Comrades of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Colombia (M-L):
The unity of principles and aims which inspire both our parties, the long standing revolutionary friendship which we have made through the victories and vicissitudes of the revolution in Colombia and in Ecuador, the tradition of party relations based Marxism-Leninism and proletarian internationalism, characterised by openness and sincerity, and by mutual respect, encourages us and in fact obliges us to participate in the important debate which is taking place within the Communist Party of Colombia (M-L).
The anti-communist offensive, the repressive activities of imperialism and of the Colombian bourgeoisie by means of their armed forces, of the specialised repressive forces, of secret agents and of paramilitaries; the divisive activity initiated by the enemies of our class through opportunists and traitors, all this has inflicted series blows against the working class and the Colombian people, against the popular revolutionary movement, and in particular against the revolutionary party of the proletariat of Colombia, against the CP of Colombia (M-L) and against the glorious Popular Army of Liberation (EPL). These have been strong attacks, and they have imp[lied political and military battles won by reaction against revolution. However, we are dealing with temporary and partial defeats, which are part of a process during which the forces of the proletariat and the Colombian people have themselves also won important victories which although themselves having a partial character are stages towards the conquest of the popular power.
The CP of Colombia (M-L) and the EPL come from a long and rich tradition of struggle. Having taken Marxism-Leninism as their theoretical and political guide, they have understood how to interpret Colombian society and to take the road of social revolution; they have made every effort to link the forces of the proletariat to that of the people, to the popular masses; they have actively involved themselves for thirty years in the revolutionary armed struggle taking place in Colombia; they have known how to defend revolutionary proletarian beliefs and Marxism-Leninism from its detractors, how to combat opportunism and revisionism both within and outside their ranks, and their principle aim has been to preserve and defend the role and the nature of the Leninist party; they have put into effect important contributions to the international revolutionary proletariat, to the fight of the peoples against imperialism, and to proletarian internationalism.
We, the Marxist-Leninist communists of Ecuador are firmly convinced that our sister party of Colombia will, once more, know how to defeat adversity, and the attacks of reaction and imperialism, as well as how to strengthen themselves in the political and ideological struggle now going on within their ranks. The debate started by the CC and which is taking place within the party must lead to the affirmation of revolutionary principles and of Marxism-Leninism, it must bequeath to the party revolutionary politics which are more correct and more appropriate, it must enrich itself through accumulated theory and experience.
The questions being put forward, according to our point of view, should have to do with the overriding problems of the Colombian revolution on an international scale. The results of this discussion will have for this reason repercussions in the revolutionary movement of the working class and of the people and in particular in the international communist Marxist-Leninist movement.
I- In our view, the ebbing of revolutionary forces which has occurred in recent years, is a problem which must be analysed in its entirety, in its causes and its contradictions. As communists, we must follow attentively the correlation of forces within our country, on our continent and in the world.
To make a correct social, economic and political analyses, it is necessary to base ourselves on the progressive factors in the movement of society, to learn to measure the level of consciousness of the popular masses, their state of mind, to be aware of the strategy and tactics of the class enemy with the aim of ensuring that in every moment of revolutionary activity we are able to guide the forces of the revolution, to affirm its social base, to consolidate and broaden it, in brief, to advance the process of the building of the revolutionary forces.
We, the Marxist-Leninists of Ecuador, in spite of not struggling in Colombia, but with the knowledge that we have of the social and political struggle taking place there, affirm that just as is happening in our country this ebbing of revolutionary forces has touched bottom in Colombia and at the present moment we are dealing with a recuperation of the popular revolutionary movement, which is expressing itself in important mobilisations and strikes in the working class, particularly among the public sector workers (for example the strike of February 1997), of the peasantry of various regions (the fighting days of Putumayo, Huila, Santanderes, etc.), and of various sectors and regions for their rights. This recovery has turned itself into a revolutionary military offensive on the part of FARC and ELN which in recent times have shaken Colombia. For us the resolutions in the document "A Necessary Correction" which we print below, are evidence of this statement.
