Читать онлайн "International Maoism in the Developing World" - Alexander Robert Jackson - RuLit

After some hesitation, the PCEML broke with China and joined the Albanians, following the death of Mao. In 1976 a delegation of the party visited six Chinese cities.[378] And in February 1977 En Marcha indicated its support for the Chinese when it “applauded the victory of the Chinese Central Committee over the Gang of Four” while elaborating upon Mao’s contribution.[379] However, by the end of the decade, the Ecuadorean party was labeling Peking’s policy “right revisionist” and was supporting the Albanians.[380] In 1986 it was represented at the congress of the Albanian party.[381]

Electoral Activities of the Ecuadorean Maoists

In spite of their revolutionary rhetoric, there is no indication that the Ecuadorean Maoists actually attempted to organize guerrilla warfare—with the possible exception of the incident in 1963, before the PCEML had been formed. By the late 1970s, they had gone so far in the opposite direction as to participate in elections.

When, after another period of military rule, presidential and parliamentary elections were held in 1978, the Maoists participated in the latter but not the former. The pro-Soviet party had organized a left-wing coalition called the Frente Amplio de la Izquierda (FADI). The Maoists sought to counter this with a front organization of their own, the Popular Democratic Movement (MPD). It held a convention in March, reportedly attended by 5,000 delegates, that nominated Camilo Mena Mena as its MPD presidential candidate. When the MPD was denied recognition by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, the PCEML called upon its followers to abstain from voting.[382]

But in congressional elections the Maoists were somewhat more successful. John Martz wrote in 1981, “The PCE continued to be confronted with the antagonism of the MPD, whose Maoist radicalism aided its victory over the PCE in 1979 congressional elections by 4.8 percent to 3.2 percent of the vote. One MPD deputy sits in the legislature and is often at odds with FADI’s Chiriboga.”[383]

By the early 1990s, the Maoist-oriented MPD had apparently lost its one seat in the Chamber of Deputies. John Martz noted that the FADI had two deputies, but did not indicate that there were any MPD members of the Chamber.[384]

Conclusion

One of the earliest Maoist parties to be established in Latin America was that of Ecuador. After a bitter internal struggle within the Communist Party of Ecuador, the Maoists, with their principal center of strength in Quito, were expelled early in 1964, and organized the rival Partido Comunista del Ecuador (Marxista-Leninista). After some hesitation, the Chinese finally recognized one of the three factions of the PCEML as “their” party in Ecuador, and continued to maintain relations with it as long as they were interested in encouraging an international movement in their own image. However, the PCEML ended up siding with the Albanians against Mao’s Chinese successors, and the party lost enough of its revolutionary fervor that it participated in the electoral process.

Maoism in Guadeloupe

The Caribbean island of Guadeloupe has been officially a department of France since shortly after World War II. Most of the political parties of the island are the same as those in France, including the Guadeloupean Communist Party (PCG) which, however, ceased being a “federation” of the French party, and became a separate organization, in 1958. The Communists became a major party following World War II, and for many years held the mayoralty of Pointe-à-Pitre, the capital, and had one of the three Guadeloupean deputies in the French National Assembly.

Maoism in Guadeloupe originated among Guadeloupe Communists resident in France, who in 1963 established the Guadeloupe National Organization Group (GONG). In 1964, it proclaimed itself Maoist, accused the Guadeloupean Communist Party of being “revisionist,” and called for “independence for Guadeloupe by means of armed struggle.”[385]

In 1966 it was noted that “Although the GONG is a small group, operating from Paris headquarters, its influence appears to have permeated the ranks of the PCG, prompting… exclusions from the party’s central committee. … The dissident elements within the PCG were not expelled from the party, and in view of the semi-clandestine nature of the GONG (some of whose leaders appear to be, also, members of the PCG) no exact delineation can be made of the conflict within communism in Guadeloupe.”[386] However, in February 1967 four GONG leaders—Henri Delagua, Herbert Kherel, Nicolas Ludger, and Yves Leborgne—were expelled from the PCG.[387]

In 1967, the GONG was officially organized in Guadeloupe.[388] In May, “The GONG played an active part in the Basse-Terre and Pointe-à-Pitre riots. Consequently, many of its adherents were arrested,” and allegedly “the organization was largely destroyed by repressive measures.”[389]

During these riots, the police fired on a crowd outside of the Chamber of Commerce Building in Pointe-à-Pitre, and there were numerous casualties. Subsequently, the Council of State of France condemned the use of excessive force by the police.[390]

On July 17, 1967, the Politburo of GONG issued a resolution on the riots. It “declared that the events confirmed that the French imperialist policies had not changed, that the ‘revisionists’ were collaborating with the ‘colonialists’ and that ‘the struggle of Guadeloupe people for national independence entered a new phase which will lead to victory.’”[391]

In February 1968, a number of GONG leaders allegedly involved in the May 1967 riots were brought to trial. Thirteen were acquitted, and six were put on probation.[392] One member of the Central Committee of the PCG claimed that some of those who were tried were afterward given government jobs.[393]

One result of the riots was that the GONG gained some foothold in the unions, particularly those of the Confédération Générale du Travail (CGT), controlled by the pro-Moscow Communist Party. This was particularly true of the construction workers’ union of the CGT.[394]

Apparently the appearance of GONG on the island worried the leaders of the orthodox Communist Party. Evremond Gene, the PCG’s Secretary-General, speaking to the 1969 meeting of Communist parties in Moscow, strongly attacked the “menace from the Left.” He said that in Guadeloupe there had been “emergence of Leftist tendencies and groups, honeycombed with colonial agents operating hand in glove with traitors in the labor movement.” He charged that “Leftism and colonialism” were “in an alliance against the Communists.” He also charged the Chinese with responsibility for such developments.[395]

In 1967, GONG presented two candidates for election to the French National Assembly, Yves Leborgne and Nicolas Ludger, but neither was elected.[396] However, in 1969 GONG greatly annoyed the PCG by refusing to endorse Jacques Duclos, the leader of the French Communist Party who ran for President of France, in the first round of voting. The PCG paper, L’Etincelle, editorialized that “At least for the first round of the presidential elections, one thing is sure; the French bourgeoisie has underwritten a radio broadcast of abstentionist position of GONG, since it refused support of the Guadeloupean Communist Party’s backing of Jacques Duclos.”[397]