ACTIVITIES OF PERUVIAN COMMUNIST PARTY IN JANUARY 1949

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP82-00457R002700080011-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 10
• Document Creation Date: November 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 8, 1999
• Sequence Number: 11
• Publication Date: January 1, 1949
• Content Type: REPORT

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Approved For Religeggia9/ffiniiigkeoplAttliti57R0027W01349Rtlit.
INFORMATION REPORT CD NO.
COUNTRY Peru DATE DISTR. 5 MY 1949
SUBJECT Activities of Peruvian Communist Party in Janu517 NO. OF PAGES 10 25X1A2g
39)49
PLACE 25X1A6a
NO. OF ENCLS.
ACQUIRED (LISTED BELOW)
DATE OF INF SUPPLEMENT TO
25X1X6 REPORT NO.
The morale of the orthodox Communist Party of Pere (PCP) took a distinct
upturn during the month of January 15049p a primary factor being the con-
tinued absence of persecution of the Party by the Odria Military Junta,
Communist leaders were unmolested, and meetings, although clandestine,
were not raided or broken up, This was in striking contract to the posi-
tion or APRA, which was harried on all fronts by the Junta. Its members
were jailed or exiled, in many cases on no other ground than suspected
Aprieta Party 'membership or sympathies,
2, Patting this relative freedom to good use, the PCP registered its first
important labor gains since the Decree-Law of 1 November, showing effec-
tive labor strength in Arequipa and capturing two important positions
among the Lima tramway workers union at the first labor elections to be
held under the auspices of the Military Junta. This victory of the Party's
candidates illustrates the results of eliminating APRA from organized labor,
for the previous Directorate of the tramway workers was headed by Luis
Negreiros Vega one of APRA. le best known labor leaders, Negreiros has now
been replaced by a "friend" of the PCP, who is assisted on his Governing
Board by two active Communist Party members. lith APRA eliminated and the
Communists unmolested, similar developments may be expected elsewhere in
the labor field in spite of the PCP's theoretically illegal status,
3. In addition to domestic events the visit to Pea of Jose Maria Quimper
also provided the PCP with an important boost in morale, renewing their
faith in the importance and significance of the Party's activities from
an international point of view. Apparent Communist successes in the Far
Past were also exploited by Party propagandists to buttress their con-
viction in the inevitability of the international triumph of their cause.
4. A division occurred during the month among the persons recently expelled
from the PCP which may be of possible future eignificance. One group,
still calling itself the true "Lima Departmental Committee", appears to be
tending toward a position somewhat similar to that of the orthodox Party.
The second and more important group led by Juan P. Lune and Alipio Orbegoso
appeared during January to be in
more
Juataqs labor plans, working together with the Feente de Unidad e Independ-
endia Sindical (MS). OIVoFriLl)ess open collaboration with the
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The FUIS, always the most vocal of these groups, continued to iill the
columns of La Prensa with its communiques and statements. It gained a
second mouthpiece with the reappearance of Eudocio Ravines' Vanauardia
which was again published regularly from 7 January on. It is believed,
however, thdt in spite of governmental favor, the FUIS is still more
noisy than numerous and probably includes only a few hundred individuals
at best,
A. THE ORTHODOX C011'UNIET PARTY OF PERU
I. General
b. -ith the end of 1948 and the publication of the 1949 budget, all hopes
of convening the present Congress vanished. There was no longer any
reason for holding up the publication of the Manifesto of the Peruvian
Communist Party to the Nation, originally planned for issue on New Year's
Eve (1)
7. Although many members felt the issuance of the Manifesto injudicious at
the moment, the Political Commission decided otherwise. Nevertheless, it
was not until 12 January that the final text of the Manifesto appeared,
although a few copies were struck off a few days earlier so that Hugo
Levano might take them to departmental leaders on his trip to the center
and south.
8. The Manifesto attacks the Odria government on its economic, labor, domestic
and foreign policies, seemingly slamming the door to possible future col-
laboration between the PCP and the Junta. The Manifesto defends the thesis
of the PCP Manifesto of 26 October, managing as usual to blame all the ills
of Peru on the "colonializing, bellicose, anti-democratic and anti-Peruvian
plans of Yankee imperialism." Attacking the outlawing of the Communist
Party as the "Hitierian design of "all Street", it Characterizes the Labor
Decree-Laws of the Junta as "Marshallism in substance, Peronism in form",
with special attention to criticism of Decree-Law No. 19.
