Practice

An electoral victory, a socialist failure Not long ago, Pedro Castillo, a self-proclaimed socialist running under a self-proclaimed Marxist-Leninist party, won the Peruvian elections, to the joy of much of the left. Where does the hope lie for those who celebrate this victory? Even the most excited souls will readily admit that, yes, socialism will not be achieved through the ballot box, so what did they achieve? My goal with this post is not to go in-depth into the politics of Castillo, who hasn’t made it easy for anyone to get a real idea of what he has in mind once in office (assuming he reaches it as the imperialist hegemon sees threat in even the most voracious defenders of bourgeois property so long as it isn’t in the hands of their chosen), but hopefully to bring more attention (at least, positive) to another major player in Peruvian history but most importantly an underrated and too often mindlessly hated political revolutionary and theorist; I want to focus some attention on Chairman Gonzalo and the Peruvian People’s War.