Gonzalo Thought ( Spanish: ''Pensamiento Gonzalo''), also known as Marxism–Leninism–Maoism–Gonzalo Thought and Gonzaloism, is an ideological

doctrine Doctrine (from , meaning 'teaching, instruction') is a codification (law), codification of beliefs or a body of teacher, teachings or instructions, taught principles or positions, as the essence of teachings in a given branch of knowledge or in a ...

developed by

Peruvian Peruvians (''/peruanas'') are the citizens of Peru. What is now Peru has been inhabited for several millennia by cultures such as the Caral before the Spanish conquest in the 16th century. Peruvian population decreased from an estimated 5–9 ...

revolutionary

Abimael Guzmán Manuel Rubén Abimael Guzmán Reinoso (; 3 December 1934 − 11 September 2021), also known by his ''nom de guerre'' Chairman Gonzalo (), was a Peruvian Maoist guerrilla leader. He founded the organization Communist Party of Peru – Shining ...

(also known as Chairman Gonzalo) as an interpretation of Peruvian reality based on

Marxism–Leninism–Maoism Marxism–Leninism–Maoism (MLM) is a term used by some communist groups to emphasize the significance of Maoism as a new stage in Marxism, Marxist theory and practice. Adherents of Marxism–Leninism–Maoism claim it to be a unified, coh ...

. Anti-revisionist in nature, Gonzalo Thought was the ideological basis of the Communist Party of Peru—Shining Path (PCP-SL) and the trigger for the Peruvian Civil War of 1980–2000. The ideology is based on the synthesized philosophies of

Karl Marx Karl Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, political theorist, economist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. He is best-known for the 1848 pamphlet '' The Communist Manifesto'' (written with Friedrich Engels) ...

Vladimir Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov ( 187021 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He was the first head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 until Death and state funeral of ...

Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; traditionally Romanization of Chinese, romanised as Mao Tse-tung. (26December 18939September 1976) was a Chinese politician, revolutionary, and political theorist who founded the People's Republic of China (PRC) in ...

, and

José Carlos Mariátegui José Carlos Mariátegui La Chira (; June 14, 1894 – April 16, 1930) was a Peruvian writer, sociologist, historian, journalist, politician, and Marxist philosopher. A prolific author despite his early death, El Amauta (from Quechua: ham ...

. The term "Gonzalo Thought" comes from the alias used by Abimael Guzmán, "Chairman Gonzalo", who was considered by his followers to be the "Fourth Sword of Marxism", a direct successor to Marx, Lenin, and Mao. Although initially raised from the Peruvian reality through a

Marxist Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...

analysis, Gonzalo Thought expanded to culture, society and language outside Peru and formed the ideological basis of revolutionary groups abroad. Its adherents put it into practice on their way to implement the People's Republic of New Democracy through the doctrine of "

protracted people's war People's war or protracted people's war is a Maoist military strategy. First developed by the Chinese communist revolutionary leader Mao Zedong (1893–1976), the basic concept behind people's war is to maintain the support of the population a ...

", often entailing terrorist actions and guerilla warfare. After the capture of Abimael Guzmán in 1992, various currents claimed to maintain Gonzalo Thought (among them Sendero Rojo or the MOVADEF) while other Sendero leaders, such as Comrade José (Víctor Quispe Palomino), renounced Gonzalo Thought altogether and adopted other ideological lines or simply turned to

drug trafficking A drug is any chemical substance other than a nutrient or an essential dietary ingredient, which, when administered to a living organism, produces a biological effect. Consumption of drugs can be via inhalation, injection, smoking, ingestion, ...

. Guzmán first began speaking of "Gonzalo Thought" as the party's guiding ideology in the late 1980s.

Influences

The figures who inspired Abimael Guzmán were Marx,

Engels Friedrich Engels ( ;"Engels"
''

Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

, Mao and

, as well as the academic Efraín Morote Best (folklorist and father of the senderista Osmán Morote Barrionuevo), who was rector at the National University of San Cristóbal de Huamanga (UNSCH) in Ayacucho. 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". The bases of Gonzalo Thought are: *

Marxism Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflict, ...