"An important fact is derived from these events: the political movement of democrats, workers and masses is setting the scene for debate and unification, is proposing a policy and a programme to reclaim the voice of the revolutionary left and of the guerrilla movement in its discussions, to intervene openly in national debates and to develop organisational and unifying forms which however are still embryonic and limited in their capacity for mobilisation and struggle. This highlights the fact that the guerrilla forces do not have a policy, or that they are finished, or that they are afraid to confront the army. From this period derives a new stage in the conditions of the armed conflict, for example, within the context of direct armed intervention from American imperialism, with the strengthening of every section of the armed forces, and with the widening and legalised role of paramilitarism. Or, also in certain conditions there may open before us a negotiation on different bases from those which applied on previous occasions."
We are of the opinion that these lines demonstrate a situation not of ebbing, that they express how the popular revolutionary movement of Colombia is developing, that they demand from the forces of the revolutionary proletariat the need of positioning themselves in relation to this situation, of readjusting their forces in order to involve themselves more actively in this process. The objective and subjective conditions of the revolution are advancing, the communist forces have an obligation to clarify the direction and to put themselves in front of this new stage of the Colombian revolution. The attacks of reaction, the defeats of revolutionaries, must be overcome. The counter-revolution is powerful but it is not invincible. The capitalist nature of Colombia, the deepening of the general crisis pose the problem of revolution as an immediate question, and the proletariat and its party as the protagonists in this.
II- The revolutionary forces in Colombia consist of the proletariat and other workers of the city and of the country. This is undeniable.
With regard to the role of the working masses, of the movement of the working class and other popular sectors of the city, the document of the CC to which we are referring is clear and forceful. We subscribe completely to these statements.
With regard to the references to the peasantry and other workers in the Colombian countryside as actors in the revolution it is necessary to pause a little for consideration. The Document states that the massive depopulation from countryside has resulted in the last ten years in 85 per cent of the population living in the cities , and only 50 per cent living in rural areas. We do not doubt these statistics, but for us the problem goes beyond the number of inhabitants, it has to do with the productive process and with the political and social attitudes of the classes.
In Colombia, to a high degree, this depopulation of the countryside goes along with the process of capitalist development, and has accelerated with the globalisation of the economy; it is the result of the repressive actions of the police, army, and paramilitaries; it is also the result of the diminishing of the revolutionary war, and of the impact of the rural guerrilla forces which have almost 50 years of vigilance behind them; this process of depopulation is also a response to the aspirations of the peasant masses to have access to the benefits of urban life, to their search for work and for opportunities; and to their desire to escape from violence.
The depopulation of the countryside has economic limits. The system cannot do without agrarian production and the exploitation of mineral resources. The development of technology, the increasing use of mechanised agriculture, the reorganisation of the large private properties cannot eliminate the work of labour individuals, on the contrary they make it more important and more necessary. In no country of the world have we seen the elimination of the rural economy and even less is this likely to take place in countries such as Colombia where there is a large availability of land and of other natural resources such as water and forest, flowers and animals, and biodiversity.
The Colombian peasantry has accumulated significant political knowledge. It has actively participated in the life of the Republic, and has been a protagonist in civil wars, political movements, setbacks and revolutions. During the last fifty years it has been deeply involved in large-scale social and political mobilisations, for its own rights. (Witnesses to this are the great days of the 60's and 70's, and the presence of the Anuc., etc.). It has made up the social base, the bulk of the combatants, and an important part of the leading cadres of the revolutionary guerrilla force which is active in Colombia. In the present situation of economic migration to the cities, the massive displacements caused by the reactionary violence of the armed forces and paramilitaries, and the impact of the guerrilla war, important movements are taking place in various regions of the country, with their own democratic demands, and some of these demonstrate a high level of militancy and of links with the guerrilla movement. It is undeniable that the military offensive of the FARC and the ELN have among their activists significant groups of peasants who are integrated with the guerrilla forces.
The foregoing facts, what is happening now and the tendencies which we can see developing allow us to affirm that the countryside and peasants have a transcendental role to play in the revolution. This has been understood by the CP of Colombia (ML), and as a result the Party has the benefit of important organisational, political and military experiences in its work with the impoverished country people of Colombia.
