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Religion and Revolution in Peru: 1920-1945

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 December 2015

Jeffrey L. Klaiber S.J.
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Extract

The interim years between the two world wars in Peru witnessed a proliferation of original ideas among Peruvian leftists on the relationship between religion and revolutionary change as a result of their efforts to re-examine national realities and bring about a radical change in Peruvian society. Young social thinkers and protesters such as José Carlos Mariátegui, Víctor Raúl Haya de la Torre, Luís Valcárcel and others felt that the new Peru must incorporate and synthesize the best elements of Peru's past and present with the best ideas emanating from revolutionary Russia and Mexico. In their quest to construct a program of action for a revolutionary Peru, the generation of the twenties and thirties realized the necessity of going beyond the literary liberalism of the grand master of Peruvian anti-clericalism, Manual González Prada. They endeavored to propose a new, positive program which would neither discard nor neglect such an integral part of national life as the Roman Catholicism of the majority of Peruvians. Even more, they consciously explored ways by which the popular Catholicism of the Peruvian lower classes might be converted into a source of energy for the coming revolution.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Americas , Volume 31 , Issue 3 , January 1975 , pp. 289 - 312
Copyright
Copyright © Academy of American Franciscan History 1975

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References

1 A fuller discussion of González Prada’s anti-clericalism may be found in Basadre, Jorge, Historia de la República del Perú (5th ed.; Lima: Ediciones Historia, 1964), 10, 4391–4399.Google Scholar Also, for a study of González Prada’s impact on succeeding generations, see the article by McNicolls, Robert, “The Intellectual Origins of Aprismo,” Hispanic American Historical Review, 23, (August, 1943), 424–440.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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4 The union movement alone continued to raise the banner of González Prada’s anticlericalism, with little change of perspective. See, for example, the principal organ of the textile workers in Peru, El Obrero Textil, published in Lima since 1919. For a complete list of anti-clerical newspapers and reviews in Peru, see Basadre, IX, 4831–4833.

5 A survey of the important names and intellectual currents of the Indigenista movement may be found in Basadre, X, 4531–4536.

6 de Turner, Clorinda Matto, Aves Sin Nido (Buenos Aires: Ediciones Solar, 1968), pp. 46, 57, 65–66.Google Scholar Only four years previous to Aves Sin Nido, Juan Torres Lara, writing under the pseudonym of Itolararres, José T., dedicated an entire book to the “Trinity of injustice,” La Trinidad del Indio o Costumbres del Interior (Lima, 1885).Google Scholar Itolarrares saw the priest as the “Greatest vulture”of the trinity.

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24 El Mercurio Peruano, XX, 1930–31, p. 206.

25 El Amigo del Clero, June, 1933, p. 124.

26 María Wiesse, pp. 16–17.

27 Colónida, March, 1916, pp. 26–27. Mariátegui said that the psalms were to be part of a book he was composing, Tristeza, which never appeared.

28 “La Procesión Tradicional,” El Tiempo, April 12,1917, p. 4.

29 Mariátegui, , Defensa del Marxismo (3rd ed.; Lima: Empresa Amauta, 1967), pp. 56–58.Google Scholar Mariátegui only composed two books himself, Siete Ensayos and La Escena Contemporánea (1925). All other works bearing his name are part of the collection of his writings published posthumously by his family.

30 Mariátegui, , Amauta, September, 1926, pp. 3–4.Google Scholar For a further study of the multiple sources of Mariátegui’s Marxism, see Paris, Robert, “El Marxismo de Mariátegui,” Aportes, 17 (July, 1970), 7–30.Google Scholar

31 Mariátegui, , Siete Ensayos, p. 141.Google Scholar Referring to the religious crisis in Mexico, Mariáttegui warned that anti-clerical liberalism should not be confused with socialism, nor should “religion”be confused with the word, “Church.” Socialism, declared Mariátegui, , is also a religion. Temas de Nuestra América (Lima: Empresa Amauta, 1970), pp. 45–46.Google Scholar

32 Mariátegui, , El Alma Matinal (3rd ed.; Lima: Empresa Amauta, 1964), p. 18.Google Scholar On another occasion Mariátegui criticized the purely lay school for its lack of “spiritual values.”It could never satisfy, affirmed Mariátegui, , the “necessity for the Absolute”which exists in the depth of all human anxiety. Temas de Educación (Lima: Empresa Amauta, 1971), p. 21.Google Scholar

33 Mariátegui, , Los Siete Ensayos, p. 228.Google Scholar

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35 Mariátegui’s reflections on the role of religion in the Inca empire and in Spanish Peru are systematically presented in his essay, “El Factor Religioso,” Siete Ensayos, pp. 140–167.

