The Shining Path of Peru

by David Scott Palmer

Book by

Genres: History, War, Politics, Latin American History

287 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1992

Reviews

[Julio Bonilla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nothing in Peru’s past, however, prepared the country for Shining Path…

Every once in a while someone comes along to change history, making an impact His name is Abimael Guzmán Reynoso.

FASCINATING!!

My dad is Peruvian, and he has never told me about this.

[KCML · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book a year ago. It is a typical anti-Communist Senderologist book but presents a relatively nuanced approach to the topic. The Communist Party of Peru or famously known by the ominous name "The Shining Path" (Sendero Luminoso in Spanish), remains arguably one of the most reviled Guerrilla movements in recent memory, but it is also one of the most important in history as well. Abimael Guzman, or Presidente Gonzalo, as he was referred in Peru is a Founding Father of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism as a political ideology. Although this work does not address the importance of MLM in the Peruvian experience it does touch on some important themes. It claims the Shining Path was "dogmatic", a misunderstanding of the importance of ideology for the Peruvian Maoists who in practice has adhered to Communist principles in a much more principled fashion than the Nepalese and Filipinos, both who sought to make reproachments to political reactionaries. In the case of the Nepalese, the monarchy and then later the bourgeois parties, in the Filipino case the Soviet Union. In contrast, Sendero Luminoso stood against the world literally (besides the small international Maoist following it had in the RIM). It stood emphatically against not only the Chinese and the Soviet revisionists but the Cubans and Nicaraguans as well. It stands as a group that received absolutely no outside foreign aid and was still close to toppling the Peruvian government on the eve of the capture of Abimael Guzman in 1992.

At a time when Communism was on the decline in much of the world the Peruvian Maoists stood as an ideological bulwark that ran against the growing postmodernist defeatist language of the Zapatistas and others who declared an "end to history" and "no grand narratives". The demonization of the Shining Path is a testament to its military success against the Peruvian government and the danger it posed to imperialism around the world because it was a direct inspiration for the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) and other Communists who would go to found the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement with it's blessings.

Palmer's volume stresses the peculiar circumstances that surrounded the People's War in Peru that made it an anomaly.

1) The Shining Path for all intents and purposes was the smallest political party in the Peruvian Left, with 3,000 Party cadre at it's height.

2) It's base area was not in the large universities of the capital of Peru but in a backwater university in Ayacucho Province, for this reason many of the rivals of the Shining Path viewed them as a bunch of crazy Indians.

3) It launched it's People's War on the very day of the first elections in Peru in decades of military dictatorship.

[Jamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

So far, I've struggled to find good English-language sources on the Communist Party of Peru's emergence, people's war, and defeat - despite some limitations, this book was helpful and informative.

I had issues with the overall framing set out by Palmer in the introduction and conclusion, and with the perspectives of some of the contributors, but the book benefitted from having a wide range of chapters from diverse perspectives and authors. Revolution is considered almost entirely from the perspective of governments and counter insurgency strategy - much of this book is written almost as advice to the Peruvian state on dealing with the Communists as a "security" or "terrorist" threat. Even when the racism and inequality of Peruvian society is addressed, it is almost entirely as an unfortunate fact "exploited" by the Communists; state terror is not pathologised - as Sendero revolutionary terror is - instead it is again seen as simply counter productive or an overly zealous response to "terrorism". At one point, the introduction states that successful revolutions are almost always a result of failures on the government side, rather than of the competence and legitimacy of the revolutionary side. This is history writing entirely from above, from a state viewpoint, which ignores the constant wellspring of struggle, resistance, and feats of revolutionary organisation from below.

It would have been interesting to have at least one chapter from someone sympathetic to the Peruvian communists.

The chapters took a wide range of approaches - ethnographic, sociological, political, etc - and discussed different aspects of SL's history, organisation, and support base. I got a good sense of how they were rooted in a regional context, and how centralisation and ruthless use of terror both facilitated their rapid expansion and proved their Achilles heel. I think the critiques of their "semi feudal, semi colonial" analysis of Peruvian society are probably broadly correct, but a better book might have been less condescending about SL theory. I'd appreciate a book which takes Marxist political economy as a starting point to critique SL on their own terms.

Overall, worth reading despite its flaws.

[Carlos · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book suffers from too much compartmentalization. Each author seeks to relate their own first-hand knowledge during the couple of years they spent in a small village in the Peruvian Andes during the insurgency of Shining Path. To the already knowledgeable reader this could have perhaps worked, although the vast difference in style from chapter to chapter makes me doubt this, but it failed totally for the unfamiliar reader looking to learn about the insurgency. While the origins, goals, and weaknesses could be pieced together from all the different chapters it was more than a little annoying having each chapter start a different time/place without any chapter attempting to make a coherent whole of the development of the insurgency movement. Quite honestly I wouldn’t recommend this book expect to someone already thoroughly familiar with the history of Shining Path.

[Andrew Pixton · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of academic papers on the infamous Peruvian communist terrorist group, Sendero Luminoso, or Shining Path. For someone who knows Peru and takes interest in these things, it's an interesting read. It was printed in '93 and so if it lacks anything, it's a more up to date analysis, especially the Fujimori years and capture of its leader, Abimael Guzman. The group became really powerful during the eighties largely because the government underestimated it and had its own abuses and corruption when they finally did pursue the extremists. The extremists were a part of PCP, or Communist Party of Peru until the party kicked them out for their advocation of violence.

The papers analyze the history, reasons for success, reasons it didn't have more success, ideologies, and leaders of the group. It's exhaustively researched with sources cited, and very insightful too. The version I read needs some serious line editing. Spelling errors everywhere, but I could understand it. Still, it's like they translated it then didn't even bother to look at it.

[maoppw · Rating 3 out of 5]

An academic text that is compartmentalized into small essays which each offer their own analysis onto specific aspects on Peruvian culture, society, history as well as SL's outcomes, weaknesses, and organizational structure.

I would recommend for you to not read the entire book all the way through. Halfway through the first chapter the author introduces and paraphrases each essay - only read the ones you find interesting - keep in mind that this is collection of essays, there is no narrative.

Because there is no narrative and no central analysis to the text I feel like I walked away with very little gained knowledge of SL. Because of this, I would only recommend this book to someone with advanced knowledge due to the extremely specific content within the text.

[Jan Notzon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a quite fascinating account of one of the most successful revolutionary movements on the American continent in recent history. I appreciated first, the apparent objectivity of all of the writers (though I suspect they all had somewhat of a leftist bias). Secondly, I particularly appreciated the commentary on what the necessary conditions are that make a revolutionary movement occur and those that make it succeed. Now, I'm aching to know what has happened in Peru during and since the Fujimori administration.

[Allison Claire · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a good enough overview of Shining Path (from someone who didn't know anybody about SP before), but it suffers from the (imo) most common flaws of academic essay anthologies: it repeats the same points.
There's also no real engagement with people who were part of SP, and there aren't any arguments in favor of it. I think the criticisms of the movement the authors had were more than fair, but the book felt one-sided as a whole.

[Abbey · Rating 1 out of 5]

An impossible read. The most dry textbook like book I’ve ever picked up. I will need to find a new book about The Shining Path.

[Santiago]

idk the quality of each chapter varied manically. the last chapter is also confusing because the editor makes claims that other authors in the book contradict. but whatever! very informative

[G · Rating 3 out of 5]

Anti-communist but offers a comparatively nuanced analysis of Sendero Luminoso.