Selected Works of José Carlos Mariátegui

157 Pages·2021·3.684 MB·English

by  Christian Noakes (editor)

SELECTED WORKS OF
JOSE CARLOS MARIATEGUI

SELECTED WORKS
OF
JOSE CARLOS MARIATEGUI
Edited and Translated
by Christian Noakes
BOOKS
This edition published by Iskra Books 202 1
Based on original translations of various selections from Jose
Mariategui: from the lectures and essays, "The World Crisis and
the Peruvian Proletariat," "Marxist Determination," "The
Problem of the Indian," "The Problem of Race in Latin
America," "Programmatic Principles of the Socialist Party,"
"Anti-Imperialist Point of View," "Nationalism and
Vanguardism," "Heterodoxy of Tradition," "The Freedom of
Education," and "Pessimism of Reality, Optimism of the Ideal."
First published in Spanish
All rights reserved
The moral rights ofthe author and the translator have been
asserted.
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of academic and public scholarship in the field of Marxist-
Leninist studies.
ISBN-13: 978-1-0879-5169-0
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British
Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of
Congress
Typeset by Ben Stahnke
Map by Lydia Kurtz
Printed and Distributed by IngramSpark
CONTENTS
Introduction................................................................ 4
1. The World Crisis and the Peruvian Proletariat......... 1 4
2. Marxist Determinism .............................................2 8
3. The Problem of the Indian. .................................... 34
4. The Problem of Race in Latin America.................... 46
5. Programmatic Principles of the Socialist Party........ 80
6. Anti-Imperialist Point of View................................ 88
7. Nationalism and Vanguardism............................ 100
8. Heterodoxy of T radition. ..................................... 1 1 2
9. Freedom of Education. ....................................... 1 1 8
10 . Pessimism of Reality, Optimism of the Idea.l...... 128
Endnotes ................................................................ 134
Glossary.................................................................. 142
Bibliography. .......................................................... 146
For the Aymara and the Quechua peoples.
"Here we are, the sons of Bolivar, the sons of Guaicaipuru,
the sons of Tupac Amaru! And we are determined to befree!"
-Hugo Chavez
PRIMARY GEOGRAPHIC REGIONS
OF PERU

INTRODUCTION
Jose Carlos Mariategui was born in Moquegua, Pe-
ru, to a poor mestizo family on July 14, 1894. Consid-
ered by many to be the father of Latin American Com-
munism, he is celebrated for being the first person to
utilize Marxist methods of analysis in order to better
understand concrete reality in Peru and for carving a
path to revolution based offofthese particular histori-
cal conditions. As such, he was one of the first Latin
American socialists to acknowledge the revolutionary
potential of the peasantry and Indigenous peoples.
Rather than take a paternalistic or humanitarian posi-
tion, Mariategui believed that these overlapping
groups needed to be the architects oftheir own libera-
tion and to do so using their own cultural knowledge,
experience, and language. 1 The attention he paid to
these marginalized populations in both his thought
and organizing efforts set him apart from many of his
contemporaries, providing an ideological foundation
for the melding of revolutionary socialism and Indi-
genismo throughout the region.
Due to financial hardship, Mariategui left school