36 Ibid., p. 151.

37 Mariátegui’s, ideas on myth are found in El Alma Matinal, pp. 18–27.Google Scholar

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39 Prologue to Valcárcel, Luis, Tempestad en los Andes, p. 10.Google Scholar

40 Mariátegui made these observations in 1925 in La Escena Contemporánea (3rd ed.; Lima: Empresa Amauta, 1964), pp. 193–199. Mariátegui discusses the question of ethics more at length in Defensa del Marxismo, pp. 47–54.

41 Cristóbal-Sebastián, Antonio San, C.M.F., Economía, Educación y Marxismo en Mariátegui (Lima: Ediciones Studium. 1960),p. 74.Google Scholar

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48 El Amigo del Clero presented Haya de la Torre as an incessant fighter against Catholic Action ever since his participation in the events of May 23, 1923. July, 1933, p. 4. On the other end of the political spectrum, Eudocio Ravines, co-founder of the Communist Party in Peru saw May 23, 1923 as Apra’s debut as an “anti-clerical and anti-Catholic movement.” Partido Communista del Perú, August 26, 1931, p. 2. For an Aprista’s account of the affair, see Seoane, Manuel, La Revolución Que el Perú Necesita (Arequipa, 1965), pp. 99–103.Google Scholar

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50 “Una Apostilla a la Conferencia del Señor Víctor Raúl Haya de la Torre,” El Heraldo, Puno, November 5,1931, pp. 3–5.

51 La Tribuna, August 12, 1931, p. 1. For examples of anticlerical barbs, see the edition of May 23, 1931, p. 9.

52 El Deber, Arequipa, October 31,1931, p. 3.

53 El Pueblo, Arequipa, October 8,1931, p. 3.

54 Sánchez, Luis Alberto, Aprismo y Religion (Lima: Editorial Atahualpa, 1933).Google Scholar Ruben Vargas, S.J., ¿Aprista o Católico? (Lima: Editorial Alfama, 1934).Google Scholar A summary of Sánchez’ ideas is given in Kantor, p. 94.

55 Catolicismo y Aprismo (Lima: Imprenta Minerva, 1934), p. 2. Other Aprista leaders also spoke out on the religious issue. See, for example, the statements of Carlos Manuel Cox on the Church in La Tribuna, August 15, 1931, p. 2; those by Seoane, Manuel in Nuestros Fines (Buenos Aires, 1932), pp. 47–48 Google Scholar; and Muñiz, Pedro, Lo Que es el Aprismo (Bogotá: Editorial Cromos, 1932), pp. 88–89.Google Scholar

56 La Tribuna, August 9,1944, p. 1.

57 Kantor, pp. 60–68. See, also, Hilliker, Grant, The Politics of Reform in Peru (Baltimore: The John Hopkins Press, 1971), pp. 103–111.Google Scholar

58 Haya de la Torre, p. 108.

59 Ibid., p. 192.

60 Mariátegui, Ideología y Política, p. 91.

61 MacKay, John, The Other Spanish Christ (London: Student Christian Movement Press, 1932), p. 194.Google Scholar

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64 de la Torre, Haya, Discurso del Jefe del Partido del Pueblo (Lima, 1945), p. 5.Google Scholar For other references of Haya de la Torre to the religious question, see Antorcha, November 13, 1933, p. 4.

65 Sánchez, , Aprismo y Religión, p. 31.Google Scholar

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74 Ibid., p. 586.

75 Ibid., p. 385.

76 Ibid., p. 930.

77 Bustamante, José Luis y Rivero, , Tres Años de Lucha por la Democracia en el Perú. (Buenos Aires, 1949), p. 18.Google Scholar

78 Astiz, Carlos, Pressure Groups and Power Elites in Peruvian Politics (Ithaca, New York: Univ. of Cornell Press, 1969), pp. 178–180.Google Scholar

79 For a discussion of the importance of the image of the suffering Christ in Latin America, see the article by Richardson, Miles, Pardo, Marta Eugenia and Bode, Barbara, “The Image of Christ in Spanish America as a Model for Suffering,” Journal of Inter-American Studies and World Affairs, 8, No. 2 (April, 1971), 246–257.CrossRefGoogle Scholar