CP GUATEMALA'S CHART OF ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE AND 'COLLECTIVE LEADERSHIP

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP78-00915R000400090005-3
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 8
• Document Creation Date: November 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 12, 1999
• Sequence Number: 5
• Content Type: REPORT

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CP GUATEMALA'S CHART OF OEGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE
AND "COLLECTIVE LEADERSHIP"
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CP GUATEMALA.'S CHART OF ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE
AND "COLLECTIVE LEA.DERSHIP"
A. Background of the Chart
Charts of CP organizational structure--prepared by non-Communist
sources--are not uncommon; but such charts--prepared by a CP--are rarely
obtained.
The chart which follows is an English-language version of an
original (hectographic) document obtained from the files of CP, Guatemala
(Partido Guatemalteco del Traba.lo--PGT) in July 1954. The original is
completely "clean" as to identification of either source (cartographer)
or Subject-Party (i.e., the particular CP depicted in the chart). The
facts proper to the acquisition of the chart indicate strongly that CP
Guatemala is the subject. Furthermore, the charted organizational
structure parallels (both as to substance and specific terminology) that
which is set forth in Chapter III of CP Guatemala (PGT) Statutes, approved
at that Party's II Congress (December 1952), and in force as of the
overthrow of the Arbenz regime, 27 June 1954.
B. Emphasis on "Centralism"--Function of the Secretariat of the
Central Committee
The concentric-circle pattern emphasizes the Party's "centralism"
("centralized leadership," in the language of the Statutes)--the primary,
all-decisive deposit of power at "the Center." Actually, however, it
should be noted that the innermost circle is reserved for a collective
body (the Secretariat) which is executive in nature. For example, the
function of the Secretariat of the Central Committee is to perform the
daily ("current") work of the Party's leadership, i.e., to act in behalf
of the Political Commission, which, in turn, is responsible to the Central
Committee.
The Political Commission is the supreme authoritative body be-
tween sessions of the Central Committee (CC). It too, however, is only
an executive arm of the CC.
It is interesting to note how closely, mutatis mutandis, CP
Guatemala followed the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) in
preparing for its own (II National) Congress. Especially notable (in
addition to the comparison between the Political Commission and the
Presidium) is the creation of the Secretariat of the Central Committee.
The CP Guatemala studied both Khrushchev's theses on changes in
the Statutes of the CPSU, and the draft of the revised CPSU Statutes. In
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both the draft and the final version of the CPSU Statutes (approved at
the XIX Congress, October 1952), Art. 31+ reads:
"311.. The Central Committee of the Communist Party of the
Soviet Union organizes a Presidium to direct the work of
the Central Committee between plenary sessions and a Secre-
tariat to direct current work, chiefly as concerns verifi-
cation of the fulfillment of Party decisions and the
selection of cadres." (Underscoring added.)
CP Guatemala's theses on the draft of its revised statutes state:
"Among the national organs a new one has been created: The
Secretariat of the C. C. Practice has confirmed the need for
a national organ which will perform the work of leadership
on a daily basis; which will organize verify the ful-
fillment of the decisions of the Political Commission of the
C. C. and of the C. C.; which will see to the development
of the leading cadres, and to their distribution. This
new organ is the Secretariat of the C. C., which will be
subordinate to the C. C. and the P. C. Political Commission)
of the C. C." (Underscoring added.)
Art. 23 of the Statutes of CP Guatemala (PGT), approved at the
II National Congress, December 1952, states that the Secretariat of the
CC is composed of the Secretary General and the Secretaries decided upon
by the CC. It repeats the duties and functions cited above, and adds
that the Secretariat must render a report on its activities to the Poli-
tical Commission of the CC.
C. Emphasis on "Collective Leadership"
It is noteworthy that the chart reflects no mention of the Sec-
retary General. It presents only collective bodies throughout the leader-
ship ("command") echelons. For years, the Secretary General of many a
CP was (and in many cases still is), in practice, a small-scale, "national"
version of Stalin; he has exercised, in effect, considerable "one-man
rule" during the era of the "cult of the individual," and has been carto-
graphically depicted at the commanding peak of the Party structure.
