of the Peruvian Communist party, in other words, the W8S their real objectiye, in your view, in calling the wanted to demonstrate their strength. The decision to call a general stoppage was taken at the CGTP Filth last year. The stoppage certainly represented the PCP(U) chief card in negotiations with the military But the stoppage was To what extent did the fact that the military has agreed to hold elections soon and return power to a civilian illusions in the masses and lessen their resolution i0 This had only a small effect, I believe. But now it is possible that the masses resigned to following the other road What was FOCEP's (Frente Obrero, Campesino, Estudiantil y Popular) role We supported it, of course, though we had no part in the leadership of it. We saw that the masses were willing to fight, and if the stoppage had come as a of strikes and movements it would have succeeded.
over-estimated the conditions, failed to realise how much the working class has been weakened by the dismissal of the union leaders and cadres I've already mentioned, by the recession and also by the breaking of the miners' strike last September.
This was a very tough strike, it lasted miners marched Lima — and finally the movement was brutally repressed by the military. The CGTP did not support the strike. That fact has not been forgotten.
What are the political perspectives The military government will be able to move with more assurance towards power to d civilian government which will almost certainly But the working class continue because the economic crisis is going to continue.
As I said earlier, however, as the elections approach and as a result of the strike failure, the masses are likely to become more electoralist.
In the Constituent Assembly elections last year, FOCEP, an electoral alliance of your party, the Trotskyist POMR (Partido Obrero Marxista Revolucionario) and other left organisations, won 12 per cent of the popular vote, making FOCEP the largest working class force in the assembly, and the third largest of all the parties represented. What do you expect in the next elections? Less votes than last time, in truth. The bourgeoisie is not going to allow itself to be surprised twice in a row. This is no tragedy for us. FOCEP is a group of militants with a following of half a million voters. We haven't been able to enlist all of them by any means.
An electoral campaign is useful as a means of educating people, particular, for us, of achieving our major aim of reuniting the Trotskyist movement. We have recently been able to reunify five separate groups into the new PRT (Partido Revolucionario de los Trabajadores). were the reasons?
Sectarian elements demanded, strategic concepts be shared That is quite a different matter.
here.
wrong by changed.
are unable to accept.
Do you see the possibility and in PST?
members of the two organisations. To achieve this required a split with your former party, the PST (Partido Socialista de los Trabajadores). What in the PST condition of POMR re-unification, that not only should PONSE - quite correctly - but also tactical concepts The formation of tendencies is not understood in Peru as it is in Europe. The idea that the majority tendency can determine a tactic which is accepted by other tendencies does not exist easily the The tactic, of course, may be proved it must then be This implies a flexibility in tactics which some elements in the PST of further reunification? With the POMR or the It will be easier with the POMR than with the PST, I think. We do not have behind us the years of rancour and dispute that bedevil relations between We are much newer here, and als have been working closely togeth FOCEP. Our militants are use collaborating, For example, i assembly session that's taking pla this moment. Ricardo Napuri ot speaking behalf Has the concept of the consti assembly providing you with a pol platform from which to educat masses proven effective? No, it hasn't. Not directly, in any since virtually nothing of what is s assembly reported government-controlled press. But have been other political advant Parliamentary immunity, for on Let me put it plainly: a memb this assembly enjoys just abou same rights as an ordinary citize bourgeois democracy. No more If it hadn't been for this immur would have been deported twenty already. Instead of which, we have able to organise and address me of 10,000 and more people.
The people listen member of the assembly for he their eyes, an authorised spokesp
bourgeoisie.
you have this very