In re Oleachea & New Flag

[louisgodena@xxxxxxx (Louis R Godena)]

We have just seen--through the negative example of "Quispe" and his
self-articulated surrogates-- how  bonapartism and unchecked individualism
can serve to wreck months and even years of arduous, careful, and systemic
work.   We should, as a consequence of this painful lesson,  redouble our
efforts to strengthen our sense of collectivity and democratic centralism in
support of communist work in this country and around the world.
In our communist work, it is a given that no area is any one individual's
private domain; decisions are made collectively and after appropriate
give-and-take with with all concerned, especially the masses, in whose name
we labor.

Having said this, I would like to offer a personal aside concerning Mr
Oleachea, whom I have never met, but with whom I share a number of goals and
values.  It is true that there is an acerbic side to Mr O; he does not
suffer fools gladly.  I myself have been on the receiving end of his fire on
one occasion, but have been the better for it.  He is one of the few people
I have known in my life who has a talent for cutting through a load of
nonsense and getting immediately to the heart of an issue--and to come out
consistently, like Lenin, on the side of the working class.   He is, in my
estimation, one of the great revolutionaries alive today, and I think that,
personal idiosyncracies aside, we are extremely fortunate to have him in our
midst.   That is all I will say on the matter of Mr Oleachea.

My main purpose in creating the past few posts have been to express--in the
manner and the language of a dedicated communist, which I think I am--my
sense of greivous betrayal at the events of the past few weeks.  I came on
this list originally to fill in many of the gaps in my knowledge of Marxism,
a living evolutionary mode of thought and action that is constantly renewing
itself.  I have not been disappointed.  I have learned much from virtually
everyone on the list, including, yes, the Professor, "Carlos", Officer
Burford, and many, many others with whom I had thought it would be virtually
impossible to work with under ordinary circumstances.  I thank you all.

In January I posted what turned out to be the first of a number of
acrimonious threads on the subject of the Partido Comunista de Peru (PCP)--a
forwarded message from "Quispe" on the armed strike in Lima.  It immediately
elicited howls of disapproval from "Carlos", Leo Casey, Kevin Cabral, and
several others (Mr Proyect jumped in later).  Since then, we have had more
than seven hundred posts on Peru, the PCP and related topics like Amnesty
International.  A number of contributors have joined the list, including
"Quispe", Dan Axtell,  Adolfo Oleachea and several  others, whose
contributions have been noteworthy in one way or another.   I feel that we
all played a role in bringing the struggle in Peru--which is a part, though
only a part--of the world revolution that is still in the making, to the
forefront of political consciousness on the list and beyond.

I felt at the time, and continue to feel, that any effort of the sort that I
understood us to be making--to tell the truth about the people's struggle in
a land unfamiliar to most of us--must be grounded firmly in an organization
bounded more or less within the limits of democratic centralism.  In a sense
this sense of discipline was scrupulously observed in the early months of
the Peru discussion.  People felt free to express individual views on the
general subject of the People's War, but there was a sense of shared
responsibilities and articulated goals that meshed well with the others on
the list.  "Quispe's" public and personal attacks on Oleachea and Arce
Borja--based solely on personal bias, at best--changed all that, and, with
it, the nature of communist and solidarity work in our part of the world.

Much needs to be done to rectify this situation.  I have received a great
deal of mail over the past few hours, both pro and con.  I look forward to
working with all others of good will in developing our support for the PCP,
the revolution in Peru, and the bringing of communism to  our troubled planet.


                          Louis Godena





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