9. An entire section is devoted to attacking the Junta's projected "Congreso
Obrero" with words for traitors such as Luna, the FUIS, certain
renegade Apristas such as Sabroso and Jorge Fernandez Stoll. This indi-
cates a final break between Fernandez Stoll and the orthodox PCP. Follow-
ing the previous line, the Manifesto advocates a reconstructed, "legitimate"
Peruvian Workers Union (CTP), freed from the influence of APRA.
10. Another section blames APRA for the collapse of the Frente Democratico
Nacional by betraying its original anti-imperialist principles and defend-
ing the interests of the reat imperialist concerns, advocating the ratifi-
cation of the Sechura Contract and serving as the principal mouthpiece for
the anti-Communism of Wall Street.
II. Political
11. Party leaders were called together on 11 January by Communist Deputy Jose
Macedo Mendoza who reported on recent political developments and submitted
various proposals for study.
12. Macedo stated that he had attended a dinner offered by the Independent
Senators and Deputies in honor of Senators Francisco Tamayol Rafael Aguilar
and Ricardo Leon Velarde, with a widely publicized speech by Senator Jose
Antonio Encinas, and a luncheon offered to sixty of the independent group
the followina day (8 January) by Senator Hector Boza at La Perla. At these
two meetings ?laced? stated that action had been initiated to create "a
national popular democratic progressive movement", unifying all groups to
the left of the Junta into a Democratic Proaressive Front, the ultimate ob-
jective being concrete political action0 at a committee
of Independents of which he was a member lp evelop this
suggestion, and that their plans included t e collaboration of all leftist
parties, including the various Socialist parties and the Communist Party.
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13. Nacedo argued that if such a "party" or 'Trent,' were organized, the PCP.
would be one of the largest groups among it and consequently be in a po-
sition to exercise a large degree of control in its decisions, although
obliged at present not to appear among its ostensible leaders. He recom-
mended that favorable action be taken by the PCP at once in regard to the
Independents' suggestion, pointing out the advantages of working with such
a group against the Junta.
iho This proposition was exhaustively debated at a meeting of members of the
Political Commission on 20 January, at which time it was agreed that a de-
cision of this magnitude could only be made by the Central Committee. It
was determined to call a meeting of the Committee for February to pass on
the question of collaboration with this effort of the Independents to form
a Democratic Progressive Front.
15. Meanwhile, further conversations by Macedo with his fellow Independents
made clear what the conditions of collaboration would be. As a first con-
dition, the Front would demand that the PCP require its membership to at-
tend all meetings of the Front, thus assuring the new party a degree of
mass support. As a'second condition the PCP would be required to deliver
the communist vote behind all Front candidates in case of elections, thus
assuring the new party a certain degree of success at the polls. (2)
16. Thee conditions brought a sharp division of opinion among Party leaders.
Many rejected flatly any collaboration on such terms, maintaining that it
was preferable to stand alone than to be required to support and vote for
candidates imposed by any outside group. The arguments on both sides were
very similar to those advanced by Party members when collaboration with
the Alianza Nacional was debated in 1947. One group believed that col-
laboration on such terms could not be reconciled with maintaining the
purity of the party line. Others argued that collaboration with anyone
was justifiable to attain their goal and that the end justified the means.
In view of these disagreements Macedo was ordered not to compromise the
Party in any way until a decision of the Central Committee could be ob-
tained authorizing the acceptance of such conditions.
17. Members of the Political Commission met again on the last day of January
and Macedo once more advocated action on the suggestion of the Independents,
urging that a meeting of all the members of the Central Committee then in
Lima be held immediately withoutawaiting the arrival and attendance of the
full committee, so that some reply might be formulated as soon as possible.
NO action was reported to have been taken, however.
18. The remainder of this meeting on 31 January was devoted to an analysis of
the seriousness of the domestic situation in Peru and to pep talks by
Macedo and by Manuel Ugarte exhorting the Party to stand firm., since the
Junta would soon fall. The PCP must take heart from the triumph of the
Corm:unists in China, said Ugarte, and be assured that Imperialism, now
defeated in Asia, will meet equal defeat on this continent,
19. As an important threat to us own security, the Party noted the rising im-
portance of Luis A. Flores and the UR. The PCP blamed Flores for a purge
of nPradistasn which they believed was taking place, and pointed to the
replacement of Jorge Fernandez Stoll by Mario Herrera Gray as one sign of
this. In this isolated case, however, theybelieved that the change would
react to their own advantage, for Jorge Fernandez Stoll was now considered
as a "Lunistan? unfriendly to the orthodox Party. Herrera Gray, on the
other hands is a former contributor to the funds of the PCP and is still
considered as a friend.
