S&S Quarterly, Inc.

Guilford Press

Mariátegui, the Comintern, and the Indigenous Question in Latin America

Author(s): Marc Becker
Source: Science & Society, Vol. 70, No. 4 (Oct., 2006), pp. 450-479
Published by: Guilford Press
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 Vol. 70, No. 4, October 2006, 450-479
Scienceàf Society,

Mariátegui,the Comintern,
and theIndigenousQuestion
in LatinAmerica

MARC BECKER*
ABSTRACT: Vietorio Codovilla,theleaderof theComintern's
SouthAmericanSecretariat, instructedJoséCarlosMariátegui,
a PeruvianMarxist whohad gaineda reputation as a strongde-
fenderofmarginalized Indigenouspeoples,topreparea docu-
mentfora 1929LatinAmericanCommunist Conferenceana-
the of
lyzing possibility forming an Indian Republicin South
America. Thisrepublicwastobe modeledon similar Comintern
proposalsto construct BlackRepublicsin thesouthernUnited
Statesand SouthAfrica.Mariáteguirejectedthisproposal,as-
sertingthatexistingnation-state formation wastoo advanced
intheSouthAmerican Andestobuilda separateIndianRepub-
lic. Mariátegui,whowasnotedforhis "open"and sometimes
unorthodox interpretationsofMarxism, foundhimself embrac-
ing themost orthodox of Marxist in
positions maintaining that
theoppressionoftheIndianwasa function oftheirclassposi-
tionand not theirrace,ethnicity, or nationalidentity. From
Mariátegui's pointofview,itwouldbe betterforthesubaltern
Indianstofight forequalitywithinexistingstatestructures rather
thanfurther marginalizingthemselves fromthebenefits ofmo-
dernity inan autonomous state.Mariátegui'sdirectchallengeto
Comintern dictatesisan exampleoflocalParty activistsrefusing
toacceptComintern but
policiespassively, rather activelyengag-
ingand influencing thosedecisions.

* Anearlierversionofthisessaywas
publishedas MarcBecker,"Mariáteguiyel problema
de las razasen AméricaLatina,"Revista
Andina(Cusco,Peru),No. 35 (July,
2002),191-
220.ThankstoHarry Vanden,Juande Castro,ThomasDavies,TorbjörnWandel,David
Robinson,Wolfgang Hoeschele,and Science& Society's
anonymous reviewers fortheir
comments.

450

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 MARIÁTEGUI 451

Compañeros:Es la primeravezque un CongresoInternacional

de los PartidosComunistasdedica su atención en formatan
amplia y específicaal problema racial en la AméricaLatina.
- Hugo Pesce

THE 1920S,THE MOSCOW-BASED Thirdor Communist In-

ternational (Comintern) advocated the establishment of"inde-
pendentnativerepublics"forBlacksin SouthAfricaand the
UnitedStates.The Comintern recognizedtherevolutionary poten-
tialofanti-colonialstrugglesand,buildingon Vladimir Lenin'sand
JosephStalin'sinterpretations ofthenationalandcolonialquestions,
defendedtherights ofself-determination fornationalminorities, in-
the
cluding right to secedefrom oppressive statestructures (Com-
munistInternational, 1929,58; Lenin,1970; Stalin,1942). These
discussions on theroleof race and nationalism in a revolutionary
movement soon extendedto LatinAmericawiththeComintern's
proposal carvean IndianRepublicoutoftheQuechuaandAymara
to
peoplesinthemountainous AndeanRegionofSouthAmerica where
Tawantinsuyu, theold Inkaempire, flourished before thearrival of
theSpanishin 1532.The persistent questionofwhether a people's
was
oppression primarily an issue of class,race, or nationalitycame
to a head at a conference ofLatinAmericancommunist partiesin
in
BuenosAires June,1929. At this meeting, the Peruvian Marxist
JoséCarlosMariátegui,
intellectual ina lengthy treatise"Elproblema
de las razasen la AméricaLatina"(The Problemof Race in Latin
America) ,adamantly maintained thatthe"IndianQuestion"wasfun-
damentally one ofclassrelations whichthebourgeoisoppresseda
in
ruralproletariat, and thatthissituationcould onlybe addressed
through fundamental alterationsto thelandtenuresystem.
The discussions ofraceand ethnicity at theBuenosAirescon-
ferenceraisequestionsof how andwhy Comintern
the cametoad-
vocatethecreationofan IndianRepublicin SouthAmerica,and
whyMariátegui, whowasnormally sensitive and supportive of In-
digenousstruggles, opposed thisproposal. Was not an autonomous
IndianRepublicsomething thatIndigenouspeopleswouldfindvery
appealingand, in fact,desire?Is MariáteguiguiltyofignoringIn-
digenousconcerns inordertoimposehisownpoliticalagenda?Does
Mariátegui's positionbetraythepersistence of a deep conflict be-
tweenan Indigenousracial or ethnic identity and a leftist
concept

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452 SCIENCE àf SOCIETY

ofclassstruggle?1Whatexplains Mariátegui, normally a criticalthinker

whoinsisted onworking and
openly honestly in thecontext of hislocal
reality,
espousing an orthodox Marxist class-based position, whereas
theComintern, oftenseenas a dogmaticand hierarchical organiza-
tion,embracedwhatappearstobe a voluntarist attitude towardeth-
nicconsciousness?
Mariátegui' s paperwaspartofintensedebatesamongcommu-
nistactivists
worldwide as towhether marginalized andimpoverished
ethnicpopulations comprised national orracial minorities,andwhat
therelationship oftheiridentitiestothelargerclassstruggle should
be. Whilethesediscussions brought white communists into closer
contactwithotherethnicgroupsand fostered a moresophisticated
understanding of racial this
politics, contentious issuealsoledtodeep
divisionswithinthe lefton interpretations of the natureof class
struggles.Thesedebatesoverrace,class,and nationalism also chal-
lengeourunderstandings ofthenatureoftheComintern's relations
withitslocal sections.Thisperiodoffers a uniquewindowthrough
whichtoviewdebateswithin theleftovertheroleofethnicity in the
building ofa social movement.
Thisessayextendsan examination oftheComintern's discussion
ofraceandnationalism inotherareasoftheworldtoLatinAmerica,
andin thisprocesschallengesourunderstandings oftheroleofone
ofLatinAmerica's leading Marxistfigures. Mariátegui concludedthat
theComintern's policyofestablishing NativeRepublicswouldnot
lead to thematerialimprovement of thesubalternmasses;rather,
removing themfromexisting nation-state structures wouldonlyen-
suretheirincreasedpoverty andmarginalization. Mariátegui argued
thatthebestwayto achieveliberation fortheIndian(and African)
masseswouldbe forthemtojoin workers and othersin a struggle
fora socialistrevolution. Liberating the race withoutaddressing
underlying class issues would lead to an Indian bourgeoisstateas
exploitativeas thecurrent white-dominated one. The categories of
raceand classare interlinked - one cannotbe understood without
theother- and bothneed to be engagedto understand diverse,
multicultural countrieslikePeru.Mariátegui's directchallengeto
1 Wade(1978,16) notesthat"ethnicity"is a recentacademicconstruction
thatrepresents
a turnawayfromthenegative ramificationsofscientific
racism.
WhatMariátegui under-
stoodas "race"in the1920s,mostpeoplewouldsee as "ethnicity"
today.Deconstructing
theuse and evolutionofthislanguageextendsbeyondthescopeofthisessay,and for
ourpurposeshereraceand ethnicity can be seenas largely
synonymous terms.

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 MARIÁTEGUI 453

Comintern dictatesis an exampleoflocal Partyactivists

refusing to
but
acceptpoliciespassively, instead
actively
engaging and influenc-
ingthesedecisions.

