disclaimer: I am not a follower of MLM or anything associated with the Shining path. I am a Marxist Leninist.
I've seen lots of joking with some good critique lined up, but never anything satisfying to me? Thats the wrong word but i mean something around that.
here is something that may be useful- https://en.maoisme.no/2021/12/04/maoism-vs-mlmpm/
their documents are on my to read pile, its like a 1000 pages long from the start of the formation of the party till the present, so I cannot give an accurate critique as of now.
Prolewiki is editing a whole book coming out soon on this topic, stay tuned 😉
I spoke to many Peruvians regarding the Miraflores massacre and it did not sound like bourgeois propaganda (as Maoists like to claim) to me.
I identified as a Maoist as the time. The people I spoke to were usually sympathetic to leftism.
My tour guide who has lived in the area his entire life identified as a "social nationalist" (not a "national socialist", a socialist and Peruvian nationalist) and he said he respected me for my revolutionary anti-imperialist worldview. He called the Shining Path cowards, fools, terrorists, and hypocrites, claiming they stand for indigenous rights while constantly using them as human shields.
I am aware that one person's "terrorist" is another person's freedom fighter. The PCP is hated by almost everyone in Peru. Peasants. Other communists. Many indigenous groups. Their idea of "revolutionary violence" included murdering leftists, unionists, and indigenous rights activists that they disagree with.
May Gonzalo burn in hell. He was no revolutionary. He was a petit-bourgeois cult leader willing to send anyone and everyone to their fucking death while he was kicking back and writing "theory" that included little more than narcissistic ramblings about his own brilliance.
I spit on the "Fourth Sword of Communism". As for the rest of the guerillas in the party, I am sure many are well-intentioned and there is no denying that Peru is controlled by little more than a fascist led U.S.-comprador state that deserves all the violence it can get.
Not peasants. Not the indigenous. Not other communists. Not random fucking people in the middle of Lima.
Here's the one I have: the shining path discredited the idea of a revolutionary socialist movement in a society that desperately needs one. The thing about the shining path manifesto is it reads like a parody of what a Imperialist shill thinks communism is. And after Gonzalo was out of the picture the movement declined repidly(Don't get me wrong, Fujimori and his ilk are among the worst murderous neoliberal sellout ghouls imaginable.) Revolutionary movements should be last because they are supported by the masses not because their cult leader was captured. A good example of a revolutionary movement gone correctly for example os Bolivia right next door and MAS. When Evo got taken out of the picture by the coup the movement survived because it was built among the masses and they were able to struggle against the neoliberal regime and win their freedom.
I'd recommend BadEmpenada's video on the shining path for more details he goes into far more detail than I can here.
To be fair, haven't multiple communist movements been dismantled after their leaders were captured/killed? I agree a strong movement can fight back after regrouping, but I'm not sure its always true. Though this doesn't diminish Gonzalo's evil.
Usually the leaders capture is the symptom of the dismantling of a movement not it's direct cause. The shining path was utterly dependent on Gonzalo to function.
Mandatory reminder that Shining Path has been deliverately targeting and committing massacres against LGBT+ peoples throughout its history - As late as 2021.
Also the MRTA doesn't get nearly enough shit for doing the same as well.