These phenomena demonstrate that in Colombia the proletariat needs to look for an alliance with the poor and middle peasants, it must incorporate them actively in the revolutionary process, and it must avoid allowing the peasantry to be manipulated by the bourgeoisie or won over by other political sectors interested in the revolutionary struggle; this is particularly important if we take into account the socialist direction of the revolution.
It is clear that we do not advocate an agrarian or peasant revolution in Colombia, however, we do affirm the necessity of including the peasantry in the organisation of the social revolution.
III. On the necessity of using all forms of struggle: The social revolution of the proletariat requires the utilisation of every forms of struggle. This axiom of Marxism-Leninism must be understood and applied in relation to concrete conditions. Voluntarism in its application can lead us to subjective interpretations, adventures or to reformist positions.
The revolutionary armed struggle is one form of struggle. According to the definition of Marxism, war is the continuation of politics by other means.
For Marxist-Leninist communists the revolutionary armed struggle, independently of the forms which it takes, is the only way to conquest power. All other forms of struggle, strikes and mobilisations, elections, stoppages and demonstrations, are forms of struggle which enable us to build our forces, however, by themselves they do not lead to power. On the contrary, they develop within the confines of capitalist system and they serve naturally to subvert it, to undermine it and to strike it in vulnerable places; they are also instruments of the revolutionary proletariat for the gain of strength and of experience, to widen the social base of the revolution, but they do not allow us of themselves to make an assault on power.
These problems, among others, indicate positions between revolutionary proletarians and reformists, between communists and revisionists. This was one of the main pillars in the constitution of the Marxist-Leninist parties. This continues to be the foundation stone which differentiates Marxist-Leninists from revisionists and opportunists of every complexion.
The Colombian comrades, in the important debate which they are undertaking, touch on this problem in relation to the validity and relevance of the rural guerrilla struggle, as a form of armed revolutionary struggle.
One of the special features of the Colombian revolution is the existence of guerrilla war for a period of 50 years. Throughout this period, and alongside the guerrilla struggle, we have seen the activities, intermittently and in an uneven way, of many and varied groups: The revisionist party, petit bourgeois revolutionary organisations, "politico-military organisations", Trotskyist groups, anarchists, and the Marxist-Leninist party, all of these have been and are present, active, occupying various grounds of struggle, increasing their forces, gaining experience, winning victories, and suffering defeats. The Colombian revolutionary guerrilla movement has not been defeated either politically or militarily, and it remains a reality which nobody can deny. Certainly, the guerrilla movement has not conquered power in spite of its long development; this is a problem to be resolved.
The rural guerrilla movement has undergone ebbs and flows; it has had moments of upsurge, and of development, and it has also suffered significant defeats. In the present moment, the guerrilla movement threatens the government, and is one of the factors involved in the sharpening of the general crisis affecting Colombia. Imperialism and the dominant classes have attempted by every means to wipe out the revolutionary guerrilla movement. For many years, Colombia has existed in a more or less permanent state of emergency and of an internal unrest; at various times, the order has been given to make total war against subversion; the guerrilla movement has been infiltrated and the government has achieved its partial subversion; the government has orchestrated processes of pacification, of betrayal of guerrilla fighters, and of their co-option into social and political life. None of these measures. nor all of them together, have achieved the objective of eliminating the guerrilla forces or moving them from the social and political life of Colombia. At the moment it is well known by public opinion in Colombia and elsewhere that there is taking place an important military offensive on the part of the guerrilla forces. It is obvious that the guerrilla struggle has not led to the seizure of power in Colombia. This is something which nobody can deny. However, this does not mean that this is a form of revolutionary armed struggle which has lost its validity in the process of preparing for the final assault on power. In our opinion, the problem before us is how to utilise the guerrilla movement in the process of the accumulation of forces, how to combine the various forms of struggle, how to involve the guerrilla forces in the social and political movement developing in Colombia, and, more concretely, how to use the guerrilla forces and their struggle in the preparation for popular armed insurrection.