JoséCarlosMariátegui

Mariátegui is notwellknownin NorthAmericanand European

academiccircles,butLatinAmerican intellectuals
havehighregard
forhiscontributionstopoliticaltheory.Mariáteguiwasbornin 1894
and grewup as a sickly
childin a poormestizofamilyon theoutskirts
a he
ofLima,Peru.As teenager, began towork ata newspapertohelp
supporthisfamily and thisintroduced himto thefieldofjournal-
ism,bothas a livelihoodand as a meansto propagatehispolitical
views.Mariáteguilackeda formal education,buthe hada keenmind
a
and was prolific He
writer. is bestknown forhis 1928book,Seven
This workcontainsa critiqueof
EssaysonPeruvianReality.
Interpretive
Indianrelations toPeru'slandtenuresystems. Mariátegui wasalsoa
politicalactivist,
founding the Peruvian Socialist
Party in 1928 and a
the
tradeunionfederation following year.Confined to a wheelchair
in thecoastalcapitalcityofLima,he nevertraveled tothehighlands
wheremostoftheIndianslived.Despiteminimal contactwithIndig-
enouscommunities, Mariátegui gainedwiderenownand respectas
a defender ofIndianrights. Unfortunately,Mariátegui's healthcon-
tinuedto fail,and in 1930he died at theheightofhiscareer(see
Chavarria, 1979;Skinner, 1979-1980;Vanden,1986;Becker,1993).
was
Mariátegui clearly andirrevocably committed tobothsocial-
He
ismand thedefenseofIndigenousrights. challengedindigenista
intellectuals2who,critiquing the Indianrealityfroma privileged
educatedandurbanperspective, assertedthatracialinferiorities
layat
theheartoftheirpoverty. In a 1927polemical debatewithLuisAlberto
Sánchezovertherelationship betweenindigenismo and socialism, he
wrotethat"socialism givesorderanddefinition tothedemandsofthe
masses."SinceinPeru80% ofthemasseswereIndigenous, "socialism
cannotbe Peruvian - norcan itevenbe socialism - ifitdoes not
standfirstin solidarity
withIndigenous demands"(Mariátegui, 1994,
249). He madethematerialist claimthatatitscoreIndianoppression
2 Writing Mexico,historian
in thecontextofpost-revolutionary AlanKnight(1990,77)
as eliteswhopresenteda "non-Indian
definedindigenistas formulation of the 'Indian
problem'"that"involvedtheimposition and policiesfromoutside."
ofideas,categories,

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454 SCIENCE äf SOCIETY

wasa socioeconomic issuerootedintheunequaldistribution ofland

and thefailureto overcomethelegacyoffeudalism in thePeruvian
countryside. Whilemanyindigenistas believedthatthesolutionto
Indianpoverty and marginalization layin theirassimilationtowest-
ernculture,Mariátegui maintainedthatIndiansocietywouldonly
be transformed through a socialistrevolution.
ColdWarstudiesofcommunist movements discounted
typically
Comintern policiessuchas theone to createindependentnative
as
republics unilateral SovietdecisionsdesignedtorespondtoSoviet
foreignpolicy interests without bothering to gatheranylocalinput
(Draper,1960,350; Kanet,1973,122). Newer studiesencourage
multidimensional analyses ofthishistory thatlocatesinterpretations
oftheambiguities oflocalcommunist movements inan international
contextQohanningsmeier, 1998;Storch, 2000;MPR,2001) . AsMark
Solomon(1998,xxiii)notes,"tiesto theSovietsand theComintern
wereneitherautomatically self-destructivenormagically beneficial."
Farlessworkhas been conductedon theseissuesin LatinAmerica
thanin otherareasoftheworld.Preliminary studies,however, indi-
catesimilardynamics, withtheComintern being neither as mono-
lithicor local radicalsas passiveas is oftenassumed(Ching,1998;
Carr,1998). Mariátegui wasan internationalist whofoundvaluein
a
joining globalrevolutionary movement but,likecommunists else-
where, he faced the of
challenge adapting the Comintern's central-
izedpoliciesto hislocalreality.

FirstLatinAmerican
Communist
Conference
Bolshevik leadersformed theComintern inMoscowin 1919with
thegoaloffostering a worldrevolution. theComintern
Initially con-
centrated itsefforts in
primarily WesternEurope, whereitexpected
thatan industrial wouldlead a worldrevolution.
proletariat Neither
MarxnorLeninhad paidmuchattention toLatinAmerica, and be-
forethe 1920sSpanishanarcho-syndicalism had a muchstronger
influenceon theleftin theregion.WhentheComintern beganto
turnitseyesto "marginalized" sectorsoftheworld,itfocuseditsef-
fortsprimarilyonAsia,whereitbelievedanti-colonial would
struggles
lead to a socialistrevolution.
MichaelWeiner(1997) and Wendy
Singer(1998) pointtothedifficultiestheComintern hadin coming
to termswithagrariansocietiesin Chinaand India,problemsthat

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 MARIÁTEGUI 455

wouldalsolaterbe manifested inLatinAmerica.LatinAmerica, simi-

larlylacking capitalaccumulation and an organized urban proletariat,
did notappearto providethebasicobjectiveconditionsnecessary
fora socialistrevolution.
Asa result, withitspredominantly rural,non-
industrialized this
population, regioninitially remained largelyre-
movedfromComintern discussions. Mostofthecommunist parties
"weresmallandinsignificant groups,maintaining onlytenuousrela-
tionswithMoscow"(Carr,1978,966). Reflecting thismarginalized
nature,E. H. Carrdoesnotengageina sustained discussion ofLatin
Americauntilthepenultimate chapter of his monumental multi-
volumeA History of Soviet
Russia. When the Comintern did it
arrive,
did so throughthemoreEuropeanizedand urbancountries ofAr-
gentina, Chile, Colombia, and Mexico, largely to the exclusion of
Indianandagrarian countries likePeru.Victorio Codovilla, whohad
emigrated fromItalyin 1912andsubsequently] oinedtheArgentine
SocialistParty, theSouthAmerican
established BureauoftheComin-
ternin BuenosAiresin 1926,becomingthechiefcontactbetween
Moscowand localorganizations and themostsignificant Comintern
leaderin SouthAmerica.In contrast toindependent Marxist think-
erssuchas theCubanJulioAntonioMellaand Peruvian JoséCarlos
Mariátegui, Codovilla demonstrated a much closer and morefaith-
fulintellectual andpoliticaldependenceon Moscow,andhisactions
came to characterize therole of theComintern in LatinAmerica
(Löwy,1992,xxiii;Liss,1984,56-59).
Itwasnotuntil1928atthehistoric SixthCongress thattheComin-
ternbegantopaya significant amountofattention toLatinAmerica.
"Forthefirst time,"NikolaiBukharin, thechairoftheComintern,
notedin his openingspeechto the congress,LatinAmericahad
entered"theorbitofinfluence oftheCommunist International."The
SixthCongresspointedto"therevoltoftheIndiansinBolivia,Peru,
Ecuadorand Colombia"as eventsthat"bearwitness tothewidening
and deepeningof the revolutionary process"(Clissold,1970,74;
Communist International,1929,6) . DelegatesfromtheSixthCongress
returned to LatinAmericadedicatedto implementing theprogram
thatthey haddrafted inMoscow. La
Using Correspondencia Sudamericana,
theSouthAmericanSecretariat's bi-weekly newspaper, as a coordi-
nating tool,Codovilla two
organized meetings for 1929.In May,labor
groups from 15 countriesgathered in Montevideo, Uruguay, forthe
CongresoConstituyente de la Conferación SindicalLatinoamericana