, from which he interprets the class struggle and the dictatorship of the proletariat as realities of the world. Therefore, the revolution in a certain place had to be part of the proletarian world revolution, to which it had to belong and support. In addition to the belief in the inevitability of the evolutionary transition that would take human societies from

capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their use for the purpose of obtaining profit. This socioeconomic system has developed historically through several stages and is defined by ...

communism Communism () is a political sociology, sociopolitical, political philosophy, philosophical, and economic ideology, economic ideology within the history of socialism, socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a ...

. *

Leninism Leninism (, ) is a political ideology developed by Russian Marxist revolutionary Vladimir Lenin that proposes the establishment of the Dictatorship of the proletariat#Vladimir Lenin, dictatorship of the proletariat led by a revolutionary Vangu ...

, 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. In addition,

imperialism Imperialism is the maintaining and extending of Power (international relations), power over foreign nations, particularly through expansionism, employing both hard power (military and economic power) and soft power (diplomatic power and cultura ...

is described as a new stage of capitalism. *

Maoism Maoism, officially Mao Zedong Thought, is a variety of Marxism–Leninism that Mao Zedong developed while trying to realize a socialist revolution in the agricultural, pre-industrial society of the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic o ...

, which mainly included the experience of the Chinese Revolution and the concept of people's war, to which Guzmán granted the category of principle of universal validity, along with Mao's theory of contradictions, according to which the struggle of opposites would be generalized at all levels of matter, society and thought. 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"). 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.

Components

Anti-revisionism

Gonzalo Thought adheres to the anti-revisionist line of Marxism, considering revisionists 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.''

In this way, ideological purity and complete adherence to what was considered the correct line within Marxism was encouraged.

Use of violence

Gonzalo Thought calls for the use of violence through the "people's war" and the " blood quota." 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.''

Violence, as a manifestation of

class struggle In political science, the term class conflict, class struggle, or class war refers to the economic antagonism and political tension that exist among social classes because of clashing interests, competition for limited resources, and inequali ...

, was seen as a fundamental step to overthrow the old, enabling the emergence of an overcoming stage of capitalism: communism.

Instrumentalization of education

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.

Cult of personality

The cult of personality around Abimael Guzmán was promoted by the Shining Path, reaching the level of fanaticism. Described as a "messianic leader", the capture of Guzman directly led to the Shining Path's collapse. Upon his death a national debate ensued that led to the cremation of his remains.

Radical anti-capitalism

Gonzalo Thought categorized all types of

private property Private property is a legal designation for the ownership of property by non-governmental Capacity (law), legal entities. Private property is distinguishable from public property, which is owned by a state entity, and from Collective ownership ...

commerce Commerce is the organized Complex system, system of activities, functions, procedures and institutions that directly or indirectly contribute to the smooth, unhindered large-scale exchange (distribution through Financial transaction, transactiona ...

capitalist Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their use for the purpose of obtaining profit. This socioeconomic system has developed historically through several stages and is defined by ...

, 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 British Luddism of the 19th century. Furthermore,

highland Highlands or uplands are areas of high elevation such as a mountainous region, elevated mountainous plateau or high hills. Generally, ''upland'' refers to a range of hills, typically from up to , while ''highland'' is usually reserved for range ...

peasants were prohibited from buying or selling, for the very fact that it was considered capitalist.

Class executions

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.

Permanent cultural revolution

Inspired by Mao's

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a Social movement, sociopolitical movement in the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). It was launched by Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his de ...

(which sought to eliminate the remains of what were considered capitalist and traditional 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.

Reactions inside Shining Path

Despite the

cult of personality A cult of personality, or a cult of the leader,Cas Mudde, Mudde, Cas and Kaltwasser, Cristóbal Rovira (2017) ''Populism: A Very Short Introduction''. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 63. is the result of an effort which is made to create ...

around Guzmán, the introduction of Gonzalo Thought encountered some opposition at the party's first National Congress in 1988.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 arxism-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.’"

Notes and references

{{authority control, qid=Q82162548 Eponymous political ideologies Shining Path Types of socialism Marxist schools of thought Totalitarian ideologies Marxism–Leninism–Maoism