We assume the correctness of the concerns and the analyses of the comrades on the limitations, difficulties and mistakes of the guerrilla forces and guerrilla struggle. We think as you do that they have committed very serious political errors, that some guerrilla sectors have degenerated into banditry, and even towards paramilitarism, that others have assumed the role of the "liberators" of the masses, that they have used methods of retention and of taxation in an indiscriminate manner affecting various social layers, including the popular masses; finally, a whole series of political and military mistakes, even deviations. We believe that this practice has limited the growth of the guerrilla movement, and above all, its connection with the popular movement of city and countryside. It is evident, even outside Colombia, that the guerrilla movement which has concrete political projects and proposals, is disconnected to the major popular movements which, with their own demands and policies, are developing within the cities, because the popular masses do not have any political reference point with the guerrilla struggle. These are the problems and these are limits of the guerrilla forces. For ourselves, we think it is necessary to emphasise perspectives and tendencies; we must analyse limits and errors in order to overcome and correct them.
Up to a point, it is logical and dialectical that things should be thus. Nobody should believe that the guerrilla movement is going to convert itself into the political vanguard of the workers and popular movement. This has not occurred in any country of the world or on any occasion. The guerrilla forces and the guerrilla army are a form of organisation and of action of the revolutionary armed struggle which respond to a military and political conception of an organisation or party.
For revolutionary proletarians, the guerrilla movement is a form of military organisation and the guerrilla struggle is a form of struggle which aims to wear out the bourgeois army, to demoralise it, to inflict blows on it; which allows the building of political and military forces, which in conjunction with higher and more generalised forms of the revolutionary armed struggle and of the political action of the masses can bring down the bourgeois government. By itself the guerrilla forces are unable to generate an insurrection movement of the masses. In a moment we will clarify this problem when we focus on the debate around thesis and practice. Meanwhile to claim that the rural guerrilla forces, including those organised and directed by the party of the proletariat, can convert itself into the main instrument for the conquest of power and because it has not done so, that this undermines the validity of the revolutionary struggle, this does not correspond to serious analysis.
It is not up to us and we do not have sufficient information to analyse the causes and events which led to the setbacks and difficulties, which at the moment, are affecting the EPL. However, we feel obliged to make known clearly our point of view on this. Has the leadership of the party done everything in its power to give politics and Marxist-Leninist convictions to those combatants and leaders? Have we educated communist workers on these positions? How much responsibility do we ourselves hold for the ideological and moral breakdown of certain combatants and leaders? Were we always on time and right in our characterisation of the political military situation? How much did we have illusions in the perspective of the EPL? Finally, this concerns on our part questions which we must ask and which we believe require a response which can only come from the CP of Colombia (M-L) and the EPL.
It is up to communists to resolve our problems, face our difficulties, and overcome our errors. This task is not going to be undertaken by the bourgeoisie nor by the petit bourgeois revolutionaries. More specifically, it is up to the Colombian communists to take on the responsibility of confronting and resolving the problems of the Colombian revolution. It is up to the communists of other countries, and the Marxist-Leninists of Ecuador, also to direct ourselves towards these problems, that is why we feel obliged to express our opinion and make suggestions which we consider valid. The Colombian Marxist-Leninists are free to accept or reject these points of view, but in any case they have a duty to examine them. We permitted ourselves in a conversation with the comrades of the national leadership of the CP of Colombia (M-L) to express these opinions which we now repeat, about what to do and how to do it in relation to the EPL.
At this time we said that we recognise the heroic tradition of struggle of the EPL, that we were certain that it held an important position in the revolutionary struggle taking place in Colombia, that it openly expressed the politics of the proletariat, and that because of this it has conquered an important position among the guerrilla forces. We emphasised that none of the blows, the setbacks, and problems that have taken place have destroyed the revolutionary nature of the EPL; that certainly they have signified great difficulties and losses, but they have not in any way destroyed the EPL. Let us remember, within the limitations of our knowledge, that in the past the EPL has overcome perhaps even greater difficulties and has raised itself again, like the phoenix, to continue the struggle and that, we are sure, it will again do the same on this occasion. We insist that the EPL was, apart from being the armed wing of the CPC (M-L), one of the shock brigades of the International Communist Movement Marxist-Leninist.