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456 SCIENCE äf SOCIETY

(Constituent Congress oftheConfederation ofLatinAmerican Labor

Unions) . Because of his poor health Mariátegui could not person-
allyattend,buthe sentJulioPortocarrero, a worker and one ofthe
founders ofthePeruvianSocialistParty, as thehead ofa smalldele-
gation.Agricultural and Indianproblems wereamongthewidevari-
of
ety subjects discussed at thismeeting.Mariátegui contributed an
essay on the "Indigenous problem" that outlined thesocioeconomic
situation ofIndiansin LatinAmerica.Buildingon hisprevious writ-
ings,he maintained thattherootsofIndianpoverty in
lay existing
land tenurepatterns."Perhapsan indigenousrevolutionary con-
sciousnesswillformslowly," Mariáteguiconcluded, "but once the
Indianshavemadethesocialist idealtheirown,theywillserveitwith
a discipline, and
tenacity, strength thatfewproletarians fromother
milieus willbe abletosurpass." Thedelegates enthusiasticallyreceived
Mariátegui's deep faithin the revolutionary potential of the Indig-
enousmasses,and theyvotedPortocarrero ontoto theConfedera-
tionofLatinAmericanLaborUnions'executive committee (CSLA,
1930,159;Chavarria, 1979,158).
Aftertheconclusionof theMontevideoconference, manyof
thesesamedelegatescrossedtheRíode la PlatatoattendthePrimera
Conferencia Comunista Latinoamericana (First LatínAmerican Com-
munist Conference) inBuenosAires, June 1-12, 1929.Debate at the
was
congress largely restrictedalong the lines of Codovilla'sinterests,
whichfocusedon thelabormovement, anti-imperialist struggles and
theorganization ofcommunist parties.Mariátegui, who asked Dr.
Hugo Pesce to be hisrepresentativeat this conference, drafted three
positionpapers:"Antecedents and Development ofClassActionin
"An
Peru," Anti-Imperialist PointofView,"and"TheProblemofRace
in LatinAmerica."Notonlywasthisthefirst international meeting
ofLatinAmericancommunist parties;itwas also tobe theonlyand
last,representing a briefopeningbetweentheComintern's discov-
ery of the continent and thesubsequentclosingofintellectual and
politicalspaceforactivists inLatinAmericatodesignandimplement
solutionsto theirownproblems.
According toAlbertoFloresGalindo(1989,31,33), Mariátegui
had minimum contactwiththeComintern beforethe1929confer-
ences.In fact,itwasperhapsdictator AugustoLeguía'saccusations
thatMariátegui wasinvolved ina communist plotin 1927thatbrought
thePeruvian totheattention ofCodovillaandbyextension theCom-

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 MARIÁTEGUI 457

munistInternational. Leguíaprobably leveledthesechargesdue to

Mariátegui's rising status as a leaderamongthesubjugatedmasses,
buttheirfallacy is evidentin thefactthatmostoftheimportant in-
andliterary
tellectuals figures whocametoMariátegui's defensewere
butno highprofilecommunists
leftists, suchas Mexicanmuralist
DiegoRiveratookup hiscaseas a causecélèbrestheydidforAugusto
CésarSandino'sfightagainsttheUnitedStatesMarinesin Nicara-
gua at the time(Stein,1995). As César Germana(1995, 174-75)
observed,Mariáteguineverbecame"a disciplinedmilitant in the
internationalorganization, but neither could one consider him com-
pletelyseparate from it."He did,however, identifywith the goalsof
theinternational organization. Mariátegui instructed Pesce,whowas
brought into a secret communist cell within the Peruvian Socialist
Partyfor the purpose of his participation at the Buenos Aires confer-
ence,topursueaffiliation withthe Third International. Although the
Comintern wasimpressed withMariátegui's levelofintellect and im-
portant contributions to the Buenos Aires conference, itrejectedthe
Peruvians' for
application membership in the International because
of
oftheirdeviantstanceson a variety ideological issues (Chavarria,
1979,162).
Fromthebeginning, thePeruvians clashedwiththeSecretariat over
a varietyofissues,and Mariátegui's arguments triggered intense po-
lemicaldebates.Theassembled delegates,andinparticular Codovilla,
severelycriticized Mariátegui's deviancefromtheestablished lineon
a varietyofissues,includingtheIndianquestionand hisemphasis
on the"realidadperuana,"whichimpliedthatthiscountry had a
nationalreality thatwasatvariancewiththatofothercountries such
as Argentina and Mexico.ComingfromItalyand notalwaysaware
ofthesubtleties ofsocioeconomic differences within LatinAmerica,
CodovilladidnotwanttoadjusthisMarxist critique Peru(Flores
for
Galindo,1989,42; Chavarria, 1979,158-59).Mariátegui resisted ac-
ceptingdirectives fromMoscowbecause,as Harry Vanden(1986,90)
notes,"they clashed with his creativeview of Leninism" which"de-
mandedthatgood revolutionary praxis be based on the carefulap-
plicationofMarxism totheconcrete reality ofdifferent nations rather
thangeneraldirectives thatmighthavelittleto do withlocalcondi-
tions."Franciscada Gamma(1997,54) situatestheseclasheswithin
thecontextoftheeurocentric natureoftheComintern and itslead-
ership.Codovilla,in particular, and
actedin an arrogant insulting

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458 SCIENCE àf SOCIETY

mannertothePeruvians whocamefroma moreIndianandagrarian

Since
society. from
delegates more"European" countries(Argentina,
Uruguay, and
Brazil, Chile)aswellas fromurbanareasoverwhelmingly
dominatedthe SouthAmericanBureauof theComintern, it was
onlynaturalthat theComintern would come lateto "Indian"Peru,
and thattheComintern's eurocentrism madefora difficultrecep-
tionofMariátegui'sideason race (SSAIC,1929,363).

TheIndian Question

Ifthe1928SixthCongressledtheComintern to"discover" Latin

America,the1929BuenosAiresconference led LatinAmericans to
"discover" theIndian(Gamma,1997,53). The proposaltoestablish
an IndianRepublicin SouthAmericaoriginated in one ofthemost
hotlydisputed issues to emerge out of the Comintern's SixthCon-
gressconcerningtheroleof racialand ethnicminorities withina
country's largerrevolutionary struggle.The Comintern determined
thatBlacksin bothSouthAfricaand theUnitedStatescomprised
subjectnations,and instructed local communists to buildalliances
withthesegroupswiththegoaloforganizing revolutionary national
movements to fightfortheirself-determination. "One of themost
important tasksoftheCommunist Party,"theComintern's congress
concluded, "consists in the struggle completeand realequality
for a
ofthenegroes,fortheabolitionofall kindsofracial,socialand po-
liticalinequalities." Delegatesrecognized"therightofall nations,
regardless of race,to completeself-determination, i.e.,goingas far
as politicalsecession"(Communist International, 1929,57; Degras,
1956,Vol. 1,497). Application ofthispolicywasas controversial and
complicated in South Africaand the United States, with some white
radicalsreplicating thedominantsociety's racistattitudes, as itlater
wouldbe inSouthAmerica(forexample,see Barry Carr,1998,238).
The originalimpetusforengagingthe"NegroQuestion"came
notfromtheComintern, butfromBlackactivists inlocalcommunist
parties.Four yearsbefore the Comintern's historic SixthCongress,
theCommunist Party of South Africa (CPSA) beganactively to re-
cruitBlackmembers, andby1928a vastmajority ofitsmembers were
Blackand thePartypublishedmaterialin African languages. Their
successled to thediscussionof thistopicat theSixthCongressin

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 MARIÁTEGUI 459

Moscow, including thedraftingofslogansforindependent Blackand

native republics inthe Americas.In theadopted Theses on theRevolu-
tionary Movement inColonial and Semi-Colonial Countries, Com-
the
intern applaudedtheCPSA's"successes amongthenegroproletariat,"
urged them to continue thestrugglefor racial
equality. TheComintern
alsoencouraged theestablishment ofan "independent nativerepub-
lic,"a demand that extended somewhat beyond the CPSA's previous
activities
(Communist International,1929,57-58;ES, 1992,14;Solo-
mon,1998,79-80).Following SouthAfrica's lead,theSixthCongress
instructedtheCPUSAtofight forthe"right ofself-determination for
Negroes"(Communist International, 1929,57). African-American
activistHarry Haywood(1978)playeda central roleinthesedebatesin
Moscow, andwaskeyinimplementing thispolicyintheUnitedStates.
Reflectinga greatly increasedconsciousness ofracialoppression,in1931
the CPUSA came to the defenseofnine young Black men charged with
rapeinAlabamain thefamed"Scottsboro Case."Subsequent attacks
against "whitechauvinism" withinthe CPUSA were rigorous,probably
farsurpassing thatof communist partiesin SouthAfricaor South
America(MPR,2001,395; Solomon,1998;Berland,2000). In turn,
engagingracialissuesforcedwhitecommunists to cometo a deeper
understanding of United Statesrealities
(Zumoff, 2003,342).
Emerging out of thesepivotaldebates on the NegroQuestionat
theSixthCongressin Moscow,racebecame one ofthemostconten-
tiousand widelydebatedtopicsthefollowing yearin BuenosAires.
The complicated ramifications ofbuildingalliancesacrossracialand
classdividesand problemswith"whitechauvinism" weresimilarin
SouthAmericato those militantsencountered in South Africaand
theUnitedStates,and raisesimilarissuesoftheconstruction ofeth-
nicandnationalidentities. Eventheprocessthrough whichthistopic
came to be raisedat the BuenosAiresconferenceindicatesthe
marginalized natureof discussionsof race amongcommunists in
LatinAmerica. Although theoriginalagendathatCodovillapublished
inLa Correspondencia Sudamericana (December15,1928,45) included
the"Cuestióncampesina"("peasantquestion"),therewasno men-
tionof engagingtheissuesofrace or LatinAmerica'sIndigenous
peoples.AccordingtoJürgenMothes(1992,157),JulesHumbert-
Droz,a memberoftheExecutiveCommittee oftheCommunist In-
ternational (ECCI), insistedthatCodovilla include a discussionofrace

