Date of Graduation

5-2026

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts in History (MA)

Degree Level

Graduate

Department

History

Advisor/Mentor

Austin, Shawn

Committee Member

Phillips, Jared

Second Committee Member

Sloan, Kathryn

Keywords

Indigenous History; Intellectual History; Marxism; Peru; Shining Path

Abstract

The Peruvian Communist Party - Sendero Luminoso (SL) was a violent communist guerrilla group that was active in Peru in the 1980s and early 1990s. SL’s guiding ideology was “Gonzalo Thought,” named for the Party’s leader, Abimael Guzmán, who was known to his followers as Presidente Gonzalo. Greatly inspired by Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, Gonzalo Thought also drew heavily from the work of José Carlos Mariátegui, an early 20th-century socialist Peruvian intellectual. One of Mariategui’s key ideas held that the Inca Empire was communist and that living Indigenous Peruvians retained this pre-modern “communist spirit.” For him, this meant that authentic Peruvian institutions and culture—were they to be free from the influence of foreign powers—would be communist. Mariátegui is overtly regarded as an authority in Sendero Luminoso literature, but it is widely accepted that Gonzalo Thought was not interested in Indigenous identity or heritage and did not address specifically Indigenous issues. Guzmán thus did not simply use the work of a historical Peruvian intellectual as an intellectual resource: as shown by his treatment of indigeneity, he distorted Mariátegui’s ideas for his own benefit. This thesis contends that Guzmán and other Sendero Luminoso leaders manipulated Mariátegui’s ideas and image in order to accrue a variety of benefits. His voice was necessary because it gave SL leadership a way to prove that Marxism-Leninism-Maoism was feasible for Peru, and it granted Gonzalo Thought a greater degree of legitimacy. Using Mariátegui’s ideas to this end, however, was only made possible through their modification. This is argued through investigation of how Mariátegui’s ideas and image are deployed within Sendero Luminoso literature, including Guzmán’s speeches and SL documents. Assessment of this manipulation, and how it evolved over time, reveals one heretofore overlooked method by which SL’s leadership maintained authority and acquired loyalty.

Download

Share

COinS