After Stalin's death (5 March 1953), a strong move toward the
establishment of "collective leadership" was made in certain Communist
Parties, particularly those in the Soviet orbit. The following data may
give some indication of CP Guatemala's development--or, at least, of its
pretensions as to its own development:
1. CP Guatemala took steps to strengthen collective leadership
in October 195
over four months before Stalin's death. In
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preparation for its own (II) National Congress (December 1952),
CP Guatemala issued discussion materials which paralleled
significantly (and were in part identical with) the dis-
cussion materials issued by CPSU prior to its XIX Congress
(October, 1952). CP Guatemala members were urged to study
the CPSU materials. (Additional recommended materials were:
Statutes of CP China, and the Draft Program of CP India.)
2. Specifically, the theses on the draft of proposed new CP
Guatemala Statutes cited the drive toward collective leader-
ship: the power base of the Secretary General was to be
changed; he was to be made fully conscious that he was an
instrument of the Central Committee, rather than "Secretary
General of the Party" as a whole. The directive ("command")
supremacy of the CC (between Congresses) and of the Political
Commission (between Plenary Sessions of the CC) was strongly
reaffirmed.
(a) According to the "old" Statutes, (Art. 12), the Secre-
tary General was elected directly by the National
Congress. The members of the CC were elected in the
same way. Hence, the Secretary General owed his posi-
tion to a body superior in power to the CC, i.e., to
the National Congress--the highest body of all. The
net result was that he was known as the Secretary Gen-
eral of the Party.
(b) The theses on the draft of the new CP Guatemala Statutes
read:
"In the old Statutes, among the rights of the Con-
gress was that of electing the Secretary General of the
Part The draft of the new Statutes accords to the
Central Committee the right to elect its Secretary Gen-
eral. This fact constitutes an important factor for
the centralized leadership and the collective work of
the Party. It leaves the Central Committee as the sole
top-level organ of the Party between Congresses. In
short, and this is a reason in favor of the draft, in
our Party there is no Secretary General of the Party;
but rather, there is a Secretary General of the Central
Committee, elected by the latter." (Underscoring sup-
plied.)
(c) The Statutes of the CP Guatemala (approved by the II
Congress, December 1952) stress (in Arts. 19-23) the
supremacy of the (collective) CC between Congresses,
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and of the (collective) Political Commission of the
C.C. between Plenary Sessions of the latter. The
Central Committee is clearly cited as the power base of
the Political Commission, the Secretariat of the C. C.,
and the Secretary General of the C. C.
It should be noted however that while supreme authority resides
in a collective body, the leadership (guidance) function of the Secretary
General of the C. C.is declared in Art. 21 of the Statutes) in the fol-
lowing limited terms: "The Secretary General of the C. C. directs the
Political Commission and the Secretariat of the C. C." -- both creatures
of the C. C.--but he is not cited as directing the C. C., or the-Congress,
or the Party.
The CP Guatemala again returned to the question of "collective
leadership" at the Plenum of the C. C. held 16-18 October 1953. At that
Plenum, Bernardo ALVARADO Monzon, "Secretary of the Central Committee,"
(National Secretary of Organization) cited the steps being taken to
establish collective leadership in the Communist Parties throughout the
world. He declared that the CP Guatemala already "embodies, in its
statutes and in its daily work, the principle of collective leadership as
a fundamental working rule. Thanks to it we have achieved important
results in our struggle." ALVARADO went on to state that the II National
Congress of the CP Guatemala had been "a great victory in our work-as
regards collective leadership." He stressed the fact that materials
proper to that Congress were widely distributed throughout the Party far
enough in advance to permit full discussion. He then declared:
"To this fact, and, among others, to the fact that we held
the II Congress of the Party a few weeks after the XIX
Congress of the CPSU, the materials of which were most
valuable to us in our work, we owe the correctness and
transcendental conclusions of our Congress, not only for our
Party, but also for the revolutionary struggle of our country."
