THE DEFEAT of Bolivia's general strike, alongside the constitutional crisis triggered in Brazil by the Bear fatal iliness of president elect Tancredo Neves, shows a new and contradictory phase in the so called "democratisation' of Latin Cone'. The coming elections in Peru make the situation even more complicated.
Below we reprint an LUCAR, a leader of the Peruvian Revolutionary Workers Party (PRT). Spanish weekly Combate.
HOW IS the Peruvian left approaching these general Glections on April 14th? It is the first time in history that the left united. There is a left alternative with a real chance of coming. government, United Left (IU). Then thère is APRA, effect is the bourgeoisie's Opuon IL S almost certain that the seTOURU will find APRA facing IU.
l'here is al present tremendous process radicalization. 80 per cent controlled by IU.
Many people without parAPRA, whose traditions they see bureaucratic, violent and coercive: in the end they opt for IU.
Bat APRA presents itself nationalist, democratic nad socialist. Lan possibly ally with the richt?
APRA's aim is to win the dections at the tirst round This not the same ¡populist APRA of 30 years ago. Today it has lost the leadership of the popular movements. Its main enemy is IU, and that will force APRA to ally with You speak of the left in seral, but what of the revolutionary left? How is proaching the elecThere are two basic quesTons tor the revolutionary left. The first is that there battle for the left to n hegemony in the counToday this battle ainst APRA. We are all on Vonetheless within LAC eft there is another battle over which current has the One of the currents in the left sees the elections as eno in themse ves actieving that it would be possible to have a governof the left which America's 'Southern with JORGE It first appeared would call on APRA to participate in the governHaKe historic compromise with the Armed Forces. A process radical i reform would be initiated, without Questi the limits bourgeois This current is in a majority on IU's execuuve personified by Barrantes. WILl the Peruvian Communist the Revolutionar Socialist number of independents The other pole is the revolutionary wolen understands the need to fight on the electoral tield in order to win hegemony in the country, but thinks would foolish to imagine we can tions, or that the right and the Armed rorces would des win the elections il we win the elections.
We see the elections as a means of mobilizing people carrying on the struggle, but in the end we believe things will not be decided by VOLe. tion that ineveitably will be violent.
Are the revolutionary currents in IU united? What do they have in common?
There's the Unity of the Revolutionary Left (UNIR), of Maoist origins, which is one of the largest organisations in There's the Mariateguista Unification which war previously, Popular Democratic Unity, and for some years ran on roughly maoist lines with the PRT, and some other organisations, these groups all share some basic judgements: the country is heading for confrontation and inevitably this will be violent; that the fight now expressed in electoral The lessons Nicaraguan revolution, of the struggles against dic tatorships in the southern cone, ol sondamose, post exalnoie. seizure of power doesn't necessarily mean a single plurality Dal Lics. want to discuss this, other things, Hilally The experience the Mariateguista Unification (PUM) an teresting oue. this fit into what you're just been saying?
The founding of the PUM has been very important. Firstly because it has turned into a proper party with clear discipline. Secondly, it has allowed a series 01 vague and imprecise positions to be spelt out clearlast programme the Revolutionary • Vanguard one of the components of the PUM, Stalinist Was „DIUgramme. Now, eight years later, the PUM is a revolutionary organisation with extremely advanced proDOsUOns. For example, the incorporation of theses on the par ty's democratic internal regime. Obiectivelv. this is step forwards, even if thev still displav a lot of sectarianism towards ourselves.
The PUM still set themselves as the leading sollicWilai tradiction with their prolalliall Dositios. there still internal al c struggles, but it is certainly a positive development.
lou say that violent con frontation inevitable. Yet in some areas of the country such confrontation already taking What is your attitude towards Sendero LIMMOSO IN What's happening in Ayacucho, Huancavelica and Apurimac is what wil inevitably happen in rest of the country. SL has real roots in sectors of the pe as leaders are real leaders rea renners peasant movement, ind have beel have led land seizures and ¡nal s one reason why SL has been able to most extreme brutality.
But what your differences with Sendero Luminoso?
The difference is not that they are in favour of armed struggle and we are not. it is over wnetner luis Is tne right time to be launching ance actes die wacue the way they carried SL ONUL. places no value on the role orcallisallulls whilst for the revolutionary currents this is fundamental. Wnat is more there problem of democracy. SL is a deepl a stalinist intolerant This, country with so many mass organisations, comes into contradiction with .our calls for collious united front.