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III. Labor
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20. The position of National Syndical Secretary, left vacant by Eliseo Garcia
Lazo was taken over by the Secretary General himself, and Ugarte and Jorge
Del Prado, Secretary for Organization, initiated a determined campaign
with the beginning of the New Year to rebvild Communist strength within
the ranks of organized labor.
21. The beginning of January found the PCP rigidly opposed to the Odria Mili-
tary Juntas projected ?Congreso Obrero". The Party opposed it first, as
beina the brain child of the hated Junta, and second as being the vehicle
of their two strongest rivals for labor influence following the disappear-
ance of APRA, namely, Juan P. Luna and his followers and the FUIS. A
statement of the Party position appears in their Manifesto.' .
22. On the positive side the orthodox PCP advocated retention of the Confed-
eracion de Trabajadores Del Peru (CTP) believing that nitimately they
might regain control of a number of existing labor federations and thus
ultimately of the CTP itself. In addition they believed it might be pos-
sible to hold a rival "Congreso Obrero" in the south, where Communist
control of Peruvian labor was strongest.
23. This belief in their strength in the south was confirmed through reports
early in January from Arequipa concerning the Union Grafica Arequipa, the
printers and typesetters union. This union is controlled in that city by
the Communists led by the Syndicate e5 Secretary of Organization, Raul
Acosta Sales, a member of the PCP and brother of Jorge Acosta Sales,
former Secretary General of the Communist Party of Peru.
24fl These reports stated that in spite of the state of siege, the Union
Grafica Arequipa (Arequipa Printers and Typesetters Union) had entered a
series of labor complaints. Threatening to strike it had been success-
ful in obtaining wage raises of 20-22%, representing, according to Party
leaders in Lima, the first Communist triumph to be registered against the
Odria ';!ilitary Junta. Further demands will follow this preliminary test
of strength, it was said.
25. Word was also received in Lima that the Federacion de Trabajadores del
Cuzco, led by Julio Cesar Pastor, a member of the PCP, was preparing a
general strike in Cuzco for the day the state of siege was lifted. The
strike was planned in protest against Decree-Law No. 19 which is strongly
opposed by the textile workers of that area,
26, The renewed Communist campaign within the labor federations obtained im-
portant results in the first labor elections to be permitted by the
Military Junta. These elections were held under the supervision of the
Direccion de Trabajo on 15 January. Out of a Directorate of thirteen
officers of the Federacion de Motoristas, Conductores y Anexos del Peru
(Federation of Motormen? Conductors and Affiliates of Peru), two members
of the PCP were elected to important secretaryships? while a Party sympa-
thizer was elected Secretary General. In addition, Communists were
elected as one of the two delegates to the USTL and the CTP.
27, Alejandro Bazo V. was elected Secretary General of the Federation. While
not an enrolled member of the PCP, Bazo is known as a friend of the Party.
Federico Iriarte was elected Sub-Secretary General of the Federation and
Federation Delegate to the CTP. Iriarte is a member of the Control Com-
mittee, and of the Political Commission of the PCP and an Advisory Member
of the Partys Syndical Commission. A former Secretary General of the
tramway workers, he !as a high reputation in leftist labor circles as the
leader of the last successful tramway strike. Santiago Sabogal was
elected Secretary of Press and Propaganda of the Federation and Federation
Delegate to the USTL. Sabogal is a member of the Syndical Commission of
the PCP and served as Secretary of Defense of the Comite Reorganizador of
the orthodox Lima Departmental Committee in June 1948.
\
FDThL
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28. Party leaders were extremely pleased with this success, achieved in
spite of their illegal status, and in spite of the collaboration that
exists between the government, the Luna group and the FUIS. The election
of Iriarte as Federation Delegate to the CTP marked in their mind a first
important step toward the recapture of that organization, and strengthened
their determination to support it in opposition to the governments pro-
jected Conereso Obrero, with the ultimate intention of taking it back into
the GTAL.