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460 SCIENCE àf SOCIETY

on themeeting's agenda.AsheadoftheLatinSecretariat, Humbert-

Drozpresented a reporton LatinAmericatotheSixthCongressand
waslargelyresponsible forbringing theregionto theComintern's
attention (Degras,1956,Vol.2,448,567;Barbé,1966,226,30). Asa
result,in April,onlytwomonthsbeforetheconference, Codovilla
addeda debateon "TheProblemofRace in LatinAmerica," witha
Peruvian, Brazilian, and Cuban presenting theseson thesubject.In a
March29,1929letter, Codovillaspecificallyrequested thatMariátegui
prepare a document on the Indians' for
struggle emancipation from
theircurrent stateofslavery forthemeeting. Codovillanotedthathe
wasrequesting thatMariátegui, whowasalreadywellknownforhis
defenseofPeru'smarginalized ruralIndigenous peoples,addressthis
subjectbecause of his"profound knowledge" ofthe problem, his"se-
riousstudies"on thetopic,and becausehe wastheonlypersonwho
couldprovidea solidbase on whichtheComintern couldbuildits
strategies(Mothes,1996,95).
Without outsideintervention, Comintern leadersinLatinAmerica
mostlikely wouldnothaveraisedthequestionoftheroleofIndige-
nouspeoplesin therevolutionary movement. Itis a reflectionofthe
white,urbanfocusoftheComintern thatithad to turntoa party in
Peruwithwhichit had minimalcontactto makea presentation on
thisissue.RogerKanet(1973,102) similarly notesthatthepeople
Stalinchargedwithorganizing "BlackRepublics"had minimalcon-
tactwithAfrican peoples.Thisfurther highlightstheuniquerolethat
Mariátegui played in these debates; rather then needingComintern
to
encouragement engageIndigenousissues, wastaskedwithin-
he
troducing communists withwhomhe previously had minimalcon-
tacttoLatinAmerica's racialdynamics. He wasfaraheadofmostother
SouthAmericancommunists in hisunderstanding ofrace,and this
contributed to a perhapsinevitableclashbetweenEuropeanand
Indianviewsoftherevolutionary struggle inLatinAmerica. Without
Indigenousor Afro-Latin intellectuals (suchas HarryHaywoodin
theUnitedStates)withintheSouthAmericanBureau,or at least
someonewhocouldclearly articulate andarguepassionately forthese
perspectives, Comintern proposalson theproblemofracein Latin
Americanwouldtendto fallshortof theirpotential.Nevertheless,
theCommunist International increasingly recognized thecrucialrole
ofethnicgroupsinemerging revolutionary movements, andpressed
onwardwithattempts to organizethispopulation.

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 MARIÁTEGUI 461

TheProblemofRace

On themorningofJune8, 1929,delegatesat theBuenosAires

conference turnedtheirattention to thefifth pointon theagenda,
"TheProblemofRaceinLatinAmerica." "Juárez" fromCubabrought
a preparedstatement on the"NegroQuestion"(especiallyas it re-
lated to Cuba) and "Leoncio" fromBrazilcritiquedthe role of
Indiansand Africansin his country.Mariátegui'shistoricaland
socio-economic overviewofIndiansin LatinAmerica,however, was
thelongestandmostcontroversial It
presentation.represents hismost
detailedand penetrating analysisof thesubject.3Dr. Hugo Pesce,
presenting thedocumentunderthealias "Saco" (in honorof the
famedanarchist militantNicolaSacco whohad been executedtwo
yearsearlier in , introducedthediscussionwiththe
Massachusetts)
observation thatthiswas"the firsttimethatan International Con-
gressofCommunist hasfocusedtheirattention
Parties insucha broad
and specificmanneron theracialproblemin LatinAmerica." This
wasan issuethathad receivedlittleseriousstudy, and bourgeoiscri-
tiquesand capitalistgovernments had corrupted of
interpretations
theproblem.A lackofrigorousstatistical studiesand analysesfur-
therhinderedexaminations. Pesce calledforan objectivestudyof
theracialproblemgroundedina Marxist methodology informed by
an understanding ofclassstrugglein order to arriveat a revolution-
aryunderstanding consistentwithComintern policies(Martínezde
la Torre,1947-1949,Vol. 2, 433-34).
Mariátegui'slengthy whichfocusedlargely
thesis, butbynomeans
on Peruand Indians,surveyed
exclusively changes from thetimeof
theInkasand Aztecs,throughtheSpanishconquestand colonial
period,andintothe20thcentury, withadditionalsectionson Blacks,
and
mestizos, mulattos. Firmlygroundingthe discussionin a class

3 Partofthisdocumentwasoriginally
presentedinMontevideoinMay1929,andincluded
fromthislaborconference,
in thepublishedproceedings dela C.S.L.A.
Bajola bandera
revolucionario
The entireessaywas firstpublished in El movimiento an of-
latinoamericano,
oftheSouthAmerican
ficialpublication oftheComintern,
Secretariat whichpublished
theproceedings fromtheBuenosAiresconference. de la Torrelater
RicardoMartínez
marxistade la historiasocial
included it in his four-volumeApuntespara una interpretación
delPerú.MariáteguialsopublishedpartsofitinhisjournalAmauta(No. 25,July-August,
1929),and Mariátegui'sfamily laterreprinteditin Ideología a collectionofhis
ypolítica,
ideologicaland politicalwritings.MichaelPearlmanincludedpartsofitin hisEnglish
ofMariátegui's
translation essays(1996),withothersectionsappearinginMichaelLöwy's
1992anthology ofLatinAmerican Marxist
writings.

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462 SCIENCE à? SOCIETY

analysis,
Mariáteguibeganhisdiscussionofracewithhisargument
thatracedisguised rootedinan unequal
classexploitation
underlying
distribution
ofland:

InLatinAmerican bourgeoisintellectual theracequestion

speculation, serves,
among other to or
things, disguise evade thecontinent's
realproblems.Marxist
criticism
hastheunavoidable obligation ofestablishing
itin realterms,rid-
ding itofall or
sophistic pedanticequivocation. Economically, and
socially,
theracequestion,
politically, likethelandquestion, isfundamentally thatof
liquidatingfeudalism. de la Vol.
(Martínez Torre,1947-1949, 2,434.)

ForMariátegui,theIndianproblemin LatinAmericawasan economic

andsocialissuewhichforIndiansmeantan agrarian problem, andit
neededto be addressedat theleveloflandtenurerelations. Rather
thanembracing typicalindigenista
ideologies, whichmaintained that
Indianproblemswouldbe solvedthroughtheirassimilation into
themestizo population,Mariátegui believed that
white colonization
had"onlyretarding anddepressiveeffectsinthelifeoftheindigenous
races"(ibid.,435). Indianswantedequality, buttheydid notwantto
lose theirunique identities. Mariáteguicategorically rejectedthe
notionthattheIndianquestionwasa racialproblem,notonlybe-
cause he deniedthatIndigenouspeopleswereraciallyinferior but
alsobecausehe rejectedbiologicaltheoriesthatproposedthattheir
position couldbe strengthenedthrough "crossingtheindigenous race
with'superior'foreign races"(436). Communist that
parties sought
racialsolutions tothissituation
ofexploitation weresimply succumb-
ing to a bourgeois distraction
thatwould neverbe able to address
thisproblem,and itwasa mistake fortheComintern tolookin that
direction foranswers.
Muchlikehisdenialthatmestizajewould improve theIndianrace,
also
Mariátegui rejected thenotionthat there was something innate
within Indiansthatwouldlead to theirliberation. "Itwouldbe fool-
ishand dangeroustoopposetheracismofthosewhodeprecatethe
Indianbecausetheybelievein theabsoluteand permanent superi-
orityofthewhiterace,"Mariátegui wrote,"withtheracismofthose
whooverestimate theIndianwitha messianicfaithin theirmission
as a racein theAmericanrenaissance." Indiansocietiesresponded
tothesamelawsthatgovernedanyotherculture."Byitself, therace
has notrisen,"Mariátegui(1929a,73) observed."Whatensuresits

