Gonzalo Thought

Gonzalo Thought (Spanish: Pensamiento Gonzalo) or Marxism–Leninism–Maoism–Gonzalo Thought is an ideological doctrine developed by Peruvian revolutionary Abimael Guzmán as an interpretation of Peruvian reality based on Marxism–Leninism–Maoism.

Anti-revisionist in nature, Gonzalo Thought was the ideological basis of the Communist Party of Peru—Shining Path (PCP-SL) and the trigger for the era of terrorism that the Andean country experienced between the 1980s and 1990s. Based on Marx, Lenin, Mao and Mariátegui (and under the premise of converting this system of ideas into a doctrine, "Gonzaloism"), the term comes from the alias used by Abimael Guzmán, President Gonzalo, who was considered by his followers as the "Fourth Sword of Marxism" and, therefore, a direct successor of Marx, Lenin and Mao.

Although initially raised from the Peruvian reality through a Marxist analysis, Gonzalo Thought expanded to culture, society and language outside Peru, forming the ideological basis of revolutionary groups abroad.

Gonzalo Thought is characterized as anti-democratic and authoritarian. Its adherents put it into practice on their way to implement the People's Republic of New Democracy through the doctrine of "protracted people's war," often entailing terrorist actions to intimidate the population.

After the capture of Abimael Guzmán in 1992, various currents claimed to maintain Gonzalo Thought (among them Sendero Rojo or the MOVADEF) while other Sendero leaders, such as Víctor Quispe Palomino, renounced Gonzalo Thought altogether and adopted other ideological lines or simply turned to narcotrafficking.