We demonstrated also the need to pay attention to its difficulties to examine them with the comrades of first rank with the aim of empowering them politically and militarily. We emphasised that it was not right or suitable to change the name. It seemed us very right to make every effort to bring the revolutionary armed struggle to the popular masses who live, work and struggle in the cities, and we believed that the rural guerrilla forces and more concretely the EPL could play an outstanding role in these aims; that the existence and development of other expressions of the popular armed forces and the EPL were not incompatible, but that on the contrary they complemented each other.
We agreed with the comrades in the necessity of taking great steps forward, of correcting the mistakes, of opening new roads, of leaving behind blueprints, so that they are more in touch with the actual problems of the revolution. The CP of Colombia (M-L) can be effective within the EPL and can reach it directly with corrective measures. We are convinced that the sister party, in a supportive role, and always within M-L, will know how to open up a new way and to go forward, and that it will find in the Ecuadorian communists the alliance of class brothers.
Returning to the question of forms of struggle, we wish to insist on the necessity that communists should be open to all known forms, and above all, sensitive to the expressions and forms used or developed by the popular masses in the course of their struggle. What is important is to keep in mind the problem of the conquest of power, since the various forms of struggle may or may not lead to it. By themselves the various forms of struggle, including the highest forms, cannot produce the final objective of the seizure of power if there is not a political vanguard which combines and directs them. In the ideological and political confrontation with the Krushchevite revisionists we come to an important point, as to how the political movement of the masses can lead, raising its level to revolutionary armed struggle. We, as Marxist-Leninist communists, affirm the importance of the factor of the revolutionary theory, of political consciousness, and of how this cannot arise spontaneously from the masses, even though these may be intensely and massively mobilised; since the role of the party is indispensable. According to our point of view these arguments have not lost their validity.
The organisation of popular insurrection does not have phases, stages, stages which have to followed in a systematic manner. The objective and subjective conditions can develop in some cases, independently of our will or our work, but in this case insurrection does not follow a revolutionary proletarian course, even if it happens always victorious. In our countries, in Colombia, Ecuador and in many others, Marxist-Leninist communists have responsibilities to fulfil and have the possibility and probability of sowing the right road to revolutionary struggle. Popular insurrection demands the existence of its own military force, of a force which leads it, sustains and protects it. To organise insurrection, we as revolutionary proletarians must make every effort to bring political movement to the working masses, we must educate the people about the decision and the need for the seizure of power, we must arm the masses with the desire to arm themselves, we must empower in foresight and in action the revolutionary violence of the masses, we must bring out the activity of the party, of its cadres and leaders, we must expect to have our own military forces.
The organisation of the revolution demands from communists a permanent revolutionarisation. We cannot give ourselves the luxury of sitting back of what is already established. Marxism-Leninism is a guide to action, and we claim to be dialecticians, to be aware of the interrelationship of political, social and economic phenomena, to be bold in our proposals, to open up new roads, to assume fully that the revolution signifies changes and that these changes must also be produced in the revolutionaries themselves, in their thoughts and in their actions. The new situations which are taking place in our country require from us, in every moment, positions and activities which take them into account. As communists we must do this, differentiating ourselves from those who are defeated by pessimism; we affirm the validity of Marxism-Leninism and on this basis stands our political and theoretical work.
These points of view make up the position of us, the Ecuadorian communists, in the important debate taking place in the rank and file of the CP of Colombia (M-L). Certainly, all this does not take into account the many-sided nature of the discussion, and without doubt, we lack complete knowledge of the problems, and for this reason we do not consider these points to be definitive; we are ready to continue discussing these and other problems on every occasion and in the conditions that the revolutionary process permits.
For now, we will affirm again, as always, our position as class brothers, as comrades who wish to work for revolution, within our own country and on international scale. We reaffirm our feeling of revolutionary friendship with the CPC(ML), with the EPL, with the working class and the Colombian people. We are convinced that the unity of our two parties and peoples will be strengthened and that one day we will celebrate together the revolutionary proletarian victory.

CC of the Marxist-Leninist Communist Party of Ecuador
Ecuador, April 1997