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 MARIÁTEGUI 463

emancipation isthedynamism ofan economy andculturethatcarries

theseedofsocialism initsmidst." Thisunderscores E.J.Hobsbawm's
observation (1990,67) thatracialdiscrimination and ethnicdiffer-
encesrarely lead toa nationalist movement. Indianliberation would
followalongthesamelines,and be subjectto thesamelawsofhis-
tory,as theworking class.In countries withlargeIndianand Black
populations theracialfactormustbe converted intoa revolutionary
factor, Mariátegui maintained. In orderto succeed,revolutionaries
mustconvinceIndiansand Blacksthatonlya workers and peasants
government comprised of all races could emancipate them fromtheir
oppression(Martínezde la Torre,1947-1949,Vol. 2, 439).
Whetherruralpoverty wasprimarily a resultofracialdiscrimi-
nationorofclassexploitation isan issuethathaslongbeendebated
inLatinAmerica(Wade,1997,22-24). Mariátegui, neveroneforsim-
plisticsolutions toproblems, appreciated thecomplicated natureof
theinteractions betweenraceand class."Itis possibleto tryto face
thesolutionthattheproblemofracesrequires," he noted,"andes-
as a
tablish, result, thetasks that concern the Communist Partiesin
LatinAmerica"(Martínez de la Torre,1947-1949,Vol.2, 462). Rac-
ismwasa veryrealproblemthatneededtobe confronted beforeclass
solidarity could be built, but the two forms of were
identity deeply
intertwined witheachother.Marxists stillexperienced in
difficulties
conceptualizing issuesofracialidentity, withmanymilitants consid-
ering it to be a form of false consciousness that distractedfrom the
moreimportant class
proletarian struggle. Nevertheless, in terms of
livedexperiences, raceand ethnicity repeatedly overpowered class
in debatesoverwhichwasmoreimportant. Mariáteguinotedthat
Indians, forgoodreason,oftenviewedmestizos as theiroppressors,and
the
only development of a class consciousness could breakthrough the
racialhatredthatdividedthesegroups.NotonlydidIndianshavean
understandable disdainfortheirwhiteand mestizo butit
exploiters,
was"notunusualtofindprejudiceas to theinferiority oftheIndian
amongtheveryurbanelementsthatproclaimthemselves tobe revo-
lutionaries" {ibid.,466) .4

in theUnitedStates,Haywood(1978,122)notesthat"membership
4 Similarly intheParty
freewhitesfromwhitesupremacist
did notautomatically ideas"nor"Blacksfromtheir
ofwhites."Instead,"interracial
distrust - evenin theCommunist
solidarity Party-
requireda continuousideologicalstruggle."

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464 SCIENCE & SOCIETY

Converting theraceissueintoclasstermswould,accordingto
lead
Mariátegui, IndiansandBlackstohavea centralroleintherevo-
lutionary movement. "Onlythestruggle ofIndians,proletariansand
peasantsinstrict alliancewiththemestizoandwhiteproletariat
against
thefeudaland capitalist regime," he "will
wrote, permitthe free de-
velopment of theIndians' racialcharacteristics."
Thisclassstruggle
building on theIndians'collective andnottheencouragement
spirit,
ofa movement toward wouldbe whatbreaksdown
self-determination,
nationalbordersthatdivideIndiangroupsand wouldlead "tothe
politicalautonomy of therace" (Martínezde la Torre,1947-1949,
Vol. 2, 466). Afterworking throughtheseissues,Mariátegui clearly
and unapologetically casttheIndianquestionas a class,notraceor
national,struggle.

TheNationalQuestion

A fundamental issuethatseparatedMariátegui fromtheCom-

internwaswhetherat itshearttheIndianproblemwasan issueof
race,class,or nationality.5
IfIndianand African alienationwasdue
to racialoppression,thenthesolutionlayin struggling forsocial
If,
equality. on theother hand,Indianand African communities com-
prisednational then
minorities, communists shouldjoin theirstruggle
fora separateindependentrepublicwithstaterights.6 Drawingon
Lenin'sandStalin'swritingson nationalism,
theComintern sawLatin
American countriesas multinational
societiessimilarto Russia,with
subordinate nationalities
existing
alongsidethedominant westernone.
Oppressed nationshad therighttoself-
determination, including the
righttoestablish
theirownindependent nations.Minoritypopulations,
however, had therightto thepreservationand development oftheir
languages and cultures,butnot therightto secedeto form separate
states.
Similartothesituation
ofAfricans
inSouthAfrica andtheUnited
States,Comintern rhetoricinSouthAmericaextendedbeyondstrug-
5 In a study
oftheNegroQuestionin theUnitedStates,Berland(2000,199) suggests that
priortotheSixthCongress therewasa certaindegreeoffluiditybetween conceptsofrace
andnation.EventheProgram oftheCommunist InternationaladoptedattheSixthCon-
gresscalledfor"completeequalityofall nationsand races"(Degras,1956,Vol.2, 497).
Butby1928understandings ofthesetermshad hardened.
6 Haywood(1978,261) laterarguedthatthiswasa falsedichotomy, and thatcallsforself-
determinationand equalitywerenotin conflictwitheach other.Haywood(1978,323)
further maintained
thatwhile"raceplayedan important role... itwasonlyone element
and notthecentralquestion."

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 MARIÁTEGUI 465

glingforracialequalityto demandingan independent republic.In

China, these to
ideologiesappealed anti-imperialist nationalist lead-
erswho could utilizethem in theiranti-colonial struggles (Weiner,
1997,158-59),butthecoherence ofthesepoliciesbrokedowninLatin
America's neocolonialsetting whererevolutionaries werenotfighting
againstEuropeanpolitical control and subaltern ethnic groupshad
a
yettoacquire nationalist consciousness.
Twofactors helpexplainwhytheissueofnationalism emergedat
thispointand whyitso dominatedthesediscussions. On one hand,
theComintern viewedtheracist treatment ofAfrican Americans as the
"Achilles heel"ofcapitalism in the United States.Second, wasa
this
periodofStalin'sascendanceas a leaderand theoretician ofinterna-
tionalcapitalism (Caballero,1986,58). Stalin(1942,12) wasparticu-
larlyinterestedinthe"national question," andhisdefinition ofa nation
as "a historically
evolved,stable of
communitylanguage, territory, eco-
nomiclife,andpsychological make-up manifested ina community of
culture" influenced subsequent debates. Under his governance, itwas
logicaltoextendhisinterpretations ofthemultinational situation in
theSovietUniontotherole of Blacks in South Africa and the United
States,andIndianswithin LatinAmerica. E. H. Carr(1964,89) notes
thatin theearly1920sComintern leaderswere"concerned in thena-
tionalquestionmainly as a meansofimposing measures ofdiscipline
on recalcitrantgroupsinEuropeanparties," butthat"interest inmove-
mentsoutsideEuropewasstillperfunctory." LatinAmericawasnot
includedin theseearlydiscussions ofthenationaland colonialques-
tion(Carr,1978,960). Bythelate1920s,however, shiftsintheComin-
ternled communists around the world to advocate the creationof
independent republics. In Canada,communists begantocallforself-
determination fortheQuébécois(Avakumovic, 1975,254). Commu-
nistsin Australia becamedeeplyinvolved in Aboriginal rights issues
(Boughton, In
2001,266). LatinAmerica, activistsproposed cre-
the
ationofBlackRepublicsin Cuba and Brazil,twocountries withthe
highest African diasporapopulations inthe Americas (Andrews, 2004,
the
150;Dulles,1973,473). "Making NegroQuestion a national ques-
tionalso internationalized thefightforblackrights," JacobZumoff
notes,"placingiton thesameplainas theIrishorJewish questions"
(Zumoff, 2003, 336). Within thisbroader context, proposing an Indig-
enousRepublicinLatinAmerica wouldbe a logicalandbyno means
unprecedented step.

