Mariátegui and the formation of Peru’s Socialist Party

Abstract

In this article, José Aricó examines the formation of the Socialist Party of Perú, in the context of the split between José Carlos Mariátegui and Víctor Raúl Haya de la Torre, the two main leaders of the peruvian popular movement in the late twenties. Aricó’s analysis challenges the hegemonic readings that since the thirties, both communists and ‘apristas’ have made of such episode. The author focuses on the different ways of conceiving which path the national re–foundation of Perú should take, as well as on the diverging political practices carried on by both personalities. Aricó postulates that the most important point of the splitting is possibly the distinct anti–jacobinism of Mariátegui’s political concept and practice, as opposed to the ‘caudillo’s’ personalism that characterized Haya.