First Published: Resistencia, Vol. 7, No. 6, August 1976.
Transcription, Editing and Markup: Paul Saba
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This month marks the 6th year of the existence of our organization. It was exactly six years ago, on July 25th 1970 that the first issue of RESISTENCIA was first published: an 8 1/2 by 11 mimeographed sheet folded in half. Written exclusively in Spanish, it bore the inscription “In exile”, indicative of the understanding we had at that time that Puerto Ricans in the U.S. were part of the Puerto Rican nation, and as such we were in a foreign country, “in exile”.
We have gone through a lot of changes since then. In July 1971, RESISTENCIA became bilingual publication. This was done after an intense internal struggle against those who alleged that to write in English was to “assimilate”. This line was defeated, as it was a sectarian error, which liquidated the possibility of reaching thousands of young Puerto Ricans who through imperialist oppression had lost the language of their parents. But still, we continued with our nationalism and “in exile”.
Our main objective at that time was the independence for Puerto Rico, although our program included socialism for the United States. However, confronted in our daily work with the particular problems which arose out of the concrete situation we were involved in, and through a study of the works of Lenin and Stalin the national question (especially Marxism and the National Question by Stalin) and the application of the fundamental principles of this work to the concrete reality of Puerto Rico and Puerto Ricans in the U.S., we repudiated the incorrect thesis of the “divided nation”. Thus in 1972 we put forward that Puerto Ricans in the U.S. constitute a national minority and that the great majority are part of the multinational working class in the U.S. Thus, “in exile” was eliminated after a struggle against those who represented the interests of the petty bourgeoisie and narrow nationalism still within the organization. We then put forth as our principal task the building of a new multinational communist party in the U.S. At this time we adopted the inscription “Voice of the Puerto Rican National Minority” in our publication as part of our struggle against the revisionism and opportunism regarding the national question. Parallel to our ideological development and the purging of unstable elements, we intensified the struggle around the national question, particularly against PSP. However, our efforts were still limited.
A struggle arose, again around the inscription, (“Voice of the Puerto Rican National Minority”) We persisted in the prolonged battle against the incorrect line of those who held that to remove the slogan as a “left” error equivalent to liquidating the national question. This line was defeated and the slogan eliminated, with the understanding that while it had played a positive role, it had now become its opposite, and constituted an obstacle in our daily work among the multinational working class.
Finally, while in essence we are a communist organization, in form, elements of nationalism still lagged in our name: Resistencia Puertorriqueña. Thus we have adopted the name: LEAGUE FOR PROLETARIAN REVOLUTION (M-L), a name which more accurately reflects the revolutionary character and objectives of our organization. We stand for revolutionary struggle towards the seizure of power, the building of socialism and the dictatorship of the proletariat. We believe that this action constitutes a step forward in the struggle for the building of the party, against all types of opportunism, and towards the fulfillment of our ultimate objective, which is Communism.