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466 SCIENCE & SOCIETY

In the conclusionto his lengthystatementon race in Latin

America, Mariátegui contradicted
directly theComintern's proposal
toestablishan IndianRepublicintheSouthAmerican Andes,where
a concentration ofQuechuaandAymara peoplesformeda majority
ofthepopulation. Although Mariátegui conceded thattheestablish-
mentofsuchautonomousrepublicsmightworkelsewhere, in Peru
theproposalwastheresultofnotunderstanding thesocioeconomic
situationoftheIndigenousmasses."Theconstruction ofan autono-
mousstatefromtheIndianrace,"Mariátegui maintained, "wouldnot
lead to thedictatorshipoftheIndianproletariat, normuchlessthe
formation ofan Indianstatewithout classes."
Instead,theresult would
be "an Indianbourgeoisstatewithall oftheinternaland external
contradictions ofotherbourgeoisstates."Mariátegui continuedto
notethat"onlytherevolutionary classmovement of theexploited
indigenous massescanopena pathtothetrueliberation oftheirrace"
whichwouldresultin politicalself-determination.
MariáteguirecognizedthatEuropean normsof nationalism
wouldnotnecessarily applytothePeruvian situation.In Europe,for
example, Germans might form a nation as
but, Anthony Smith(1998,
29) notes,"culturaldifferences onlysometimes coincidedwiththe
boundariesofpoliticalunits."Indeed,sinceonlyone-tenth oflan-
guagegroupscorrespond with politicalboundaries itwould entail
an unjustified in
jump logic to assume thatthe Quechua and Aymara
peoplesformed a nation.SinceQuechuapeopleslivealongthespine
of theAndeanhighlandsstretching fromColombiain the north
through Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia to Argentina and Chilein the
south,the Comintern proposal would entaila fundamental rework-
ingofpoliticalboundariesdatingfromthebeginnings ofSpanish
colonizationin the16thcentury. Isolatedin themountains without
an industrialbase or an outletto thesea,wouldsucha country be
economically viable? Reflecting a fundamental division between
ethno-culturaland politicaldefinitions ofnationalism, Mariátegui
believedthattheexisting nation-states weretoo deeplyentrenched
in SouthAmericato warrantrethinking theirconfiguration. The
Comintern's underestimation ofthelevelofstateformation, together
withthemisapplication ofthe"NationalQuestion,"led to a policy
whichMariátegui rejectedas irrelevant and unworkable. Not only
wouldEuropeansolutionsnotworkin LatinAmerica,buteventhe
questionof racewasnotthesamein all LatinAmericancountries

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 MARIÁTEGUI 467

and therefore newsolutions wouldhavetobe workedoutfordiffer-

entplaceswithintheregion.Atitscore,Mariátegui challengedes-
notionsofnationalism.
sentialist Mariátegui emphasizedthatIndian
poverty and marginalization werefundamentally an issueof class
oppression, and that the solution to Indian problemslayin ending
theabusivefeudalistic land tenurepatternsunderwhichIndians
suffered (Martínezde la Torre,1947-1949,Vol. 2, 463).
The assembleddelegates,and in particular Codovilla,attacked
Pescefora variety of"errors" thattheydetectedin Mariátegui's the-
sis.FromtheComintern's of
point view,Mariátegui's most serious
shortcoming washisfailuretofollowa Leninistlinethatinterpreted
theIndianproblemas "a 'nationalquestion'thatcouldonlybe re-
solvedthrougha separatist movement ofself-determination rather
thana multiclass revolutionarymovement" which the socialistsinPeru
currently pursued(Chavarria, 1979,161). The formation of a nation
wasbasedon thepenetration ofcapitalist relationsand,according
to Peters,therepresentative fromtheYoungCommunist Interna-
tional(YCI), thisprocesshad notbeen completedin Peru.Peru
lackedthelevelofcapitalist development necessary tohavedeveloped
a unitarynation.In fact,Peterspredicted thatbeforethiscouldhap-
pen uprisings in Peru and Boliviawould erasenationalboundaries
andleadtoan Indianrepublicrootedon a newsocialbase (Martinez
de la Torre,1947-1949,Vol. 2, 468).
Pesce,defending Mariátegui's arguments, maintained thatinter-
preting the Indian question as a nationalist issue with the goal of
Indianself-determination andseparatism wouldbe a mistake because
itwouldexcludemestizopeasantsandurbanworkers fromthestrug-
gle.AlthoughIndianscompriseda largepartof therevolutionary
movement, theirexploitation mustbe understood inclassrather than
racialterms(Chavarria,1979,161). Portocarrero, using the alias
this
"Zamora,"reiterated point with the observation that alreadyin
Perumanyof theIndigenousland struggles wereagainstwealthy
Indiancaciques("chiefs").Pesce arguedthatitwassimplynaiveto
believethatan Indianstatewoulderaseclassdivisions, sinceevenin
theSovietUnionthishad not been an automatic process(Martinez
de la Torre,1947-1949, Vol.2,470,473).Woodford McClellan(1993,
387, 388) later presented a similar conclusion that althoughthe
Comintern a
"played generally positiverole in thegrowing worldwide
assaulton racismand colonialism," itsactions were limited because

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468 SCIENCE àf SOCIETY

it"hadnoclearprogram foreradicating directed

discrimination against
Sovietminorities." in
Ironically, taking position Peruvians
this the ech-
oed a statementthattheComintern broughtto thismeeting."The
Communist Party,"theresolutionread,"mustbe a party
ofonlyone
class,theparty
oftheproletariat."
The Partyshouldnotexcludepoor
peasants,butrathershouldincludethemas an integral partofthe
Sudamericana,
struggle(La Correspondencia May 1929, 15).
Anthony Smith(1998,45) arguesthatethnicity "iscrucialto an
adequateunderstanding ofnationalism." Does this mean thatMariáte-
guiopposed the plan to form an Indian Republic because he was
unawareoftheethnicconsciousness ofPeru'sruralpopulation? After
all,isolatedthrough bothhisphysical infirmities thatconfinedhim
to a wheelchair and deep regionaldivisions thatdividedPeru'smes-
tizocoastfromtheIndigenoushighlands, Mariátegui did nothavea
livedexperience ofQuechuaandAymara peoples.Mariátegui argued,
however, "thatprogress in Peruisfalse,orisatleastnotPeruvian, so
long as it does not include the Indian." Mariátegui did not ignore
thelevelofethnicaffinities andidentities ofIndigenouspeoplesthat
crossedexisting nationalborders.He was,tobe sure,a stronginter-
nationalist committed totheunification oftheworking-class struggle.
Buthe alsofirmly believedthatthesestruggles mustbe rootedinand
respondtothespecifics ofa localsituation. In hispresentation tothe
BuenosAiresconference, Mariátegui noted that all countries inLatin
Americadid notfaceidenticalracialproblems.Furthermore, the
activeparticipation ofIndianswasnecessary tocorrectthesehistoric
patternsof injustice.Mariáteguiclaimedthat"socialistideas have
strengthened a newand powerful movement fortherevendication
[sic]oftheIndian"(1929b,78-79),butwhathe increasingly observed
wasthat"Indiansthemselves begin to show a new consciousness."
Eliteshad seen Indiansas incapableofachievingtheirownlibera-
tion,andso thistaskfelltourban,whiteandmestizo intellectuals
who
paternalisticallytreatedtheIndiansas objectsratherthanas authors
of thisprocess.Now,insteadof paternalistic governmental ruling
elitestreating Indianpoverty as a charitycase,Indianshadbegunto
addresstheunderlying economic,social,andagrarian causesoftheir
poverty and marginalization. Theywouldfindtheirownliberty. Di-
vided,Indianshad alwaysbeen easilydefeated,but united,their
strength wouldmeanvictory.

