90th anniversary of the formation of the Communist Party of El Salvador

Translated from the Spanish statement of the PCS.

It was Sunday, March 30, 1930, on the shore of Lake Ilopango, 15 km from the city ​​of San Salvador that a group of 25 to 30 workers, shoemakers, tailors, carpenters with two teachers among them (according to Miguel Mármol, who was one of the founders), made the historic decision to found the Communist Party of El Salvador, inspired by the triumph of the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia in 1917 and the aspirations of the working class for a better world.

That young party began a revolutionary struggle under the administration of the President Pío Romero Bosque, who had a liberal but also repressive vision. This was in the midst of the great world economic recession at that time, which had started in 1929 and hit the working class and the peasantry hard. This situation caused a serious famine among the impoverished people and especially the peasant masses. In addition to all of this there was the coup d'état of December 2, 1931 by General Maximiliano Hernández Martínez, overthrowing President Arturo Araujo.

In this economic and political context, the PCS worked intensively to organize the working class of the city and the countryside. In 1931 it organized for rebellion and participated in the mayoral elections in December of that year and January 1932. Those elections were a grotesque mockery of the working people and the mayors of the parties supporting the dictatorship were appointed.

The PCS was involved in preparing the rebellion that began on January 22, 1932. 30,000 workers, peasants and indigenous people were killed in this rebellion that also saw the shootings of Farabundo Martí and the students Alfonso Luna and Mario Zapata on February 1, 1932.

The Communist Party was decimated and forced to work underground. It resurfaced in 1944 with the fall of General Hernández Martínez and continued its heroic struggle until 1995, when it was dissolved by the Ninth Party congress. In view of  changing circumstances and the historical necessity of its existence, the PCS was re-founded on March 27, 2005.

"If they kill me, I will be resurrected in the Salvadoran people" - Archbishop Óscar Romero assassinated 24 March, 1980

"If they kill me, I will be resurrected in the Salvadoran people" - Archbishop Óscar Romero assassinated 24 March, 1980 

“I will not tire of declaring that if we really want an effective end to violence we must remove the violence that lies at the root of all violence: structural violence, social injustice, exclusion of citizens from the management of the country, repression. All this is what constitutes the primal cause, from which the rest flows naturally.”

Romero, the Archbishop of San Salvador who spoke out against poverty, social injustice and the death squads, was murdered while giving mass on the order of right wing death squad leaders. At his funeral hundreds of mourners were killed by the Salvadoran army. Despite these crimes, and countless others, the government of El Salvador and the right wing death squads continued to be supported by the United States throughout the 1980s.

No one was ever convicted of his killing.

On Latin America's Unpayable Debt, its Unforeseeable Consequences and Other Topics of Political and Historical Interest: An Interview with Fidel Castro, 1985 Part II

Cuban Poster

On Latin America's Unpayable Debt, its Unforeseeable Consequences and Other Topics of Political and Historical Interest: An Interview with Fidel Castro, 1985

Vintage Leftist Leaflet Project

This fascinating document is the full text of a wide-ranging interview that Fidel Castro granted to two Spanish journalists from the EFE news agency in 1985. Due to its length we are splitting it into two posts of which this is the second.

The first part can be found here. 

The second part touches on issues like Latin American debt, the case of Armando Valladares and other alleged "political prisoners",  American interference in Nicaragua and El Salvador at the time, Castro's views on how the revolution would continue after him and the support of the Soviet Union and socialist bloc for Cuba.

One notable quote, especially now, is:

Our revolutionary movement is not linked to a single person, it is linked to the people, to the masses, to awareness and institutions. This movement continues and will do so indefinitely. I am calm and confident that it will not die with me. 

(Click on scans to enlarge)

When The Left Chapter began part of what I wanted to do on the blog was to show and highlight vintage public leftist election/political leaflets and booklets. While many of these have been offered with commentary to date, a very large collection of hundreds of them from several different sources remains and to preserve these often quite rare documents we will be posting them on a regular (almost daily) basis now often without or with minimal commentary so that people may have access to them as quickly as possible as an historical resource.