ALVARADO stressed the point that "collective leadership" means
collective work by collective organs:
"Our statutes establish the Central Committee as the supreme
organ between Congresses; the Central Committee is a col-
lective organ which centralizes the national leadership of the
Party, and which elects, from among its own members, the
Political Commission of the Central Committee, the Secretariat
of the Central Committee, the Commissions of the Central
Committee and their respective officers-in-charge (Responsi-
bles)--all collective bodies of leadership and work.
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"One of the most effective factors in guaranteeing the col-
lective solution of many problems has been the creation of
the Secretariat of the Central Committee as (the organ) re-
sponsible for the daily work of the leadership of the Party,
and for organizing the fulfillment of decisions.
"Thanks to the creation of the Secretariat of the C.C. we can
give assurances that, in general, all the problems of the
daily work of leadership have been solved in a collective
manner; and that in the central leadership of our Party, "one-
man" tendencies (tendencias unipersonales) have not thrived,
nor have problems been solved in an individualistic, one-
aided manner." (Underscoring supplied.)
ALVARADO also discussed Party weaknesses with respect to collec-
tive leadership. These dealt, in the main, not with structure, i.e., not
with the formal deposit of power in collective bodies, but with functional
failures of those bodies; e.g., they failed to ensure the full participation
of all members of those bodies in the work, to make the work collective in
nature, as regards both its preparation planning, discussion) and its ex-
ecution. He found that minorities were "running the show" in certain col-
lective bodies--even in the Central Committee--on a simple default basis,
i.e., because other members just did not enter into the work.1
There are indications that Jose Manuel FORTUNY may have been
suspended as Secretary General on 26 May 1954, for violation of the prin-
ciple of "collective leadership" and for other leadership failures in the
'counterrevolutionary" crisis of the Arbenz regime in that period.
The organ of the CP Guatemala (PGT), Tribuna Popular, 27 May 1954,
reports on a Plenum of the CC held the preceding day. The current "ag-
gressive and interventionist steps" of "imperialism" were discussed, and
Party tasks and measures were agreed upon.
Bernardo ALVARADO Monzon, the outstanding advocate of "collective
leadership," reported, in the name of the Political Commission of the CC,
on Fortuny's "health" and on "measures adopted by the Political Commission
to organize his rest and achieve his speedy recovery." Alfredo GUERRA
Borges, "Secretary of the Central Committee," participated in the dis-
cussion of Fortuny's health. He referred to the need for "raising the
combativeness of the masses and the Party," for "correcting weaknesses
in (Party) work," and for "strengthening collective leadership at all
1 As this is a commentary on the previously cited chart, and not a study
of "collective leadership," additional points made by ALVARADO will not
be set forth here.
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levels of the Party in the spirit of the Central Committee resolutions
of October, 1953." (An apparent reference to the above-cited CC Plenum
of 16-18 October 1953, at which ALVARADO delivered his report on col-
lective leadership.) At the 26 May 1954 Plenum, the CC chose ALVARADO
as acting Secretary General of the CC for the period of Fortuny's recupera-
tion, and took steps to strengthen the collective Secretariat of the CC
by new and additional personnel assignments.
The emphasis put by the CP Guatemala on collective leadership--
reflected in the following chart--is particularly noteworthy because it
was linked with the 19th Congress of the CPSU, prior to Stalin's death.
It has been generally thought that the trend toward collective leadership
started after Stalin's death.2 However, the organizational thinking of
the CP Guatemala should give rise to a more thorough study of the evolution
of the current trend in collective leadership. In particular, the genesis
of the collective leadership principle should be ascertained for each
Communist Party in order to establish or deny parallels with CP Guatemala.
2 It is known that, in the summer of 1951, in a severe crisis of Party
leadership caused by vigorous prosecution, the CPUSA stressed the need
for "collective leadership," and established a de facto top-level secre-
tariat of three to handle daily work.
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