IV. Attitude toward APRA
29. Party leaders had originally decided that to combat the Odrie
Junta through labor, cooperation with Aprista elements would ultimately
be necessary. (3) Up to the end of December, however, no reports were
received that orders to avoid all Aprista contacts had been rescinded.
These orders were originally issued on the assumption that Aprista con-
tacts were dangerous for the moment due to the Governments expected
severe anti-APRA campaign.(4)
30. The month of January marked a turning point in the Partys attitude toward
such contacts. The new Party viewpoint was based on a belief that the
Juntags efforts to stamp out APRA had already resulted in the arrest of
ell the lower echelon Apristas that would be molested, Those Apristas re-
maining at large were so well known that no yarning to Party members would
be needed to prevent their being caught in association With such notorious
figures. In brief, the PCP believed that the danger of being caught in
anti-Aprista roundups had diminished to a point where discreet attempts to
contact Aprista groups and win them to the Communist cause might now be
safely attempted.
31, Indicative of this new approach is the passage from the PCP Manifesto ex-
horting all responsible democratic and labor elements to leave the ranks
of APRA and to strike out on a new path of "anti-imperialism and authentic
democracy.?
32. Source emphasizes that this is not a reconciliation of differences or an
attempt to come to terms with APRA. It is an invitation to all former
Apristas to unite with the Communists and accept Communist political and
labor leadership. No concessions on the part of the PCP were intended.
The Party has merely felt it safe and opportune to return to its position
of October 1948, when similar attempts were made to influence the rank
and file of APRA to accept Communist leadership. (5) Of some interest is
the fact that the II-Circular No. lu of the dissident group contains a
somewhat similar invitation.
33. Few signs of approaches to the Communist Party by former Apristas were
reported during January. According to sources available to the PCP, the
overwhelming majority of APRA labor remained good Apristas, true to the
strong anti-Communist position maintained by APRA. There was only a small
number of renegade Aprista labor leaders who appeared to have sold out to
the government. Prominent among them was Arturo Sabroso.
34. Rumors continued to circulate in the Party that a group of Apristas led
by a doctor from the Department of Loreto, had declared itself in favor
of union with the Communists on an anti-imperialist platform to form a
single anti-Junta front. Nothing appears to have come of this declaration,
if it ever existed. The identity of the rumored Loreto doctor is not known.
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V. National Control Commission
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35. The National Control Commission of the Party put out at the end of the
month a mimeographed sheet entitled "Boletin No. 1 de la Comision
Nacional de Control del PCP," expressing the hope that such bulletins
would appear monthly from now on.
36, Attacking as usual all deviations from Marxism-Leninism, and condemning
especially all Trotskyite, Ravinista, and Luna tendencies, the bulletin
sets forth a series of disciplinary measures taken by the Party since 30
October 1948, when the Odria !Tilitary Junta was installed.
37. The bulletin announces the suspension of Eliceo Garcia Lazo until the
next meeting of the Central Committee for the "unworthy abandonment" of
his responsibilities as Secretary of the National Syndical Commission,
as a member of the Political Commission and as a member of the Central
Committee. Garciaos action has been previously reported.(1) The ex-
pulsion of Gustavo Gorriti,(1) former Communist Deputy for Camana, is
also announced in the bulletin.
38. Sergio Caller, Communist Deputy for Cuzco, was reproved, according to
the bulletin, for having attended a banquet in honor of a member of the
Junta, and punished with the obligation of collecting a certain amount
of money monthly for the Party.
39. Horacio Sanchez Ortiz, according to the bulletin, was likewise condemned
to collect a monthly sum of money for the Party for having attended a
banquet in honor of a member of the "ilitary Junta.
