Pictured: Afro-descendants, early 20th century
Uniting the Working Class to End Racism and All Oppression with Communist Revolution
EL SALVADOR—The struggle known as the peasant insurrection of 1932 was led by indigenous people including Feliciano Ama. It was a fight against racism, dispossession, and extermination by the economic elites.
This oppression happened to people of African descent as well as to the indigenous population. Reports from various Salvadoran governments to the United Nations Racial Convention denied its existence. But historical records show that African people entered the country in the sixteenth century as slaves. They were forced to do the hardest work such as in gold mines and indigo mills.
The government’s refusal to recognize the existence of the Afro-descendant population is a way of naturalizing racism. Often people think that racism happens only in other countries like the United States, where the problem is more visible.
The insurrection of 1932 is a historical legacy for the new struggles that the International Communist Workers’ Party (ICWP) now wages against racism internationally.
One of the main promoters of racism in El Salvador in the 20th century was David J. Guzmán. He had considerable influence in liberal political decision-making. Fifteen years after the peasant uprising, he wrote the Prayer to the Salvadoran Flag.
“Beware those who are paid honors,” said a teacher. She unmasked Guzmán as a racist, misogynist guy who is honored to this day with prayers every Monday of the school year in every school.
Guzmán was educated in European universities. He argued that there were superior and inferior “races,” recognizing the white “race” as predominant. Guzmán referred to Indigenous and Black people with highly offensive adjectives. He documented all of this in the “Blue Book” he wrote for commercial purposes to attract foreign investors.
The long official denial of the existence of Black Salvadorans is nothing less than manifest racism. It has led hundreds of people who consider themselves Afro-descendants to organize and fight for proposed amendments to the constitution of the republic in recognition of their origin.
Racism and oppression originate in the capitalist system. Racist ideology is an imposition of capitalism to divide and super-exploit the working class, an imposition that will be defeated with the fight for Communism.
Self-critically, as a party we have not yet approached the organization of Afro-descendants to try to bring them our communist line and our Red Flag newspaper. But it is an advance for us to be addressing this point now, because for years many have believed the lie that racism does not exist in El Salvador.
The international working class has never been passive. Our organized class has won great struggles and revolutions. But we must make a qualitative leap and fight directly for Communism.
After the communist revolution triumphs, we will continue fighting to eliminate all the remnants of capitalism and build a society without classes, without racism. The fight against racism will continue, since there will be sectors of the working class that will have more needs due to the legacy of the racist oppression of rotten capitalism.
The uprising of thousands of peasants and indigenous people against racism inspires us to continue organizing peasants and industrial workers to lead the masses in a new armed struggle to fight directly for communism.
Read the ICWP Pamphlet: “To Fight Racism, Mobilize the Masses for Communism” here
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