo Thought".[11]
The bases of Gonzalo Thought are:
Marxism, from which he interprets the class struggle and thedictatorship of the proletariat as realities of the world. Therefore, the revolution in a certain place had to be part of the proletarianworld revolution, to which it had to belong and support.[12] In addition to the belief in the inevitability of the revolutionary transition that would take human societies fromcapitalism tocommunism.[13]
Leninism, from which he adopted the idea that the revolution would be possible through the work of a party constituted as a "war machine", made up of a vanguard of "cadres" that would in turn be the most advanced expression of the world proletariat, destined to establish the dictatorship of the proletariat.[13] In addition,imperialism is described as a new stage of capitalism.[12]
Maoism, which mainly included the experience of theChinese Communist Revolution and the concept of people's war, to which Guzmán granted the category of principle of universal validity, along with Mao'stheory of contradictions, according to which the struggle of opposites would be generalized at all levels of matter, society and thought.[13]
Finally, Gonzalo Thought unites all of the above and applies it to the Peruvian reality as a development elaborated by Guzmán from the thought of Mariátegui (Mariátegui's thought being considered a "political expression of the Peruvian working class").[13] Gonzalo Thought was accepted by Guzmán's followers as an official ideology, as it would be "the only scientific one", a superior way of appreciating reality.[13]
Gonzalo Thought adheres to the anti-revisionist line of Marxism, consideringrevisionists as:
A cancer, a cancer that has to be ruthlessly swept away, otherwise we will not be able to advance in the revolution; and remember what Lenin said, synthetically, we must forge in two issues, forge in revolutionary violence and forge in the implacable struggle against opportunism, against revisionism.[14]
In this way, ideological purity and complete adherence to what was considered the correct line within Marxism was encouraged.[15]
Gonzalo Thought calls for the use of violence through the "people's war" and the "blood quota."[1] For Guzmán:
Regarding violence, we start from a principle established by Chairman Mao Tse Tung: violence is a universal law without any exception, I mean revolutionary violence; This violence is what allows us to resolve the fundamental contradictions with an army and through the people's war. It is a substantive question of Marxism because without revolutionary violence one class cannot be replaced by another, an old order cannot be overthrown to create a new one, a new order led by the proletariat through communist parties.[16]
Violence, as a manifestation ofclass struggle, was seen as a fundamental step to overthrow the old, enabling the emergence of an overcoming stage of capitalism: communism.[17]
Within Gonzalo Thought, education has the role of recruitment, propaganda and indoctrination of the masses. In this way, the control of university spaces is considered important to train university students in Gonzalo Thought so that they can transmit Guzmán's postulates to the masses.[18]
The cult of personality around Abimael Guzmán was promoted by the Shining Path, reaching the level of fanaticism.[1] Described as a "messianic leader", the capture of Guzman directly led to the Shining Path's collapse.[19][20] Upon his death a national debate ensued that led to the cremation of his remains.[21]
Gonzalo Thought categorized all types ofprivate property orcommerce ascapitalist, going so far as murdering cattle and destroying hydroelectric plants; the justification was that all of these were capitalist instruments. This action was compared to BritishLuddism of the 19th century. Furthermore,highland peasants were prohibited from buying or selling, for the very fact that it was considered capitalist.[1]
Anyone who was related to or was identified as part of the "bourgeois state", or a collaborator with it, deserved execution, which is why cruelty in murders was encouraged to achieve the obedience of the masses.[1]
Inspired by Mao'sCultural Revolution (which sought to eliminate the remains of what were considered capitalist andtraditional elements of Chinese society), Gonzalo Thought promoted a permanent "cultural revolution" that would eliminate representatives of the previous society, "changing souls" and preventing the return of capitalism.[22]
Despite thecult of personality around Guzmán, the introduction of Gonzalo Thought encountered some opposition at the party's first National Congress in 1988.[23]
^ La Serna, Miguel, and Orin Starn (2023). Beyond the Gonzalo Mystique: Challenges to Abimael Guzmán’s Leadership inside Peru’s Shining Path, 1982–1992. Latin American Research Review 58, 743–761. https:// doi.org/10.1017/lar.2023.25. Page 751. "During his attention-grabbing 'Interview of the Century' of the same year, Guzmán lauded the congress as a 'victorious feat,' proclaiming that it had 'established the basis of party unity' predicated on, among other things, his newly articulated 'Gonzalo Thought.' Until then, Guzmán had referred to the application of Maoism to Peruvian conditions as guiding thought."
^Guzman, Abimael; Yparraguirre Revoredo, Elena (2014).Memorias desde Némesis(PDF) (in Spanish). pp. 20–21.
^Valencia Cárdenas, Valencia (1992).Los crímenes de sendero luminoso en Ayacucho [Crimes of the Shining Path in Ayacucho] (in Spanish). Lima. p. 14.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^Portocarrero, Gonzalo (2012)."Razones de sangre".Fondo Editorial PUCP (in Spanish). Retrieved2024-02-13.
^La Serna, Miguel, and Orin Starn (2023). Beyond the Gonzalo Mystique: Challenges to Abimael Guzmán’s Leadership inside Peru’s Shining Path, 1982–1992. Latin American Research Review 58, 743–761. https:// doi.org/10.1017/lar.2023.25". Pages 753-754. "Others disputed Guzmán’s intellectual superiority. In particular, they questioned the viability of Gonzalo Thought. One opinion circulated among the Shining Trenches of Combat, the committee representing Shining Path prisoners, that Gonzalo Thought was ‘just one more thought.’ One anonymous member of Socorro Popular (Popular Aid), the committee responsible for providing legal services to party members accused of terrorism, reportedly professed, ‘I don’t see the value of Gonzalo thought.’ At least one committee reported the view that Gonzalo Thought was simply ‘the ideological fusion of mlm [Marxism-Leninism-Maoism],’ iimplying that it lacked ideological innovation.59 Others concluded that a better approach would be to decouple classical Marxism-Leninism- Maoism and Gonzalo Thought. A parenthetical note in the congressional minutes elaborated further on this point: ‘some say this is because Chairman Gonzalo, the leadership, are being questioned, others say it’s because the leadership is being questioned and others because it runs contrary to Maoism.’"
