José Carlos Mariátegui
José Carlos Mariátegui La Chira (June 14, 1894 – April 16, 1930) was a Peruvian writer, journalist, politician and Marxist philosopher.
José Carlos Mariátegui | |
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Mariátegui in 1929 | |
| Born | José del Carmen Eliseo Mariátegui De La Chira 14 June 1894 Moquegua, Peru |
| Died | 16 April 1930 (aged 35) Lima, Peru |
| Era | Late modern period |
| Region | Latin American philosophy |
| School | Marxism |
Main interests | Politics, aesthetics |
| Signature | |
A prolific author despite his early death, El Amauta (from Quechua: hamawt'a, "teacher," a name by which he is also known in his country) is considered one of the greatest scholars of Latin America. His Seven Interpretive Essays on Peruvian Reality (1928), a synthesis of his thought, became a reference work for the intelligentsia of the continent.
He was the founder of the Peruvian Socialist Party (1927) (PSP) and the General Confederation of Workers of Peru (CGTP) in 1927 and 1929 respectively. The PSP initially adhered to Mariateguism for a syndicalist-influenced socialism "without tracing or copying," but after Mariategui's death in 1928 it would be reformed as the Peruvian Communist Party to be in-line with the Comintern's rigid party policy and Marxism-Leninism. In 1930 the party wing loyal to Mariategui would split and form the Socialist Party of Peru (Spanish: Partido Socialista del Perú).
For the sociologist and philosopher Michael Löwy, Mariátegui is "undoubtedly the most vigorous and original Marxist thinker that Latin America has ever known." Along the same lines, José Pablo Feinmann, Argentine philosopher and cultural critic, declared him the "greatest Latin American Marxist philosopher."