40. Teofila Alvirena was likewise listed by the bulletin as condemned to col-
lecting funds for the Party. A recommendation of disciplinary action
against her has been previously reported. (6)
41. The expulsion of Toribio Ramirez Chacon from the PCP has been previously
reported. The bulletin reports that he turned over to the police in
Jauja Party files available to him when holding the position of leader of
the Jaaja Committee of the PCP,
42. The bulletin ends with a note of condemnation and of warning against the
pamphlet of "Conclusions and Reselutions" put out by the so-called "Lima
Departmental Committee",
VI. Movement of Prominent Communist Personalities
43. Hugo Levano, Communist Youth leader and a member of the Central Committee
of the PCP, left Lima 10 January on a month os trip to the south via the
interior, planning to visit first Andahuaylas, where he was to confer with
Juan Barrio, then Cuzco and Arequipa, returning to Lima by the coast,
44. Levano is carrying for all the Departmental Committee Secretaries in the
center and south copies of the Party Manifesto as well as verbal instruc-
tions regarding the Party's labor campaign in opposition to the govern-
ment4s proposed Congreso Obrero. He has specific instructions to develop
the idea of an independent Comeunist-controlled labor congress in the
south. Copies of the Manifesto carried by Levano were struck off specially,
for it was not ready for general Party distribution until 12 January.
45. Information concerning the successful efforts of the Communist-led Union
Grafica Arequipa had reached Lima prior to his departure and Levano carried
further instructions for them to be delivered on his arrival in Arequipa.
46. First mord from Levano was received by Party leaders in Lima 24 January on
his arrival in Arequipa. He reported that his trip had been a success so
forc and that the Partyts Syndical campaign %ad met with a particularly
enthusiastic reception by all local leaders contacted to date. Levano re-
ported that he would start his return journey from Arequipa, within a few
days, traveling first to Ica, then returning up the coast.
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VII. Foreign Foreign Correa ondence and Contacts
47. Jose Maria Quimper returned to Peru during December 1948 on a vacation
from his position with the United Nations Organization, New York. His
activities in Lima during January 1949 have been previously reported. (7)
48. A letter was received toward the end of January from Dionisio Encina of
the Communist Party of Mexico, stating that Vicente Lombardo Toledano
would leave in a few days for Europe to attend an urgent meeting called
by the leaders of the Federaclon Sindical Mundial (Universal Union Federa-
tion)"in view of the withdrawal of prominent American and British member-
units from that body.
49. The letter continues that the Communist Party of Mexico has just completed
a most successful recruiting campaign, having enrolled approximately fif-
teen thousand new members and bringing their total membership up to twenty-
seven thousand. The letter, apparently sent through the open mail, was
addressed to the Central de Libros y Revistas, Apartado 1043, Lima, the
address of Rosa"Hurwitzg bookstore located at Jiron Camana, 681, Lima,
50. The Party Bookstore Nuevo Horieonte also received from Mexico for sale
and distribution in eru a number of copies of The Communist Manifesto
in a well printed efttion in Spanish containing the text of seven prefaces
to the Manifesto in various language editions. The booklet is published
by flEdiciones on Lenauas Extranjeras, Moscu, 19480, And bears the legend,
in English, "Printed in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics".
51. Pro-Soviet propaganda material has been arriving in Peru through the
medium of crew membees of Grace Line vessels touching at the port of
Callao.
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VIII. Local Publications
52. The ultra-nationalistic newspaper Reconquista edited by Jorge Falcon and
Elias Toyer continued to appear regularITEOing the month of January
1949. Of the two directors, Tovar is in more frequent contact at present
with Party leaders. It is inteeesting to note that possible signs of its
directors 1 affiliation may be creeping into the newspapers content, al-
ways in keeping with its exaggeratedly nationalistic tone, in such articles
as that headlined 0W6 should Not Resign Ourselves to the Foreign Guardian-
ship nor the Semi-colonial Explcitation ehich the Large Oil Companies
Impose on Us."
IX. Miscellaneous
a.' Financial Contribution from Jewish Group
53. During the first week in January the PCP received a substantial financial
contribution from a Jewieh group in Lima, obtained through the efforts of
Rosa Hurwitz and paid -be the Party through her. Many members of the
Central Committee itseli do not know the origin of this "anonymous" con-
tribution.
b. Organization of Governmental Labor Party
54. According to information reaching the Party 'during January, Augusto
Alvarez Rastelli and Javier Ortiz de Zevallos continued to take the most
active parts in Odrials attempts to form a new politieal party, including
labor elements, to support his regime. The Party learned before the end
of the month that this group had settled on the name.Partido Restaurador
del Peru (Restoration ParJey of Peru), using Post Office Box 1508 as its
address. Samples of their membership registration.sheets, using ,the above
letterhead, were made available to the PCP. No information concerning the
Partido Restaurador del Peru has yet been carried in the press nor been
reported elsewhere.
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