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 MARIÁTEGUI 469

GeraldineSkinner (1979-1980, 470-71)interprets thisas "a popu-

listratherthanMarxist and
viewpoint," points to itas an exampleof
an underdeveloped ideology. Germana (1995, 179), on theother
hand,claimsthatMariátegui didunderstand andrespectIndigenous
but
ethnicity, rejected the Comintern's call for self-determination for
theIndiansbecauseitwasforeign tohisideaofa "Peruvian nationality
in formation" whichcouldbe achievedonlythrough theincorpora-
tionoftheIndigenous peoplesintoa newsocialist society.Furthermore,
sincethemajority ofPeru'spopulation wasIndian,finding solutions
totheirproblems wasa fundamental issueofPeruvian nationality. "The
Indianisthecement of our in
nationalityformation," Mariátegui wrote
(1994,291,292)."Whenone speaksofPeruvianness, one hastobegin
byinvestigatingwhether thisPeruvianness includes the Indian.With-
outtheIndianno Peruvianness is possible."
ScholarshavepointedtoMariátegui's positionas an exampleof
a SouthAmericanwillingness to confront centralizedComintern
dictatesandrejecttheimposition ofdoctrines thatwerealientoLatin
America(Vanden,1986,90). Löwy(1998,86) defendsMariátegui's
"profound intuition. . . thatmodernsocialism, particularly inagrar-
iansocieties,shouldbe rootedinpopulartraditions." Mariátegui was
attempting to move beyond thedualism that pittedEuropeanagainst
IndigenoussolutionstoPeru'sproblems."Socialismiscertainly not
an Indo-American he
theory," wrote. "Itis a worldwide movement."
But he proceededto observethat"socialismis ultimately in the
American tradition"(Mariátegui, 1928, 2, 3). He follows with one of
hismostfamousstatements:

Wecertainlydo notwishsocialism It
inAmericatobe a copyandimitation.
Wemustgivelifetoan Indo-American
mustbe a heroiccreation. socialism
ourownreality
reflecting and in ourownlanguage.7

Solutionscould notbe mechanicallyimported;theymustemergeout

of local economic conditions.
of a criticalinterpretation

in China,Weiner(1997,189,190) hasobservedthat"theComintern
7 Similarly failedto
cometo termswiththefundamental developments
revolutionary
processesunderlying
inChina."OnlyaftertheChineseCommunist Party freedfromComintern
was"partially
was[it]abletopursuesuccessfully
restraints, revo-
a pathwhichcombinedpeasant-based
lutionwithnationalliberation."

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470 SCIENCE & SOCIETY

Mariátegui wasnotalone in facingthisproblem;somecommu-

nistsin theUnitedStatesand SouthAfricaalsofounditproblematic
to equatenationalminorities in theSovietUnionwithBlackcom-
munities in theircountries. Migration to urbanareasas wellas as-
similation intothedominant whitecultureslowly erodedtheAfrican
Americans' "commonterritory" whichwasunderstood as a necessary
prerequisite for an independent native republic(MPR,2001,395;
Solomon,1998,75;Haywood, 1978,280).Largegeographic distances
and theinevitable ensuingproblems of communication allowed for
a certainamountofintellectual independence for national sections
of theComintern. As scholarsdiscoveredin theUnitedStates,re-
sponsestoComintern directivesinLatinAmerica mustbe understood
withinthecontextoftheinteraction oflocal and international fac-
tors(Carr,1998,247). Similarly, WendySinger(1998,282) findsthat
"communication didnotfittheoften touted vertical/hierarchical model
ofdirectives sentfromMoscowto obedientIndianfollowers." The
Comintern wasnotan omnipresent force,and in a senseMariátegui,
likeeveryone else,wassimply attempting toadaptgeneralComintern
principlesto hislocal Edward
reality. Johanningsmeier (1998,xiii)notes
"thatwhileoverallstrategy wasoftensetinMoscow, theday-to-day tac-
ticsofParty activists
werelargely the
beyond purview of the Comintern."
Barry Carr(1998,248) discovered similar dynamics inCuba,compar-
ing local Partyapplication of the spiritrather than theletterofspe-
cificComintern directivestotheoldSpanishcolonialadage"Obedezco
no
pero cumplo' obey I do notfollowthrough")
("I but . Fromhisloca-
tionon thefringes ofComintern discourse, Mariátegui wasadamant
aboutmaintaining a seemingly muchmoreorthodoxclass-based in-
terpretation oftherevolutionary struggle becausehe believeditfit
betterwiththespecificsofhislocal situation.Thisdoes notmean
thatMariátegui wasantagonistic to Indigenousstruggles or ethnic
cultures.Instead,it reflects a sophisticated understanding ofhow
ethnicity operatedin hisspecificlocal context.

IndigenousResponses

Asan indigenista
intellectual, wasnotan Indianbutspoke
Mariátegui
on behalfofIndians.Did Mariátegui
reflect or
Indigenousconcerns,
washe puttingforward hisownpoliticalagenda?He believedthat
"thehope of theIndianis absolutely and thatonly
revolutionary"

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 MARIÁTEGUI 471

socialismcouldimprovetheirlot.In hisclassictextSevenInterpretive
EssaysonPeruvian Reality, Mariátegui echoed LuisValcárcel'scom-
mentthat"theIndigenousproletariat awaitsitsLenin"(1971,29),
implying thatthemovement fortheirliberation wouldcomefrom
an externalsourceratherthanfromwithintheircommunities. In
probing who thisLenin mightbe, Gerardo Leibner (1999,155) con-
traststheidea ofa TupacAmaru-style restoration ofTawantinsuyu
(theold Inkaempire)withan urbanmestizo indigenista leadingIndi-
ansina modernizing revolution.
socialist Thefirst canbe interpreted
as a reactionary impulseand Mariátegui opposedit,and thesecond
requiresthe intervention of outsiders such as Mariátegui. Missing
fromthisequation,however, are thedesiresand goalsoftheIndig-
enouspeoplesthemselves.
AlthoughMariátegui wassympathetic to Indianconcerns,dur-
ingthedebatesin BuenosAiresapparently no one consideredcon-
sultingwithIndiansas totheirviewson establishing an independent
nativerepublicor evenbringing themintothediscussion. "Did the
Negroes want a separate nation?" George Breitman asked in an in-
troduction toLeonTrotsky's writingson Black Nationalism (Trotsky,
1978,14,22). "Iftheydid,didtheywantit tobe locatedintheSouth?"
TheNAACPdenouncedtheproposalas "a planofplainsegregation"
(Kanet,1973,105,106).To someAfrican American members ofthe
CPUSA,theplanfora NativeRepublic"sounded Jim like Crow in a
revolutionary guise"(Draper,1960,334). After all,bythe1930sAfri-
can Americanshad largelybecomeassimilated intothedominant
culture,and did notexhibit thecharacteristics of a nationality - their
ownlanguage,customs,religion,or interests. Even in the Soviet
mothership,similarproblemsplaguedattempts to createa Jewish
Autonomous Region in Birobidzhan as a way to solve the"Jewish Prob-
lem"(Weinberg, 1988) . Ratherthan enlisting in nationalistmovements,
manyAfrican Americans begantoworkforcivilrights. Marxists de-
batedwhether theessentially liberaldemandsofself-determination
and socialequality wouldattract thepetty bourgeoisratherthanthe
proletariat, and would distractfrom the morefundamental class
struggle.GeorgePadmore(1971,285), an African intellectual who
roseto a positionofleadershipin theComintern beforebecoming
vigorously criticalof the organization, condemned theidea ofcreat-
ing a nativerepublic as an apartheid-style Bantu state. Haywood(1978,
opposeditas a far-fetched
230) first idea thatwasnotconsistent with

