Partido por la Victoria del Pueblo
People's Victory Party | |
|---|---|
| Founder | Elena Quinteros |
| Founded | July 1975 |
| Ideology |
Marxism Socialism Guevarism Anti-capitalism Anti-authoritarianism |
| National affiliation | Broad Front |
| Party flag | |
 | |
| Website | |
| http://www.pvp.org.uy | |
The Partido por la Victoria del Pueblo or People's Victory Party (PVP) is a heterodox Marxist political party in Uruguay.
When initially established, the party espoused both Guevarism and anarchism. Eventually it came to define itself as Marxist. The party is founded on a principle of opposition to a single-party state and to rejection of bureaucratisation. It supports cooperatives, self-management, participatory democracy and the principle of human rights. The party is currently a member of the political coalition of Frente Amplio.
Now, as before, we as an organisation continue to define ourselves as anti-capitalist and anti-authoritarian. We are trying to build a revolutionary tool and, not without hard work and some difficulties, we have sought to develop our thinking from our experience in Uruguay and the essential contributions of critical Marxism.— PVP
Background
In 1956 the Uruguayan Anarchist Federation (FAU) was founded. This organisation brought together anarchists who subscribed to the ideological and cultural tradition of worker and popular struggles. The organisation was influenced by immigration, especially of anarchists from Italy, Galicia and Catalonia who had been involved in the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) or (later) in the fight against Fascism and Nazism during World War II (1939–1945).
In the period 1959 to 1960, when news of the Cuban Revolution began to spread in Latin America, many in the FAU were sympathetic. Eventually this sympathy transformed into strong support as the revolution began to appear more communist in character. The work "Socialism and Man in Cuba" by Ernesto "Che" Guevara became particularly influential.
Foundation
The People's Victory Party (PVP) was founded in Buenos Aires in July 1975. The organization was formed over a period from the November 18, 1974 to July 1975, culminating in a founding conference.
In 1976, under intensified political repression, the house where the conference took place was dynamited. Within 18 months of the founding of the party, at least one member and most of the participants and delegates were kidnapped through Operation Condor.
Clandestine activity
During the military dictatorship in Uruguay thousands went into exile in Argentina. Of those, a few hundred participated in the debates of the founding congress. This founding conference included members of the Uruguayan Anarchist Federation (FAU), Student Worker Resistance (ROE), Popular Revolutionary Organization 33 East (OPR-33) and others. The conference appointed Gerardo Gatti and León Duarte, who were then responsible for selecting the rest of an executive staff.
Though subject to fierce repression in Uruguay, Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay, the PVP continued operating underground and in 1980 joined the Frente Amplio. During the elections of 1984 the RRP was outlawed and many of its militants and leaders went missing, were imprisoned, or went into exile.
The party participated in the re-organisation of the union movement through the Inter-Trade Workers and helped to establish the PIT-CNT.
Re-organisation
The PVP has been active in political debates on social issues and on the left. In particular it has been involved in efforts to develop the base structure of the Broad Front, the labor movement (PIT-CNT), student associations as FEUU, the co-operative movement (FUCVAM, for example) and many other community campaigns including neighborhood associations, healthcare campaigns and others.
Through the systematic reporting of human-rights violations and crimes committed by the civil-military dictatorship the PVP helped to clarify the history of injustices. In October 2009 a plebiscite in Uruguay voted for the abolition of the Law of Punitive Claim Expiration of State, a controversial constitutional law which was deemed contrary to international commitments assumed by Uruguay on Human Rights. The figure of Quinteros Tota, mother of the teacher Elena Quinteros - founder of the party, who was kidnapped from the Venezuelan Embassy in Uruguay and disappeared, became nationally known in recognition of her role in the pursuit of justice. Another case of importance was the one led by Sara Mendez, who was kidnapped and tortured by Orletti Automotive and Condor officials who seized her son Simon Riquelo, then only 20 days old.
Alongside its concern for continued activity, the PVP has developed a theoretical and practical programme for the establishment of forms of direct democracy at the municipal and national levels, the creation of popular networks, the struggle for the expansion of human rights, and an emphasis on the democratic struggle and popular participation of socialist radicals. As of 2010 the PVP is engaged in efforts to democratize the media and alternative media as part of its plan for a modern approach to citizenship and participation.