While these will all be leaflets from a variety of different leftist viewpoints and countries, they are being posted as an historical/study resource and the views or opinions expressed in them do not necessarily reflect the views of this blog or blogger.

All of these posts (as well as posts made to date) will be listed on the page: Vintage Communist/Socialist Leaflets (which is still being updated with past posts).

If you have any public, vintage leaflets or booklets you would like to contribute to this project please contact us via theleftchapter@outlook.com

On Latin America's Unpayable Debt, its Unforeseeable Consequences and Other Topics of Political and Historical Interest: An Interview with Fidel Castro, 1985 Part I

On Latin America's Unpayable Debt, its Unforeseeable Consequences and Other Topics of Political and Historical Interest: An Interview with Fidel Castro, 1985

Vintage Leftist Leaflet Project

This fascinating document is the full text of a wide-ranging interview that Fidel Castro granted to two Spanish journalists from the EFE news agency in 1985. Due to its length we are splitting it into two posts of which this is the first.

It touches on issues like Cuba's relations with the newly elected Spanish socialist government, that government's decision to remain in NATO, the Basque ETA activists in Cuba, the case of Eloy Gutiérrez Menoyo and the situations in Nicaragua and El Salvador at the time. Notable are how similar the tactics being used by the Americans to bring down the Sandinistas then are to tactics of economic warfare and refusing to accept election results being used against Venezuela now.

Some quotes of interest from part one:

The European countries speak of competition and free trade, but they do things that have nothing to do with either free trade or competition. Of course, on the other hand, they also want the Third World countries to do away with tariff barriers and open their markets wide.

and:

It has been shown that there is no technology capable of smashing movements of popular resistance, of people motivated by patriotic and revolutionary ideas. 

(Click on scans to enlarge)

When The Left Chapter began part of what I wanted to do on the blog was to show and highlight vintage public leftist election/political leaflets and booklets. While many of these have been offered with commentary to date, a very large collection of hundreds of them from several different sources remains and to preserve these often quite rare documents we will be posting them on a regular (almost daily) basis now often without or with minimal commentary so that people may have access to them as quickly as possible as an historical resource.

While these will all be leaflets from a variety of different leftist viewpoints and countries, they are being posted as an historical/study resource and the views or opinions expressed in them do not necessarily reflect the views of this blog or blogger.

All of these posts (as well as posts made to date) will be listed on the page: Vintage Communist/Socialist Leaflets (which is still being updated with past posts).

If you have any public, vintage leaflets or booklets you would like to contribute to this project please contact us via theleftchapter@outlook.com

Bolivar's Cause Lives on in the Struggle of the Peoples of Cuba, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Other Countries of the Continent Resisting US Imperialism

Vintage Leftist Leaflet Project

Leaflet: Bolivar's Cause Lives on in the Struggle of the Peoples of Cuba, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Other Countries of the Continent Resisting US Imperialism - Statement of Six Communist and Workers' Parties of Latin America, 1983

Issued after a meeting in July and August, 1983, this statement on the 200th anniversary of the birth of Simon Bolivar stressed the ongoing need of solidarity between the people of Latin America in the face of American imperialist attack and violence. It is remarkable how much it still resonates sadly. 

It was jointly signed by leaders and representatives of the Communist Parties of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, Peru and Venezuela. Some of its highlights include: 

Bolivar's principal idea which has reached us and is particularly important today is that of the need for Latin America's unity in the struggle against a nascent new colonialism...Bolivar knew very well that the United States of America would do its utmost to prevent our countries from winning independence...

and:

The anti-imperialist solidarity of the peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean is the best symbol of Bolivar's ideological legacy. 

The statement makes interesting reading in today's context of the ongoing attempts to overthrow the legitimate government of Venezuela and to end its Bolivarian Revolution as well the intensification of the criminal economic blockade of Cuba by the Trump administration. 

(Click on scans to enlarge)

For other entries in the project see: Vintage Leftist Leaflet Project
 
 Image is from our post: Revolutionary Cuba 1975: Sixteen Years of Socialist Construction Part III -- Photographs and History