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472 SCIENCE & SOCIETY

UnitedStatesreality, butthenchangedhispositionanddecidedthat
Blacknationalism wasauthenticand providedthebestpathfora
struggle towardracialequality.These dynamicdiscussions seemed
to strengthen and invigorate theCommunist Partyin theUnited
States.
In proposingtheconstruction ofan IndianRepublic,theCom-
intern was
seemingly ignorant of, atleastdidnothavecontact
or with,
previoussuchattempts in theAndes.Thismillenarian longingfora
return toIndigenousruleanda timewhentherewasno hungerand
poverty thattheEuropeanshad brought wascommonin thesouth-
ernAndes,and stimulated suchlarge-scale revolts as TupacAmaru
II in 1780.Morerecently, in 1915TeodomiroGutiérreztookthe
nameRumiMaqui (Quechua for"StoneHand") and led a radical
separatist revolt inPuno,attempting torestore Tawantinsuyu as a state
governed by Indians. Subsequently, in the 1930s in Bolivia,Eduardo
LeandroNina Qhispiassumedthepresidency of theRepublicof
Collasuyu(thesouthern quarteroftheold Inkaempire)(BF, 1979,
115-19;Albo,1999,782-83). Mariátegui wasfamiliar withthishis-
tory of radical separatist movements, and in fact mentioned Rumi
Maqui'smovement in hispresentations toboththeMontevideo and
BuenosAiresconferences (Martínezde la Torre,1947-1949,vol.2,
460).Yearsearlier, Mariátegui (1994,2902,1916)hadwritten inglow-
ing terms about Rumi Maqui's movement representing Indian
an
hope fortherebirth ofPeruand theresurrection ofTawantinsuyu.
In fact,FloresGalindo(1987,303-304)notesthatMariátegui wasthe
firstanalyst to take the revolt seriously, and that it helpedpavethe
way for the later convergence of socialism and Indigenousconcerns.
Does theComintern's failuretoengagetheseseparatist trendsreveal
a racistdisregard forIndians,orsimply an ignoranceofAndeanhis-
tory? Or didtheComintern's failuretotaptherootsofthistradition
meanthattheirefforts wouldfacefailure?The mainproblemwas
nottheComintern's proposal,butthelackofengagement withlocal
activistswhowouldbestunderstand howtoconceptualize andimple-
mentthispolicy.
The Comintern helpedpopularizetheconceptof Indigenous
nationalism, andduringthe1930sactivists increasingly reliedon this
construct to advancetheirstruggles. In a 1934peasantuprisingin
Chile,communist militantsadvocatedthecreationofan "Araucana
MapucheRepublic"(Ulianova,2003, 199). Similarly in Ecuador,

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 MARIÁTEGUI 473

communists arguedthatIndianshadtheirownlanguages, dress,and

customs thatmadethemindependent nationalities
(Conferencia de
CabecillasIndios,1936,2-3). Somelocalpartiesexcelledatworking
inruralareas,suchas inColombiawherea majority ofmembers were
fromruralareasand theParty putforward an Indigenous candidate
forpresident(LeGrand,1986,245). In recentyears,thestruggle to
defendrightsofself-determination and achieverecognition ofthe
multinational character ofLatinAmericancountries had becomea
commondemandofIndigenousorganizations. Forexample,Shuar
intellectual
AmpamKarakras(2001,60-62) adamantly maintained
in
thatIndians Ecuador werenationalities
because of theircohesive
anddifferentiated identities,
cultures,
history,
languages, spiritual
prac-
tices,and economies.Accordingto anthropologist IlianaAlmeida,
whowereinfluenced
leftists bySovietdiscourseintroduced thecon-
ceptof Indians as to
"nationalities"Indigenous organizations inLatin
America(Selverston-Scher, 2001,23). Comintern debatesinthe1920s
havehada lastingimpacton IndigenousdiscourseinLatinAmerica.

Resolutions'?

In a sense,Mariátegui'sideason racewerefarmoreadvanced
andcomplexthanthoseofMoscow, andhe begantounderstand how
racecancolora person'sexperience of class.8
Undeniably, a new and
profoundawarenessof the problemsof racismin LatinAmerica
emergedoutofthesedebates.Ratherthandeflecting criticism
away
fromtheirfailuresto engageissuesof racism,theComintern was
preparedtodealwiththeseissues on a serious For
level. thefirst
time,
white,urbanactivists beganto appreciatetherichculturaldiversity
ofIndianandAfrican peoples,a realitythatcomplicated application
ofa unitary solutionto theirproblems.Communist Partymilitants
previously hadbelievedthatracialdiscrimination as itexistedin the
UnitedStatesor SouthAfricawasnotpresentin LatinAmerica, but
nowtheybegantosensenotonlytheprofoundly racistnatureofLatin
American butalsothecomplexand intertwined
societies, socialand
economicissuesthatled to such For a
injustices. example, delegate
fromVenezuelaat theBuenosAiresconference remembered "that
Braziliancompañeroscategorically denied theexistenceof racial
arguesthatCommunists
8 Solomon(1998,86) similarly in theUnitedStateswerequite
ofracialstruggles.
advancedin theirunderstanding

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474 SCIENCE àf SOCIETY

problems in theircountry duringtheSixthCongressoftheCommu-

nistInternational, butnowwe see thatthisproblemexistsand itis
serious"(SSAIC,1929,301). In fact,thisacknowledgment ofpersis-
tentseriousproblems withracismwasperhapsthemostpositive and
concreteoutcomeoftheComintern's discussions.
In theend,disagreements at theBuenosAiresconference did
notresultin an open rupture betweentheComintern and thePeru-
vianParty.In fact,Humbert-Droz came to thePeruvians'defense,
maintaining that self-determination wasnotsufficient tosolveracial
problems in Latin America. He noted the extremely complicated
natureoftheracialquestioninLatinAmerica, andhowitwasbound
upwithlandissues;thehistory ofconquest, colonization,andslavery;
linguisticdifferences; a richvarietyof ethnic groups; a situation
and
ofimperialism whichexploitedracialtensions.Ratherthanhaving
theSouthAmericanBureautakea definitive stanceon theroleof
racismin a revolutionary movement, Humbert-Droz encouraged
morediscussion inordertodeepenunderstandings ofthisissue,and
encourageddelegatestoforward summaries oftheirdiscussions for
publication in the Comintern newspaper (SSAIC,1929,312,310-11;
La Correspondencia Sudamericana,August1929,25). Although calling
formorestudy, Humbert-Droz concludedhissummary ofthesedis-
cussionswiththeobservation that"onlya workerand peasantgov-
ernment, applying the solutionsadoptedbytheSovietRepublicto
theold tsaristempire,canprovidea truesolutiontotheseproblems"
(SSAIC,1929,310,312). Therewasroomfordebate,butHumbert-
Droz had hisownpersonaland politicalfortunes to lookafterand
waswillingto presstheseissuesonlyso far.In theUnitedStates,
Haywood(1978,280) similarly notesthattheComintern had not
provided"a completeanddefinite statement, buta newdeparture, a
revolutionary turning point in the treatment of theAfro-American
question."Unfortunately, theComintern failedtoprovidea mecha-
nismtorespondsimilarly tochallengesto theconceptofNativeRe-
publics,and South American communist partiesneveragainhadthe
luxury ofsuch an open forum as the 1929 BuenosAiresconference
in whichto advancethisdiscussion.
E. H. Carr(1978,982) notesthattheproceedings oftheland-
mark1929BuenosAiresconference ofLatinAmericancommunist
partieswerenotpublishedin Moscow,whichbothreflects themar-
ginalizedstatus ofLatin America and helpsexplainwhy confer-
the

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 MARIÁTEGUI 475

eneehad suchminimallong-term influenceon debateson raceand

nationalism. "Once theconferencewas over,"Carrremarks, "the
interestoftheComintern inthisremoteandbaffling outpostofcom-
munismquicklyevaporated"(1978,989). The Comintern's South
AmericanBureau (1933,26) remindedlocal partiesof theslogan
tillsecession
"self-determination foroppressed nationalities
(Negroes,
Indians,etc.)"and the urgent need toengage politicalworkinthe
in
countryside, butinstitutionalsupportoftendid notextendbeyond
rhetoric.WhileHaywoodcharacterizes theAfro-American question
as "theproblemforour Party"(1978, 327), the Cominternnever
dedicateda corresponding amountofattention to theIndigenous
question in LatinAmerica.
The Comintern probably wouldhaverealizedmoresuccesshad
itbeenable toengageIndigenousintellectuals in thesediscussions.
Without engaging on
Indians,thesedebates raceandnationalism did
notprogress. To complicate theissue,Mariátegui's deathlessthana
year afterthe conference removed one ofLatinAmerica's intellec-
tualsmostinterested in theIndigenousquestion.The Comintern
continuedto facedifficulties in advancingthispartof itsagenda.
AnotherContinentalConferenceof LatinAmericanCommunist
Partieswasnevertobe held,and theideologicaland politicalopen-
ingin whichthisdebateflourished seemingly closed.Withthewan-
ingofhopefortheemergence ofan Indigenous communist-led Latin
Americanrevolution, thepossibilities forfollowing thispathto im-
prove the lotof the"Indigenous race" seemed to fadeas well.

DivisionofSocialScience
TrumanStateUniversity
WOE. Normalst.
MO 63501
Kirksville,
marc@yachana. org

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